Health worry

[PeachesPoppy]

Hi all,

My Guinea pig Peaches has had a massive health scare over the last few days and I wondered if anyone had experienced anything similar?

I noticed that her wee was pink the other night so I booked a routine vet appointment to get her checked out asap. However when I came down the following morning to check for any further bloody patches in the cage, I found her with what looked like a prolapse hanging out of her back end. Obviously took her to the emergency vet immediately to have her checked and she had a small op to remove the mass. It wasn’t a prolapse after all but some kind of tumour that she expelled over night. We then took her to the normal vet that afternoon for a follow up and the vet said to monitor her and that histology probably wouldn’t provide any answers we could really do anything about, I.e, cancer or benign tumour.

She has been prescribed metacam and had her first dose this morning and when I got back from work I noticed that she was struggling to walk. She seems to be flopping as she’s walking rather than walking normally. I should also note that she has three legs because she broke one of her back legs quite badly a couple of years back and it had to be amputated. However she has walked relatively normally since she recovered from this, just sort of bounced along where her back leg should have been. It’s never been an issue.

However since this tumour came out of her she seems to be struggling significantly. I don’t know if it’s the metacam making her high or if it’s the bruising from her surgery causing the problem. She had the op about 36 hours ago so also she could just still be in recovery; just alarmed me a bit.

She’s eating fine but haven’t seen her go to the water bottle so I’ve had her on recovery food and given her watery veggies to hydrate her.

Sorry for such a long post; just looking for any advice or precedent on this really! Her cage mates are giving her lots of kisses

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m so sorry to hear this.

Metacam will not cause ‘high’ effects. It’s a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory not an opioid based painkiller.
What is her dose?

Make sure you weigh her every morning for a while to ensure that she is eating enough hay/ that you are getting enough critical care into her each day to keep her weight stable.

If you are at all worried, then please do speak to your vet

Tips For Post-operative Care
Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support

 

[PeachesPoppy]

I’m so sorry to hear this.

Metacam will not cause ‘high’ effects. It’s a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory not an opioid based painkiller.
What is her dose?

Make sure you weigh her every morning for a while to ensure that she is eating enough hay/ that you are getting enough critical care into her each day to keep her weight stable.

If you are at all worried, then please do speak to your vet

Tips For Post-operative Care
Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support

The vet said to give her 4ml once a day - the dose for a 4kg animal. Glad it’s not causing her to be “high” as adverse effects were a concern. I will weigh her and keep an eye on her - thanks for your reply x

 

[Piggies&buns]

The vet said to give her 4ml once a day - the dose for a 4kg animal. Glad it’s not causing her to be “high” as adverse effects were a concern. I will weigh her and keep an eye on her - thanks for your reply x

It definitely won’t be 4ml per day.
The kg measures on the syringe don’t equate to ml - but I cant remember how to convert it from kg to ml.
Usually the kg measure syringe is discarded by the vet and the dosage dispensed in a 1ml syringe.

 

[PeachesPoppy]

It definitely won’t be 4ml per day.
The kg measures on the syringe don’t equate to ml - but I cant remember how to convert it from kg to ml.
Usually the kg measure syringe is discarded by the vet and the dosage dispensed in a 1ml syringe.

Ah it must be 0.4ml then - she said to draw it out to the number 4 on the syringe

 

[PeachesPoppy]

Just to give you all an update, Peaches seems to be picking up now and I think the wobbly-ness in her demeanour must have been because she was in pain still. She’s moving about today which seems good, and she popped out of her hide to get some lettuce with her cage mates so I’m very relieved! But will post again if anything changes

 

[eileen]

Thats good peaches is picking up .is the metacam the dog one or the cat one ? Its been an ordeal for you and peaches.

 

[PeachesPoppy]

Thats good peaches is picking up .is the metacam the dog one or the cat one ? Its been an ordeal for you and peaches.

It has been an ordeal. I’m just glad she’s on the mend at last! It’s the cat one she’s on

 

[Merab]

Hope the improvement continues

 

[eileen]

It has been an ordeal. I’m just glad she’s on the mend at last! It’s the cat one she’s on

The CAT one is only 0,5mgs per one mls,so it could be feasible that the dose was 4mls.the dog one is 1.5mgs per mls.so three times the strength of the cat dose.just look at the bottle you were given.good luck with peaches,you have some pretty guinea pigs.

 

[PeachesPoppy]

The CAT one is only 0,5mgs per one mls,so it could be feasible that the dose was 4mls.the dog one is 1.5mgs per mls.so three times the strength of the cat dose.just look at the bottle you were given.good luck with peaches,you have some pretty guinea pigs.

Aww thank you! I love them all dearly, peaches is the first one I got

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yes cat is 0.5mg/ml.
Standard dosages for a 1kg piggy can be up to 1.2ml twice a day.

I think using the kg syringe means that a 4kg dose works out to be a bit less than 0.4ml. So you are not giving anywhere near 4ml per day.
This is why the kg syringe isn’t usually used for piggies - it’s usually removed by the vet and given a 1ml syringe to give a dose in ml instead

 

[PeachesPoppy]

Good to know! All been a bit of a blur to be honest