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Difficulty Eating, Bit More Fluffed Up And Sleepy Than Usual

Oh how stressful, have you tried mixing a little wheatgrass powder in with the recovery or mixing it with 1/3 of the liquid swapped for Apple juice? Also emeraid can be a short term change that gets their appetite back (it’s not high enough fibre for long term use). If he likes pellets then mushed pellets with boiling water allowed to cool.
 
He was happy with Recovery for the first couple of weeks but now seems to have gone off it completely very suddenly. We tried him with half mushed pellets half Recovery this morning but he wasn't swayed. Thanks for the suggestions we will try him with fully mushed pellets and we will try him with some mixed with apple juice too. He is actually able to eat small stalks of coriander and full pieces of Rocket now etc which he couldn't do before presumably due to pain, so I genuinely think his food refusal of other things is more of an emotional stress response than due to increasing pain in his mouth, I think he may be getting depressed. This morning he refused to eat more than one pellet as well and he usually loves his pellets and eats about 8-12 in one go but cut up into quarters and soaked in warm water.

We will bear in mind TEAS but he is a very shy, anxious pig who has been with his brother his whole life, I'm not sure it would be right for him to be moved. At the moment we are still plodding away and waiting for more info and advice from the vets. I will bear everything in mind though, we want to do right by him, he is so precious to us and it is so awful to have to force feed him or see him sitting there looking so sad.
 
I just wanted to give you a Plan B, in case you felt that putting to sleep was the only option left. We have recently taken a piggy who had been with his little friend since they were very young. He's doing really well and now has a new friend, who he has settled with and they're now really close friends and cuddle together.
 
No I appreciate that thank you, it is something I hadn't thought of before so will definitely bear it in mind. But I think if he doesn't want to eat for himself that would be no quality of life long-term surely? I don't want to put him to sleep prematurely or if he can still live a happy life but I don't want to condemn him to a lifetime of pain and suffering, unable to eat properly when he was so food-orientated and loved to eat before and now his interest in food is diminishing. Actually his interest in anything is diminishing which is why I think it's more that he is depressed than the pain getting worse or anything. It's so annoying the Easter weekend too just delaying everything as the vets have been closed since Thursday so we can't even call for an appt until Tuesday and I doubt we'd get one that day given how many other people probably also want one for Tuesday and it's not an emergency.

We just tried him with mushed up pellet formula btw and he voluntarily only took 2ml so then we had to force feed him the rest still :( I can't even do it due to disability so my husband has to do them all and it is really hard for him he is getting very upset.
 
Unfortunately, so many piggies suffer, due to many vets not having sufficient experience with guinea pig dental issues. We are so lucky here, that we have such an amazing vet, who has transformed the lives of so many piggies, by either completely curing their dental problem, or getting it to a point where it is very manageable (none of the piggies here at TEAS need syringe feeding), but may just need a quick tidy up every so often.

We have a very strict ethos here at TEAS, in that what we do is 'to extend good quality life, but never to prolong suffering'. Most of the guinea pigs that have been surrendered to us, have come from wonderful homes, where the owners have tried everything to get them the treatment they've needed, without success. As soon as they've started to receive treatment from Simon, most have been eating for themselves immediately and the rest within a few days.

When owners make the heartbreaking decision to surrender their much loved piggy to TEAS, we always keep them informed of how the piggy is doing and welcome visits too.
 
He seems to be going downhill I think. He will no longer voluntarily eat any formula (we've tried Recovery, Recovery+, we've tried both of these with part apple juice, we've tried mushed pellet formula, and this with part apple juice etc), nor will he ate any pellets anymore, not even dunked in warm water. I think he is getting depressed. He wouldn't eat any veg this morning either even though when he heard me rustle the bag he was wheeking really loud and running about excited but then when I gave him the chopped up coriander stems which was one of the only veggies he has been eating he wouldn't eat any at all.

