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Impaction

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Kerrie74

Kerrie74

Adult Guinea Pig
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Hello,

one of our boars (Sheamus) who does get impaction from time to time has had it for the past 3 - 4 days, my son cleans his bottom out etc. and then he's clogged up again later or the following day and it's obviously pushing his penis inside. I'm concerned because he's always had health problems since we adopted him just over a year ago.

Is there any reason why he would start getting impaction daily? The only thing that has changed is that they haven't had cucumber, which I read doesn't have anything beneficial in it anyway, also our other guinea pig (Big E) has been trying to hump him for the past 4 or 5 weeks now, it's gotten to the point where Sheamus is chattering his teeth, standing on his back legs with his fur up and running at the other guinea pig, so we were wondering if it could be due to stress and if so should we separate the two boys?

Any input would be very welcome.

Thank you.

PS

My son said he will take him to the vets tomorrow (again).
 
Impaction is caused by weakening back muscles; it is chronic once you have and it tends to get worse over the time in the degree that the muscles weaken further. it is good that you are having him checked by a vet to make sure that there isn't any other problem or infection.

Please make sure that Sheamus' diet contains lots of fibre (you could try including fibreplex). I would also recommend to add extra vitamin C to his diet.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/impaction-recovery-how-to-help-your-guinea-pig.120787/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...vitamin-c-overview-with-product-links.115404/
 
Ok thanks for the advice. They have science selective guinea pig food, hay and veg. I did try him on peppers, but they made him gassy.

Whats the best veg with Vitamin C to give him other than peppers?

thanks again :)
 
Kerrie74 said:
Ok thanks for the advice. They have science selective guinea pig food, hay and veg. I did try him on peppers, but they made him gassy.

Whats the best veg with Vitamin C to give him other than peppers?

thanks again :)
Click to expand...

You can additionally feed a sprig of fresh coriander daily. The other fresh herbs are stronger and should ideally not be fed daily. Keep fresh herbs in a mug of water in your fridge; they will stay fresh for longer that way.
Alternatively, you could look at using Oxbow vitamin C tablets.
 
Ahh that's another thing we tried him on and he turned his nose up at, I believe his brother ate it though. I'll look into getting the Oxbow tablets.

Thanks again for the help :)
 
Hi,

just an update, my son took Sheamus to the vets earlier, she gave him a good check over and said that he could have a bit of a blockage, constipation, so she gave him some Emeprid oral and he has to go back in Monday or Tuesday.
 
Hopefully the little guy will feel better, soon! Was going to ask how old he is, as impaction (as opposed to constipation) can occur in older boars. If he needs supplemental vitamin c, maybe you could find some vitamin drops at your local pet store, or the vet could prescribe some?
 
he's roughly 31 - 32 months old, not 100% sure as he's adopted. Ahh good idea, I'll ask my son to get some vitamin C when he takes him back next week.
 
Kerrie74 said:
he's roughly 31 - 32 months old, not 100% sure as he's adopted. Ahh good idea, I'll ask my son to get some vitamin C when he takes him back next week.
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Not 3 years old, then? I only had one board w/ impaction, he was closer to 5-6 years of age. However, like many other ailments, I'm sure it can affect the younger boys, too. Hopefully your vets' correct and it's just a case of constipation, and can be corrected.
 
I hope he will be completely ok for the next vet visit! Sending healing vibes to him! :hug:
 
Thank you Teddybear22 :)

PachaPigg - thanks also for posting on this thread :)

In regards to your question, we don't know if he is that age it's what was assumed by the rescue so we've gone by that age, they were apparently 18 months old when we got them, we've had them for almost 14 months now.

Sheamus does get impaction from time to time, when my son mentioned it to a vet he went to see for a check up the other week (before he had this new problem) she said it was because he hangs a bit at the back end so we sort of assumed it was that, we realised after that something was causing his bottom to get clogged up hence him going to the vets.

I checked him this morning and he just had a little bit of poop there, something he could get out himself, but we'll check him again when my son gives him his meds :) It makes me wonder if this could have saved our other guinea pig or if it was something worse in her, we ended up having to have her put to sleep in Feb sadly :/ we adopted her and she was bloated, the rescue should have taken her to the vets, they had her for long enough, we took her when we adopted her but sadly the vet was useless and didn't help her, so now I'm very paranoid and if I'm not sure I get a second opinion.

Thanks again, I'll keep you all updated :D
 
I'm actually a bit concerned now, we've been giving him his meds, his bottom still keeps getting blocked, I've had to clean it 4 times since I got up and then my son cleaned it when he got up, so 5 times since around 7:30 am, he did eat his veg but doesn't seem interested in anything else, I've actually had to put his nuggets near where he's sleeping to get him to eat some of those and have given him his water bottle by hand.

The vet gave him three days worth of meds, she gave him one dose while he was there, so his meds are due to run out tomorrow. Would it be ok to take him to the vets on Monday? I have no idea if we should be syringe feeding him or anything because the vet never mentioned anything about his food/drink.
 
Sometimes they may have had a break of their incisors or other front toofie problems that can prevent them from extracting the poos themselves.....worth considering a dental exam when you go back to the vet
x
 
Thanks Pebble, my son said the vet checked all of that. Poor fella, he seems a bit brighter today but still blocking up and his poop is smaller than normal? He's going back tomorrow, he also looked as though he hurt his leg, he was wobbling for a couple of days but seem fine today. we're checking on him often.
 
