Lily not eating after antibiotics

[Lily2016]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can offer any advice for my guinea pig Lily.

She is about 5 and has always been very healthy.

Last Thursday she looked unhappy and had blood in her urine. The urine smelt very offensive. I took her to the vet who examined her and prescribed Baytril for 7 days for a UTI. He didn't think she had bladder stones.

On Wednesday I noticed that her appetite was really reduced (just nibbling grass and cucumber). I started syringe feeding paste made from her normal pellets and she will take about 12ml 6x daily. Her weight had reduced but is now fairly stable.

Lily had her last antibiotics on Wednesday. She looks much more comfortable, her bottom isn't wet anymore and the blood and offensive smell have gone.

However her appetite still hasn't picked up at all and I am still syringe feeding her.

My question is whether this could be due to the antibiotics and if so, how long is this likely to last? She is nibbling grass and hay occasionally but nothing else at all. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

 

[Wiebke]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can offer any advice for my guinea pig Lily.

She is about 5 and has always been very healthy.

Last Thursday she looked unhappy and had blood in her urine. The urine smelt very offensive. I took her to the vet who examined her and prescribed Baytril for 7 days for a UTI. He didn't think she had bladder stones.

On Wednesday I noticed that her appetite was really reduced (just nibbling grass and cucumber). I started syringe feeding paste made from her normal pellets and she will take about 12ml 6x daily. Her weight had reduced but is now fairly stable.

Lily had her last antibiotics on Wednesday. She looks much more comfortable, her bottom isn't wet anymore and the blood and offensive smell have gone.

However her appetite still hasn't picked up at all and I am still syringe feeding her.

My question is whether this could be due to the antibiotics and if so, how long is this likely to last? She is nibbling grass and hay occasionally but nothing else at all. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Hi!

Antibiotics can wipe out the gut microbiome in some piggies; it can happen with any antibiotic although the vast majority of piggies is actually coping fine.

Do you have another piggy? In that case, the most effective way of rebuilding the microbiome is via absolutely freshly 'poo soup' (in effect the transfer of live healthy guinea pig gut microbiome); this also mimics natural behaviour in recovering guinea pigs.
Lacking that, a course of fibreplex is in my own experience the second most effective option. Many piggies don't like the taste of it but it usually goes down well when mixed into the syringe feed or some up pellets.
Probiotics can also help but are not as effective as the above measures. You can give fibreplex (which also contains probiotics) and poo soup at the same time.
First Aid Kit: Easily available non-medication support products for an emergency (includes the recipe for 'poo soup' and an overview of gut support and recovery care products)

All the best with 're-seeding' the gut!