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Help Guinevere please

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Good luck today, I hope all goes well and you can get Guinevere sorted. :)
 
Hi Tim, I am sorry I was unable to give you any more help and advice than that you have already received from the forum members. I have emailed Vedra and told her to expect your call.
I do feel her teeth need a little more work, her molars are a bit long (but are not causing sores or trapping her tongue) and her incisors are long as well, and may be the reason she is finding it hard to pick up and bite into food.
I understand your reluctance to have her incisors trimmed, I hope Vedra can reassure you that its unlikely to make things any worse for her and may help.
I am worried that there may be an underlying health problem, although general examination of her revealed no major problems (except that she is a he but you already knew that!).
Good luck, I will keep following the thread to hear of her progress. Barbara
 
Hi Barbara, thanks a lot for having a look at Guinevere, its given us the piece of mind of a professional second opinion at least.
I've spoken to Vedra this evening & we're going to arrange to go to her next week hopefully as she's busy over the weekend.
Yes now that I've slept on it I think your probably right about the incisors, just because they've always been like that doesn't mean they're correct does it ?

Shhhhh Guinevere will always be our little GIRL, I didn't have the heart to tell anyone when I found out 'she' wasn't.

Thanks once again & I'll keep updating the thread with 'her' progress.

Tim
 
awwwww you could call him Guin x)x) (i'm sure he will not mind what he's called, just keep on loving the way you are xxxxxxxxxxx)
I do hope Vedra is able to help sweet Guinevere xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
just to let you know that i spoke to pig in the city just before xmas when i had my guinea ralphie neutered he developed abscesses and lost 500g in weight in 4wks and stopped eating Babara gave me some great advice on what to tell my vet to do i did but went to another vet after they kicked me out of the practise for wanting a second opinion:(|):(|) but from the help that Barbra gave me ralphie is now eating and has put on 350g and now has 2 new ladies..
thanks pig in the city your a star x
please listen the Barbra and vedra has they know more about guineas than normal vets do xx
 
Glad to hear that you're getting good advice on Guinevere. I hope (s)he starts to imporve very soon for you. No advice- just hugs! x
 
thanks for your nice feedback. I don't know if you realise Claire but it was me who spoke to you today about Sam! Am trying to get into my emails to read about the other piggie, but am having problems. will be in touch.
Good luck Tim with Guinevere, keep up the good work with the syringe feeding, I think its amazing that you have kept her weight up.
 
Thanks Barbara,we broke our record yesterday with 94ml of syringe food:)

We've both got a day off & are booked in to see Vedra on Monday so fingers crossed.

We've noticed quite a distict orange colour to Guineveres urine over the last couple of days, its not noticable in every wee but then unmissable in every third or forth, can you give them too much Vit c ? Any Ideas ?

Tim
 
It's not uncommon for guinea pigs wee to be a funny colour, it all depends on what they have been eating, beetroot classically makes urine pink, carrots can make it go orange. I expect you know exactly what she has been eating! They just pee out excess vitamin C -and it's colourless so it will not be this. Vedra suggested in her reply to my email that you have Guineveres urine tested, I am sure she will organise this when you go down, or you could collect a sample before you go. put her in a clean plastic box after she has had a good drink and syringe up a sample of wee into a clean bottle, take this with you and vedra can test it. Good luck tomorrow....
 
Good luck tomorrow, I'm sure the trip will be worthwhile.

94ml of syringe-food is fantastic, well done you and Guinevere!
 
Thank you all for your kind wishes, we're counting down the hours to our 6am
start in the morning !

Hehe we've tried the "wee in the box" method twice today and the cheeky little so&so won't play ball......until the moment we put her back in the cage of course !

I'll report back tomorrow, hopefully with a happy outcome.
 
Well we've been to Vedras and are now recovering from a 7hr round trip, but the main thing is that all is generally well with Guinevere:)

Vedra gave Guinevere a really good examination and the only things she found where:-
- Slight asymetry and overgrowth of Incisors & molars, which she fixed accordingly (Barbara-Yes she did clip the lower right).
- A dry/noisy throat which she suggested may be down to the Wood shavings that we've been keeping Guinevere on:...
To solve this Vedra recommended using "Spillers Readigrass" as bedding, does everyone else use this for bedding ?

Other than the above she declared Guinevere fit & well and said that there should now be no reason for her not to eat, and to basically try to tempt/encourage her to eat again now that her teeth are perfect.

We've resricted the syringe feeding today & since getting home she has eaten some hay & a couple of nuggets and also drank approx 30mls of water from her bottle:<> it still looks like hard work when chewing though.

