Just wondering if anyone has experienced a guinea pig not eating for long periods of time?
Our guinea pig Scamper is 3 and last October he got a bladder stone. We were out of town for 2 weeks in October and when we came back we noticed Scamper was not eating as much and his poop looked a bit orange (we figured the house sitter possibly went overboard with carrots). After a week of his appetite declining and him appearing to be in pain when peeing/pooping we realized he had a bladder stone & took to vet. They almost operated on him but the bladder stone actually came out(!) with catheter manipulation as they were trying to push it back UP into the bladder pre-surgery. Little guy had a rough recovery and took a few weeks to start eating or drinking again (during which time we fed him EmerAid IC by syringe daily). During this time we brought him back to both his normal vet and his emergency vet and they could not find anything else to explain why he wouldn't be eating. He even had a sedated oral exam by the emergency vet in which they said his mouth was normal. He finally began eating and drinking again on his own several weeks after the bladder stone, but he never seemed to return to eating as he used to. He ate enough hay to maintain his weight but he was no longer interested in hay seed pods (which used to be his favorite) and ate very little of his pellets compared to his normal gobbling them up as soon as we put them in the bowl.
Fast forward to January, and his weight was declining again and his appetite declined until he stopped eating and drinking completely again. He was also drooling and acting unhappy. Brought him into vet again, they said teeth were fine. Did a urinary sample and that was normal other than signs of him losing weight. No signs or symptoms of another stone. They though maybe he still had a leftover remnants of bladder infection from October and gave him 2 weeks of antibiotics. After the two weeks were over (on EmerAid again) he still would not eat or drink. Brought him back to his same veterinary hospital but a different (third now) vet saw him and said his teeth were WAY overgrown. So overgrown his back teeth were starting to entrap his tongue and his front teether were propping his mouth open. He got a tooth grinding immediately (almost 3 weeks ago) but he still has not been eating or drinking on his own (we are feeding him EmerAid daily). During the time from October (initial bladder stone) to January his weight dropped from 1.2kg (which was already skinny for him) to 825g. Since then I have been able to get him back up to 880-890g with the EmerAid today. He is still peeing and pooping lots. It is entirely from the EmerAid though.
Since his tooth grinding Feb 3, he has been happier and more active, but will not eat normal food or drink from his water bottle. He will gobble up EmerAid IC (like pancake batter) off a plate (a great improvement from his sickness in October). The EmerAid Sustain (more like finely ground hay mixed with water) he will not eat off a plate so I am feeding him that one with a syringe. The last few days he has been kind of chewing the syringe and holding it in his mouth. He clearly enjoys it. He still drools occasionally but it seems to mostly be during and after he eats. Some days he is active walking around his cage and squeaking; other days he just sits in his blanky until he comes out for feedings (every 2-4 hours). Every time we let him walk around though, he goes exploring like he always does.
He will occasionally look at his food and hay, or mouth it but never eat it. Putting his favorite treats in front of him (lettuce, cilantro, carrot, tomato) will make him purr and he will go all around it with lip curls and mouthing it and licking it but he will never actually bite down.
I am not sure if they cut his teeth too short? Or if they are still too long? We brought him back into the vet 1 week ago and she said he might need a follow up tooth grinding in a couple weeks. She said they ground his back teeth down to the gums, but now that the gums are receding they might need to be ground down again.
I am afraid, however that they cut his incisors too short and that's why he is unable to get food into his mouth. In addition, his incisors no longer look even with each other (on the bottom one is shorter than the other and it's the opposite way on the top). I don't understand how they could be so overgrown and no one spotted it (even when I was insisting I thought there might be something wrong with his mouth) in October, November, and January. So I'm not sure what to do.
Other info:
- since October his pee turns orange when it oxidizes. I know there is nothing wrong with this, it is just odd because it never did before
- since his post-bladder stone recovery, he makes an occasional smacking/slurping noise with his mouth. almost as if you would make if you had excess saliva in your mouth. He has done this off and on since he was first sick; I suspect was is due to his teeth getting too long. He makes it less now, but he still makes it occasionally.
- both times he declined (October and January) he stopped wheeking, and/or when he wheeks his voice would crack. Today he squeaks, but he has not wheeked since before his appetite declined in January.