I also didn't mention this before but one of his back feet has been a bit red and sore for the last few weeks, we've been keeping an eye on it and regularly applying Sudocrem but today it is visibly more swollen and I think it is affecting his walking presumably as it is sore. It was also caked in dried on poop. I got most of it off with warm water and applied more Sudocrem but he found this very stressful. My husband thinks it is infected which is what we've been trying to prevent the last couple of weeks. :(
 
What are the incisors looking like? Are they very overgrown? Are they slanted? It sounds to me like there is something going on with the back teeth too as it would seem that he wants food but just can't do anything with it, when it is presented to him. You really need to get a vet to take a look at the foot. If infection gets into the bone, it will be very difficult to resolve.
 
The vet said the incisors are not overgrown but are sort of slanted, but otherwise they meet together well. He can pick up food with them - at first this is what he seemed to be having difficulty with but the previous vet filed them as they were a bit overgrown but since they've been filed he can pick up and hold it but he seems to have difficulty actually biting off pieces if that makes sense. So he will pick up a larger piece of veg but clearly can't bite off a chunk that would fit in his mouth, so I have to give him little bite-sized chunks. He ate some lettuce just before in tiny chunks.

He has had detailed X-rays of his mouth and no identifiable issue with back teeth, vet says his back teeth are perfect, as we were concerned about that too.

The only time I get glimpses of who he actually is when he's wheeking for his veg and when he's eating veg. But the list of veg he will eat is getting smaller and smaller and I don't know why. E.g. initially he would eat little chunks of bell pepper and now he refuses to even try but I'm sure he could eat them if he wanted to so it's very confusing. He will ignore my tiny chunks of bell pepper and then try and chew on a big piece that is meant for his brother but be unable to bite off chunks and then get frustrated and run off.

I know, that's what we are worried about re: feet. We will get him to the vets as soon as we can but it depends what their availability is and how it fits around my husband's uni timetable :(. He already has some bone infection as a result of the abscess and I am wondering whether this could be spreading or make him more prone to bone infection in his foot or if it's just his immune system is very weak so more prone to infections etc atm. My poor boy it is so heartbreaking for us seeing him suffer :(
 
Incisors slanted a bit because abscess has pushed them into a different position by the way, like shifted them along a bit, only the bottom ones, the top ones are normal.
 
He has been at the vets just before, I couldn't go cos of work, my husband took him. Our usual vet is off this week so he saw a different vet who was covering. They suggested putting him to sleep as one option but we talked about it and decided no or at least not yet. The lab results from his abscess still haven't come back and the vet warned it could take weeks. They were mostly worried about his foot which is why we took him, vet is worried about osteomyletis here too. On the plus side he is actually putting on a bit of weight over the last few days although still dangerously underweight and skinny and has gone back to voluntarily eating some pellets and a small amount of Recovery at each feed. Just waiting for my husband to come back and discuss everything more thoroughly with me. May contact you furry soon depending on what we decide to do moving forwards now.
 
He is hovering around the 720-730g mark at the moment, he is a fairly small pig anyway but this is massively less than when healthy, but he was stubbornly sticking around the 680-700g mark for a couple of weeks when he was at his lightest so he is marginally heavier now. I feel a bit sick just writing the numbers out to be honest he's all bone when you touch him :(

Vet dressed both of his back feet, as the other one was starting to get sore too. She said it is like pressure sores from him sitting in one place too much now he's unwell. She said the one that we were really worried about is like an ulcer and likely to be osteomyletis because she said she can feel the swelling has reached the bone a bit. But she said she didn't see the point in an X-ray whilst we're still waiting to see if we can really treat his dental issue. It got so bad so suddenly I don't think there is anything we could have done, one day it was a bit sore and we were treating with Sudocrem and then the next day it was suddenly swollen up loads and we took him to the vet as soon as we could :( His feet look like he is wearing baby booties they are all bandaged up, my poor baby.

