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Guinea Pig Sick From Eating Pellets

Chuchotimmy

Chuchotimmy

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Just wanted to share a successful recovery story as we had trouble finding a thread about someone who had gone through this scenario with their piggies.

We gave our two piggies pellets for the first time a few days ago. They were Oxbow Timothy Hay Pellets (a reputable and recommended brand). They are 2 years old but their previous owner had never fed them pellets and we had heard mixed reviews about pellets in general.

Chucho ate a few pellets and went to the corner to lie down. Timmy happily ate a lot of pellets. Chucho likes to relax so we didn't think much of the lying down until we were leaving the house a few hours later and he didn't run across the room to get some fresh cucumber, his favourite.

We put the cucumber right up to his face and he didn't really react. He also looked very round and puffy. Timmy ate all the cucumber slices, even taking some from right under Chucho's nose, which would normally never happen as Chucho is the dominant one.

We were panicking reading horror stories and decided to eventually pick him up and hold him on our laps. We put Timmy beside him so they would feel more comfortable and brought some tiny apple slices and tiny cucumber slices and put it right up to Chucho's mouth and eventually he gave in and ate some.

This went on for at least half an hour and eventually we thought we can put him back in his cage. He was still fairly lethargic and went right inside his pigloo but we put the food in easy reach right under his feet and he slowly ate more and more. The next day he was totally his normal self.

I think most piggies are used to eating pellets from a young age but this is what happened when we fed them to older piggies. Timmy was perfectly fine but I guess every piggy is different. I'm not sure what would have happened if we hadn't forced him to eat the way we did.

Hope that helps!
 
I've never heard of getting ill from eating pellets, they don't have to have pellets in the wild he would have scraggy grass & that's it. A lot of members here are weaning there piggies off pellets or changing to brainless ones
 
Tiamolly123 said:
I've never heard of getting ill from eating pellets, they don't have to have pellets in the wild he would have scraggy grass & that's it. A lot of members here are weaning there piggies off pellets or changing to brainless ones
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Brainless pellets @Tiamolly123?:yikes: Surely you mean grainless?
 
Tiamolly123 said:
I've never heard of getting ill from eating pellets, they don't have to have pellets in the wild he would have scraggy grass & that's it. A lot of members here are weaning there piggies off pellets or changing to brainless ones
Click to expand...
Blooming brainless pellets! You’d think they’d have more sense! Sorry! Couldn’t resist it! Autocorrect nightmare again! Lol
 
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention @Chuchotimmy .

I'd be interested to know what you think was wrong as I note you stated that Chucho only ate a few pellets ( Timmy ate more) - and it was Chucho who had problems. How are both your Guinea Pigs now ?
 
I wonder if maybe Chucho accidentally swallowed a chunk of pellet without crunching it up first, so it got stuck on the way down? That would be extremely uncomfortable I imagine and might account for his wanting to lie down etc. The water in the cucumber would have softened it then enough for it to get moving again eventually.
I've not heard of this happening before, but then it could easily go un-noticed if you are not there when your pig is munching its pellets.
 
Welcome to the forum. Thank you for letting us know about this- I hope your pigs are ok now. This sort of thing does make me worry though!
 
How is Chucho now? Sending him cuddles and healing vibes, it's horrible when your baby becomes poorly.

To be honest it's probably great if they don't require pellets and just have their hay and veggies! I always wonder if it's worth trying to go without pellets, however I think it's harder if they are dependant on them :(

I've never tried oxbow myself but as you say, I think it's a fairly reputable brand so it's quite bizarre! I hope he's feeling better and forgets about the whole experience soon enough! :)
 
Chuchotimmy said:
Just wanted to share a successful recovery story as we had trouble finding a thread about someone who had gone through this scenario with their piggies.

We gave our two piggies pellets for the first time a few days ago. They were Oxbow Timothy Hay Pellets (a reputable and recommended brand). They are 2 years old but their previous owner had never fed them pellets and we had heard mixed reviews about pellets in general.

Chucho ate a few pellets and went to the corner to lie down. Timmy happily ate a lot of pellets. Chucho likes to relax so we didn't think much of the lying down until we were leaving the house a few hours later and he didn't run across the room to get some fresh cucumber, his favourite.

We put the cucumber right up to his face and he didn't really react. He also looked very round and puffy. Timmy ate all the cucumber slices, even taking some from right under Chucho's nose, which would normally never happen as Chucho is the dominant one.

We were panicking reading horror stories and decided to eventually pick him up and hold him on our laps. We put Timmy beside him so they would feel more comfortable and brought some tiny apple slices and tiny cucumber slices and put it right up to Chucho's mouth and eventually he gave in and ate some.

This went on for at least half an hour and eventually we thought we can put him back in his cage. He was still fairly lethargic and went right inside his pigloo but we put the food in easy reach right under his feet and he slowly ate more and more. The next day he was totally his normal self.

I think most piggies are used to eating pellets from a young age but this is what happened when we fed them to older piggies. Timmy was perfectly fine but I guess every piggy is different. I'm not sure what would have happened if we hadn't forced him to eat the way we did.

Hope that helps!
Click to expand...

Hi!

I am glad that Chucho is fine again.

However, I somehow rather think that the lethargy is not connected to the pellets, but incidental. This is a typical behaviour for a guinea pig that is already not feeling well and hasn't got much appetite. Like you'd only eat a few spoonfuls when you are feeling really sick or off. ;)

I sincerely hope that you have had Chucho vet checked because suddenly lethargy/apathy is one of the emergency vet visit signals and can point to an underlying problem, like a tummy upset but also a potential heart problem.

Please do not make a guinea pig that is not well eat more veg, but more fibre. If possible, have recovery formula at home to be able to step in with syringe feeding if that beomes necessary. 80% of the daily food intake is hay, which you can never control. Just watching a guinea pig chewing can also be deceptive; they often chew on crud. If you have worries about eating and health, please switch from weighing once weekly to weighing daily at the same time.
First Aid Kit For Guinea Pigs
Not Eating And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
 
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