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Guinea pig not eating - Help!

GPMummums

GPMummums

Junior Guinea Pig
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My 5 year old guinea pig stopped eating and was eventually diagnosed with an abscess and some dental issues. She had an operation on Tuesday to have the abscess removed and her teeth filed down.

The operation went well and she’s home on metacam and is syringe feeding extremely well.

However she’s not eating proper food or hay. I will be grateful for any suggestions of ways to encourage her to eat properly as I’m worried for her future if she doesn’t.

Thank you for your help!
 
Glad the dental work went well and that she is taking her syringe feed well.
Try shredding veggies to make them easier to eat.
A bowl of the syringe feed in the cage will also help encourage her to eat.
I usually mixed a tiny piece of mashed banana into the mush which all my piggies loved.
A small dish with grated carrots or sweet potato and raw oats is also good.

Is your hay short strands or long ?

It does take time for a piggy to recover fully from any op and dental work will have left her mouth feeling sore.

You are doing all the right things and it’s clear she’s in excellent hands with you.
 
Hope she feels better soon. I used to cut veggies into very small bits and mix it in with critical care, my pig just ate it off a plate.
 
Thank you both for your very helpful advice.

The hay is long timothy grass. Should I cut it shorter?
 
I’m sorry to hear this

Is she on a good dose of pain killer?

Make sure you are weighing her every morning so you can monitor the syringe feed intake.

There should be no need to cut the hay. Is it stalky or soft hay? If it is stalky then she may be more encouraged with softer meadow hay, for example, while she is recovering.

If she hasn’t started to show interest in eating for herself by next week, then I would have a chat with the vet.
 
Thank you for all your help. She’s on 0.2 ml of metacam once a day.

Her hay is quite leafy but I’ll try to get some meadow hay too.
 
Is it cat version (0.5mg/ml) or dog version (1.5 mg/ml)?
It’s possible that if it is cat version and only once a day, that she might be in discomfort (it’s as low a dose as you can go so may not be doing much) so do keep an eye on that
 
Frustratingly my vet is not available to speak to me today and they aren’t open again until Tuesday. Can you give any guidance on dosing as I think she might be in pain after reading around the subject a bit more?
 
GPMummums said:
Frustratingly my vet is not available to speak to me today and they aren’t open again until Tuesday. Can you give any guidance on dosing as I think she might be in pain after reading around the subject a bit more?
Click to expand...

That’s a shame.
I’m afraid we can’t - by law only a vet can do this.

If you think she may be in pain then your only option would be to discuss with an out of hours vet but the issue is they aren’t usually specialist so may not be prepared to prescribe a higher dose.

It can take them time to regain confidence after having had dental issues also

Signs of Pain in Guinea Pigs
 
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