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Help! Poorly Piggies

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leahp1803

leahp1803

Junior Guinea Pig
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help, I've got 3 piggies, 2 of which are poorly at the moment, I noticed on Thursday night one of them (rudi) had lost a dramatic amount of weight in a couple of days, about 400grams, so I rushed him straight to the vets, where she said he had an Ulser in his eye, and the pain could be causing him to not eat, I was given drops, and it's starting to clear up, but he's still not eating a lot, I'm feeding him baby food, and soft veggies and he's taking them, but he's still lost weight since his trip to the vets on Friday? he weighed 570grams at the vets and now only weighs 546grams I don't know what I'm doing wrong with him? is there something else I should be doing? I've been hand feeding him for 3 days now every couple of hours, and I'm making sure he's getting loads of fluids, what am I missing?
now, my other poorly piggie is called pickles, I noticed he wasn't right after I cleaned his hutch out and I noticed the day after (Saturday) he hadnt touched his food or water, I took him to the vets first thing today and he said it could possibly be his teeth, he couldn't feel any problems with his organs, and other than being slightly underweight he was fine, he checked his teeth and suggested that his back teeth needed to be filled down and smoothed so eating wouldn't be a problem, he gave him a pain killer, and has given me pain killers to give to him every morning, he still won't eat anything, he tries his hardest but he spits it back out again, I'm also hand feeding him baby food and a special powdered food I was given by the vet, but again, I don't know what I'm doing wrong? please has anyone got any advice or can you see something I'm missing?! thanks x
 
Hello, welcome to the forum. Sorry it is in bad circumstances.

Can I ask your location? We have a recommended vet locator at top of page that has a list of piggy savy vets. Rudi not eating is not good, I would recommend him seeing the vets again. Is he eating his hay okay? How is his chewing?

Sounds like Pickles teeth still aren't right. Can I ask your location? Piggies teeth are very delicate and it pays to find a vet who has experience in dental work. It can also take a while for piggies to recover after dental work, what painkiller is he on and what dose? Have a read of our syringe feeding guide here Syringe Feeding & Medicating Guides, Probiotics Links, First Aid Kit...

I am tagging in one of our health experts who runs a dental sanctuary for ideas @furryfriends (TEAS)
 
I would give the powdered mix (I am assuming it is recovery food?) to both pigs as it contains essential fibre. You can also mush their usual pellets and syringe that too. It is all covered in the guide that Lee has linked to.
 
I live in Pembrokeshire Wales

pickles is a lot better today, he's on metacam for cats, and he has a 0.6ml dose every morning, he seems to have perked up a lot the last few days, which is great news, but now my main concern is rudi. I weighed him tonight and he weighs about 560grams, he picks up food to eat it, but when he starts to chew it he spits it out again? his eye has cleared up now so I'm assuming it's not that causing this anymore, he just point blank refuses to eat the recovery mix, even if I syringe it to him, he must be eating some food because he still runs around like a lunatic, the only food he will eat from a syringe is baby food, so I have pure organic carrot, Apple, and apple and banana baby food that he eats like there's no tomorrow, but I know it's not good for them just to eat baby food so I've been trying him on veggies and he's trying, he's also trying to drink, but he ends up with most of it down his chest. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I make sure there's plenty of hay, pelletes and veg for them, I even thought that maybe his bonded friend he lives with was maybe stopping him from eating, but if I seperate them to eat, they both do nothing. he definitely needs to go back to the vets, I'm just terrified I'm going to leave there without him. he's not lost his appitite at all, but he just won't eat? could it be dental problems aswell maybe?
 
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If he wants to eat but cant it certainly could point to a dental issue- this could even have been related to the eye problem if there are dental abcesses. I would recommend taking them both back to the vet to get their teeth checked, as although the other one has perked up on pain relief, the cause still hasnt been found. If its dental, or anything for that matter, it really is vital to get it diagnosed an treated sooner rather than later, as they have a better chance of recovery than they do if they lose even more weight. Please check the veterinary locator on the forum for a guinea pig knowledgable vet near you, or even call and ask local vets if they have any vets good with pigs- you should find one even if u need to travel a little further. In the meantime continue to handfeed what u can and syringe feed the powdered food mixed with water regularly as it is vital for guinea pigs that their guts keep moving- their guts dont work like our guts do. There is a syringe feeding guide on the forum which u can follow. I hope you get some answers soon.

Adelle x
 
could be a mouth or toung abssese, ask your vet to examine for tiny little pimples
 
when I took rudi to the vets she told me she wanted to treat his eye before anything else as she didn't want him to go blind, hes hot a few days left of his drops then he is due to go back again, or do you all suggest that maybe I take him back sooner?
 
leahp1803 said:
when I took rudi to the vets she told me she wanted to treat his eye before anything else as she didn't want him to go blind, hes hot a few days left of his drops then he is due to go back again, or do you all suggest that maybe I take him back sooner?
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If he isnt managing to eat then you cant afford to wait x
 
leahp1803 said:
when I took rudi to the vets she told me she wanted to treat his eye before anything else as she didn't want him to go blind, hes hot a few days left of his drops then he is due to go back again, or do you all suggest that maybe I take him back sooner?
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But ofcourse continue with the drops u already have for him x
 
leahp1803 said:
so should I keep just giving him baby food for now? and how much should I give him
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I would aim for the majority of feed to be the recovery mix syringed into him. He will benefit from this more than the baby food but ofcourse getting him to eat at all trumps that. U could add some baby food into the recovery mix to tempt him to eat that. As much as u can get into him ideally, usualy around 60mls of recovery food in 24 hours. Check the syringe feeding guide on the forum, it is written by the more experienced forum members and gives u all the info you need. X
 
good news, took rudi to the vets today, he's put on 3grams, and I just took him out of his cage and he seems to have found his squeak again! which I'm taking as a good sign! he's on no medication for his teeth, just his eyedrops but his ulcer has now gone, book into see the specialist on Friday, and hopefully they can give me some good news!
 
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