Franny_in_Wheekland
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi all,
I am after some advice of how I can continue with my poorly little piggie.
Please can I advise, my girl is currently an inpatient at the vets. She is registered at a Cavy savvy practice who are listed on the GPF’s Vet list.
For clarity, I am not asking anyone to make a diagnosis or for home medication advice. I am just after some thoughts/help to navigate me through my current predicament.
My girl Ori, is 3.5 years old, she came into my care 3 months ago. Her right bottom incisor was always veryyyy slightly longer than her left one. She had no malocclusion, never appeared to be in pain and it has definitely never interrupted her eating. Her molars have always been fine also. It was something I was advised just needed to be mindful of and to watch if it ever affected her eating.
She is my most chunky, food motivated pig. About two weeks ago, I noticed her struggling with certain textures of veggies (fine with hay and pellets) her weight had slightly decreased by 50g (weekly weight). I kept a close eye on her, and booked her in for a vet appointment. Her poops were normal for her. I made sure she had some pellet porridge, her ability to eat hay was not hugely impacted. I put her on daily weights, no dramatic drop, just the usual fluctuations of 30g.
At the vets, On examination, incisors as stated, normal molars. She had slightly reduced bowel sounds. She was started on metacam and GI motility meds for 5 days. She was doing great, weight holding around 1025g. I was advised she would benefit from her bottom incisors clipping. I booked her in for this dental work at the end of the month.
On day 7, this was approximately 36 hours after her medications, including the metacam had finished. She was clearly in lots of pain, sat puffed up, hiding away not her usual self. I called the vet and asked for a repeat prescription of metacam. This was dog metacam, 0.76ml twice a day. Despite restarting the metacam, she still struggled with eating. I had her on recovery formula and daily weights.
I was able to get the vets to bring forward her dental procedure to last Thursday, this was done under anaesthetic. I managed to keep her weight between 1050g-1125g before her procedure.
The morning of her procedure (last Thursday) she weighed 1024g. I was advised on x-Ray she had some nodularity on her jaw, near the root of the incisor. It was the thought of the vet, this is what was causing the difference in incisor length. Her molars were fine. They clipped her incisors, so they were level.
I collected her on Thursday evening after her op, she was sleepy and a bit dopey. She had the appetite but struggled to eat. She was trying to chew herbs and hay, but it was almost as if she would ‘gum’ it for a bit and then fall out of her mouth. She would try so hard to eat, but then became very frustrated that she was unable to do so. To the point where she stopped trying. She would also not drink from her bowl or bottle. She had two small poops at about 9pm and a small wee.
I started syringe feeding around 11pm that night. She had no bowel movement, and didn’t pass any water. Despite recovery formula/water being fed. I took her to the vets first thing Friday morning. Her weight was 1016g.
I was advised her bowel sounds were slowed. The vet put this and the difficulty chewing down to post-anaesthetic changes. They kept her in overnight for monitoring and syringe feeding. Around 2am Saturday morning she developed gut stasis. She stayed at the vets Friday night until Monday tea time. As per the advice of the vet. She had bowel movements Sunday and Monday. They advised her weight was increasing also.
I went to collect her on Monday night, I was advised she had been observed eating independently and her weight had increased to 1080g.
When I got her home on Monday night, I settled her and the other girls into the enclosure. Allowed them to rest for a couple of hours. I did her meds metacam, GI motility stuff around 9pm. Out of curiosity, because I didn’t see how she had been independently eating at the vets, based on how she was acting. Home weight was 998g.
My scales have always been within around 5g of the vet’s scales.
On Monday night, she would not eat independently despite me trying different texture hay, pellets and veggies. In different sizes for her. Again, she would be excited and try to eat but it was as if she was not physically able. The only way I can describe this is, it was as if her incisors would not make contact with whatever she was attempting to eat. I tried hand feeding multiple times, also allowing her to try and do it herself. A couple of hours go by, she is still unable so I start syringe feeding recovery formula and water again. About 6ml, every 2 hours.
She had no poops at all over night, and she was increasingly lethargic/apathetic. I took her back to the vet first thing this morning again. She was reviewed by the vet, who thinks this is a pain issue caused by the nodular change to her jaw. They were starting her on tramadol and continuing the GI motility meds and metacam.
She is staying again overnight tonight, as per the vet. This didn’t sit comfortable with the weight loss (that was properly incorrectly entered) and previous report of independent eating. I wanted to bring her home so I could syringe feed her 2 hourly. I was unable to bring her home as they had her on fluids.
She was constantly doing a chewing motion with her mouth/teeth grinding. Which I think has been mistaken for hay consumption whilst she was at the vets.
I feel heartbroken for her, that she has had all this trauma in such a short space of time. I don’t think uprooting her to and from the vet is doing her any favours for her.
All I want to do is the right thing by her.
I’m sorry this was such a long post, a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks.
I feel my mind is going 1000mph.
