Guinea pig has scurvy

[BumbleBea]

Hello! I recently adopted a guinea pig from a local rescue. She had previously been living with a rabbit; as far as I'm aware, her diet was rabbit muesli and grass. The rescue switched her on to Burgess nuggets, but she's not too keen. I've tried so many different foods with her, but she only wants to eat grass. (I have seen her nibble on some cucumber too) I know the grass is good for her, but I worry she isn't getting proper nutrition if that's all she is eating - and also, when winter hits, it will be harder to find good grass. I took her to the vet yesterday and they said she looked good and there was nothing to worry about - however, she has clearly lost weight as she was quite overweight when the rescue took her in and now she weighs 830g. She also eats very slowly - about 1/4 of the speed of my other pigs which is unusual to me. If anyone has any advice on how to get her to eat other foods it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Grass is their natural diet so it’s absolutely fine.
She does need to eat hay as well though. It is also a good idea for you to introduce her to a variety of fresh vegetables also.

She does not need to eat nuggets at all so if she doesn’t like them then don’t worry about it. I choose not to feed nuggets daily and I instead feed my piggies lots of forage and grass.

 

[BumbleBea]

Grass is their natural diet so it’s absolutely dine.
She does need to eat hay as well though. It is also a good idea for you to introduce her to a variety of fresh vegetables also.

She does not need to eat nuggets at all so if she doesn’t like them then don’t worry about it. I choose not to fees nuggets daily and I instead feed my piggies lots of forage and grass.

Thanks for the reply. The pigs have access to hay all the time, but I do not see her eat it often. I also give them veggies in the evenings but again, she will just sniff everything and then walk off. I've tried a lot of different veggies but they all seem to get the same reaction. She won't even touch any herbs which my other pigs go crazy for. I've tried offering her treats but again, she turns her nose up. All she wants to eat is grass.

 

[sport_billy]

Thanks for the reply. The pigs have access to hay all the time, but I do not see her eat it often. I also give them veggies in the evenings but again, she will just sniff everything and then walk off. I've tried a lot of different veggies but they all seem to get the same reaction. She won't even touch any herbs which my other pigs go crazy for. I've tried offering her treats but again, she turns her nose up. All she wants to eat is grass.

Got hay try some orchard grass or Timothy hay it will often tempt the most stubborn piggy.

 

[sport_billy]

Have you tried her with red or yellow pepper? It may be she will learn to try it watching the other piggies.
Be lovely to see some photos of her

 

[BumbleBea]

Have you tried her with red or yellow pepper? It may be she will learn to try it watching the other piggies.
Be lovely to see some photos of her

Hello! Yes, I give them peppers everyday for the vitamin C.. hopefully she will come around in time. She's the white piggy in the picture

 

[sport_billy]

Awww bless her! What a sweetie. I love their little fort!

 

[BumbleBea]

I posted on here the other day about my newly rescued guinea pig, and that she was only really eating grass. Well a few days after that post, she stopped eating completely. Of course, I started syringe feeding and got her booked in with the exotic vet - unfortunately a 36-hour wait. After about 24 hours her belly was looking nice and full and she started to eat some food by herself again, but I noticed she was struggling to walk on one of her back legs (presumably the extra weight didn't help this.) Our vet visit was yesterday and it turns out one of her back legs has very little muscle due to scurvy (her previous diet was rabbit muesli and grass). She is on 0.3ml of dog metacam twice a day and also 1ml of childlife vitamin C daily so hopefully we will see some improvement over the weekend. I am still assist feeding (only about 40ml a day as she is eating quite well by herself now), and I've also bought some fibreplex for her. Her weight has improved quite a bit - 800g on Tuesday and 890g this morning so that's good news, but her poops are still small. She still isn't eating pellets and is quite fussy when it comes to her vegetables but hopefully, as she starts to feel better this will change. If anyone has any more advice/experience with scurvy I would be very interested - thank you!

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’ve merged your two posts so everything is together.
Scurvy is a rather rare thing to come across and I'm not sure there are many who will have personal experience of it.
Hopefully she will be feeling better soon

 

[piggieminder]

That beautiful little piggy landed on her feet when she found you. With your care and watching her cage mates she will hopefully learn what's good to eat. It sounds as if you are doing all you can with the top up feeds and vet visits. Sending her lots of healing vibes.

 

[BumbleBea]

I’ve merged your two posts so everything is together.
Scurvy is a rather rare thing to come across and I'm not sure there are many who will have personal experience of it.
Hopefully she will be feeling better soon

Thank you, I should have thought to just update the last post. I didn't realise it was rare, I suppose most of the members on here are feeding their piggies a good diet.

That beautiful little piggy landed on her feet when she found you. With your care and watching her cage mates she will hopefully learn what's good to eat. It sounds as if you are doing all you can with the top up feeds and vet visits. Sending her lots of healing vibes.

Thank you so much. It's been a very stressful few days trying to figure out what was wrong with her. It's nice to hear some reassuring words. I'm crossing everything she gets better soon.

 

[Wheekallweek]

One of the first pigs we had in at the rescue had scurvy. He soon recovered fully with proper care!
Glad she's doing much better now. She's lucky to have found you!

 

[BumbleBea]

One of the first pigs we had in at the rescue had scurvy. He soon recovered fully with proper care!
Glad she's doing much better now. She's lucky to have found you!

