Has my guniea pig been sick?

[Gadzy]

Hi,

I was getting both my sows out for indoor floor time and noticed a thick greeny/white substance stuck below her mouth and beard. She seems fine, but more fussed about clearing it out of her hair.

What has happened do I need to go to a vet? She seems fine in herself. I wiped it with a towel and it was like a yellowish gunk, but to feel it's like a thick mucas like substance.

Please advise

 

[Wiebke]

Hi,

I was getting both my sows out for indoor floor time and noticed a thick greeny/white substance stuck below her mouth and beard. She seems fine, but more fussed about clearing it out of her hair.

What has happened do I need to go to a vet? She seems fine in herself. I wiped it with a towel and it was like a yellowish gunk, but to feel it's like a thick mucas like substance.

Please advise

Hi!

Unfortunately we cannot judge without at least a picture. Guinea pigs can't vomit but they do spit out things that do not taste right.

 

[Gadzy]

@Wiebke

I'll keep an eye on it, but she seems to be eating fine and being herself. I was going to take a picture but it isn't there anymore. I will look this evening again. Can they eat too fast sometimes or anything?

 

[Wiebke]

@Wiebke

I'll keep an eye on it, but she seems to be eating fine and being herself. I was going to take a picture but it isn't there anymore. I will look this evening again. Can they eat too fast sometimes or anything?

Oh, yes - piggies can definitely pig out!

 

[Gadzy]

I think she's eaten too fast and brought something up. What I'm feeding them is this.

Once in the morning 50grams between 2 sows which has two romaine heart lettuce leafs halved, red bell pepper cut up, cucumber, a couple of sprigs of coriander and a small bit of sliced spring greens all adding up to 50grams

I repeat the exact same amount of 50grams between two sows in the evening so if you divide that over two times a day that's 50grams each. Do you recommend feeding once a day or twice? Once would be easier for me but it's whatever they prefer. I have taken their bowl of nuggets out as well because I wanted them to consume more hay!

A little off topic, but since I have had them from a month or so ago at ten weeks old I haven't heard them squeak loudly for food like my old ones. They make the inquisitive searching noises around their cage and popcorn etc but I haven't heard them squeak. I think they are still climatising to the new home? @Wiebke

 

[Wiebke]

I think she's eaten too fast and brought something up. What I'm feeding them is this.

Once in the morning 50grams between 2 sows which has two romaine heart lettuce leafs halved, red bell pepper cut up, cucumber, a couple of sprigs of coriander and a small bit of sliced spring greens all adding up to 50grams

I repeat the exact same amount of 50grams between two sows in the evening so if you divide that over two times a day that's 50grams each. Do you recommend feeding once a day or twice? Once would be easier for me but it's whatever they prefer. I have taken their bowl of nuggets out as well because I wanted them to consume more hay!

A little off topic, but since I have had them from a month or so ago at ten weeks old I haven't heard them squeak loudly for food like my old ones. They make the inquisitive searching noises around their cage and popcorn etc but I haven't heard them squeak. I think they are still climatising to the new home? @Wiebke

You can feed once or twice daily; that is up to you. I have some piggies that are not good drinkers, so I prefer to feed twice daily as I am in a hard water area but there is also an argument for producing a large pee once daily to help flush the bladder...
Anyway, the 50g or bowl full is just a rough guide line.

Not all piggies are food wheekers.

It is an acquired and not a natural behaviour that they often pick up from others. But even in a piggy room, not all of them are wheekers. I have generally got a Lead Wheeker for the Tribe, often the youngest or newest piggy with the rest just chiming in, more or less.

 

[Gadzy]

Thanks @Wiebke. Due to the crisis at the moment I could only get pets at home Timothy hay and Tesco's own meadow hay. Tesco own meadow hay looks okay. Shall I just do a mix of both in a box together and give them that for variety

I have heard some people so pets at home hay is good and some say it's bad.

 

[Siikibam]

A mix or separate is fine, depending how you want to feed it. I’ve seen the meadow hay at our Tesco but it always looks brown. So I don’t buy it.

 

[Gadzy]

@Siikibam yeah, on this rare occasion it was actually fairly green which surprised me. That's the only reason I got it. I remember looking at it before and it was brown.

I get very paranoid on all this hay business! I just dunno whether to use Timothy or meadow. Meadow is alot easier to find and have more choice of places to go to find a nice batch

 

[Siikibam]

Use both. If they like both then that’s fine. I’m currently feeding soft Timothy. The piggies like it but I think they prefer the stalky one with the seed heads. But I worry about hay poke as they like to sometimes sleep in it.