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Help, please?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Vikki Swan
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Vikki Swan

Hi,

We picked up two older guinea pigs from a rescue five weeks ago, we were told the two piggies now named Muffin and Galaxy were male, having checked three times this evening and think they now might be female. I have had to bring them both inside as Galaxy has been struggling with his / her weight since arrival and Muffin as I noticed today his / her bum had blood around it. Galaxy gained 30g the first night in and 15g the second, since then he / she has been loosing weight steadly again. I am concerned that Muffin may pregnant as has a very rounded tum, could blood be a sign of an impending birth?

I must point out that whether male or female they are both the same sex. My vet checked them over two days after I got them and never corrected me when I told him we were told they were male. Galaxy has been to the vet three times in the last fortnight about the weight loss, he / she has had an injection of apetite stimulant and has been on probiotics the last week, I am due back at the vet tomorrow.

When they arrived Galaxy weighed 1080g now weighs 1000g
Muffin weighed 1174g and now weighs 1153g.

Any advice appreciated

I must also add they are thought to be around three years of age.
 

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The piggy with the swollen tummy may have bloat (thats if she not pregnant). This is a very serious condition and acting quickly to treat this is vital. If it is bloat then check out the Peter Gurney health pages for treatments. If the belly is hard like a baloon filled with water and not squishy then it is possibly bloat. Try gripe water, liquid parafin and buscapam. I would get back to the vets as quickly as possible but try the gripe water in the meantime. Peter Gurney has great advice on his website so check that out if you can. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
 
i'd say get them both to the vets for a thorough check up, they may just be stressed, but i really dont know and its not worth the risk
 
Hi,

Thanks for the replies, I meant to say in my first post that I fully intend to vet in the morning, I have just come off the phone to the vet who has advised that I bring Muffin in first thing, as she / he is eating and drinking my vet David is happy to wait untill then. I live in a small town and if Muffin goes to the vet tonight we would have to drive 60 miles to the vets other practice, which we will do if her / his condition was to worsen. I run a hedgehog rescue so I am one of our vets best customers and very experienced in animal care. We have kept pigges for several years and thought we were doing a good deed when our other piggie Toffee died in offering a home to two older piggies, my kids and I love them to bits but we have had then five weeks today and they are costing a fortune in vets bills!

Fingers crossed the piggies improve soon.
 
Blood could be a sign of a UTI or kidney stones, as for the weight loss did your vet check their teeth?
The weight loss for Muffin isn't great, my piggies weights fluctuate, as they may have just had a wee before i've weighed them 1-2oz is acceptable but if the weight loss is continuing then a vet visit is needed to find out why.

Regarding their sex, if you could get a clear pic of both of them & post it on here we could help determine their sex :)

I hope they go on ok, keep us posted & have to say they are gorgeous piggies whatever their sex x)
 
Hi,

Both piggies are staying overnight with the vet, they are girls!

Trevor the vet in Peebles today wants to give Galaxy some gas to get a propper look at her teeth and to deal with a spur. Muffin appears to be having a period?

What are other guinea pig owners experiences of vaginal bleeding?

Thanks in advance
Vx
 
i had 2 females for 6.5 years. they had hysterectomies at 3 years old but before that noticed nothing. round tummy could be ovarian cysts that is what both mine 2 had.
 
Guinea pigs don't have periods. Any bleeding from the genital area needs to be looked at. She could have cut it somehow, have a urinary tract infection or a number of other possibilities.

Sending healing vibes x
 
The vet has held on to Muffin the one with the bleed, he had had a good look at her and it was him who said it was down to her being in season?

I am so confused!
 
I remember someone telling me that female piggies can sometimes have an occasional bleed with no other problems, but not periods - bladder stones, uri's, etc. The only bleeding in piggies I've dealt with are ones who had bladder stones.
 
I will speak to the vet in the morning and see what he thinks we should do, when I spoke to him today he was planning to see how Muffin went overnight, if the bleeding had settled then he wanted to wait and see...

He did mention the posibility of a cyst.
 
Hi,

Sorry for not replying sooner, I have toncilitis and feel awful!

Both piggies came home yesterday, Galaxy has had her teeth sorted out and Muffin has stopped bleeding, vet says Muffin is not pregnant so that is a relief too.

Thanks for al the help, I will keep you posted on their progress.

We have decided to keep them as inside piggies from now on too.
 
On behalf of the many reputable rescues up and down the country I can only say how sorry I am to hear of your current troubles. I hope things are now a little better for you.

It must have been a very worrying time.

As far as I'm concerned the place you adopted your piggies from has no right to call themselves a rescue - many of us go to great lengths to offer advice and ongoing support and I'm very disappointed that a rescue should rehome two sows as two boars.

Naturally I don't wish to know who it is but I sincerely hope that you have advised them of their error and the subsequent anxieties you have suffered. I hope that they have offered you backup and support too.

Hope you can now enjoy your piggies :)
 
Hi,
Both Galaxy and Muffin seem more settled since their return from the vet.
Both eat their fresh food fine, my problem at the moment is neither appear to be eating their dry food?
When they first arrived I was offering pets at home premium musile, they would hardly touch it! The vet gave me a bag of selective complete guinea pig food and they won't eat that either!

So at the moment all the appear to be eating is fresh food (kale, carrot, baby corn, tomato, cabbage, apple) they don't get all of these every day I try to vary it a bit on a day to day basis.

Plus they eat hay!

Any suggestions greatfuly received,

Thanks!
 
maybe you could try a different food mine dont like the p@h museli or science selective but they love the wagg crunch n excel nuggets which i mix.
try looking on the food reviews posted on here.
 
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