• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Drinking loads

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dacota
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

Dacota

Weena is drinking loads.

She has always drank more then the others anyway, but recently she seams to be drinking more then usual. Nothing has changed with her diet however she is in a larger cage now.

Unfortunately I do not know the age of her as I adopted her as 'adult, age unknown'

She is fine in herself, active and still eating her veg, pellets and hay.

I'm going to be taking her to the vets tomorrow, but I'm not sure if the vet I use is up on guinea pigs - have never had to take any of the pigs before other then for claw trimming. Unfortunately my search for a vet with specific guinea pig know how in this area has come up with nil results and as my vet is lovely and very thorough I think this is the best option.

Anyway I would like to know:
1. What sort of questions should I be asking the vet?
2. What tests would you expect him to carry out on her?
3. What do you think it is - or am I be overprotective? (I know its difficult to diagnose, just like to be forewarned what I may be up against)

Thanks for your help :)
 
Dacota said:
Weena is drinking loads.

She has always drank more then the others anyway, but recently she seams to be drinking more then usual. Nothing has changed with her diet however she is in a larger cage now.

Unfortunately I do not know the age of her as I adopted her as 'adult, age unknown'

She is fine in herself, active and still eating her veg, pellets and hay.

I'm going to be taking her to the vets tomorrow, but I'm not sure if the vet I use is up on guinea pigs - have never had to take any of the pigs before other then for claw trimming. Unfortunately my search for a vet with specific guinea pig know how in this area has come up with nil results and as my vet is lovely and very thorough I think this is the best option.

Anyway I would like to know:
1. What sort of questions should I be asking the vet?
2. What tests would you expect him to carry out on her?
3. What do you think it is - or am I be overprotective? (I know its difficult to diagnose, just like to be forewarned what I may be up against)

Thanks for your help :)
Click to expand...

Check for any signs of scraching/biting a particular area. My piggy currently has mites and I've noticed him drinking more because of it. This may not be the case with your little one but just check anyways
 
Has she lost any weight is one of the most important things? If you're not sure weigh her daily for the next week to see.
 
[quot"rw3399, post: 479422"]Has sh lost any wight is on of th most important things? If you'r not sur wigh hr aily for th nxt wk to s.[/quot]

[r]Ys wight loss woul b a sign somthing is wrong, th vt may ask you has sh lost any wight so it woul b goo to know if sh has or not[/]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Urinalysis with a testing stick would show the presence of glucose or ketones. You can ask your vet to do this, if the guinea will provide a sample!
 
Are you seeing her drinking more?
and is she drinking it and not mouthing the bottle and letting it dribble
Guinea pigs have been known to do this also is the bottle working ok i have one bottle that empties quicker than others no matter who has it!
 
thanks for the replies.

I think she has lost alittle weight, but she was over weight and now gets more exercise in the larger cage so this could be the cause. She also has a younger cage buddy which I think has cheered her up. She pop corns by running round in circles though her tunnel, so she is definately happy enough.

Unfortunately I am no domestic godess so don't own any kitchen scales - did try weighing them on the bathroom scales once but nothing registered - I'm sure they are broke, well they are when I weigh my self ;)

Will ask my Mum if she has any kitchen scales - although she is as much of a domestic godess as me!

Re the drinking, not sure if she is mouthing the water bottle - I presume if she was she would have dribble around her mouth? When she is at the bottle we see the bubbles so I presume from this she is drinking?

I will ask for one of those urine test things (won't even try to pronounce it), I'm sure the vet will know what I'm on about though.

Just had her out for a check over and groom. Her left eye looks a little cloudy - but that could be 1) the light 2) my eyes or 3) being 'looking' for things.

Thanks again for all those replies, if anyone has anything extra to add I would be very grateful :) (not that the advice already given is not excellent .....oh you know what I mean :red)
 
If she's getting more exercise than maybe that's why she's drinking more.
 
rw3399 said:
If she's getting more exercise than maybe that's why she's drinking more.
Click to expand...

I agree also the addition of a cage mate can increase appetite etc, they worry if they don't have it the other might. Heres hoping there's not anything wrong with her, Let us know how you get on at the vets:)
 
Hi Dacota ... welcome to the forum and the mad world of piggies! :))

I was wondering how long have you owned Weena?

Does she live alone as it could be a companion drinking more, but I guess she lives alone.
 
Hi Goldie, thanks for the welcome :(|)

No Weena has always lived with another piggy. I adopted both her and Faith from the RSPCA last October, but unfortunately Faith passed away a few weeks ago following a 'fainting' fit at the vets. We think it was old age as we did not know the age of her either :(

So I adopted two neutered boys from the RSPCA, since found out that two boys and a girl is a no no so have also taken in another sow, Miss Piggy.

Weena has always lived in the kitchen / family room. Originally in Nero 3, but now she is in one of the two 4 x 2 C&C's we have in front of the couch - with her boyfriend Dacota.

