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Guinea Won't Eat

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Loz84

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Hi I have a 3.5year old neutered boar who has been quieter than usual for a week. He lives outside with my other boar so we brought them both indoors to keep an eye on them and noticed that my 3.5year was running over eagerly to food but then just sitting there and not eating. I took him straight to the vet who felt his tummy and said all was normal, checked his teeth with a scope and said his cheek teeth looked fine but incisors were long so she burred them. Sent me home with recovery food and metoclopramide. Following day little improvement, syringe feeding well and taking metoclopramide. No urine or faeces passed. Took xrays of abdomen and skull and took him to a piggy savvy vet. Vet checked treat and mouth and felt tummy. Checked his Penis and viewed xrays. Tummy felt normal. Said incisors don't meet anymore which will prevent him biting but to give hem strips to chew with back teeth. Any ideas?

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It is really quite worrying if no poops have been passed at all. Is it definite that he is not popping? And the vet could find no blockage?

I seem to recall discussing a similar pigcident at the forum meet last weekend @VickiA @PiggyOwner who was it with the blocked up piggy that the vet struggled to find an answer for? Any suggestions for this case?
 
I haven't seen evidence of faeces and he's been on his own all day today away from his companion. However, if he's not eating then he won't have anything to pass.
 
Loz84 said:
I haven't seen evidence of faeces and he's been on his own all day today away from his companion. However, if he's not eating then he won't have anything to pass.
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You are syringe feeding regularly still though? Poo output is showing what happened 24 hours ago so if you are syringe feeding I would still expect to see poops however small and slow they may be. It's really important to ensure food is going in regularly otherwise the body will start to shut down
 
Loz84 said:
Hi I have a 3.5year old neutered boar who has been quieter than usual for a week. He lives outside with my other boar so we brought them both indoors to keep an eye on them and noticed that my 3.5year was running over eagerly to food but then just sitting there and not eating. I took him straight to the vet who felt his tummy and said all was normal, checked his teeth with a scope and said his cheek teeth looked fine but incisors were long so she burred them. Sent me home with recovery food and metoclopramide. Following day little improvement, syringe feeding well and taking metoclopramide. No urine or faeces passed. Took xrays of abdomen and skull and took him to a piggy savvy vet. Vet checked treat and mouth and felt tummy. Checked his Penis and viewed xrays. Tummy felt normal. Said incisors don't meet anymore which will prevent him biting but to give hem strips to chew with back teeth. Any ideas?

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Hi!

Please be aware that the poos take 1-2 days to pass through the system, so what you see or don't see reflects what has gone in then. If your boy is still accepting food and medication, it means that the guts are still working and that there is neither a blockage in neither the gut or urinary tract (the latter is very quickly extremely painful) nor a full GI stasis (guts have stopped working). The guts may have however slowed down from the GA drugs.

Have you been feeding him since the dental treatment, which has obviously been done inexpertly? It is typical for vets not familiar with rodents that they tend to clip the incisors too short, thusly unbalancing a perfectly fine dental system.
Most guinea pigs won't eat after it if is not done well; the incisors are needed to pick up and cut food; they are self sharpening and do not require any clipping.

Please be aware that hay is making over 80% of the daily food intake, which you cannot control and which your piggy cannot pick up at the moment. Please step in with syringe feeding. Make sure that you do not underestimate the necessary food intake (info on that in the guide)
Please read the chapter on looking after dental piggies in our syringe feeding guide: Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

It is always very difficult when you are faced with a mystery symptom-less weight loss. There is so much that can cause it, but is not obvious but may require rather expensive lab testing to get to the bottom of it.
 
What bedding do you use?
I had a pig with problem that bears "some" simularaties , Sadly he died but a post morton showed an infection that had been caused by a peice of Obiuse bedding!
The pig had eaten the Obiuse, it had lodged in the small intestine an it became infected, stopping the pig from being able to process the food properly
In all honesty I don't think this is the problem with your pig, but if he is bedded on Obiuse the it may be somthing to look at further
 
He's is bedded down on straw and when outdoors has constant access to grass. I am aware of gut stasis and the need to pass faeces hence why I am monitoring it closely. The vet didn't say that she could feel impaction of any kind. As for ga drugs, he was conscious when I took the xray as I really like putting an ill pop under ga. I have been syringe feeding since the vet burred his teeth to short but I am conscious not to overfeed and cause bloat. He has eaten strips of cucumber but not many.
 
Loz84 said:
He's is bedded down on straw and when outdoors has constant access to grass. I am aware of gut stasis and the need to pass faeces hence why I am monitoring it closely. The vet didn't say that she could feel impaction of any kind. As for ga drugs, he was conscious when I took the xray as I really like putting an ill pop under ga. I have been syringe feeding since the vet burred his teeth to short but I am conscious not to overfeed and cause bloat. He has eaten strips of cucumber but not many.
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How much syringe feed do you give? A healthy guinea pig that cannot eat needs up to 120 ml in 24 hours. Most people underestimate the amount.

You do NOT cause bloating by syringe feeding; bloat is more likely caused by lack of food in an ill piggy! We have never had any reports of bloat caused by syringe feeding on this forum in over ten years and with a good thousand and enquiries in this section each year. ;)
 
My vet colleague told me between 5-15mls every couple of hours
 
Loz84 said:
My vet colleague told me between 5-15mls every couple of hours
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In a crisis if your guinea pig is unable to process much food, you aim for 40-60 ml to keep the guts going and the guinea pig alive. If your guinea is hungry, but cannot chew, you feed as much as it will take, aiming as close to 100-120 ml in 24 hours as you can with a guinea pig in its prime. You can feed the less often, the more a guinea pig will take in one go.

If there is a weight loss despite you coming close to a full coverage, please have it seen and checked by a vet. Teeth can overgrow again very quickly or there can be an underlying pain issue.
 
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