Help! Guinea pig not eating on her own for a few days

[tubananas]

Since last Sunday, my 3-year-old female guinea pig has been barely moving. I didn't see her eating or drinking. I didn’t worry too much at that time since it happens sometimes and she will be back to normal the next day.

On Monday, however, she still looked the same, even if I provided her with her favorite treats and veggies. I tried to put the hay and water bottle next to her, but she’s still not interested. I also noticed she was having diarrhea. We haven’t weighed her for a while since her weight used to be pretty stable at ~1050g. We weighed her on Tuesday; she was 900g.

So on Tuesday, I took her to an emergency vet. They did a physical exam and think she's still quite energized, and her vitals look good. They gave her a vitamin C injection and fluid water under her skin, then sent her home with a critical care power and a probiotic “Bene-Bac”. They asked us to feed her 3 times a day. However, she refused to eat it, fought hard, and was trying her best to escape when we gave her the critical care, so we took her back to the vet on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, we tried to be more aggressive. The vet took a blood test, an X-ray, and an ultrasound. Her liver and kidney values are normal, and her red blood cell count was mildly elevated but still OK. Nothing abnormal from the X-ray. So they gave her the vitamin C and water injection again and asked us to continue giving her the critical care and add 0.6ml of ChildLife liquid vitamin C per day.

On Thursday, we tried our best and spent a long time, finally being able to give her critical care 3 times (one 10ml syringe each time). She was still not moving or eating/drinking on her own. We called the vet, and the vet suggested bringing her to the hospital again, with some poop of the other healthy guinea pig that lives with her. They suggested adding the healthy poop into her syringe feeding, which would act as a probiotic and might help to establish the bacteria in the GI tract. Then they re-did the x-ray and ultrasound. This time they noticed some free liquid during the ultrasound: “a bright mesentery, the connective tissues in the abdomen around the intestines.” They think that’s a sign of inflammation in the GI tract. So in addition to continuing the syringe feeding, they suggested giving her 0.3ml of Meloxicam and 0.36ml of Metronidazole every 12 hours. They also sent fecal and gram stain to a lab for evaluation. They said no sign of parasites, and we are still waiting for the results for the gram stain. After this visit, she ate on her own for a few bites of hay and pellet, but then stopped after that and no longer ate again.

On Friday and Saturday, I followed the instructions to do our best to give her critical care, vitamin C liquid, Meloxicam, and Metronidazole. She’s not finishing all of the critical care and fought hard or just spit it out after half a syringe, so we reduced the amount but increased the frequency, to give her at least 8-10 ml of critical care every 2-3 hours. We were able to keep her weight relatively stable, but she’s still not eating on her own.

While we are waiting for the gram stain result, the doctor said most of the things are looking normal and they still couldn’t figure out why she is not eating. I have another appointment on Tuesday with a specialist to see if we can get some additional insights.

Does anyone have any idea or suggestions?

 

[Wiebke]

Hi and welcome

HUGS

I am so very sorry that your girl is clearly very ill but that the cause is not at all obvious.

It is impossible for me to tell what is going on but have your vets checked for pain, a potential brain tumour (very rare but they cause only very vague symptoms), a stroke or other neurological event etc? They will have checked the heart of course and the womb for infection/burst ovarian cysts; any internal growths and - I hope - also the invisible teeth at the back of the mouth as well as the mouth for potential oral thrush (a fungal infection which causes painful sores) etc.
The lethargy is very concerning. Unfortunately, it is - like loss of appetite - a very vague symptom that can apply to very different and some totally weird issues out there. Your vets have done all the obvious checks that we would recommend, too. It could be a neurological or a pain issue, as your vets have already covered a metabolic and digestive angle. Does she have any gut movement (gurgling in the belly) and is she still making poos?

Please do NOT add any poops to your syringe feed. Live microbiome transfer via poos needs to be as fresh as possible in order to be effective - but then it is in indeed more effective than general herbivore probiotic powder.
Take a companion out of the cage (they cannot be on antibiotics or opioid painkillers themselves), give them a bit of a treat to eat, in order to trigger reflective pooing within the next 5-10 minutes. Pick up those very fresh poos, dunk them in a little dish with a little water. Suck up the water after about 3 minutes or before it starts turning dark brown and syringe 3 ml (or as much as you can) of it asap to your ill piggy without squirting it down their mouth and causing it to go either up into the nose or down into respiratory tract. This ensures that live bacteria will reach the stomach.
This is not the case with dry poos added to any syringe feed as the microbiome will die off very quickly once it leaves the body. The behaviour mimics natural behaviour in recovering piggies who will steal totally fresh poos from their healthy companions' bums as soon as they come out.
Piggies do not poo constantly, so you will need to trigger their pooing reflex with a treat or by serving their veg etc. outside the cage to be sure that you have controlled access to very fresh poos. The less time between poo dropping and it arriving in your ill piggy's mouth, the better.
Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

The practical care tips in this guide here apply to any piggies that do not move around much or at all: Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility

 

[Wheekallweek]

Have her teeth been checked thoroughly?