So we definately know it's her drinking.

Just had a thought, does anyone know if sows drink more then bores? Its just that Miss Piggy drinks more then Deablo so was wondering if there's a link?

Could not get an appointment at the vets yesterday so we are going today at 4pm. I am sure I am worrying over nothing, but after loosing Faith I would rather be safe then sorry and get Weena checked out. Fingers crossed its me being overprotective!
 
I think it depends on the size of the piggie and how active they rather than the sex. I've had 2 sows and the one drank twice the amount of the other.
 
There is one other thing I thought of which has symptoms of weight loss, excessive drinking, etc is diabetes. You also mentioned that her eye looked cloudy which is another symptom of diabetes - the onset of cataracts. This is usually diagnosed in piggies who are fairly young but don't worry as this can be treated with regular medication. Hope this link helps and please don't panic

http://www.guinealynx.info/links.html#diabetes
 
What I was wondering too - hence the urinaylsis.

Riff has catarcts and drinks loads - we suspect diabetes. Because of that Riff is on a low sugar diet - ie little fruit.
 
Dacota said:
thanks for the replies.

I think she has lost alittle weight, but she was over weight and now gets more exercise in the larger cage so this could be the cause. She also has a younger cage buddy which I think has cheered her up. She pop corns by running round in circles though her tunnel, so she is definately happy enough.

Unfortunately I am no domestic godess so don't own any kitchen scales - did try weighing them on the bathroom scales once but nothing registered - I'm sure they are broke, well they are when I weigh my self ;)

Will ask my Mum if she has any kitchen scales - although she is as much of a domestic godess as me!

Re the drinking, not sure if she is mouthing the water bottle - I presume if she was she would have dribble around her mouth? When she is at the bottle we see the bubbles so I presume from this she is drinking?

I will ask for one of those urine test things (won't even try to pronounce it), I'm sure the vet will know what I'm on about though.

Just had her out for a check over and groom. Her left eye looks a little cloudy - but that could be 1) the light 2) my eyes or 3) being 'looking' for things.

Thanks again for all those replies, if anyone has anything extra to add I would be very grateful :) (not that the advice already given is not excellent .....oh you know what I mean :red)
Click to expand...

I recently got a pair of digital scales from Tesco for only £10.00 maybe you should invest in them :) They measure in grams/kg but also in pounds the glass top (where you set your piggys) is a little small but they fit okay
 
Thanks for the link .... was wondering about diabeties as well (but as said before not sure if I'm 'looking for stuff')

Well its half and hour to our appointment so I guess I will know then either way.

fingers crossed its just me being a worry wort!

Will let you all know when we get back - thanks for all the support xx>>>
 
Kerry123 said:
I recently got a pair of digital scales from Tesco for only £10.00 maybe you should invest in them :) They measure in grams/kg but also in pounds the glass top (where you set your piggys) is a little small but they fit okay
Click to expand...

I bought those ones as well.
 
Well we have just got back. The vet gave Weena a through examination and almost positively ruled out ovian cysts (apparently this can cause increased thirst)

However he felt that she was a little tender around her kidney's so has given us some Baytrill at a dose of 0.2ml for 10 days just in case she has an infection.

Unfortunately Weena had already emptied her bladder whilst we were waiting, so I have a surindge (sp) to collect a sample for a urinanalysis and drop of to him.

I asked what the treatment would be if it was diabeties and he said that g.pigs do not do well on insulin so it would be control by diet and to ensure she always has access to water.

Anyway I feel a little more happier now that she has been examined and any thing really nasty has been ruled out and that the vet has covered all bases.

We do have to go back in a week if the drinking stays the same after the course of Baytrill but I will worry about that if we reach that point.

Thanks again for your support xx>>>
 
Glad to hear she's seen the vet, good luck with the syringe for the urine! When she's drank some more try putting her on a sheet of plastic, then you can get the wee up more easily...

Hope she perks up soon

Sophie
x
 
Hopefully the Baytril will clear away any infection and she'll be right as rain soon. Another way to try and get a urine sample is to put her the bath or sink.
 
Yeah, fingers crossed that the Baytrill does the trick .... though to be honest, if it were not for the fact that the G.Pigs live in our kitchen I would not have known that anything was wrong (or specifically with Weena) as she looks and acts so well. Like I have said before I am probably worrying over nothing! :red

Luckily I still have their old shop bought cage. So the vet said to throughly clean it out with washing up liquid, allow it to air dry and pop her in there for a hour ..... or as long as it takes ;)
 
Don't worry about panicking over nothing. I'm sure we have all been there! Plus piggies are very strong little creatures and sometimes they may be poorly and we don't know it because they are good at hiding things.
 
Just thought I would give you all an update.

Weena has been on the Baytrill for 5 days now ......... and she's not drinking no where near as much :(|)

So it looks as though it was a slight kidney infection after all!

*** probably put a jinx on it now and she will now down a bottle in one sitting ***
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top