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Ill baby guinea - advice needed

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Aryank84

Aryank84

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi,

I bought a baby guinea 2 weeks ago. Crackers is 2-3 months old and hasn't been the most active pig since we got her but she's deteriorated over the last couple of days. Her back legs seem to have stopped working properly, her walking is very wobbly and she falls to the side after a few steps. Somtimes it's as if she's dragging herself by her front feet. Since getting her, our 1 year old pig, Pickle, has come down with possible conjunctivitus and a stuffy nose. She has been given Baytril. On taking Crackers to the vet on friday, she was given an injection for the pain and to hopefully make it easier to walk and also given Baytril. She doesn't seem to have gotten any better. We've seoerated her from our other 2 pigs yesterday but she hardly moves. She's only eaten not even a full slice of cucumber and i've not seen her eat any pellets or drink water. She hasn't had any proper poos or wee. She had some discharge from her bum yesterday and when i wiped it this gooey slime came out with bits of poo in it. This morning she had a slimy poo hanging from her bum and wet legs but I couldn't feel any wetness on the hay. She is due to go back to the vet tomorrow but i'm worried about what to do between now and then. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sorry this is such an essay.

Aryan
 
god lord! who on earth sold you a pig like that!?

first thing is - what are you feeding them? are they getting enough vit.c? secondly - for the diahorrea you need to make sure they they are getting plenty of fluids (syringe feeding them dioralyte) as well as hay, cut back on high-water veg (cucumbers, etc) and feed lots of root veg and leafy veg instead

thirdly - are you giving a pro-biotic with the baytril? as if not this can cause diahorrea, so you'll need to stop the baytril, get the diahorrea under control and then start up the baytril with pro-biotic so that it doesn't happen again
 
Oh dear, poor pig :(
if you listen to her chest is it rattly or wheezy? If so it's likely to be pneumonia and she needs to get to a vet asap. If you say where you are someone might be able to suggest a specialist cavy vet in your area.
Someone with more advice will come along soon.
Get well soon little girl! Xx
 
If this were my piggie I would be on the phone to the emergency vet asap, if at all possible please get her seen by a cavy savvy vet - if you give your area hopefully one can be recommended for you.

Suzy x
 
Thanks for replies so far. I am in the Manchester area. I took her to the vet yesterday, not friday like I said sorry. Friday was Pickle's turn. I started Crackers on the Baytril last night, but the gooey discharge was coming out before then. But I haven't been giving pro-biotic.
They have guinea pig pellets and also vit c powder. They normally eat cucumber, celery, broccoli, and lettuce. And a bit of kale sometimes. I've tried them on carrots but they all hate it. What other veg would you recommend? I think i'll have to syringe some water to her as she hasn't even attempted to drink.

Aryan x
 
you can get pro-C from P@H, it's about £4, and it's glucose, vit.c and pro-biotic - you just mix it with a bit of water (as the instructions say) and either syringe or put it in a water bottle - it's a very good 'pick me up', as is Metacam. Any time you give baytril you must give a pro-biotic, as baytril kills all bacteria in the body, and guinea's need good bacteria in their gut in order for their digestive system to work properly.

I'd cut up a little bit of carrot, if they're not hugely keen on it, but swede, parsnip, broccoli are all good. Most important thing is hay and plenty of water.

But vets asap, as the only other thing I could think of was vit.c deficiency - but it isn't that!
 
I would try her with some mash - soak a tablespoon of pellets in some hot water for 10 mins to soften them up - offer on the end of a spoon and hopefully she will tuck in - if not the you may have to syringe small amounts in. When piggies have the runs I do not give any veg until their guts have stabalised.

The only vets I can find in the recommended vets list is here

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=840132&highlight=manchester#post840132

Hopefully you can get her seen quickly.

Suzy x
 
Suzygpr said:
If this were my piggie I would be on the phone to the emergency vet asap, if at all possible please get her seen by a cavy savvy vet - if you give your area hopefully one can be recommended for you.

Suzy x
Click to expand...

I agree with Suzy, get a second opinion from a vet that specialises in exotic animals, you can google exotic vets in your area:)

If they are not eating then they can go down hill very quickly

My gp is on baytril atm and has been for a week but he doesn't have any lose poos and I have't used a probiotic.

good luck keep us updatedx
 
Lizzie said:
you can get pro-C from P@H, it's about £4, and it's glucose, vit.c and pro-biotic - you just mix it with a bit of water (as the instructions say) and either syringe or put it in a water bottle - it's a very good 'pick me up', as is Metacam. Any time you give baytril you must give a pro-biotic, as baytril kills all bacteria in the body, and guinea's need good bacteria in their gut in order for their digestive system to work properly.

