• 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

Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment

Status
Not open for further replies.
Wiebke

Wiebke

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
92,011
Reaction score
84,955
Points
3,466
Location
Coventry UK
1 Statement
2 Emergency assessment and accessing vets
- How urgent is my guinea pig's problem?
- Finding an emergency vet
- Seeing a vet not familiar with guinea pigs (including lists of safe and dangerous medications)
3 First Aid care and easily available products
- General 'always have at home' stuff and comfort measures for very ill guinea pigs
- Improvising support feed; recovery formulas, probiotics, vitamin C and rehydration products
- Accident and injury: Wound care - Bleeding - Limping & broken bones
- Back leg paralysis, falls and attacks
- Eyes
- Ears
- Breathing problems (heaving sides or gasping; kennel cough)
- Heart/circulation (blue lips and/or cold to the touch with apathy and refusal to eat)
- Bloating (swollen/hard/hollow sounding belly), GI stasis (silent belly) and runny diarrhoea
- Bloody pees and screaming when peeing
- Stroke, seizures, balance issues and sudden strong head tilt
- Heat stroke
- Fly strike (maggots)
- Skin problems
4 Bridging and crisis feeding and monitoring support care with tips and resources
5 Looking after a dying guinea pig


1 Statement

The advice in this guide DOES NOT replace a vet visit or any medical diagnosis and treatment!
The following is only there to help keeping your guinea pig going until you can see a vet as soon as possible and until any prescribed medication can kick in. Unfortunately immediate vet access is not available in all areas and countries.

None of the mentioned support products in this guide is a medication.
They do NOT heal; they only help to make your guinea pig more comfortable and – if it is not eating or drinking – attempting to help you keep it going if that is still possible.

Please make a vet appointment first for a clearly ill guinea pig before starting a thread.



2 Emergency assessment, vet access and vet visit resources

Emergency assessment: How urgent is my guinea pig’s problem?
Please contact your closest open vet clinic NOW at any time of the day or night or as soon as any clinic within your reach opens if you are dealing with a life or death emergency! Do not wait for an exotics vet appointment.

List of life and death emergencies
To assess whether your guinea pig’s problem counts as a life or death emergency, please see this link here. It contains the full list of problems that need immediate vet attention: List Of Life And Death Out-of-hours Emergencies

How soon should my guinea pig see a vet?
Not life-threatening problems that should be seen within 24 hours of you noticing or problems that can wait a few days until you can get a regular vet appointment. Book an appointment now for as soon as you can at your regular vets if you can get one in the recommended time span. If you are worried, please always see a vet as soon as you can get to one.
How Soon Should My Guinea Pig See A Vet? - A Quick Guide

Signs of illness and pain
These guide here will help you spot the most common signs of illness and pain quickly and help you assess how urgently they need to be dealt with.
Early Signs Of Illness
Signs of Pain


Finding an emergency vet
Tips for accessing vet care during the coronavirus crisis: Accessing veterinary care during coronavirus/Covid-19 lockdown

In order to find out-of-hours vet care, please ring and listen to the phone message of your regular vet clinic.
In urban areas you can also google for out-of-hours or 24 hour veterinary services.

Please note that night-time appointments or weekend services come with a surcharge. Overnight consultations usually include an over £90+ out-of-hours fee on top of any medication. Some clinics won’t charge for an emergency euthanasia (apart from a normal consultation fee), but others will.
Please make sure that you always have appropriate funds available and accessible at all times. Save up for a vet fund right from the start as part of the weekly/monthly living cost or – for the UK – get exotic pets insurance if you prefer.
More information on vet fees, payment plans, accessing charities for help with vet fees and insurance in several countries in this guide here: A guide to vets fees, insurance and payment support.

Recommended vets with regular opening hours. Exotics vets may have several days’ waiting time.
UK: Recommended Guinea Pig Vets
Some other countries incl. US: Guinea Lynx :: GL's Vet List


Useful resources when seeing a vet not familiar with guinea pigs
You are within your rights to ask the treating vet for what medication they are giving and what their reasoning is, as long as you do it politely. This is especially important for any injections. You are also within your rights to check any medication against these lists before you consent to them being used or before you leave the premises, and you can always ring the clinic for confirmation of medical brands and prescribed dosages afterwards, especially if you feel confused.