Another update... Sheamus went back to the vets today, he seemed to have a cold but the vet check him over and she's says not. It was on the system that Sheamus has a lesion, when my son said that the PDSA told him he "may" have a lesion, so now the vet he just saw is assumimg it's to do with this lesion that we don't even know for sure that he has! She gave him metacam and some recovery food, didn't say if he had to go back, didn't say anything much about his condition. The same vet almost misdiagnosed our other guinea pig and said "oh no he hasn't got mites/lice, it could be behavioural problems or allergic to his bedding" really? Not, she then got some tape, put it on his stomach, went off, came back and said he has rare mites................. we already knew he had some form of crawlers on him, lice or mites... Should I get a second opinion about Sheamus?
 
OMG! It's a good job my son realised this... they said to give Sheamus 2kg of metacam! It's a cat dosage! He's not even 2kg, he's under 1kg, so he's been given .1ml... really angry at the vets...
 
o.O I'm getting really frustrated with this vet I've started taking him to. I have the actual bottle and box it's cat metacam, but I don't think the woman knows what she is talking about, we think he has a URI or the start of one, she's saying oh well I can't hear anything on his chest... no but he has a runny nose, sneeze, isn't eating as much as usual and certain noises are bothering him, he sounds bunged up ugh... We're going to hand feed him, give him the metacam for a couple of days and if he's not improving then he'll be going to the PDSA this time, seeing how they actually helped him the last time.
 
If you think he has a URI developing (not unusual in piggies with other health problems) then please don;t dealy and t5ake him to the vets tomorrow for anitbiotics.
x
 
I will, I'm just so annoyed and upset about it all, she wouldn't listen to my son about the mites or about Sheamus.... He's now wobbling and he fell over earlier, so I'm now waiting until 8 so I can try and get an emergency appointment at the PDSA. They actually look after him properly.

She said she wouldn't give him antibiotics because of his stomach and yet she said he wasn't passing poo properly because he wasn't eating properly, contradiction really, he's not eating properly because he's unwell duh, same thing happened last year when he had a URI and an ear infection, but we're just stupid we don't know when our guinea pig is ill... sorry for the rant but we've tried twice now to get him sorted and we're getting nowhere. I'll update the post if I can get him into the PDSA today. I'm not feeling good myself, I suffer with anxiety and have been worrying about both Sheamus and Snow (who has mites).

Thanks very much to those who have responded to my post, I really do appreciate it, you all seem very nice on these forums, it's refreshing.
 
My son just called me from the PDSA, the vet doesn't know what's wrong with him but she seems to think that he's been ill for a while as his weight dropped from 1100 to 840, he told her everything that was happening, it's not a URI, she also checked his chest, she then checked his back end and he squeaked at her, she said she thinks he has bladder stones and that he's to go back for an xray on Thursday morning, she asked for permission to knock him out if he wouldn't hold still, I don't think this is really wise with the fact he's not well and dropped weight the way he has, so I've told my son that I'd rather he wasn't knocked out due to the risks, I don't think he will wiggle around though, when I sat him on the sofa earlier he just move to get comfy and then just sat there. He did wiggle a bit in the vets but it was when she was checking his back end and it was hurting him, he was trying to go to my son :/

Has anyone's guinea pigs had bladder stones and if so what did the vet have to do and how well did they pull through after the op? I do worry about things like this because I've got a good bond with Sheamus as he's been ill fairly often so we've had to nurse him a fair bit. I'm so glad that we took him to the PDSA.
 
How risky is it for sick guinea pig to be knocked out? he's got to have xrays, at first the vet told my son there were other ways they could try but now I'm being told he needs to be knocked out.
 
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I am sure some of the experienced H&S people will post later but in the mean time I would just say - there are risks with piggies in any procedure and your vet should talk them through with you - mine always does. However, if your piggie has bladder stones, you and your vet probably want to find if that is true and where they are located. Where they are located has an impact on what treatment comes next. But you should be mentally prepared that it may involve surgery to remove the stones - if you decide to do that.

I can only share my experience - I have had quite ill piggies xrayed to find out more about their problems. My vet gives them a whiff of gas and then does the xray - so when you say 'knocked out' it is not really true - it is not a full blown GA. And as I understand it the gas is processed by the body pretty quickly. But talk to your vet about what is involved - you seem happier with this new vet which is good so they should be happy to explain fully.
Everything crossed for your little one.
 
I don't go because I suffer with social anxiety disorder among other things, my son is my carer and is the one that takes our pets to the vet. Here's me thinking it's an injection? I have no idea why I thought that!

When I called to say I didn't want it done the receptionist said she would speak to the vet for me, she called back and said that the vet advises to have it done otherwise she can't tell why he's ill and that the reason they need to sedate him is because he could fall off the table and off course the pet owner would complain. I'm just worried because of how he is at the moment.

I feel a bit better after what you just said thanks @lauraboara I just worry a lot about our guinea pigs and dog, we have 2 mice too but so far so good with them lol.
 
That is a bit of a weird reason that the receptionist gave - a more valid reason is getting a sharp, clear image. Some vets will try with the piggie conscious but it sounds as though yours doesn't want to do that. I understand you don't want to go in yourself but could you try to talk to the vet again on the phone before the xray just to reassure yourself and ask what drugs would be used? But as I said above, you really need the information the xray will give you to help your piggie if it is bladder stones.
 
I've tried to ask them on twitter about the drugs, I don't really want to start calling the PDSA as they get really busy. It's ok, he will be going after what you posted before.

Thanks again :)
 
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