moodysuzy
Junior Guinea Pig
- Joined
- Nov 19, 2019
- Messages
- 131
- Reaction score
- 170
- Points
- 300
Hi everyone,
I want to start this off by saying that Edgar is under the care of an experienced piggy vet and I’m in communication with them regarding my concerns, but I also want to get your thoughts on him.
Egdar is a pig who has had frequent UTIs since August 2020, they always respond to antibiotics, however the last two antibiotics he‘s had (baytril and sulfatrim) have had a horrendous effect on him - he stops eating entirely and almost immediately and loses his entire personality - the vet described him as being very stoic, we call him ‘sad pig’.
He was seen by a specialist whilst on the sulfatrim because he’d lost an incredible amount of weight (he was 1350g in November, he’s now 815g) between December and February and it didn’t seem that any amount of syringe feeding was helping - I was getting between 60-90ml in him a day and the weight was still dropping off him.
The vet found that he has a congenital kidney issue and only has one functioning kidney, he has slightly elevated kidney levels in his blood and was also severely anaemic (lower end of normal was 32, Edgar’s was 14). There’s no treatment for him and we all agreed that he would be put to sleep imminently as he was so miserable.
We took him home and were going to take him the next day to get PTS, but in one last Hail Mary, we stopped the sulfatrim to see how he reacted...
He literally recovered overnight.
Two weeks later and he’s eating by himself, wheeking for food, running around, he’s squeaking again (he was mute for weeks prior to this), and he’s even put some weight on (770g 2 weeks ago and he’s now between 800-840g). he’s off the metacam and emeprid, and he gets cystease and plenty of Pro-C daily and I supplement his food with critical care and emeraid (it would take 2 hours to get 20ml into him when he was ill...he wolfs that amount down in about 5minutes now)
he’s obviously still very sick, his kidney isn’t going to get better, he’s probably still anaemic. But as he’s holding on we’re seeing if the vet thinks he should have benazepril for his kidney - it was suggested before but as we thought he was very close to death there wasn’t any point. He hasn’t had blood in his pee for about 2 weeks now, but pee is often quite a shade of orangey-pink, I assume because of his kidneys
My concerns with him are as follows:
- he was shaved over two weeks ago for the ultrasound and this hair hasn’t grown back, he has a tiny amount peach fuzz. I’ve also noticed his hair is thinning and there are a couple of small bald areas on his shoulder. The skin looks ok and he’s not compulsively itching (I share an office with them everyday).
- his teeth look a bit fuzzy and discoloured. They were fine at his appointment 2 weeks ago, he’s eating fine and doesn’t seem to be in any pain if I touch around his mandible. They almost look mottled and it’s all his incisors not just one.
My feeling is that these are symptoms of malnutrition. Historically he has had issues with barbering, so the bald spots could be from that.
Like I said, he’s under the care of a very well respected guinea pig vet, but I would really appreciate anyone’s thoughts or advice on his condition and how to handle his care - however long he’s got left, we want it to be as healthy and happy as possible.
Thanks everyone
I want to start this off by saying that Edgar is under the care of an experienced piggy vet and I’m in communication with them regarding my concerns, but I also want to get your thoughts on him.
Egdar is a pig who has had frequent UTIs since August 2020, they always respond to antibiotics, however the last two antibiotics he‘s had (baytril and sulfatrim) have had a horrendous effect on him - he stops eating entirely and almost immediately and loses his entire personality - the vet described him as being very stoic, we call him ‘sad pig’.
He was seen by a specialist whilst on the sulfatrim because he’d lost an incredible amount of weight (he was 1350g in November, he’s now 815g) between December and February and it didn’t seem that any amount of syringe feeding was helping - I was getting between 60-90ml in him a day and the weight was still dropping off him.
The vet found that he has a congenital kidney issue and only has one functioning kidney, he has slightly elevated kidney levels in his blood and was also severely anaemic (lower end of normal was 32, Edgar’s was 14). There’s no treatment for him and we all agreed that he would be put to sleep imminently as he was so miserable.
We took him home and were going to take him the next day to get PTS, but in one last Hail Mary, we stopped the sulfatrim to see how he reacted...
He literally recovered overnight.
Two weeks later and he’s eating by himself, wheeking for food, running around, he’s squeaking again (he was mute for weeks prior to this), and he’s even put some weight on (770g 2 weeks ago and he’s now between 800-840g). he’s off the metacam and emeprid, and he gets cystease and plenty of Pro-C daily and I supplement his food with critical care and emeraid (it would take 2 hours to get 20ml into him when he was ill...he wolfs that amount down in about 5minutes now)
he’s obviously still very sick, his kidney isn’t going to get better, he’s probably still anaemic. But as he’s holding on we’re seeing if the vet thinks he should have benazepril for his kidney - it was suggested before but as we thought he was very close to death there wasn’t any point. He hasn’t had blood in his pee for about 2 weeks now, but pee is often quite a shade of orangey-pink, I assume because of his kidneys
My concerns with him are as follows:
- he was shaved over two weeks ago for the ultrasound and this hair hasn’t grown back, he has a tiny amount peach fuzz. I’ve also noticed his hair is thinning and there are a couple of small bald areas on his shoulder. The skin looks ok and he’s not compulsively itching (I share an office with them everyday).
- his teeth look a bit fuzzy and discoloured. They were fine at his appointment 2 weeks ago, he’s eating fine and doesn’t seem to be in any pain if I touch around his mandible. They almost look mottled and it’s all his incisors not just one.
My feeling is that these are symptoms of malnutrition. Historically he has had issues with barbering, so the bald spots could be from that.
Like I said, he’s under the care of a very well respected guinea pig vet, but I would really appreciate anyone’s thoughts or advice on his condition and how to handle his care - however long he’s got left, we want it to be as healthy and happy as possible.
Thanks everyone