Any advice would be appreciated.
I am after some advice of how I can continue with my poorly little piggie.
Please can I advise, my girl is currently an inpatient at the vets. She is registered at a Cavy savvy practice who are listed on the GPF’s Vet list.
For clarity, I am not asking anyone to make a diagnosis or for home medication advice. I am just after some thoughts/help to navigate me through my current predicament.
My girl Ori, is 3.5 years old, she came into my care 3 months ago. Her right bottom incisor was always veryyyy slightly longer than her left one. She had no malocclusion, never appeared to be in pain and it has definitely never interrupted her eating. Her molars have always been fine also. It was something I was advised just needed to be mindful of and to watch if it ever affected her eating.
She is my most chunky, food motivated pig. About two weeks ago, I noticed her struggling with certain textures of veggies (fine with hay and pellets) her weight had slightly decreased by 50g (weekly weight). I kept a close eye on her, and booked her in for a vet appointment. Her poops were normal for her. I made sure she had some pellet porridge, her ability to eat hay was not hugely impacted. I put her on daily weights, no dramatic drop, just the usual fluctuations of 30g.
At the vets, On examination, incisors as stated, normal molars. She had slightly reduced bowel sounds. She was started on metacam and GI motility meds for 5 days. She was doing great, weight holding around 1025g. I was advised she would benefit from her bottom incisors clipping. I booked her in for this dental work at the end of the month.
On day 7, this was approximately 36 hours after her medications, including the metacam had finished. She was clearly in lots of pain, sat puffed up, hiding away not her usual self. I called the vet and asked for a repeat prescription of metacam. This was dog metacam, 0.76ml twice a day. Despite restarting the metacam, she still struggled with eating. I had her on recovery formula and daily weights.
I was able to get the vets to bring forward her dental procedure to last Thursday, this was done under anaesthetic. I managed to keep her weight between 1050g-1125g before her procedure.
The morning of her procedure (last Thursday) she weighed 1024g. I was advised on x-Ray she had some nodularity on her jaw, near the root of the incisor. It was the thought of the vet, this is what was causing the difference in incisor length. Her molars were fine. They clipped her incisors, so they were level.
I collected her on Thursday evening after her op, she was sleepy and a bit dopey. She had the appetite but struggled to eat. She was trying to chew herbs and hay, but it was almost as if she would ‘gum’ it for a bit and then fall out of her mouth. She would try so hard to eat, but then became very frustrated that she was unable to do so. To the point where she stopped trying. She would also not drink from her bowl or bottle. She had two small poops at about 9pm and a small wee.
I started syringe feeding around 11pm that night. She had no bowel movement, and didn’t pass any water. Despite recovery formula/water being fed. I took her to the vets first thing Friday morning. Her weight was 1016g.
I was advised her bowel sounds were slowed. The vet put this and the difficulty chewing down to post-anaesthetic changes. They kept her in overnight for monitoring and syringe feeding. Around 2am Saturday morning she developed gut stasis. She stayed at the vets Friday night until Monday tea time. As per the advice of the vet. She had bowel movements Sunday and Monday. They advised her weight was increasing also.
I went to collect her on Monday night, I was advised she had been observed eating independently and her weight had increased to 1080g.
When I got her home on Monday night, I settled her and the other girls into the enclosure. Allowed them to rest for a couple of hours. I did her meds metacam, GI motility stuff around 9pm. Out of curiosity, because I didn’t see how she had been independently eating at the vets, based on how she was acting. Home weight was 998g.
My scales have always been within around 5g of the vet’s scales.
On Monday night, she would not eat independently despite me trying different texture hay, pellets and veggies. In different sizes for her. Again, she would be excited and try to eat but it was as if she was not physically able. The only way I can describe this is, it was as if her incisors would not make contact with whatever she was attempting to eat. I tried hand feeding multiple times, also allowing her to try and do it herself. A couple of hours go by, she is still unable so I start syringe feeding recovery formula and water again. About 6ml, every 2 hours.
She had no poops at all over night, and she was increasingly lethargic/apathetic. I took her back to the vet first thing this morning again. She was reviewed by the vet, who thinks this is a pain issue caused by the nodular change to her jaw. They were starting her on tramadol and continuing the GI motility meds and metacam.
She is staying again overnight tonight, as per the vet. This didn’t sit comfortable with the weight loss (that was properly incorrectly entered) and previous report of independent eating. I wanted to bring her home so I could syringe feed her 2 hourly. I was unable to bring her home as they had her on fluids.
She was constantly doing a chewing motion with her mouth/teeth grinding. Which I think has been mistaken for hay consumption whilst she was at the vets.
I feel heartbroken for her, that she has had all this trauma in such a short space of time. I don’t think uprooting her to and from the vet is doing her any favours for her.
All I want to do is the right thing by her.
I’m sorry this was such a long post, a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks.
I feel my mind is going 1000mph.
Any advice would be appreciated.