Safe medications
List of safe medications: Guinea Lynx :: Medications

Unsafe medications
List of dangerous medications (useful for taking with you when seeing a vet not experienced with guinea pigs): Guinea Lynx :: Dangerous Medications

Further medication to steer clear of and ask for an alternative prescription from your vet:
- Convenia/Zoetis and Orbax antibiotics: not suitable for guinea pigs. All forum guinea pigs that have had them prescribed have not survived.
- Xenex anti-parasitic: Fatal for guinea pigs it is used on.

Steroids
Steroid injections in emergencies are not recommended.
The Problems With Steroids And Why They Shouldn't Be Used.

Steroids may be used topically (on the outside of the body, like with eye problems) or orally.
Opinions in this area are split and are down to a careful weighing up of the pros and cons by the vet. If you have any concerns, please ask politely.

Steroids can have their place in terminal care where they can buy crucial comfort and can help to extend the life time for several weeks or even months, especially with guinea pigs with lymphoma. In these cases short and medium term benefits outweigh any other concerns and the treating regular vet is carefully weighing up the various pros and cons for a considered decision.
 
3 First Aid care and products

The following list contains items and things that you likely already have at home or that are easily available from a pharmacy. Please check the use by date regularly.
We strongly recommend to always keep a strong disinfectant, syringes, recovery powder sachets, probiotics and electrolyte powder sachets at home in case of an emergency, as well as styptic powder in case of bleeding and to weigh and health-check your guinea pigs once weekly during their lives in order to catch any more slowly developing problems early on.
First Aid Kit: Easily available non-medication support products for an emergency

Missed a Dose of Medication? - The Rules


General products to have at home at all times
  • Disposable gloves, kitchen paper, cotton pads, clean old towels; scissors and tweezers

  • A vet grade disinfectant like F10 (recommended) or internationally available virkon for deep cleaning cages and cage furnishings. Wash any fabrics at a minimum of 60 C /140 F. This is crucially important when dealing with infectious diseases, parasites or fungal skin infections (especially ringworm).

  • 1 ml needle-free syringes for syringe feeding and medication; best have several handy at all times. A small medicine bottle can also come in useful when you are given tablets and powders. Or get a tablet cutter from the pharmacy or online.
  • Normal digital kitchen scales for weight/food intake monitoring - your best ally during a serious illness. Weigh alwys first thing in the morning for best day to day comparison and planning your feeding support for the next 24 hours.

Comfort for a very ill guinea pig
  • Microwaveable snugglesafe pad. Please heat only half the maximum time but more often.
    Allow a guinea pig to move away on its own account from any source of warmth if they start overheating.

  • Comfortable fleece cosy and/or blanket, ideally with change in order to keep your guinea pig clean and dry.

  • Please keep your ill guinea pig as much as possible in its familiar surroundings and in the company of their friends.
    But a very ill piggy that has removed itself from the company of their mates and is stationary and staring at the wall in a cage corner or in a hidey away from the other can come with you in a carrier during the night and stay next to your bed for easier care for you.
These guides here contain practical tips for the comfort of guinea pigs that are not moving around much as well as post-op care tips:
Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility
Tips For Post-operative Care


Illness and recovery support care products

Recovery foods (improvised and formula)
  • Homemade mushed up pellets. Use hand warm pellets you have soaked in water and turned into a mush if you haven’t got any formula powder at home or if your guinea pig refuses to accept the formula mix. In some cases it can help mixing formula powder into mushed up pellets to cover the unfamiliar taste. If your guinea pig is completely off its food, anything goes that goes in!

    More improvising options and practical how-to tips: How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency

  • Recovery formulas: There is now a range of recovery foods in powder form available. If you can, please opt for a timothy hay based product. Oxbow products can be ordered online worldwide.
Information on available products and preparation (including mushed pellets) in our syringe feeding guides:
Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

Digestive aids: ‘Poo soup’, probiotics and fibreplex
  • Homemade 'Poo soup’ is made by soaking poos that have literally just dropped out of the bum of a healthy companion in water. You then syringe the water.
    It mimics natural behaviour and very effective with really fresh poos. You need to make it with totally fresh poos every time in order to make sure that gut microbes are still alive when they reach the gut in order to work.
    For best efficiency, please follow the 'recipe' in this guide here: How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency

  • Probiotics are widely available powders to help digestion.
    A pet shop is often the best place to get some in a hurry.
    The effectiveness of probiotics is still somewhat contested. They are a food supplement and not a medication, and are therefore not prescribed by vets in many cases.
    Follow instructions or give a pinch either 1 hour before any antibiotic (US recommendation) or 1-2 hours after an antibiotic (UK recommendation). Either way works just the same

    Enhanced probiotics brands for serious illness, a bad reaction to antibiotics or persistent gut problems:
  • Fibreplex: UK brand. A probiotic high fibre paste. Proven to be effective with digestive problems and loss of appetite from an antibiotic.
  • Benebac Plus: USA and international. Enriched probiotic with greater efficiency.

    Little pick me up
  • Metatone (UK brand) from a pharmacy can sometimes help as short-term pick-me-up in ill or recovering guinea pigs. Not recommended for regular or long term use! It does NOT replace proper medication and a vet trip.
    Give 0.2 ml to a 1000g guinea pig twice daily for the first week, then only once daily.
More information on available recovery and probiotic brands in this link here: Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

Rehydration
Electrolyte powder to mix with water can help with any guinea pigs struggling with massive digestive problems and total loss of appetite, but especially with runny diarrhea.
Offer as much as they will take, but see a vet for a sub-cutaneous fluid injection if your guinea pig is very dehydrated.
Dioralyte (UK) and pedialyte (US) can be got from any pharmacy.


Accident and injury

Disinfection of open wounds
  • Saline solution:
    You make saline easily at home by stirring 1 teaspoon of salt into 250 ml or ½ pint of boiled cooled water.
    Sterile saline is available from any pharmacy.
  • Hibiscrub (vets, pharmacy, online)
  • F10 Antiseptic (for disinfection please choose the appropriate concentration; order online)
These products can also all be used for nebulising (please make sure of the correct concentration!) and for flushing absesses.

Bleeding
Any bleeding should stop within 10-15 minutes. If it continues for longer or if the bleeding is very heavy, please contact a vet ASAP for advice; if necessary an out-of-hours clinic. Have kitchen paper or towels handy in the piggy room to prevent blood from dripping everywhere.
  • Styptic powder is available from any pharmacy.

Limping, broken bones or dislocated limbs (sticking out wrongly), smashed mouth
Please contact a vet asap if your piggy cannot push back when you gently push on the soles or if a limb is sticking out at a wrong angle. The rest can wait for the next day.


Back leg paralysis, falls and attacks; ill piggy not moving around
With sudden loss of mobility please see a vet within 24 hours; sooner if they are in acute massive pain. Contact a vet immediately if your piggy has clearly broken a bone/the back or hs hurt their mouth/face in a fall or is not moving around normally within an hour. Please be aware that spinal injuries can take up to two days t develop fully.

You can check whether your piggy is fully paralysed by gently pulling a back leg back behind the body; a healthy piggy has a reflex to pull the leg back under; this doesn't work in a paralysed piggy.

Have guinea pig vet checked as soon as possible after a dog or other animal attack and beware of potentially invisible internal injuries/bleeding from shaking which may take up to couple to result in a sudden decline.
Here are tips for what you need and can do for guinea pigs that are stuck in one spot:
Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility
Signs of Pain in Guinea Pigs


Eyes
For eye injuries please see a vet as an anytime emergency with any acute bleeding or if the eye has burst or keeps swelling so quickly that it cannot wait until the next morning.
All other eye injuries can wait until the next day if necessary. Diagnosis and medication is the same as for cats and dogs, so seeing a general vet promptly (i.e. within 24 hours) comes before waiting for an exotics vets to have a fee slot.
  • Sterile eye wash without additives may help to wash out an eye. It does NOT replace a vet consultation and antibiotic eye drops. Do not use it if you are seeing a vet within 24 hours.
    Eye injuries and infection can deteriorate in a matter of hours. The damaged area can be much wider than visible to the naked eye. Only a vet can properly assess and treat the eye issue.
    See a vet ASAP if the eye is bloody, promptly if it is cloudy or there is a bluish dot or film on the eye surface (ulceration).
    Milky white fluid is normal eye cleaning fluid and nothing to worry about. It can sometimes not drain away properly and dry into a white substance.

