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Little unwell, likely dental. Been given fluids.

Little Ones

Little Ones

Adult Guinea Pig
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Little isn’t doing well. He hasn’t been eating much today and staying in his hidey. When I’ve been giving him some pellets (directly into his mouth as he has no bottom incisors due to two dental root abscesses) I’ve noticed he’s being very ‘soft’ like not much effort.
Had a feel at his jaw, maybe I can feel a jaw abscess but who knows? Anyway after that he started jumping/flinching every other second. At this point I was on the phone to the local exotic vets to get an emergency appointment. We just wanted to make sure everything else was fine as the soonest we can see Simon is Monday if we ring for an emergency appointment.
Went to local exotic vet, they did a conscious X-ray which showed something in his bladder the vet thought. He said it’s likely cystitis (which I haven’t noticed any pain when he’s peeing or pooing). He took Little off and gave him fluids etc.
This is exactly what was on the receipt:
3352D07B-E6BA-4F54-91F8-F6F1E4F6A482.jpeg
Does this look okay?
I think to be honest that it’s his mouth/jaw and has nothing to do with any of this. I feel like it was a waste of money but I’m hoping that all the stuff given won’t hurt him.
We’re back home and he won’t eat at all. Won’t eat his hay or readigrass, there’s obviously something wrong with his mouth, there has to be.
The vet told me to stop with pellets and high calcium veg. But I need to syringe feed him as he’s not eating, am I okay to do this?
All of this has made me panic so advice and support is appreciated. Hopefully he will be okay until we can get to see Simon.
 
I’m sorry that Little is unwell :( I personally see nothing wrong with the meds given and the metacam injection should hopefully help with any pain.

Not sure why the vet would say not to give him pellets. Personally I would carry on syringe feeding him to keep his guts going.

I hope that Simon can give you some answers on Monday x
 
Sending little lots of healing vibes. I'd still syringe feed him, that's the most important thing if he's not eating. I've always been advised by our exotic vet to syringe feed our bladder piggies.
 
Video of Little
I’ve attached a video link of what he’s doing, we just syringe fed him but only 4ml as that’s all he’d take but he keeps doing this rocking/jumping/flinching type motion.
Any idea what it means? Hopefully the link works. We are really panicking, he’ll be 7 in September so he’s knocking on.
Thank you for the support, it’s appreciated
 
Poor little. I’m sorry to hear he’s not well. I’ve just had a look at the video and I’m not an expert but it almost looks like when my two have eaten too quickly and they do a lurch forward until they cough whatever they’ve scoffed too quickly up?
 
Oh poor Little, I don’t know what that is that he is doing. Is it related to him breathing? I would definitely keep syringe feeding him until you get to see Simon though you need to keep his tummy going
I’m thinking of you both x
 
DougalandDiego said:
Poor little. I’m sorry to hear he’s not well. I’ve just had a look at the video and I’m not an expert but it almost looks like when my two have eaten too quickly and they do a lurch forward until they cough whatever they’ve scoffed too quickly up?
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That was my first thought, it was a bit different from how he was jumping earlier. He didn’t cough or anything though, but I had thought it looked a bit like that. We gave him his syringe food really slowly, too
 
Claire W said:
I’m afraid I’ve never seen that before. May be pain in his mouth?
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He’s had metacam as well as the burpecare which I believe is a strong pain killer? I could be wrong though. Would he still be in a lot of pain after that? We thought earlier it was pain from his mouth. Gosh I just hope he lasts till Simon can see him :(

Bill & Ted said:
Oh poor Little, I don’t know what that is that he is doing. Is it related to him breathing? I would definitely keep syringe feeding him until you get to see Simon though you need to keep his tummy going
I’m thinking of you both x
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No, his breathing is completely fine :( there really is something going on with him, it’s not looking great to be honest in my opinion
 
Like you said if you suspect a dental issue maybe he’s having trouble swallowing the syringe feed and that’s what’s causing this movement? But obviously like I’ve said I’m no expert but that’s what it looks similar to with my two greedy boys.

Have you got a blender type thing? I’ve seen someone on the forum blending their food it might help him if it’s smoother possibly?
 
DougalandDiego said:
Like you said if you suspect a dental issue maybe he’s having trouble swallowing the syringe feed and that’s what’s causing this movement? But obviously like I’ve said I’m no expert but that’s what it looks similar to with my two greedy boys.

Have you got a blender type thing? I’ve seen someone on the forum blending their food it might help him if it’s smoother possibly?
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I’m thinking it’s a jaw abscess as he’s acting similar to how he did with his last 2. Right now I’m managing to hand feed him some pellets which he’s having happily so seems to be swallowing okay. Just not able to eat hay it seems. I really don’t think it’s anything but his mouth, anyway. But his swallowing seems alright, I think? He’s been drinking plenty of water earlier in the day too. When he made a similar motion earlier, he hadn’t eaten we’d just had a good feel of his neck to see if we could feel a lump. I think I had spotted one but it’s hard to tell.
Going to see if there’s any good grass outside that we can pick to give him, he might eat that. Bless him. The meds seem to have made him a bit out of it, his eyes are really wide - not as much as when he got home though. He feels a bit of a dead weight too
 
Yes I expect he is feeling a bit strange. When my two have had X-rays they're the same and look a bit spaced out for a while. That’s good he’s drinking too. Might be worth cutting his veg into thin strips if he wants to was it too? Me and my boys are sending positive, healing vibes to you and little x
 
DougalandDiego said:
Yes I expect he is feeling a bit strange. When my two have had X-rays they're the same and look a bit spaced out for a while. That’s good he’s drinking too. Might be worth cutting his veg into thin strips if he wants to was it too? Me and my boys are sending positive, healing vibes to you and little x
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Thank you for your support. We usually cut his veg like that due to him not having his bottom incisors. I wasn’t sure whether to even feed him veg today given his state but I suppose it will help him feel a bit brighter. He just seems totally out of it.
 
