LouLah
Junior Guinea Pig
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2019
- Messages
- 9
- Reaction score
- 5
- Points
- 125
Hi guys,
I am writing this post as I am getting pretty desperate to find out what is wrong with my little piggie Ruby. Here’s the back story of what has been happening:
Spring this year, Ruby had hay poke- I managed to get her to the vets before anything progressed and she was given treatment. Then she was fine.
Start of August I was concerned Ruby was possibly blind due to not reacting to stimulus or being fairly inconsistent with it- I tried several little tests and I wasn’t sure so took her to the vets- one vet gave me Maxitrol and said it was uveitis (inflammation of the iris) and that day I booked for a second opinion with the other vet who said was more appropriate for looking at her. Took Ruby to him and he said it was more than likely a brain tumour. (Just to point out that Ruby hasn’t displayed any circling, head tilt etc. Her eyes do react, although very limited, to light) and so that was that.
At the end of August and again in mid September Ruby has been to another vets (the vet was amazing!) - she thoroughly checked Ruby and said she has lost weight. We upped her food intake (Ruby’s appetite had not changed as she is a foodie and loves to drink water), and she went from 0.75kg to 0.8kg so that was good. At this time I noted Ruby had started making a crackling sound (sounds like creaky floorboards), which is very inconsistent. The vet checked her lungs and stated everything was clear, her heart was strong and there were no ulcers on her eyes and said her bladder and bowel movements were fine. She also didn’t think she was blind. She did a dipstick test and bilirubin flagged up but she wasn’t presenting any other symptoms (and still isn’t to date) and so she wasn’t concerned.
Ruby’s right eye is also very inconsistent as she has a red, watery eye one minute and then it will clear up the next. Very strange. Nonetheless it was decided to put her on Sulfatrim and a tiny amount of Metacam for 10 days to rule out a possibility of URI.
I went to the “small animal clinic” on the 22nd of last month (although the sign suggested it was for small animals, it was just a general vets). The vet I saw stated that she could have an X-ray (Ruby is approx. 3 and a half years old and I was very reluctant to put her under sedation) but once the vet stated she wouldn’t be sedated, she would just stand on the X-ray plate and get a view from there, I opted for it. The vet concluded a prognosis of lung cancer and that was that. She did state that there was a specialist vets I could go to and they would email the X-ray over.
The following day I went to the exotic pet specialist. He looked at the X-ray before he told me that he couldn’t do anything with just a lateral view, he would need both a lateral and ventral to look into anything. He did say he didn’t think the X-ray showed lung cancer though. Ruby was put on a course of metacam and Bayril for 10 days and that is the lengthy bit of literature about the vet visits.
To current date: Ruby is no worse or better. The abx do not seem to have benefitted her at all. Her appetite is still brilliant although her weight is an issue (we have critical care food that we feed her and plenty of veggies), her water intake seems as though it has slightly reduced so she’s been having additional syringed water feeds to keep her hydrated. She is producing pellets normally and urinating still a good amount, her eye and breathing are still so inconsistent (this morning she was crackling and now it has stopped). I’m going to phone the vets to get some more metacam for her- I couldn’t tell you if it is making any impact because she’s still able to move about etc., but I like to have it in anyway just in case. She has fur loss around her legs (presumably from barbering), no signs of mites, her OH does not bully her and is being absolutely golden to her as he washes her eye and lies next to her and she seems to rely on him for where the treats/food is!, her teeth are fine, she has had laboured breathing for weeks now, she’s stopped wheeking as much, ruled out any form of allergies and environmental factors and nothing, she is an indoor piggie with her own bedroom, no discharge or any typical indicators of URI- she doesn’t even sneeze. I just feel like tearing my hair out. I don’t really post because I just take my babies to the vets ASAP when I get a gut feeling but it’s now been 5 different places, many appointments and the question of 1- is it going to stress her out more? 2- the risk of sedation/invasive procedures.
Her crunching noise has reappeared and I’m wondering whether she has something stuck/lodged up her nose?! If anyone has ever experienced this, I’d be grateful for anything (I know symptoms overlap and this will no way give a prognosis of what Ruby has) but I think this will help my sanity if anything. Thank you to anyone in advance for reading and replying to this VERY LONG post!
I am writing this post as I am getting pretty desperate to find out what is wrong with my little piggie Ruby. Here’s the back story of what has been happening:
Spring this year, Ruby had hay poke- I managed to get her to the vets before anything progressed and she was given treatment. Then she was fine.