Thank you for any thoughts!
Our guinea pig Scamper is 3 and last October he got a bladder stone. We were out of town for 2 weeks in October and when we came back we noticed Scamper was not eating as much and his poop looked a bit orange (we figured the house sitter possibly went overboard with carrots). After a week of his appetite declining and him appearing to be in pain when peeing/pooping we realized he had a bladder stone & took to vet. They almost operated on him but the bladder stone actually came out(!) with catheter manipulation as they were trying to push it back UP into the bladder pre-surgery. Little guy had a rough recovery and took a few weeks to start eating or drinking again (during which time we fed him EmerAid IC by syringe daily). During this time we brought him back to both his normal vet and his emergency vet and they could not find anything else to explain why he wouldn't be eating. He even had a sedated oral exam by the emergency vet in which they said his mouth was normal. He finally began eating and drinking again on his own several weeks after the bladder stone, but he never seemed to return to eating as he used to. He ate enough hay to maintain his weight but he was no longer interested in hay seed pods (which used to be his favorite) and ate very little of his pellets compared to his normal gobbling them up as soon as we put them in the bowl.
Fast forward to January, and his weight was declining again and his appetite declined until he stopped eating and drinking completely again. He was also drooling and acting unhappy. Brought him into vet again, they said teeth were fine. Did a urinary sample and that was normal other than signs of him losing weight. No signs or symptoms of another stone. They though maybe he still had a leftover remnants of bladder infection from October and gave him 2 weeks of antibiotics. After the two weeks were over (on EmerAid again) he still would not eat or drink. Brought him back to his same veterinary hospital but a different (third now) vet saw him and said his teeth were WAY overgrown. So overgrown his back teeth were starting to entrap his tongue and his front teether were propping his mouth open. He got a tooth grinding immediately (almost 3 weeks ago) but he still has not been eating or drinking on his own (we are feeding him EmerAid daily). During the time from October (initial bladder stone) to January his weight dropped from 1.2kg (which was already skinny for him) to 825g. Since then I have been able to get him back up to 880-890g with the EmerAid today. He is still peeing and pooping lots. It is entirely from the EmerAid though.
Since his tooth grinding Feb 3, he has been happier and more active, but will not eat normal food or drink from his water bottle. He will gobble up EmerAid IC (like pancake batter) off a plate (a great improvement from his sickness in October). The EmerAid Sustain (more like finely ground hay mixed with water) he will not eat off a plate so I am feeding him that one with a syringe. The last few days he has been kind of chewing the syringe and holding it in his mouth. He clearly enjoys it. He still drools occasionally but it seems to mostly be during and after he eats. Some days he is active walking around his cage and squeaking; other days he just sits in his blanky until he comes out for feedings (every 2-4 hours). Every time we let him walk around though, he goes exploring like he always does.
He will occasionally look at his food and hay, or mouth it but never eat it. Putting his favorite treats in front of him (lettuce, cilantro, carrot, tomato) will make him purr and he will go all around it with lip curls and mouthing it and licking it but he will never actually bite down.
I am not sure if they cut his teeth too short? Or if they are still too long? We brought him back into the vet 1 week ago and she said he might need a follow up tooth grinding in a couple weeks. She said they ground his back teeth down to the gums, but now that the gums are receding they might need to be ground down again.
I am afraid, however that they cut his incisors too short and that's why he is unable to get food into his mouth. In addition, his incisors no longer look even with each other (on the bottom one is shorter than the other and it's the opposite way on the top). I don't understand how they could be so overgrown and no one spotted it (even when I was insisting I thought there might be something wrong with his mouth) in October, November, and January. So I'm not sure what to do.
Other info:
- since October his pee turns orange when it oxidizes. I know there is nothing wrong with this, it is just odd because it never did before
- since his post-bladder stone recovery, he makes an occasional smacking/slurping noise with his mouth. almost as if you would make if you had excess saliva in your mouth. He has done this off and on since he was first sick; I suspect was is due to his teeth getting too long. He makes it less now, but he still makes it occasionally.
- both times he declined (October and January) he stopped wheeking, and/or when he wheeks his voice would crack. Today he squeaks, but he has not wheeked since before his appetite declined in January.
Thank you for any thoughts!