 

[tubananas]

Have her teeth been checked thoroughly?

Good question. I believe the vet checked at least her front teeth and said it looks normal. I know guinea pigs have some molars on the back which I’m not sure whether the vet checked, since the emergency vet was not a guinea pig specialist. I’ll call them again to confirm.
In case the vet didn’t check, is there a way to check the status of her molars at home?

 

[tubananas]

Hi and welcome

HUGS

I am so very sorry that your girl is clearly very ill but that the cause is not at all obvious.

It is impossible for me to tell what is going on but have your vets checked for pain, a potential brain tumour (very rare but they cause only very vague symptoms), a stroke or other neurological event etc? They will have checked the heart of course and the womb for infection/burst ovarian cysts; any internal growths and - I hope - also the invisible teeth at the back of the mouth as well as the mouth for potential oral thrush (a fungal infection which causes painful sores) etc.
The lethargy is very concerning. Unfortunately, it is - like loss of appetite - a very vague symptom that can apply to very different and some totally weird issues out there. Your vets have done all the obvious checks that we would recommend, too. It could be a neurological or a pain issue, as your vets have already covered a metabolic and digestive angle. Does she have any gut movement (gurgling in the belly) and is she still making poos?

Please do NOT add any poops to your syringe feed. Live microbiome transfer via poos needs to be as fresh as possible in order to be effective - but then it is in indeed more effective than general herbivore probiotic powder.
Take a companion out of the cage (they cannot be on antibiotics or opioid painkillers themselves), give them a bit of a treat to eat, in order to trigger reflective pooing within the next 5-10 minutes. Pick up those very fresh poos, dunk them in a little dish with a little water. Suck up the water after about 3 minutes or before it starts turning dark brown and syringe 3 ml (or as much as you can) of it asap to your ill piggy without squirting it down their mouth and causing it to go either up into the nose or down into respiratory tract. This ensures that live bacteria will reach the stomach.
This is not the case with dry poos added to any syringe feed as the microbiome will die off very quickly once it leaves the body. The behaviour mimics natural behaviour in recovering piggies who will steal totally fresh poos from their healthy companions' bums as soon as they come out.
Piggies do not poo constantly, so you will need to trigger their pooing reflex with a treat or by serving their veg etc. outside the cage to be sure that you have controlled access to very fresh poos. The less time between poo dropping and it arriving in your ill piggy's mouth, the better.
Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

The practical care tips in this guide here apply to any piggies that do not move around much or at all: Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility

Thank you so much for the detailed reply!

Regarding Pain, after noticing the free liquid from ultrasound, the vet said she might have inflammation and pain, so prescribed Meloxicam which they said would relieve pain. If anything else that we can check?
For Brain Tumor, Stroke, and Neurological Event, just did a quick search, I guess if these are the case then it should be pretty obvious in the X-Ray? The vet took several X-Ray and said didn’t see anything abnormal.

Regarding gut movement, the vet said her gut / GI tract is still moving on Thursday during ultrasound check which they said to be a good sign.
Yes she was still making poops at least as of yesterday. I noticed some very long and thin poop coming right out of her anus yesterday during syringe feeding.

Thanks for the comment on making the Poo Soup, I will try that today.

 

[tubananas]

The vet got test results, said the results indicate that metronidazole is not necessary, asking me to stop it, but keep giving Meloxicam.

 

[Wheekallweek]

Good question. I believe the vet checked at least her front teeth and said it looks normal. I know guinea pigs have some molars on the back which I’m not sure whether the vet checked, since the emergency vet was not a guinea pig specialist. I’ll call them again to confirm.
In case the vet didn’t check, is there a way to check the status of her molars at home?

I'm afraid not, a vet would need to check these. Molar spurs (sharp points on the back teeth) are common in Guinea pigs and can cause severe discomfort when eating, putting them off.
Her teeth may be fine, but it's worth getting them checked just in case