Start of August I was concerned Ruby was possibly blind due to not reacting to stimulus or being fairly inconsistent with it- I tried several little tests and I wasn’t sure so took her to the vets- one vet gave me Maxitrol and said it was uveitis (inflammation of the iris) and that day I booked for a second opinion with the other vet who said was more appropriate for looking at her. Took Ruby to him and he said it was more than likely a brain tumour. (Just to point out that Ruby hasn’t displayed any circling, head tilt etc. Her eyes do react, although very limited, to light) and so that was that.
At the end of August and again in mid September Ruby has been to another vets (the vet was amazing!) - she thoroughly checked Ruby and said she has lost weight. We upped her food intake (Ruby’s appetite had not changed as she is a foodie and loves to drink water), and she went from 0.75kg to 0.8kg so that was good. At this time I noted Ruby had started making a crackling sound (sounds like creaky floorboards), which is very inconsistent. The vet checked her lungs and stated everything was clear, her heart was strong and there were no ulcers on her eyes and said her bladder and bowel movements were fine. She also didn’t think she was blind. She did a dipstick test and bilirubin flagged up but she wasn’t presenting any other symptoms (and still isn’t to date) and so she wasn’t concerned.
Ruby’s right eye is also very inconsistent as she has a red, watery eye one minute and then it will clear up the next. Very strange. Nonetheless it was decided to put her on Sulfatrim and a tiny amount of Metacam for 10 days to rule out a possibility of URI.
I went to the “small animal clinic” on the 22nd of last month (although the sign suggested it was for small animals, it was just a general vets). The vet I saw stated that she could have an X-ray (Ruby is approx. 3 and a half years old and I was very reluctant to put her under sedation) but once the vet stated she wouldn’t be sedated, she would just stand on the X-ray plate and get a view from there, I opted for it. The vet concluded a prognosis of lung cancer and that was that. She did state that there was a specialist vets I could go to and they would email the X-ray over.
The following day I went to the exotic pet specialist. He looked at the X-ray before he told me that he couldn’t do anything with just a lateral view, he would need both a lateral and ventral to look into anything. He did say he didn’t think the X-ray showed lung cancer though. Ruby was put on a course of metacam and Bayril for 10 days and that is the lengthy bit of literature about the vet visits.
To current date: Ruby is no worse or better. The abx do not seem to have benefitted her at all. Her appetite is still brilliant although her weight is an issue (we have critical care food that we feed her and plenty of veggies), her water intake seems as though it has slightly reduced so she’s been having additional syringed water feeds to keep her hydrated. She is producing pellets normally and urinating still a good amount, her eye and breathing are still so inconsistent (this morning she was crackling and now it has stopped). I’m going to phone the vets to get some more metacam for her- I couldn’t tell you if it is making any impact because she’s still able to move about etc., but I like to have it in anyway just in case. She has fur loss around her legs (presumably from barbering), no signs of mites, her OH does not bully her and is being absolutely golden to her as he washes her eye and lies next to her and she seems to rely on him for where the treats/food is!, her teeth are fine, she has had laboured breathing for weeks now, she’s stopped wheeking as much, ruled out any form of allergies and environmental factors and nothing, she is an indoor piggie with her own bedroom, no discharge or any typical indicators of URI- she doesn’t even sneeze. I just feel like tearing my hair out. I don’t really post because I just take my babies to the vets ASAP when I get a gut feeling but it’s now been 5 different places, many appointments and the question of 1- is it going to stress her out more? 2- the risk of sedation/invasive procedures.
Her crunching noise has reappeared and I’m wondering whether she has something stuck/lodged up her nose?! If anyone has ever experienced this, I’d be grateful for anything (I know symptoms overlap and this will no way give a prognosis of what Ruby has) but I think this will help my sanity if anything. Thank you to anyone in advance for reading and replying to this VERY LONG post!
she’s also eating fine so she can breathe when she’s eating but it’s still so strange and the vets have no clue either what it could be. She’s just had a strip of red bell pepper and ate all of that and going to syringe feed her some more water. She was making the noise just and now she’s stopped and she’s munching on hay so that’s good. She appears fine in herself and is able to do the basics, it’s just her breathing, her weight and her eye that’s a mystery. I videoed her breathing noise but unfortunately it won’t allow me to post vids on here but here are the photos of her eye- she always looks as though she has one eye bigger than the other but it’s not, it is literally the way she has her crest. I’ve also taken a picture with the light facing onto her red eye and it looks more amplified than looking at it under natural light but if this helps maybe the specialists, then here it is.
x
x
x
) x
She was a beauty. It's always a difficult time when you can't find a cure. We were at the same situation for a few months ago with our Cookie. Not URI but it started with all the abscess in her neck. After we fixed that, we can't figure out what else was wrong and why she kept on losing weight. Even the vets really can't point us anything coz the tests were all negative of something we think. In the end she had chest infection and she passed away after just 2 days of it.