pelicano
Adult Guinea Pig
I was just looking for my old thread on Holly, but it's such an old and complicated/confusing thread, I thought it best to start a new one, with all the information summarised!
Holly is nearly 5 now, and has had a problem for just under a year with losing weight. This all seemed to happen after she was spayed but, with hindsight, I now think it was beginning just prior to the spay, as her appetite went down just before she was spayed.
She had a dental examination under anaesthetic, and x-rays taken. The vet said her mouth and teeth looked healthy, but that there as an unusual amount of food stuffed inside the mouth that hadn't been swallowed. He didn't know what was wrong with her, therefore. At the point where he examined her, I had been using Daktarin oral gel for a week or so.
I found Daktarin gel really helped - she ate faster and more, and put weight on. She also seems to do well with Dida tablets, so there seems to be an issue in her gut too. How these are related I don't know exactly - ie it's difficult to monitor exactly what treatment has caused weight to be gained etc. For quite a few months of this year she has been over 1 kg and very healthy.
She has needed courses of Daktarin gel from time to time since then, but I'm worried at the moment that the situation is worsening. For the past 2 days I've been cutting down the Daktarin gel (to 0.3 ml twice a day) and this morning she was pulling all sorts of faces with her mouth (food stuck I expect), and not wanting to eat veggies. I have stepped up the Daktarin as a result, and also got her out on her own with a small pile of fresh picked grass, which she ate with no problems.
Because of the gut potential issue, I've also started her on probiotics and Fibreplex. I've avoided them up to now, because it seems to worsen both my pigs' UTI issues (which I'm sure are unrelated to this other problem). They are both relatively good with their bladders at the moment, so it was a case of weighing up one risk against another.
So... I'm really not quite sure where to go from here. I'm particularly worried about going on holiday at the end of June. I think she is going to have to have her teeth/mouth examined again, as it has been some time, and in case dental issues have arisen in the mean time. I only wish I had a good small animal vet or could easily get to the CCT. The vet I see currently is OK, does listen to what I have to say, and seems to take advice from other experts, which is the best I can do locally. I'm not aware of any vets around here that do conscious dentals, however.
Diet-wise, I'm going to try to get them back more on a grass-based diet, rather than the veggies. Obviously they already eat stacks of hay.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Holly is nearly 5 now, and has had a problem for just under a year with losing weight. This all seemed to happen after she was spayed but, with hindsight, I now think it was beginning just prior to the spay, as her appetite went down just before she was spayed.
She had a dental examination under anaesthetic, and x-rays taken. The vet said her mouth and teeth looked healthy, but that there as an unusual amount of food stuffed inside the mouth that hadn't been swallowed. He didn't know what was wrong with her, therefore. At the point where he examined her, I had been using Daktarin oral gel for a week or so.
I found Daktarin gel really helped - she ate faster and more, and put weight on. She also seems to do well with Dida tablets, so there seems to be an issue in her gut too. How these are related I don't know exactly - ie it's difficult to monitor exactly what treatment has caused weight to be gained etc. For quite a few months of this year she has been over 1 kg and very healthy.
She has needed courses of Daktarin gel from time to time since then, but I'm worried at the moment that the situation is worsening. For the past 2 days I've been cutting down the Daktarin gel (to 0.3 ml twice a day) and this morning she was pulling all sorts of faces with her mouth (food stuck I expect), and not wanting to eat veggies. I have stepped up the Daktarin as a result, and also got her out on her own with a small pile of fresh picked grass, which she ate with no problems.
Because of the gut potential issue, I've also started her on probiotics and Fibreplex. I've avoided them up to now, because it seems to worsen both my pigs' UTI issues (which I'm sure are unrelated to this other problem). They are both relatively good with their bladders at the moment, so it was a case of weighing up one risk against another.
So... I'm really not quite sure where to go from here. I'm particularly worried about going on holiday at the end of June. I think she is going to have to have her teeth/mouth examined again, as it has been some time, and in case dental issues have arisen in the mean time. I only wish I had a good small animal vet or could easily get to the CCT. The vet I see currently is OK, does listen to what I have to say, and seems to take advice from other experts, which is the best I can do locally. I'm not aware of any vets around here that do conscious dentals, however.
Diet-wise, I'm going to try to get them back more on a grass-based diet, rather than the veggies. Obviously they already eat stacks of hay.
Any advice would be appreciated.
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), I could just do with one with a bit more cavy know-how.
8) Have managed to get Holly to eat far more by taking Cassie out of the cage (poor Cass!), putting the veggies in, letting Holly eat till she gets fed up, then putting the porky Cassie back in, then they both eat the rest! Can't do that all day long with the hay, but it's a help, anyway.