Help Urgently Needed

[Boy George]

Hi to everyone. We have joined this forum today and look forward to seeing and talking GP's in the future. George is one of our Guinea pigs and is nearly 8 years old. He is a house GP is pampered and spoilt. OK he does not eat like he used to and occasionally he gets a compacted bum which we sort out with no problem. He has never been to the vets as he has always had great health until 5 days ago when he lost his appetite. Our vet who specialises in the treatment of small animals and does have a wonderful reputation gave George a thorough examination but could not find anything wrong. He said, he is an old guy maybe he is just slowing down. He did prescribe some medication to help his bowls. Since the visit to the vets he had a couple of days where he would only eat a little dried food and hay, he would not touch his favourite greens so I have mulched them and fed him small amounts. His weight is decreasing and today he has taken a big step backwards which greatly concerns us, he will not eat or drink and his urine has small traces of blood in it and a very strong odour. I know the importance of vitamins especially C so I have started to give George a vitamin supplement administered by syringe.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

I am trying to submit this thread to you but as a new member still awaiting some sort of clearance. Apologies if its sent 10 times.

 

[doglovinpiggylover]

hiyah, I'm sorry about George. What a fantabulous age...8!

I cant give any advice sorry, just wanted to say welcome and hope you get him sorted xx

 

[Pebble]

Firstly, he may have had a gut stimulant from the vet but you need to help provide the food so you need to syringe feed him softened/mushed pellets or Oxbow criitical care or supreme recovery. He needs 15-20ml every 2-3 hours day and night at, given he isn;t eating.

Even though he is a stately 8 years old, the blood in the urine plus the strong smell could "just" indicate a urine infection which can be cleared up by a hefty dose of septrin antibiotic for 2-3 weeks. However it;s best to get a urine analysis done (not just dipstick - needs to be mciroscopic analyis) and quickly to confirm this.

Most important thing is he has stopped drinking - this is serious and he will dehydrate quickly
The three most important things you need to do this weekend is
a) syringe feed with food AND fluids tonight (fluids 5ml every hour - diarolyte if you have it otherwise water)
b) get him to a vet tomorrow for rehydration and septrin (not baytril)
c) keep his guts moving with gut motility drugs (zantac from a local supermarket can help - PM me for details or post on here again with an email address and I will contact you)


HTH
x

 

[Boy George]

Thank you