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Eating Issues

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Larissa98

New Born Pup
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Ontario, Canada
It’s been about two days since my 3 year old, neutered male guinea pig Jos Louis has eaten solid food. It’s been more than 24 hours since he has pooped. He has done one small pee. He has also lost nearly 300 grams in weight in less than a month.

I noticed two weeks ago that Jos was losing weight, so I decided to keep an eye on him, make sure his ‘roommates’ weren’t keeping him from eating his veggies and that he was behaving normally. It wasn’t until yesterday, when I cleaned out the enclosure that I noticed how quickly his health had declined. Two days ago, I fed the piggies their veggies, filled their pellets, hay and water before leaving for the day. I didn’t have the chance to stick around and observe them/hang with them like I usually do.
The next day (yesterday) I fed them in the morning again, but knowing that I would be cleaning their enclosure and doing health checks later, I chose not to observe them at that time. I’m not sure if he ate anything, but I assume he hadn’t because he was so poorly.
I chose to remove him from the enclosure and keep him in a separate cage to track his health (although I mostly just held him all night). I offered him all his favourite foods, all which he refused to even taste. Seeing how thin and dehydrated he was, I chose to start syringe feeding him critical care and water.
I stayed up with him most of the night, concerned that he wouldn’t make it. This morning I called the vet and made an appointment.
I assumed that he was having issues with his teeth, since he wasn’t eating or putting things in his mouth. However, the vet had a look, and from what she saw, his teeth were in pretty good shape. She did say that she would be able to see more if he were sedated, but didn’t think that was necessary at that point.
She gave him some fluids, and sent us home with some medicam in case he is in pain, and trimebutine to aid his digestive system in rebooting.
Jos hasn’t pooped for at least 24 hours, but it could be more (it’s hard to tell since there are others in the enclosure). He did have a very small pee while in the carrier on the way to the vet. It was a very pleasant surprise.

I’m not sure exactly what is wrong with him, and neither is the vet. He doesn’t have any lumps or bumps ( such as bladder stones), he is active when bothered (ie was putting up a fight at the vet) and he isn’t showing any other symptoms. Just won’t eat,drink or poop. I’m going to continue to feed him critical care every few hours, and will begin his medications at 7 this evening (as it needs to be given every 12 hours).
I was just wondering if any of you have had a similar experience and if you every found out what was wrong? If he hasn’t used the washroom by tomorrow evening, I will be taking him back to the vet for blood work and xrays- it would be nice to know what sorts of things I could be expecting!

Ps. Jos is adopted from a rescue- there is a chance that he is older than the rescue estimated.
 
I’m so sorry for both of you, try and get plenty of critical care into him and massage his tummy. Can you get him a pro biotic like C Vit or fibre plex? Good luck
Someone more experience will be along with more experience soon x
 
Larissa98 said:
It’s been about two days since my 3 year old, neutered male guinea pig Jos Louis has eaten solid food. It’s been more than 24 hours since he has pooped. He has done one small pee. He has also lost nearly 300 grams in weight in less than a month.

I noticed two weeks ago that Jos was losing weight, so I decided to keep an eye on him, make sure his ‘roommates’ weren’t keeping him from eating his veggies and that he was behaving normally. It wasn’t until yesterday, when I cleaned out the enclosure that I noticed how quickly his health had declined. Two days ago, I fed the piggies their veggies, filled their pellets, hay and water before leaving for the day. I didn’t have the chance to stick around and observe them/hang with them like I usually do.
The next day (yesterday) I fed them in the morning again, but knowing that I would be cleaning their enclosure and doing health checks later, I chose not to observe them at that time. I’m not sure if he ate anything, but I assume he hadn’t because he was so poorly.
I chose to remove him from the enclosure and keep him in a separate cage to track his health (although I mostly just held him all night). I offered him all his favourite foods, all which he refused to even taste. Seeing how thin and dehydrated he was, I chose to start syringe feeding him critical care and water.
I stayed up with him most of the night, concerned that he wouldn’t make it. This morning I called the vet and made an appointment.
I assumed that he was having issues with his teeth, since he wasn’t eating or putting things in his mouth. However, the vet had a look, and from what she saw, his teeth were in pretty good shape. She did say that she would be able to see more if he were sedated, but didn’t think that was necessary at that point.
She gave him some fluids, and sent us home with some medicam in case he is in pain, and trimebutine to aid his digestive system in rebooting.
Jos hasn’t pooped for at least 24 hours, but it could be more (it’s hard to tell since there are others in the enclosure). He did have a very small pee while in the carrier on the way to the vet. It was a very pleasant surprise.

I’m not sure exactly what is wrong with him, and neither is the vet. He doesn’t have any lumps or bumps ( such as bladder stones), he is active when bothered (ie was putting up a fight at the vet) and he isn’t showing any other symptoms. Just won’t eat,drink or poop. I’m going to continue to feed him critical care every few hours, and will begin his medications at 7 this evening (as it needs to be given every 12 hours).
I was just wondering if any of you have had a similar experience and if you every found out what was wrong? If he hasn’t used the washroom by tomorrow evening, I will be taking him back to the vet for blood work and xrays- it would be nice to know what sorts of things I could be expecting!