  • Artificial crbomer based tear gel: For rehydration and as support in the healing process in combination with antibiotic tear drops. Recommended to have at home for helping to speed up the healing process but it does NOT heal on its own!
    Gel is longer lasting than drops and easier to apply. Apply 3-6 times a day, but wait for at least half an hour after treating with antibiotic eye drops in order to allow them to be fully absorbed.

Ears
For ears please always see a vet promptly if your guinea pig develops is repeatedly shaking its vigorously, pawing at the ear, develops a head tilt, suddenly walks in circles or starts fitting/has balance issues.
NEVER pour any oil etc. down an ear!
If you also keep rabbits or there are rabbits close by, please ask your vet to check for rabbit ear mites and the possibility of e.cuniculi.
CBS (Calcified Bulla Syndrome) and Neurological Problems - Symptoms and Care (for e.cuniculi please see chapter 2)


Breathing problems (heaving sides, gasping and kennel cough)
You need to see a vet as a life and death emergency if your guinea pig is apathetic and breathing with its sides heaving or that is gasping (i.e. in respiratory distress). It is generally a sign of a build-up of fluid either on the lungs or the chest cavity. Ask your vet for a diuretic in any case to help drain the fluid as quickly as possible.
Heaving (diaphragmic) breathing means that either the lungs or the heart are really struggling.
  • If you have a dog or cat with a cough or have been visited by a coughing dog, please ask your vet to consider bordetellosis ("kennel"). It can also be transmitted by guinea pigs living together with rabbits.
    Dogs, Kennel Cough And Guinea Pigs - An Important Consideration.
  • A bowl of steaming water next to the cage may help ease the breathing a little if you are dealing with a potentially lethal respiratory tract infection (URI), but please see a vet promptly as your guinea pig will need an antibiotic to recover.
    You can add 2-3 drops of olbas oil safely, but vicks contains ingredients that are noxious to guinea pigs and should never be used around them!
More information on respiratory tract infections in this link here: New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites


Heart and blood circulation failure
Please see a vet as an emergency at any time of day if your piggy has blue lips or is cold to the touch in normally warm surroundings in combination with being lethargic and refusing to eat.
These symptoms indicate acute heart failure and a break down of the blood circulation. Immediate oxygen may help as a last ditch effort to prevent the body from closing down. Unfortunately, if that process is already under way, then it cannot be stopped.


Bloating (swollen/hard gut), GI stasis (silent gut), runny diarrhoea, regurgitating
The guides below give you an overview of what could be wrong as well as practical care measures. Please see a vet as quickly as possible with any sudden severe onset that is resulting in your piggy being lethargic, totally off their food and in severe discomfort.
Wiebke's Guide to Tummy Trouble
Wiebke's Guide to Poops
Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)
Signs of Pain in Guinea Pigs


Bloody pees and screaming when peeing/pooing
Urinary tract infections and problems can sound and look distressing but they are not usually an emergency. The red in pees is usually caused by a natural dye called porphyrin and the screaming happens when highly corrosive urine comes into painful direct contact with raw tissues in the walls of the urinary tract; these are usually insulated by a glucosamine layer.

See a vet as an emergency if your piggy is suddenly very apathetic and off their food (stone blocking the ureter or urethra and urine is backing up into the kidneys) or if your piggy is developing the most aggressive form of a sterile cystitis keeps going downhill despite medication. Or if there is shere blood coming out of the anus.
This is more often caused by a problem in the reproductive tract, especially in sows (womb or cancerous ovarian cyst) or by something stuck in the penis shaft. A blue penis tip is also an emergency as the blood supply is cut off; purple is the normal colour.
Wiebke's Guide to Pees and Stones


Stroke, seizures and balance problems
If your guinea pig is unable stand, is keeps falling over or has seizures or a sudden strong head tilt, then please contact a vet for advice as promptly as you can. Keep your guinea as quiet, warm but not hot and comfy as possible. Ensure that their head is propped up just above the chest level (eases breathing) and that they can move off if they feel overheated.
Neurological Issues (Seizures, Strokes, E.cuniculi etc.) - Symptoms and Care
CBS (Calcified Bulla Syndrome) and Neurological Problems - Symptoms and Care (see chapter 2 for neurological problems)


Heat stroke
If you are finding your piggies apathetic and pancaked to the floor or salivating not eating in the wake of hot weather, then you are dealing with a heat stroke. Please contact a vet asap.
Heat stroke can kill immediatedly but it can can also cause heart damage, swallowing problems and GI stasis (the gut stops working). Your careful cooling support and feeding support care is crucial.

