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Fur Baby Is Poorly

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MTMO3

New Born Pup
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This is likely to be long, so I'm sorry!

6 weeks ago my DH surprised me with two gorgeous 12 week old boars.

One of my fur monsters starting behaving funny five days ago. He is normally the hyperactive guinea of the two, but last Wednesday all he was doing was facing the corner of the cage puffed up into a little ball, or he was laying down and not moving much. He was barely eating and drinking but was still interested in food and had was having a good nibble on hay and veggies.

We took him to the vets who diagnosed him with bloat, after saying she couldn't find anything else and his tummy was a little hard. They said his lungs are clear and his digestive tract sounded slow and sent us on our way with CC.

Three days on and he still unwell but has got much worse.

He has lost all sense of balance and it currently walking around like he's had a few too many G&T's.

I called the original vets who told me over the phone he's dying and it's the end as wobbling about isn't consistent with bloating. I was dubious about the bloat anyway as he wasn't bloated and the vet said its probably bloat as she couldn't find anything else. So I called another vets.

We took him to the other vets, who have given him a good look over and said that he's a very healthy piggy even if he is a little off colour and that it could be a number of things making him act this way. But they said it could be so many thing and they are going to treat him for everything. They said it could be mites, worms, tics, an infection... pretty much everything. But they also said it could be neurological disorder which would be unbearable.

He said that he could have had a little infection he was fighting off when he became bloated, then the bloat took over so his immune system had something else to fight off and now the bloat has started to ease, the other problems he had have had time to become stronger and are now rearing their ugly heads more than they were before.

I'm so confused and worried.

Surely if it was a neurological issue it wouldn't have just come out at the same time he becomes a little unwell.

But then on the other hand, would mites, ticks, worms and infections make him wobble?

Please someone tell me that their piggies have acted in this way with mites or worms and they have got better and back to their normal bouncy little self.
 
Hi and welcome!

Can you please add your country, state/province or UK county to your details, so we can help you most efficiently. You boy needs to be urgently seen by a piggy savvy vet. Click on your username at the top, then go tp personal details and scroll down to location. We have got members and equiries from all over the world. Thank you!

Could you please answer the following questions:
- what medications has your boy been given and what is he on? What exactly has been treated for so far?
- has he been eating and drinking, and have you been monitoring his weight? Have you been topping him up with syringe feed/water to keep the guts going if he hasn't been interested in food during his bloating episode? Wobbliness can come from weakness. Guinea pigs have a very fast metabolism; if they don't eat regularly, their guts slow down and eventually close down.
- did the vet check his ears for an ear infection? Are your guinea pigs outdoors piggies; ticks/tick bites you should have noticed on the body (they are very rare, by the way) and worms are not a problem in guinea pigs that young; not that they are usually much of an issue in well kept guinea pigs. Mange mites need to be in an advanced state to cause fitting.
 
Hello!

Thank you! I have now updated our location.

First vet gave him metacam, infacol, emprid and a bag of CC for bloat.

Today's vet has given us panacur 1/4 of a graduation once a day, xeno 3 pipettes just today, sulfatrim 0.2 once a day and more CC. They don't know what the actual issue is as they cannot find anything.

His weight has dropped slightly, Friday he was 0.68 and today 0.64. He's having both water and CC syringed to him every 2-3 hours as he's just having a little nibble on food.

Vet checked his ears and they were clear as well as checking for stones. He has no obvious bite marks and skin appears normal.

Piggies are indoors originally on megazorb, now on fleece, plenty of hay, nuggets and water available for both. The other piggy is absolutely fine too.
 
It takes at least 2 days for the ivermectin (for the mites) to kick in. As you have just started the new regime, I would recommend that you stick with it for the next few days by contact the vets if there is any deterioration during that time. it is good that you have him on syringe feed. if you wish, you can mix the CC with mushed up pellets as not all piggies like the taste of it.
More tips in our guide: Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

We have got a recommended vet locator on the top bar: Guinea Pig Vet Locator

I would recommend to help bolster the guts by adding a pinch of probiotic to the syringe feed you give about 1-2 hours after the antibiotic, as that is quite a load of stuff to cope for the guts between the panacur and the antibiotic.

@helen105281 @Adelle
 
Thank you wiebke!

I will get some probiotic!

I grew up with guineas and not one ever had a problem, so now I have a poorly piggy I'm having a bit of a flap!
 
Thank you wiebke!

I will get some probiotic!

I grew up with guineas and not one ever had a problem, so now I have a poorly piggy I'm having a bit of a flap!

I have tagged some more experienced members that can hopefully show up some more avenues. it is always difficult when there is no clear indication of what is going on.
 
Can I ask where abouts in Herts you are? My thoughts are possibly an ear infection? do you know if he had been housed near rabbits at all before coming to you? There is something called E-Cuniculli which rabbits get and can sometimes pass onto pigs and it does affect balance I think.
 
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