Ginnie Still Not Eating

[Anna-Maria]

Hi everyone. My male Guinea pig "Willy" gradually went off hay starting a few weeks back, and completely off as of last week losing gradually weight over this period. I took him to the vet for a dental last Thursday. Unfortunately they also noticed enlarged lymph nodes that could potentially be cancerous - awaiting hystopatology report within the next couple of days. Upon discharge I was told that his teeth were not that bad but they still took off what needed yo come off. He hasn't been sent home on any pain meds. It's day two after the dental and he's lost 100 grams of weight despite multiple string feedings with critical care. He's still not touching his hay and never touched his pellets either. I gave him a dose of oral metacam I had at home yesterday to see if that would help him feel better but to no result. So far he's still eating fruits, vegies and his critical care but I notice him getting fussier over this as well. Does anyone out there have any suggestions as to how to get him back? I don't want to cut him off the critical care to starve and force him to start eating hay and pellets again as its not a wise idea to have his guts get off any kind of food. Thanks so much!

 

[DM030819]

If he's lost 100g in 2 days then you mustn't stop the syringe feeding. In fact you shoukd be increasing it. The aim with syringe feeding is at least keep them maintaining weight until they are able to maintain their weight themselves.

I understand your concern for feeding him when he should be doing it himself, but the weight loss shows that he can't feed himself so he needs your help.

@Anna-Maria When you say "took off" what do you mean? Was it his back or front teeth that were trimmed? Was he conscious or under anaesthetic?

Has he ever had an xray to check for dental issues?

How experienced is your vet with dentals for guinea pigs? They're very unique when it comes to their teeth so many vets aren't well experienced and so can't diagnose or treat tooth problems very well.

Where are you located? If you update your profile we may be able to suggest a vet.

 

[Eriathwen]

Which critical care do you have? If you dont have it already, it might be worth switching to the fine grind version that comes in a brown bag as you can mix it much, much thicker, therefore increasing the amount of nutrition you're getting into the piggy. It was a life saver when 2 of ours began kicking off about having to be syringe fed!
Hope your pig is feeling better soon x

 

[Anna-Maria]

If he's lost 100g in 2 days then you mustn't stop the syringe feeding. In fact you shoukd be increasing it. The aim with syringe feeding is at least keep them maintaining weight until they are able to maintain their weight themselves.

I understand your concern for feeding him when he should be doing it himself, but the weight loss shows that he can't feed himself so he needs your help.

@Anna-Maria When you say "took off" what do you mean? Was it his back or front teeth that were trimmed? Was he conscious or under anaesthetic?

Has he ever had an xray to check for dental issues?

How experienced is your vet with dentals for guinea pigs? They're very unique when it comes to their teeth so many vets aren't well experienced and so can't diagnose or treat tooth problems very well.

Where are you located? If you update your profile we may be able to suggest a vet.

If he's lost 100g in 2 days then you mustn't stop the syringe feeding. In fact you shoukd be increasing it. The aim with syringe feeding is at least keep them maintaining weight until they are able to maintain their weight themselves.

I understand your concern for feeding him when he should be doing it himself, but the weight loss shows that he can't feed himself so he needs your help.

@Anna-Maria When you say "took off" what do you mean? Was it his back or front teeth that were trimmed? Was he conscious or under anaesthetic?

Has he ever had an xray to check for dental issues?

How experienced is your vet with dentals for guinea pigs? They're very unique when it comes to their teeth so many vets aren't well experienced and so can't diagnose or treat tooth problems very well.

Where are you located? If you update your profile we may be able to suggest a vet.

Thank you Jacey for your input. I'm located in Ottawa Canada. The vet clinic i took him to is fairly knowledgeable with Guinea pigs. What i meant with "took off" was that his teeth apparently were not that bad that would cause him to stop eating hay and they decided to trim some edges off of a couple of teeth that would have come due soon anyway. I contacted my vet again today and she's not sure now that it may be cause to his enlarged lymph nodes that causes him not wating much now at all. Samples taken from them are being analyzed to see if it's cancerous. Results are pending and i should have results by Tuesdday... I just don't want him to lose any more weight and am trying to syringe feed him as often and as much I can aka every 6-8 times daily. He's getting really fussy now even about his fruits and veggies and amounts of critical care i can syringe feed him. Yet sometimes it looks to me that he's somewhat hungry and would like to eat on his own. Any suggestion is greatly appreciated and thanks sk much again!

 

[Anna-Maria]

Which critical care do you have? If you dont have it already, it might be worth switching to the fine grind version that comes in a brown bag as you can mix it much, much thicker, therefore increasing the amount of nutrition you're getting into the piggy. It was a life saver when 2 of ours began kicking off about having to be syringe fed!
Hope your pig is feeling better soon x

Thank you Eriathwen for your suggedtion. Unfortunately we only get one kind of critical care here which comes though in a powdered form and you can make it up as thick as you want. I make it up not too thick, kind of soupy in order to provide him also with fluid since I haven't noticed him drinking.

 

[DM030819]

Rounding off edges of teeth sounds like they worked on his back teeth. And they probably used anaesthetic for it?

How is he acting in himself? Does he seem normal? Or is he looking like he's in pain? Being lazier then usual?

Syringe feeding a poorly pig can be a hard task. If they aren't eating at all for themselves then you can need to feed them many times throughout the day.

Keep up with the Critical Care and if he's losing weight try to feed him more. You can also alternate with watered down pellets. Sometimes they can be more enthusiastic about food if they have a variety.

Hopefully the results bring back something, in the meantime you need to feed them as much as possible.

 

[Anna-Maria]

Thanks a lot for your advice and truly much appreciated. I'm happy to say that yesterdays weight stayed the same as the day before and he has gained 25 grams since yesterday. He also wants to eat a lot more of critical care and started to eat some little amounts of pellets and vegis/fruits.... no hay yet though. At times I catch him trying to eat hay but then loses interest in it. I think it's still uncomfortable for him. He's still on a low daily dose of oral Metacam to make him feel good and also on a low dose of Entofloxacin the vet suggested to put him back on just in case of some inflammation. Otherwise he seems fine.... shiny coat, urinating, droppings somewhat irregular and in lower amounts as before all of this started to happen, but generally looking a lot happier than a few days ago. Even popcorned once. Now I'm just so hoping that the result of the cytology comes back negative tomorrow, aka no cancerous lymphnodes. Thanks again fir all and it makes me feel not alone battling sickness with my little fella thanks to this great site with tons of info and helpful people. Cheers