I'm glad to hear he made a full recovery. Hopefully the same will go for Pancake

 

[Wiebke]

Hi

Thankfully, fresh green growing grass is actually rich in vitamin C and the reason why guinea pigs have switched off their vitamin C producing gene complex; it is also consists on the right fibre that the digestive system in guinea pigs is laid out for so this also means that she has hopefully avoided the dental overgrowth that my Teggy and her mate Nutkin (who sadly died in rescue from an internal scurvy related bleed) suffered from. They had a year of only rabbit muesli diet without any vitamin C altogether and were baby-sized at 300-400g when they were surrendered as supposed one year olds.

Teggy (Tegwen Draenog 'Beautiful and Blessed Hedgehog, aka Mrs Tiggywinkle) has made it through, actually grew to full size and lived to the age of 6 years without ever suffering from scurvy or dental problems again - a real miracle considering her narrow escape. I adopted her once she was considered out of the woods. She passed away a year ago.


My Dylan was initially unable to walk even a yard without his back caving in after two years in a hamster cage on a diet of just lettuce and carrots but I managed to slowly build up his musculature at the back although problems returned in old age when he started suffering impaction and his legs weakened again. Having been neutered in rescue and paired up with babies (first a boy and then a little mis-sexed girl) did give him a motivation to move around more in his daily free roaming time. He did have a bit of muscular atrophy as well on one side of his jaw. Nevertheless, he was 6 years old when he passed away last October.


I hope that these experiences will help you.

Anyway, I am keeping my fingers crossed that she can make a full recovery with your life-long normal good everyday care and a helping hand in the first weeks to go on and enjoy a normal full life. Hang on in there through the rough bit and give her the extra support she needs.

 

[BumbleBea]

Hi

Thankfully, fresh green growing grass is actually rich in vitamin C and the reason why guinea pigs have switched off their vitamin C producing gene complex; it is also consists on the right fibre that the digestive system in guinea pigs is laid out for so this also means that she has hopefully avoided the dental overgrowth that my Teggy and her mate Nutkin (who sadly died in rescue from an internal scurvy related bleed) suffered from. They had a year of only rabbit muesli diet without any vitamin C altogether and were baby-sized at 300-400g when they were surrendered as supposed one year olds.

Teggy (Tegwen Draenog 'Beautiful and Blessed Hedgehog, aka Mrs Tiggywinkle) has made it through, actually grew to full size and lived to the age of 6 years without ever suffering from scurvy or dental problems again - a real miracle considering her narrow escape. I adopted her once she was considered out of the woods. She passed away a year ago.
View attachment 228364

My Dylan was initially unable to walk even a yard without his back caving in after two years in a hamster cage on a diet of just lettuce and carrots but I managed to slowly build up his musculature at the back although problems returned in old age when he started suffering impaction and his legs weakened again. Having been neutered in rescue and paired up with babies (first a boy and then a little mis-sexed girl) did give him a motivation to move around more in his daily free roaming time. He did have a bit of muscular atrophy as well on one side of his jaw. Nevertheless, he was 6 years old when he passed away last October.
View attachment 228365

I hope that these experiences will help you.

Anyway, I am keeping my fingers crossed that she can make a full recovery with your life-long normal good everyday care and a helping hand in the first weeks to go on and enjoy a normal full life. Hang on in there through the rough bit and give her the extra support she needs.

Thank you so much for your reply. It's a relief to hear some stories with a positive outcome. It's such a shame that small animals get mistreated so often.

I'm so glad to hear your lovely Teggy and Dylan were able to live good lives under your care. I'm sorry to hear of their passing.

So far, Miss Pancake seems to be improving so I'm just hoping the trend continues. Thank you for your well wishes.

 

[BumbleBea]

Pancake seems to be struggling a bit more today. Her weight is staying pretty consistent still (897g this morning) but she seems to be more lethargic. She is definitely having issues getting around, she's pretty much just dragging her left back leg behind her now, although she is making a swimming like motion when walking so she is still trying to use it. I've got her out in the garden as she usually goes crazy for the grass, she's had a nibble but has now fallen asleep. I'm contacting the vet in the morning to send them an update so I will see what they say. The vet did suggest an x-ray to see exactly what is going on, but I was quoted £600 for it and I definitely feel like that's on the steep side. I know it will take time for her legs to get back to normal but I can't help overthinking sometimes

 

[Wiebke]

Pancake seems to be struggling a bit more today. Her weight is staying pretty consistent still (897g this morning) but she seems to be more lethargic. She is definitely having issues getting around, she's pretty much just dragging her left back leg behind her now, although she is making a swimming like motion when walking so she is still trying to use it. I've got her out in the garden as she usually goes crazy for the grass, she's had a nibble but has now fallen asleep. I'm contacting the vet in the morning to send them an update so I will see what they say. The vet did suggest an x-ray to see exactly what is going on, but I was quoted £600 for it and I definitely feel like that's on the steep side. I know it will take time for her legs to get back to normal but I can't help overthinking sometimes

Not sure whether that is scurvy or rather something else going on but that is on the steep side for just an x-ray!

 

[BumbleBea]

Not sure whether that is scurvy or rather something else going on but that is on the steep side for just an x-ray!

Yes I agree, I'm going to phone another exotic vets first thing tomorrow and get a second opinion. The other vets are in the city and this one is more local so hopefully the prices will be more reasonable too.