He is currently on an antibiotic but I can't remember the name of it I will check when I get home, and also meloxicam for pain, and this new vet has put him on morphine or that's what my husband said I don't know if it's got a different name and is just like morphine or what, once a day to see if he tolerates and if he does then she said we can up to twice a day. She said she will keep pestering the lab for the results but anticipates they will be back sometime next week, we have pre-emptively made him a vet apt for Wed evening and that's with the usual vet who is back then. My husband said he is ok to keep caring for him until then. He is doing most of the care you see as I can't syringe feed him when he's not being cooperative cos of disability.
 
Thank you I appreciate that. We are trying our best but it is really hard :(

The antibiotic is co-trimoxazole. The morphine pain relief the brand is Vetergesic.
 
Since yesterday he is perkier and his appetite has come back too, so the Vetergesic seems to be really helping him, I feel awful that he must have still been in significant pain before. I know it's not a solution to the problem long-term or anything but at least he's not suffering so much right now and is more mobile and eating better etc and just generally has a bit more life in him. The vet gave us Emeraid to replace the Recovery which we've started on today but it turns out he doesn't like it at all and was very resistant to eat it so we're giving him half Emeraid/half mushed up pellets now which is going down much better thankfully as we've ran out of Recovery now. Just ordered some more from the PDSA shop.
 
Piggy been the vets again this evening. It was our usual vet again. He said his feet are not as bad as he anticipated given the other vet's notes, he applied manuka honey and re-dressed them with the veterinary nurse and he has to go back Thursday morning to have them done again and get some Tramadol as he still has no Tramadol in stock and is ordering it in. Turns out the lab lost his sample so that's why we have no results back - but vet checked his abscess and it is apparently much better so this antibiotic is working, luckily. He refunded the sample cost which is good but it basically just offset today's vet consultation & the dressings & medication, still had to pay like £30 for the transport.

It's a mixed bag really. He seems to be recovering but vet said he would be expecting him to be eating better now than he is - although we have seen some improvement over the last few days or so - and he is particularly worried about the fact that he is not really putting on weight. I said upthread he put a bit on but he seems to have lost it again now. So have agreed with vet keep things as they are and keep an eye on him but vet advised if he's not eating independently and putting on weight in 7-10 days time then the kindest thing is likely to be put to sleep. I don't want to get my hopes up but as I say we have seen some improvement with his eating over the last few days so really hoping it continues, but he still won't touch hay or drink water. At the very least even if we put him to sleep we can say we really did everything we could and at the moment he is a lot perkier on the vetergesic and with the abcess healing so is not in pain or suffering all the time for the meantime which is good.
 
Thank you for the update.
Sounds as if it’s all up and down for you.
He’s a lucky piggy having such caring owners
 
Despite pig's eating improving, he still will not eat hay or drink water although he has started to show some interest in both. However he is continuing to lose weight again even though his eating has improved and we are still regularly syringe feeding him between 3 and 5 times a day depending on our availability. Vet now thinks he has kidney failure and that he has not seen any successful outcomes of this taking into account his symptoms. He said he could do testing to find out for sure but this would be very invasive and if it showed what he thinks is the case, that infection has spread and damaged the kidneys, there is no treatment anyway. Therefore it is with a very heavy heart that my partner and I will be going to the vets this evening to be with him while he is put to sleep. It has been a horrendous few weeks and I imagine we will have spent around £1000 on him to no avail. But we have done everything we could and I would rather him be put to sleep now while he is still quite chirpy and not in pain on his medication than just wait and have him decline further and suffer. Thank you to everyone who has provided some much-needed support over the last few weeks, this website has been very useful and therapeutic.
 
Do sorry to hear this news.
It is such a tough decision to make but I know you’ve made it out of love.
Your piggy had such a devoted slave, I hope knowing that will help you as you grieve.
Will be thinking of you all this evening.
 
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