Heat stroke symptoms and what to do
Wiebke's Guide to Tummy Trouble


Fly strike (flesh eating maggots)
Please have your guinea pigs vet checked asap if you notice white maggots in your cage, and as a life or death emergency if you notice slightly red raised bumps on your guinea pig's genitalia when bringing them in from the lawn, which then develop into swollen genitalia and white dots. Open sores can also be targeted.
Please be aware that occasionally blue bottle and blow flies can come indoors and lay their eggs on frail and elderly guinea pigs that are unable to clean their genitalia!
More information here: Fly Strike


Lumps
Please contact a vet immediately if you are dealing with a very fast growing runaway lump that literally grows as you watch. This can happen with virtually any variety of lump - cysts, abscesses, fatty lumps and tumours. Also contact a vet if a fast growing lump is getting in the way of important bodily functions: breathing, eating, peeing or pooing, moving etc.
Any other lumps can wait for a regular appointment.
Guinea Lynx :: Lumps


Skin problem care: Please don't home treat cheaply
Please see a vet promptly with any deep bites (the look like double needle pricks) because of the risk of hard to clear abscesses or disfiguring major bites to the face or the ears.
Major discomfort in the skin, like with mange mites or painful feet, can result in self-biting; this is much more common and should always be taken into consideration before blindly assuming a sudden attack by a companion in a stable relationship. Bloody surface skin patches can also be the result of a fungal skin infection like ringworm when the fungal exudate crust is coming off.
Occasionally, a burst cyst or abscess can also bleed or look like a wound. A vet prescribe the correct treatment; including recommending operational removal.

Please NEVER home treat on spec and see a vet as you can very easily make things much worse by treating wrongly or undertreating – and you can end up spending a lot more extra money than if you see a vet promptly!
Information on guinea pig specific skin parasites as well as fungal skin infections in this link here: New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites
The potentially fatal risk of treating with flea powders: Fleas And Flea Powders
Ringworm: Hygiene, Care And Pictures
 
4 Bridging and crisis support care until and during vet treatment

Once you have booked a vet appointment, your second priority is to keep your guinea pig as comfortable and well as possible.

Key is monitoring the weight and stepping in with support feeding if necessary. When keeping an eye on the poo output please be aware that it is lagging behind a day or two, but any smaller and thinner poos indicate decreased food intake. Poos that are a different colour mean that a food group has been dropped and undigested chunks of vet are a sign that things are not working well.
Weight - Monitoring and Management

If you are dealing with soft poos, cow pads or runny diarrhea, bloat, GI stasis (no gut movement and no burbling sounds in the gut) please take your guinea pig off any fresh food asap.
Stringy poos and tiny mucus covered poos are a sign that the guts are not well at all and that your guinea pig is likely dehydrated. In the latter case your guinea pig has not eaten or drunk anything at all in the last 24 hours – that is a life and death emergency.
Digestive Disorders: Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating

Depending on what the scales and the poo consistency are telling you, you manage the syringe feeding support:
If your guinea pig is losing weight but still eating on its own, then you offer additional support with as much as recovery syringe feed or mushed pellets as your guinea pig wants to eat; offer water but only as much as your guinea pig is willing to take. Do not force your guinea pig to eat more than it wants at this stage!

Any guinea pig completely off their food needs round the clock care; feed the more often the less your guinea pig is accepting. Never give more than your guinea pig can hold in their mouth and swallow; depending on its weakness and illness that can be as little 0.1-0.3 ml at a time. Only offer more feed or water once the previous lot has been swallowed.
Feed every 4 hours if your guinea pig is still accepting 10-15 ml of syringe feed in any session. Your aim: 60-90 ml in 24 hours.
Feed every 2 hours round the clock if your guinea pig is struggling and every single mouthful is a fight. The closer you can come to 40-60 ml in 24 hours, the better, but every ml you can get in is a little step forward.