I'd cut up a little bit of carrot, if they're not hugely keen on it, but swede, parsnip, broccoli are all good. Most important thing is hay and plenty of water.

But vets asap, as the only other thing I could think of was vit.c deficiency - but it isn't that!
Click to expand...

I didn't realise you have to give a probiotic with baytril the vet never said:( thanks for the tip i'll get some today:)
 
Not disagreeing with any advice, as it's all good, but the reason I still give root veg when they have gut problems is if they don't have any vit.c for an extended period of time it can complicated matters, a small bit of carrot or something like that - will at least give them a bit of vit.c.

also - I nearly lost a sow when she was given baytril for a UTI as she got diahorrea so bad, and it lasted about 3 or 4 days. sometimes when they already have a sensitive gut it's better to give the pro-biotic anyway.
 
lily 74 said:
I didn't realise you have to give a probiotic with baytril the vet never said:( thanks for the tip i'll get some today:)
Click to expand...

vets very rarely do - you also shouldn't give baytril for a longer course than 7 days as it can prevent cartilage growth...but vets don't tell you that either
 
Lizzie said:
Not disagreeing with any advice, as it's all good, but the reason I still give root veg when they have gut problems is if they don't have any vit.c for an extended period of time it can complicated matters, a small bit of carrot or something like that - will at least give them a bit of vit.c.
Click to expand...

Quite right - lack of vit C is a big problem - but if feeding Critical Care or guinea pig pellets as a mash it will contain the right balance of vitamins and minerals inc Vit C.

Suzy x
 
Suzygpr said:
Quite right - lack of vit C is a big problem - but if feeding Critical Care or guinea pig pellets as a mash it will contain the right balance of vitamins and minerals inc Vit C.

Suzy x
Click to expand...

:) I don't feed pellets, which is why I do it.
 
Oh poor things that sounds dreadful, please please take little one to a cavy vet urgently..:(

And then when they are all sorted I would think about making the RSPCA aware of where you bought that poor little soul from.

Good luck, hope they all get better soon.
 
Aw poor little pig! I have been shocked at how sickly some of the pigs we have brought from shops are.

We brought two baby female pigs (Pika and Pretzel) from pets at home and the day after we got them home we noticed Pika had one eye a lot smaller than the other and that it wasn't properly opening so she was at the vets immediately. Then a week later while fussing Pretzel we found a patch of scabs on her back and behind her ear which turned out to be ringworm, which Pika also turned out to have. We got them treated promptly by a vet and they are now happy healthy piggies but we did wonder at one point if they would survive as Pretz stopped drinking and both lost weight.

I would advise for your little piggy weighing daily and if he is loosing weight get back to the vet, do a full health check daily for any new symptoms which might help pin point the problem and consider drip feeding water. Give him penty of attention as you have segrogated her from the others but if possible still keep her in the same room as noise from other pigs is comforting :-)
 
I got Crackers from pets at home too. We went there today to look for the pro c and took crackers with us. As soon as we got there one of the workers said a few people had brought their pigs back with the same symptoms and that it hadn't ended well. He took her to show the manager then another worker came back with her empty box and said they'd take her to the emergency vet but the outcome probably wouldn't be good. They wanted to give us a refund so they legally owned her and could make decisions about her care without having to ask us. My immediate thoughts were that if I left her they'd put her to sleep to save money and time so I said i'd prefer to take her myself. So we took her and they gave her an analgesic and said to take her back to the vet tomorrow. She may need an x-ray, but we were told just to keep her comfortable. If these are going to be her last hours, i'd rather she was with us than stuck in the shop :(
 
She started fitting around 8 last night, we rushed her to the animal hospital and they gave her diazepam but it didn't stop the fitting and they had to put her to sleep. Was so awful seeing her like that, can't get the image out of my head. Thanks for your, and everyone elses, help and advice xx
 
I've only just caught up with this thread, so very sad :0
Shocking experience for anyone, I would not only be heartbroken but very very angry at the bloody pet shop grrrr
No one should have to go through this nightmare and the poor little piggies...OMG, makes me sooo sick :)>>>
 
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