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Guinea pig has diarrhea and is struggling to walk! Please help!

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HarlowDarling

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Tonight I noticed that my guinea pig is having trouble walking and has diarrhea. He doesn't seem to walk to walk and isn't moving much. It's late at night where I am and I won't be able to make a vet appointment till the morning at the earliest. I've been loading him up with animal probiotic and keeping him hydrated with little bits of isotonic formula.

His cage mate on the other hand seems absolutely fine, both boys have been eating the same things and they have spent the last few days eating lots of grass. There has been an increase of watery vegetables in their diet because we're in Australia and it's hot, but if it was the vegetables that upset his stomach his friend would have the same problem!

He doesn't have any other symptoms of illness such as runny nose or crusty eyes, but he does have a ruffled up coat. The thing that concerns me the most is that he's having problems walking, when he walks its more of a shuffle and he just lies there. My guinea pigs have had diarrhea before but the thing that's worrying me is that he is the only one who has it and his walking is strange :'(

Does anyone have any advice? Keep in mind it's 10pm where I am and I won't be able to get to the vets until 8am tomorrow morning....I'm really worried :'(
 
Please keep doing what you are already doing and try to have him seen asap tomorrow morning, unless your vets have an out-of-hours emergency number on their answering machine? There is a severe form of diarrhea that can kill. It won't usually affect other piggies, but you may want to separate just in case and consult your vet about his opinion. Keep your piggy as comfy as you can.
Here is more information: http://www.guinealynx.info/diarrhea.html

I'm keeping my fingers firmly crossed! Emergencies usually happen in the evenings or on weekends; I have spent quite a few anxious nights and days myself over the years.

PS: Could you please add your country/state to your details, so it always appears with your name. That will save everybody explanations. you can do so in settings (very top of the page)/edit profile/location.
 
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Fingers crossed he will be ok.I have one with bad head tilt at the minute so syringe feeding her mushed up pellets.She is managing veggies herself.She is on antibiotics in case it is inner ear infection and back at vets friday
 
I would suggest stop with the veggies for the minute, if they are quite watery then that could be contributing towards the diarrhea, although as Wiebke says I would get him to the vets asap, and make sure he's drinking plenty as diarrhea will dehydrate him, especially in the hot weather you're experiencing.
 
Hey folks, just wanted to say that this morning he is looking much better and his poo is back to normal. I think I over did it with the tomatoes, cucumber and mellon so for the next day he's going to be on a diet of timothy hay, pellets and grass only. I'm making sure to keep up his fluids and I'm still giving him probiotic and electrolyte formula. I spoke to the vet on the phone and he said to bring him in this afternoon if it gets worse again, but it looks like he should be fine for now *fingers crossed*.

I just want to say how much I appreciate everyone here and all of your advice, thank you all so much :)
 
I am very relieved that things are OK again!

Please keep off any fresh food for at least 24 hours and then introduce fresh veg slowly to give the guts time to recover and adjust.

If it is very hot; you may rather add a few crushed ice cubes to keep the water cool and refresh that regularly than overdoing the juicy veg. Guinea pigs don't sweat; they regulate their body temperature via the blood flow in the ears. Please do not feed frozen stuff to piggies - their lips and tongues can stick to the ice.

Good ways to keep cool: ceramic tiles to lie on, freezable cool packs that you wrap in a towel or tuck under a fleece or a frozen water bottle, wrapped on towel to cool down the surrounding air.
 
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