Ps. Jos is adopted from a rescue- there is a chance that he is older than the rescue estimated.
Click to expand...

Hi!

I am very sorry that Jos is so badly ill.

Lack of poos means that no food has gone in the previous 1-2 days; you will see the gap in the food intake reflected in the output. Has your vet checked whether his gut is still working? Has he got gut stimulants to make sure that the gut keeps going and some painkiller in case it is a pain issue that is causing the total loss of appetite (which it very often is)? Did your vet take an x-ray to see whether there were any internal irregularities like a gassed up belly, internal growths etc. ?

Please keep in mind that over 80% of what a guinea pig eats in a day is hay; veg and pellets only make a comparatively small proportion. You can't controll the weight by eye, only by weighing weekly when a piggy is well and weighing daily when you have concerns. A piggy can go downhill very quickly unfortunately.

Please take the time to read these links here; you may find them very helpful:
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Bloat, GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating
 
It's about 24 hours later now and things seem to be on the right track. I've been feeding Jos about 8-10 ml of Critical Care every 3ish hours (I know it is a lot, but he has lost a lot of weight and needs the extra nutrients). I also give him about 3 ml of warm water in a syringe every 3 hours- apparently the warmth helps to get his gut moving. I've also been massaging his belly, which he isn't to fond of, but kind of gives in to, haha.
I think we were/are dealing with GI Stasis, but he seems to be on the road to recovery. He has put on about 15 grams (which is significant considering he has only been losing up until this point). He also has been pooping- hooorrrayyy! His poops were incredibly strange for a majority of the day, and looked like thin black twigs. I'm guessing this is the poo that was in his body these past three days. About an hour ago he started pooping pellets. They're teeny tiny and a bit sticky, but solid and shapely.
Although I'm optimistic that things are on the right track, he still isn't eating solid food on his own, and isn't drinking enough water from his bottle (although he does take a couple of licks throughout the day).
I still don't know what caused Jos to stop eating. As long as he stays on the right track, I'll give him a couple of days to try to regain his appetite and start eating on his own again. If this doesn't improve, we will be heading back to the doc.
Has anyone had an experience where their piggy developed GI Stasis for no particular reason? He doesn't have any infections, there was no cause for him to be stressed, his diet is well balanced, and as far as the vet can see, his teeth are in good shape. About two months ago I did switch my pigs from Oxbow essentials to Oxbow garden select pellets (because it has significantly less soy). Could this be a cause for it/ should I switch them back?

I appreciate your feedback and advice! Have a good one :)
 
Larissa98 said:
It's about 24 hours later now and things seem to be on the right track. I've been feeding Jos about 8-10 ml of Critical Care every 3ish hours (I know it is a lot, but he has lost a lot of weight and needs the extra nutrients). I also give him about 3 ml of warm water in a syringe every 3 hours- apparently the warmth helps to get his gut moving. I've also been massaging his belly, which he isn't to fond of, but kind of gives in to, haha.
I think we were/are dealing with GI Stasis, but he seems to be on the road to recovery. He has put on about 15 grams (which is significant considering he has only been losing up until this point). He also has been pooping- hooorrrayyy! His poops were incredibly strange for a majority of the day, and looked like thin black twigs. I'm guessing this is the poo that was in his body these past three days. About an hour ago he started pooping pellets. They're teeny tiny and a bit sticky, but solid and shapely.
Although I'm optimistic that things are on the right track, he still isn't eating solid food on his own, and isn't drinking enough water from his bottle (although he does take a couple of licks throughout the day).
I still don't know what caused Jos to stop eating. As long as he stays on the right track, I'll give him a couple of days to try to regain his appetite and start eating on his own again. If this doesn't improve, we will be heading back to the doc.
Has anyone had an experience where their piggy developed GI Stasis for no particular reason? He doesn't have any infections, there was no cause for him to be stressed, his diet is well balanced, and as far as the vet can see, his teeth are in good shape. About two months ago I did switch my pigs from Oxbow essentials to Oxbow garden select pellets (because it has significantly less soy). Could this be a cause for it/ should I switch them back?

I appreciate your feedback and advice! Have a good one :)
Click to expand...

Yes, my Pili Pala did that; you can find the link to her GI stasis thread, which follows her progress through the stasis and her recovery via our GI stasis support care guide when you click on this link here: Bloat, GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating

There can be an underlying issue that is yet not noticeable. Pili Pala was eventually diagnosed with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) when she struggled with her recovery and her weight was up and down all the time. She needed medical support in the form of metacam, emeprid, zantac and cisapride (which really made a difference for her) for the year she lived after her GI stasis. She was nearly 6 years when she died from a massive heart attack.
 
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