• 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

Harry Is Off His Food And Lethargic :(

Status
Not open for further replies.
Carrotyd

Carrotyd

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Dec 3, 2014
Messages
221
Reaction score
446
Points
370
Location
Surrey
Went into feed Harry this morning, and he's really lethargic and off his food. He seems to have a bit of a limp going on with his right side, as if it might be giving him some pain, and I've booked him in to see the vet at lunchtime.

I've taken him out of his cage, as Hairy (AKA Seabass) kept trying to lie on him, and he's lying in his favourite cosy at the moment.

I weighed him this morning, and he's down a little from 1.35kg about 2-3 weeks ago to 1.28kg.

I've got some Critical Care here - do you think it's worth me starting to administer that?

For those unfamiliar with Harry's situation, until early January, he was part of a well-bonded pair, until his cage mate passed away, with very similar symptoms (albeit no limp as such) to what we're seeing now.

We've since bonded him with a new chap we got from the rescue (who had been quarantined before we got him) and seemed to be doing okay.

Having lost Lloyd just a few short weeks ago, I'm not sure I could cope with losing Harry so soon too.
 
It's worth mixing a bit up for him and see if he wants to eat in from a spoon, or out of a bowl. The different food might interest him for a few mouthfuls.

Good luck at the vet, let us know how it goes.
 
I'm no vet, but I think he might have bloat. He's ever so slightly swollen one side, and - if you tap him - he sounds hollow on that side, but sounds fine the other side. How quickly can bloat come on? He was eating and pooping normally last night.
 
Have you fed him anything else. It could probably be bloat or not. I would suggest taking that visit to the vet as soon as possible just to make sure that he's fine and you are not missing anything in all these symptoms. Have faith though, he'll be okay.
 
He's booked into the vet at 1.30pm, so he won't have to wait too long.

I guess his guts have been affected by the change over diet his new cage mate has been following, in that he came to us with a muesli mix that Harry isn't used to eating, which we're gradually swapping out for pellets.

Also of note, the new guy is very fussy over vegetables, whereas Harry will eat anything, and we've been trying the new one with bits of everything to tempt him.
 
Good luck at the vets, it does sound like the start of bloat or he is gassy. Hopefully the vet will be able to give you some meds to shift it. If you are going in the car, the vibrations may help too.
 
Carrotyd said:
Went into feed Harry this morning, and he's really lethargic and off his food. He seems to have a bit of a limp going on with his right side, as if it might be giving him some pain, and I've booked him in to see the vet at lunchtime.

I've taken him out of his cage, as Hairy (AKA Seabass) kept trying to lie on him, and he's lying in his favourite cosy at the moment.

I weighed him this morning, and he's down a little from 1.35kg about 2-3 weeks ago to 1.28kg.

I've got some Critical Care here - do you think it's worth me starting to administer that?

For those unfamiliar with Harry's situation, until early January, he was part of a well-bonded pair, until his cage mate passed away, with very similar symptoms (albeit no limp as such) to what we're seeing now.

We've since bonded him with a new chap we got from the rescue (who had been quarantined before we got him) and seemed to be doing okay.

Having lost Lloyd just a few short weeks ago, I'm not sure I could cope with losing Harry so soon too.
Click to expand...

Please start topping him up with syringe feed and have him seen by a vet as soon as you can get an appointment.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
 
Thank you for the good wishes, everyone. The vet confirmed it is bloat, and said we did well to pick up on it so early. He's working on the assumption Harry's gut bacteria balance has got out of sync (for some reason) but said he can't rule out another underlying cause.

They're keeping him in for the afternoon (with his buddy) to try and shift the bloat with a mix of drugs/fluids. I didn't catch the names of what they'll be treating him with, as I was a little overwhelmed at the time, but we're picking him up tonight at 6.30pm, with the view to nursing him through it with pain relief, gut meds and Critical Care.
 
Glad that it's been caught early, he's in the best place to get treatment. Keep us updated.
 
Well done for catching it so soon. Hopefully he'll be feeling better when you collect him later. :D

It's nothing to worry about but once a pig has had bloat it's more susceptible to it happening again, so it's something to keep an eye out for in the future.
 
Well done for being so on the ball, hopefully the fact you caught it early will mean a quicker recovery. Sending healing vibes!
 
Thank you all. He's home now, after being given another blast of pain relief before we left the vets, and he's very groggy.

The vet said it's bloat and he has responded okay to treatment today, but the gas doesn't seem to be leaving his system.

He's not responding very much to my attempts to syringe feed him either now we're home. I'm absolutely petrified we're going to lose him - 3 weeks to the day Lloyd left us too.
 
From my experience with bloat the gut medication can be given every 8 hours so if the vet didn't give you any to take home then you can go back to the vet in the morning to get more for him. Were you given any medicine?

In the meantime you need to keep him eating, so he keeps on pooping and peeing. It makes it a more difficult task if their digestive system shuts down due to lack of eating.

As much as he doesn't like it you need to keep feeding him if he's not eating anything himself.

What food are you giving him and how? The most common food is critical care, given by 1ml syringe with the end cut off and filed smooth, so you can feed a thicker mixture.

It's also good to try to keep them active in an attempt to get the gas out. If you have something that vibrates, like a tooth brush you can use that on them to try to massage it out. I can usually do it for about 10 mins before they get too annoyed and want a break.
 
It's Critical Care he's been given, but he's not chewing it when I try to give it to him, so wary of forcing it in him in case it clogs his lungs. What should I do?

We're trying to keep him active, by moving the hidey he's taken to lying in around.
 
If he doesn't want to be fed you still must. When you syringe feed him use two towls, one to wrap him in (make sure his head isn't wrapped up though) so he can't move that much and second one to put him on or over x You must make sure that some of the food or medicine goes in him.
 
SqueakyDreamsxx said:
If he doesn't want to be fed you still must. When you syringe feed him use two towls, one to wrap him in (make sure his head isn't wrapped up though) so he can't move that much and second one to put him on or over x You must make sure that some of the food or medicine goes in him.
Click to expand...

It's not a case that he's struggling - he's not. It's when I push down on the plunger, and the food goes into his mouth, he doesn't chew or respond.
 
Carrotyd said:
It's not a case that he's struggling - he's not. It's when I push down on the plunger, and the food goes into his mouth, he doesn't chew or respond.
Click to expand...
Is the food abit warm or is it no liquidey? When I syringe fed my guinea pigs she didn't respond to it because it was to liquidey and wasnt abit warm for the nuggets
 
Just give him really small amounts.

Have a look at the syringe feeding guide on here, and maybe a video or two on YouTube to see if you're putting the syringe in the right place in his mouth. It can be hard sometimes as you need to put it in the right area so he chews.

Do you know what medicine he was given? It sounds like he might have has some buprecare/buprenorphine.
 
Harry passed on around the time I was asking for advice about getting him to eat. I guess the reason he didn't want any food was because he was dying. Absolutely devastated.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top