It is a time consuming and draining process; and in the middle of the night also a very lonely one! But your syringe feeding care can really make the difference between life and death and can be every bit as important as any medical vet care. Since hay is making over 80% of the food intake, getting as much fibre into a very ill guinea pig as possible is crucial.

An increasing number of clinics is offering to look after very ill guinea pigs in need of support for clients that are not able to provide this intensive care. Please enquire when you register.

Our illustrated syringe feeding guide will take you step-by-step through the whole process. The first time is always daunting (practice definitely helps), but please persist!
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Wiebke

Thread 'How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency'

1 Feed
- Important crisis management resources
- When is improvising necessary?
- Which food group am I replacing with my feeding support?
- How much and how often should I feed and water?
- What can I use that I have already got at home?
- Other possible easily available foods with their pros and cons
- How do I prep a syringe for rougher pellet fibre?
- What can I do without a syringe?
- The role of lukewarm water
2 Probiotics
- Probiotic products...
  • Like
  • Love

Use praise, cajoling and guinea pig whispering tricks by stroking around ears and eyes to get that little bit more into a very ill guinea pig that is fighting syringe feeding. A piggy will often start to chew reflexively when you stroke it; you can try to use this when trying to help getting things down.
Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering And Cuddling Tips
 
5 Looking after a dying guinea pig

We all can end up with a situation where a guinea pig is deteriorating quickly and is going into multiple organ failure (i.e. the body is cliosing down) before we can see a vet.
Some illnesses can literally happen right out of the blue and kill within minutes or hours, or they can suddenly take a quick turn for the worst.

The following is just a rough guide for what to look out for when you assess and reassess the situation constantly. No case is the same. If you can, please contact an open vet clinic ASAP and speak to them.

You can find more information and support via this guide here: A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs


Signs that your guinea pig could be dying
  • Removing itself from the group and facing a corner. This is a signal that your guinea pig is feeling critically ill.
  • Heaving breathing from the sides where every breath is a real struggle means that there is a dangerous fluid build-up in the chest or lungs and that the heart is straining.
  • Feeling cold to the touch means that the blood circulation is no longer working properly and that the body has likely started to close down.
  • Fighting syringe feed well in excess to its weakness is often a sign that your guinea pig is no longer able to process any food.
  • Decrease in the amount of syringe feed it can process.
  • Apathy and difficulty to raise the head. Too weak/unable to swallow.

When to see a vet for euthanasia if at all possible
  • Salivating is a sign that there is a blockage somewhere in the digestive tract from the mouth through the oesophagus right down to the guts and that not even the saliva, which is continuously produced, can pass anymore. It is not pleasant at all. See a vet asap, if only for euthanasia.
  • Any screaming, twisting with pain or grunting is a sign of severe pain and the need to race your guinea to the vets as quickly as you can.
  • If bloating is developing very fast and the belly is not just tight but feeling like concrete, then you may be dealing with a twisted gut. It is extremely painful. Please take bloated guinea pig that is grunting with pain to the vets asap.
  • Multiple organ failure is a complex process that varies depending on the order the organs shut down and how healthy/strong they are. It can go quickly in just an hour in a very frail guinea pig or it can last for several days. If you feel at any point that your guinea pig is in discomfort or fitting longer than 15-30 minutes (which often happens in the last stages when oxygen deprivation is setting in), please contact a vet ASAP.

    Otherwise keep your guinea pig as comfortable and warm (but NOT hot) and as much as you can in their familiar surroundings.
    Please also respect the right of any companions to accompany this process. Remove a guinea pig only if has removed itself from the group, otherwise leave them with their friends.
Putting your guinea pig to sleep (i.e. euthanising) is the most heart-breaking, but at the same time the most precious and loving gift we can give any suffering pet. Please put the needs of your beloved one before your own fears of loss.
The knowledge that you are doing the right thing will give you the strength to see it through, I promise you!

Further information and resources on what to expect, what you can do and where you can get support during and after a loss:
A Practical and Sensitive Guide to Dying, Terminal Illness and Euthanasia in Guinea Pigs
Human Bereavement - Grieving, coping tips and support links for guinea pig owners and their children
Looking After A Bereaved Guinea Pig
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top