We're just overjoyed that it doesn't seem anything sinister & hope this eating continues without her losing too much weight.
If anyone can suggest some fresh veggies that pigs simply can't resist apart from the usual carrot & cucumber it would be much appreciated.
 
Thats great Tim!
I use dust free hay on newspaper as bedding. Vedra recommends Readigrass or oxbow timothy hay because it is sterile and doesnt contain mites.
I feed mine corn (mini cobs or sections of larger cobs) and green beans which they love. also small amounts of tomato, red or yellow pepper, spring greens and herbs.
Hope she picks up very soon!
 
Thanks Barbara, is it "Readigrass" or "Friendly Readigrass" that should be used ?

Thanks, Tim
 
I think they are just the same but different brands, I use friendly readigrass.
 
I use newspapers and hay on the non-fleece areas of my cage. Is Guinivere in a cage or hutch?

Friendly readigrass is good and good for them. You'll need to change more frequently (every day in some areas). I mix it in with the hay for them to forage in.

Glad she's in good health - OH does she like herbs? Mine would do anything for some fresh parsley or coriander!
 
Ok Friendly it is then:) I'll try the green beans tomorrow, Vedra suggested the corn so I aquired some enroute home, but unfortunately she turned her nose up to it !

She's lived inside in a cage for the last 2yrs.

Hmmmm Parsley & coriander......now that sounds good !
 
Glad things are going well for Guinevere. When you are happy that she is back on track Tim, you can consider finding her a little friend, it may just help her even more to have a pal to snuggle up to and play with. Oh, and still waiting for you to do that 'This is your life' story for her how you found her. :)
It's a lovely story. xx
 
Guinevere said:
Thanks Barbara, is it "Readigrass" or "Friendly Readigrass" that should be used ?

Thanks, Tim
Click to expand...

Both Readigrass and Friendly Readigrass are good as food stuff but not really as bedding as they are short and stalky. For my allergy prone pigs I use newspapers / towels and fleece as bedding and feed Readigrass alongside their usual food instead of hay.

You can buy a large 'bale' of Readigrass (or Just Grass, or GrazeOn) from horse feed supply places, Pet Friendly Readigrass is about £3 for a tiny bag whereas a bale costs about £12 for loads - depends how many guineas you have, and what storage!

Sophie
x
 
Sorry for the lack of updates on Guinevere, this has mainly been due to juggling work, family life & most importantly syringe feeding taking up all of my time.

Unfortunately Guineveres situation hasn't changed since my last post, we're one month on & he's still not eating anything, even with an average of 75ml of syringe food per day he's still gradually losing weight (presently 900g).

We seem to have exhausted just about every avenue including a recent visit to an animal chiropractor !
Because of this we've decided to let our equally puzzled vet to put him under with gas tomorrow to allow him to do some xrays & have a good look inside his mouth.

We're really nervous & upset that its come to this but feel that its the only thing left to try.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow Guinevere xx
 
Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts, I'm pleased to say that Guinevere has had the xray & recovered from the gas & has already eaten 75mls of syringe food since lunchtime:)

The good news is that the xray revealed absolutely nothing untoward which is obviously a good thing, but unfortunately it hasn't helped with the current eating problem mallethead

Guinevere had a steroid injection on Monday & since then we've noticed that his Right eye appears to be sunken into her head slightly with the pink of his lower eyelid showing clearly. The vet thinks this indicates that the jaw may be inflammed/infected & as we're running out of ideas has prescribed another antibiotic which unfortunately I've forgot the name of but begins with a Z......... , unfortunately he'd run out so I'll pick it up tomorrow.
He also did a full teeth service whilst he had the chance & reported no real findings.

Question: Can Guinea pigs eat Quakers Oats softened/mixed with water & does this help to maintain weight ?

As always any help or comments are greatly appreciated

We're so glad to have Guinevere back tonight, lots of cuddles are on the cards I think xoxo
 
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AWWW no advice but give her a cuddle from me. Pleased she's home with you
x
 
Thanks, its causing arguements over whos turn it is to cuddle Guinevere !

One thing that I've not mentioned is his love for heat. We put a warm wheatbag in his house & he'll sit their for hours with his head resting on it, then whilst on the floor in the hallway he'll sit under the radiator & even try to bite it sometimes !!

As always please reply with any ideas etc...
 
The antibiotic is Zithromax.

Of what area was the x ray taken?

I would exercise extreme caution over the link between the eye lid and jaw "inflammation and infection". I would prefer to be presented with rather more convincing evidence.
Many pigs have one slightly sunken eye with an everted lid, which, for them is a normal state.
It sounds more like the possible start of a fatty eye.
 
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