• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Guinea pig not eating post spay

L

Leanneelif

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Feb 14, 2023
Messages
10
Reaction score
21
Points
175
Location
Turkey
Hi,
I guess I'm looking for reassurance rather than advice per se. My 3 year old sow was spayed yesterday after developing ovarian cysts. The operation went well, but she is still reluctant to eat. I'm giving critical care every 3 hours, and she's been back to the vet for a check up, but I'm still worried.
She's not really moving much, and although she goes to food and sniffs, she looks like she doesn't have the energy to take a bite and gives up. It's currently 40 degrees Celsius here, so she's in a room with A/C set to 25, she had a temperature this morning but the vet gave an injection to bring it down.
My question I guess, is how normal is this behaviour? Is she likely to pull out of it? I am giving her painkillers as instructed, I'm just not sure if she's in pain or depressed.
I will just add that the only food she has actually taken a bite out of is tiny chunks of cucumber, which she can normally take or leave, not one of her favourites.
We are back at the vets tomorrow. I just wondered if anyone had experience of the same thing?
 
She's had a big op poor thing, I wouldn't be surprised if she's not feeling well.
Max didn't eat for himself or even really move by himself for a few days after his op.
Perhaps the anaesthetic is just taking a while to wear off?
Keep going with the critical care x
 
Aw bless her. A spay is an invasive op so that’s probably why she isn’t feeling well.

Keep up with syringe feeding her the critical care and give her a few days for the anaesthetic drugs to wear off and for her to settle but it’s good she is seeing the vet again tomorrow. Hopefully she’ll be feeling a little better by then x
 
Personally I would ask the vet to review the dose of painkillers she has been given and maybe ask if you can add in a second for a few days (I assume you were given metacam, so a suitable second pain relief would be gabapentin or paracetamol) Ive had 10+ spayed and they almost all came home eating unless they were in pain, tweaking their meds had them eating again within a few hours, spays are incredibly invasive and painful to recover from.
Unfortunately a lot of vets still dose pain relief based on the needs of cats and dogs, who metabolise these drugs far slower than guinea pigs and so cannot have higher doses due to the risk to their kidneys. This isn't a problem with piggies and they tolerate far higher doses, for example my guinea pigs get about 3xs the metacam dose that my cat has, even though my cat is 5xs heavier than them.

Hopefully that should have her back to her old self soon! Good luck at the vets.
 
Thanks for the replies. We went back to the vet today, she had a temperature again and was just so lethargic. They gave her antibiotics, pain killers, something to release the gas build up in her stomach, and a 15 minute IV drip while on oxygen (that was quite the experience, I've never seen a vet able to open an IV in a guinea pig before).
We are to go back daily until she makes an improvement. She's on a high dose of painkillers now, and they did give 2 types today, metacam and I'm not sure what the other was. They've also told me to put her back with her cage mates, even though they didn't want me to yesterday. I think the vet is of the same idea, that she's a little depressed too.
I've not seen any marked improvement in the few hours that we've been home, but it's still early days. She hates recovery food though, and has started fighting me and the syringe, so I will take that as a step in the right direction. She didn't have the energy yesterday.
I am very grateful to the vet, who opened up the surgery on Sunday just to see us. I do feel that they are as invested as I am in her recovery.
 
CTWC said:
What recovery food are you using? 🤔
Click to expand...
It's the Turkish version of critical care. As we are in Turkey, there aren't many options available - Convalescence plus herbivore. I am giving that, plus pellets and fresh poop from my healthy pigs mushed up in water.
I've put her in the cage with the others now, and she's eaten a little more cucumber. She seems happier being in a more familiar environment. She's just had her second dose of metacam, so I'll try hand feeding her in a little while once it has kicked in.
 
One of my guinea pigs had this. She wouldn’t eat and was pooping liquid diarrhoea. I gave her critical care, as much as she would take which honestly started at about 3 ml every few hours and gradually she would take more - then wanted more. I kept feeding her for 2 weeks. She also chewed her dressing off twice, so ended up in a sock of shame! Eventually she made a full recovery, but just keep topping her up with the recovery food.

Vet said the surgery had disturbed her gut and it needed time to adjust, this was almost 20 years ago so drugs for piggies have come on a lot since then!
 
Squeaky33 said:
One of my guinea pigs had this. She wouldn’t eat and was pooping liquid diarrhoea. I gave her critical care, as much as she would take which honestly started at about 3 ml every few hours and gradually she would take more - then wanted more. I kept feeding her for 2 weeks. She also chewed her dressing off twice, so ended up in a sock of shame! Eventually she made a full recovery, but just keep topping her up with the recovery food.

Vet said the surgery had disturbed her gut and it needed time to adjust, this was almost 20 years ago so drugs for piggies have come on a lot since then!
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. This seems to be the problem with mine. Her bloating is way down today, they gave her IV fluids again as her temperature is still up, but she's still not eating or interested in doing so.
It's good to hear it's not time to give up just yet. I know we are only on day 4 post op, but improvements are so small I was starting to lose hope. Your post has cheered me up.
Mine hasn't gone for the dressing yet, but she has tried to get rid of the IV line in her foot several times. If only she knew how difficult it was to get it in in the first place... hopefully it will still be in for tomorrow's treatment.
 
Just a quick update for those of you who might be wondering, her fever was down this morning and the vet removed the IV line. However, she went downhill very quickly this evening and had seizures. The vet did everything he could, but we unfortunately couldn't save her. She just really never recovered from the anaesthetic. The only thing that keeps me feeling better is that the cyst in her left ovary was ready to burst and it would have been the same outcome but a lot more painful.
Thank you for all your replies and suggestions. Truly appreciated
 
I'm so sorry she didn't make it but it sounds like you did everything you could and more. RIP little one 🌈
 
I am so very sorry for your loss as you say maybe some comfort in the knowledge of what would have happened but still heartbreaking 💔
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top