I’m sorry Little is unwell. Hopefully you can both hold off till Monday when he can be seen. I agree with all above re syringe feeding. Have you weighed him today?
 
Siikibam said:
I’m sorry Little is unwell. Hopefully you can both hold off till Monday when he can be seen. I agree with all above re syringe feeding. Have you weighed him today?
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Yes, he’s lost a bit since his last weighing.
E641696B-8392-45D2-A1C1-3B11BBAED205.jpeg
This is the lowest he’s been in ages. It’s scary to syringe feed him right now as he doesn’t seem fully ‘there’. He also keeps drifting off until you pet him and he seems to come to again. It must be the meds he was given?
Managed to pick a bit of grass for him which he is eating. It seems like we’ll be having him out on the lawn a fair bit tomorrow.
Edit: he’s also been burning up today, so his head and feet feel really warm.
 
His eye is freaking me out a lot too. It has to just be because of the medication they gave him? It’s so wide open.
B22EF14B-0809-4533-9872-E2239373431D.webp
 
Little Ones said:
He’s had metacam as well as the burpecare which I believe is a strong pain killer? I could be wrong though. Would he still be in a lot of pain after that? We thought earlier it was pain from his mouth. Gosh I just hope he lasts till Simon can see him :(
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Yes, I think burpecare is a strong pain killer. May be the rocking isn’t due to pain then. I really don’t know 😞
 
I’m pretty sure my two had eyes like that when they had a whiff of gas when they went under for their X-Rays. He’s probably just a bit groggy and spaced out and wonders what’s going on. :hug:
 
Claire W said:
Yes, I think burpecare is a strong pain killer. May be the rocking isn’t due to pain then. I really don’t know 😞
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Me neither, I half wish I’d never taken him to the vets because of how he’s behaving now. He seems a lot worse than before we took him, can’t tell if it’s just that he’s got worse or if it’s side effects from medication. I’m just hoping he makes it until we can get an appointment with Simon :( I know I’ve had him 6 years but I’m not ready to lose him yet
 
DougalandDiego said:
I’m pretty sure my two had eyes like that when they had a whiff of gas when they went under for their X-Rays. He’s probably just a bit groggy and spaced out and wonders what’s going on. :hug:
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Claire W said:
He could still be a little spaced out from the X-ray but his eye looks normal to me
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He wasn’t given sedation or anything for the X-ray, would this still happen?
 
Ive not got personal experience of it but I have seen other threads that buprecare (vetergesic) can cause them to be spaced out and that is why some owners don’t like it.
Can you call out of hours for advice?
 
Piggies&buns said:
Ive not got personal experience of it but I have seen other threads that buprecare (vetergeaic) can cause them to be spaced out and that is why some owners don’t like it.
Can you call out of hours for advice?
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I could do but I wouldn’t know what to say about any of it to be honest. I wish Simon was in tomorrow, I don’t know how I’m going to even sleep tonight nevermind until Monday and even then we aren’t guaranteed to get an appointment. Before I was sure it was a jaw abscess so we could sort it by syringe feeding him as we’ve dealt with this before but now he’s just out of it. It must be the buprecare like you said. Hopefully it wears off soon. He had it at about 5pm.
 
Ivy had "an opioid painkiller" (was all they said - can't remember a name and I've lost those records) when she'd passed a stone and they thought she had another - so they gave a big fluid injection and this strong painkiller. She didn't have that flinching 'rock' but she was totally spaced and her appetite was very depressed. When we got back she just staggered into her 'cave' and I checked her every half-hour or so... she was just sitting there with the big eyes and I felt a total heel. Whether she had a stone or passed it I don't know. It lasted quite a few hours but she came round OK and eventually came out to eat and drink.
His 'rock' seems about once a second - does this match his resp rate? I know it can very widely with pigs... Ivy's was 60 breaths per minute - George is over 200!
 
Totally sympathise... it’s such a worry when they’re poorly. Keep up the syringe feeding if he needs it and push for an appointment with Simon on Monday. I’m sure he will be able to fit you in an emergency one if you explain how worried you are x
 
Free Ranger said:
Ivy had "an opioid painkiller" (was all they said - can't remember a name and I've lost those records) when she'd passed a stone and they thought she had another - so they gave a big fluid injection and this strong painkiller. She didn't have that flinching 'rock' but she was totally spaced and her appetite was very depressed. When we got back she just staggered into her 'cave' and I checked her every half-hour or so... she was just sitting there with the big eyes and I felt a total heel. Whether she had a stone or passed it I don't know. It lasted quite a few hours but she came round OK and eventually came out to eat and drink.
His 'rock' seems about once a second - does this match his resp rate? I know it can very widely with pigs... Ivy's was 60 breaths per minute - George is over 200!
Click to expand...
Really hoping he snaps out of it soon. He will eat grass, veg and pellets but only if I put them to his mouth as he’ll be eating and then suddenly it’s like he’s asleep until I ‘remind’ him and then he seems ravenous for it. His breaths came to 63 a minute when I just checked, the rocking has subsided now. If he makes it until Monday, I know Simon will know what’s going on with him.
 
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