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Guinea Pig Stomach Ulcers

anyar.dris

anyar.dris

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Hi all! I haven't been here for a while..

2 of my guinea pigs passed away last year on January (Deedee, 4 yrs and 8 mos, due to her too many illness, heart problems and kidney & bladder stones; passed away during her sleep in the middle of the night) and on June (Meemee, 5yrs, dental piggie of almost 2 yrs and suffered a bloat for a week that we can't fix so we have to put her to sleep because she gave up in the end).

Now, one of my other guinea pig is sick. Bunny, 3.5 yrs old, was taken to the vet on Thursday last week because she lost a lot of weight the day before. She usually weighs around 1.250 kg to 1.280kg but she weighed at 1.180 kg, so that's 100g lost in a day. The vet told us that she was full of gas. All throughout her life with us, she has been gassy for quite a few times (she eats so fast is one of the reasons) and we always managed to treat her after 2-3 days. So the vet gave her ranitidine. We also gave him metacam and charcoal (with CC of course) to help her get rid of any pain and such.

The next day, Friday, the other guinea pig Cookie, 8 mos old, stopped eating as well and lost weight so off we go to the vet again and they can't seem to find any other problems. So they were injected vitamin B to help them get back their appetite.

Saturday, we took Bunny again to the vet coz it seems that her stomach is looking a bit bigger. We wanted to get an xray and antibiotic for her. Vet notice (by intensive massaging or whatever you call what they do) that she has a lump at the ovaries. She did an xray but can't see anything because she's still full of gas. So she said we have to continue with the meds at the moment and take her back on Monday.

Sunday, we didn't see any improvements with Bunny at all. Cookie was not eating as much as well but she would if we feed her on our lap. We thought she might be just getting upset and lonely because no one is playing with her. She has been very bonded with Bunny ever since we got her.

Monday, we took Bunny to the vet for follow up checkup and another vet definitely said that the ovaries are quite large. So she scheduled Bunny to be spayed the next morning.

Tuesday morning, we took her back to the vet for the operation. After just an hour upon going back home, the vet called us and told us that they weren't able to spay her because her ovaries are normal. But what they found was that her lymph node is enlarged. They looked what's causing it and they found out that her stomach has ulcers and one is seeming like it'll burst any time soon. So they stitched her up without removing anything and gave us meds, antibiotic (Baytril) and ranitidine. When we took her back home, hubby searched online and he can't seem to find information about stomach ulcers on guinea pigs.

Today (Tuesday), Bunny is not eating by herself at all. We haven't stopped giving her CC and other food that they usually eat. Also lots of probiotic. She looked lethargic and just want to lie down. But she's peeing and pooping just fine, with a lot of passing off stinky gas. We are at the moment thinking that it's because she had surgery just yesterday. But it's so hard not to be upset with everything and think of the worse. Cookie is currently lying down beside her to keep her company.
 
I've not heard of stomach ulcers either, I wonder if the vet meant abscess as that can be associated with lymph node issues. I wonder why the vet would have been inside her stomach during a spay operation, hmm. But I'm not a vet so there could be a simple reason.

Swollen lymph nodes can be a sign of quite a serious infection so a strong dose of antibiotics will be needed. It could take a day or so for the Baytril to take effect.

I'd continue with the handfeeding overnight @anyar.dris and if there is no improvement then I would go back to the vet tomorrow. It could need further investigation to determine what exactly is going on.
 
Jaycey said:
I've not heard of stomach ulcers either, I wonder if the vet meant abscess as that can be associated with lymph node issues. I wonder why the vet would have been inside her stomach during a spay operation, hmm. But I'm not a vet so there could be a simple reason.

Swollen lymph nodes can be a sign of quite a serious infection so a strong dose of antibiotics will be needed. It could take a day or so for the Baytril to take effect.

I'd continue with the handfeeding overnight @anyar.dris and if there is no improvement then I would go back to the vet tomorrow. It could need further investigation to determine what exactly is going on.
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Thanks for the reply. I believe they looked at her stomach because they didn't see anything wrong with her ovaries when they cut her up for spaying. So they decided to look around what's wrong since she's already opened up, and that's when they found her swollen lymph node which was near her stomach. Then they checked her stomach and saw that it has ulcers. Not really sure if she meant abscess because she said ulcers. But we can't find any info about it with regards to guinea pigs.

We fed her at 6pm tonight and she ate quite a lot, (spinach, watermelon, critical care and blended carrots). We stopped giving her apple and pear since it's acidic and it would probably hurt her stomach.
 
It's good that she's eating more @anyar.dris ! Fingers crossed that she improves.

My vet is great and doesn't mind at all if I call later to ask a question so I'd probably give them a call tomorrow to ask about the ulcer to see if it was an abscess. Because if it is it'll need treating by either lancing and draining it, or removing it fully.
 
Jaycey said:
It's good that she's eating more @anyar.dris ! Fingers crossed that she improves.

My vet is great and doesn't mind at all if I call later to ask a question so I'd probably give them a call tomorrow to ask about the ulcer to see if it was an abscess. Because if it is it'll need treating by either lancing and draining it, or removing it fully.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Jaycey! By the way, hubby said the vet told him that the ulcer is in the stomach and not outside. So that's why the vet said it's ulcer and they can't remove it. Anyway, I hope your vet have an idea about what really it is.
 
Update:

We took Bunny back to the vet today for a post-op checkup. Vet said the swollen lymph node has decreased its size from an approx. 4cm size to around 1cm size. They were actually quite surprised how fast it reacted from the treatment since the op.

Bunny is doing very well. She's back to eating by herself, not fully back to her normal though but at least she's eating again. We still have to feed her CC just to keep on top of everything. She still is gassy and would still need to be given ranitidine. Although she is quite active now compared to last week and would always give a fight if she doesn't want to be hand fed.

We'll be coming back for another checkup after 10 days. Hopefully she'll be cured by then. The worse that might happen at the moment is that we have to give her ranitidine from time to time because she has been gassy for a lot of times since she was a year old.
 
Katiedid said:
Giving her ranitidine long term if you can will protect her stomach, they use it in humans to prevent ulcers. ,
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Thanks Katiedid. Yes, that's what we are planning to do. At least now we found out what's really caused her problems.

She's almost back to her normal self. She's getting out of her house now and started running to the other side of the room. They run free in our living room (they get locked up during bed time at night) and she started doing that again tonight and she's a lot perky today.
 
Just an update.

We've been to the vet today for another follow-up check up for Bunny. Vet said that Bunny doesn't have gassy stomach anymore. He can't feel any lump as well. We'll be continuing to give her ranitidine for a couple of weeks and see if there will be any problem in the future. If she became gassy again, we'll then give her ranitidine as long as she lives. Her wound from the operation is almost healed (only a few scabs and very small stitches scar left). Apart from that, she's back to normal. Asking for food when she knows it's feeding time, back to running around and playing with Cookie and eating loads of hay, pellets, and other types of food.
 
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