Dilly's Piggies
Teenage Guinea Pig
Lottie is my 1.4 year old sow, she has some particular symptoms that don't seem to fit into one problem, I was hoping you guys could help shed some light on what could be wrong with her...
Lottie had a completely normal happy pig life until 3 months ago, her Sister Harriet developed ovarian cysts at only 10 months old and was successfully spayed at 13 months old. 1 month after Harriet's surgery Lottie began showing the exact same symptoms, she became extremely hormonal, slowly began to lose weight, nipples enlarged with a slight crust, vaginal opening was constantly open as if constantly in season, so I took her to the vet as I thought she possibly has ovarian cysts too.
Lottie had an ultrasound and xray and thorough examination of her bladder and ovaries, however nothing was found besides bladder pain when touched in the examination, she didn't have any obvious signs of a UTI like blood in the urine, pain when peeing. No inflammation, stones or cysts showed up on the scans but due to her symptoms suggesting she has ovarian cysts, she is due for a rescan, early ovarian cysts are small so not likely to show up on scans.
I have been trying extremely hard just to maintain Lottie's weight, she went from 1100g down to 930g in a few months, I've been weighing her daily since her hormonal problems began, the weight loss was not rapid, she still had a good appetite but was using more calories than she was eating due to constantly chasing and mounting her cagemates, this is exactly the same pattern of events that happened to Harriet. I couldn't watch Lottie lose anymore weight and become as thin as Harriet was before her spay, so I began to hand feed critical care, she has eaten 15-20ml of it per day willingly for 3 weeks and this has been enough to sustain her weight around 950g, I'm also giving her Fibreplex and Pro-Fibre probiotics to encourage her to eat more. This is all working well but this is just to maintain her weight, a normal piggy would gain weight with this extra help.
Harriet has recently been given a course of antibiotics, since her spay she struggled awfully to gain weight, it's currently both of them that I'm giving extra help to, Harriet has been diagnosed with a UTI which may have been present since her surgery, explaining why she struggled so much to recover. Since being on antibiotics the improvement in Harriet is tremendous, she has tonnes of energy and has gone from 920g to 980g in just 5 days of antibiotics. Harriet's situation has made me wonder if Lottie also has a UTI, since she had bladder pain in the exam it could be possible, however I still haven't seen any obvious symptoms of it.
Lottie also appears to have a raised temperature, she's hotter than my other piggies and her pink skin is more red than it should be, especially around her eyes and ears. I've noticed also whilst hand feeding her critical care she exaggerates her swallowing and makes this clicky, squelching sound when she swallows. Tonight I attempted to give her nightly hand feed and she wouldn't take it, she was showing huge interest in the food but seemed off put, she wanted to take the syringe but would turn her head away, but then come back repeatedly, this is very strange behaviour, normally she would take it immediately. It seemed like she was in pain, I then began to wonder about a dental problem.
A few days ago she was especially grumpy and I thought maybe she has interstitial cystitis like her Mum Tizzie, so I gave her a dose of Loxicom just to see if it would help, and this actually did help her, a lot! Her hormonal behaviour completely went away, she seemed happy, spent much more time with her head in the hay bag and gained lots of weight that day, today I also notice her nipples are smaller, still enlarged, but smaller...
For me I think a course of antibiotics and painkillers/anti inflammatory meds are in order as well as the rescan of her ovaries and bladder and a good look at her teeth, I have a gut feeling Lottie has some kind of infection making her feel so rubbish but it's such a range of symptoms I worry she has more than one problem.
I've come here to you guys for advice on what to discuss with my vet on Monday as both myself and they are stumped. Based on the information I've given and your personal knowledge and experience, is there any specific issue you think this could be, or is it multiple issues at once?
Any insight is hugely appreciated!
Lottie had a completely normal happy pig life until 3 months ago, her Sister Harriet developed ovarian cysts at only 10 months old and was successfully spayed at 13 months old. 1 month after Harriet's surgery Lottie began showing the exact same symptoms, she became extremely hormonal, slowly began to lose weight, nipples enlarged with a slight crust, vaginal opening was constantly open as if constantly in season, so I took her to the vet as I thought she possibly has ovarian cysts too.
Lottie had an ultrasound and xray and thorough examination of her bladder and ovaries, however nothing was found besides bladder pain when touched in the examination, she didn't have any obvious signs of a UTI like blood in the urine, pain when peeing. No inflammation, stones or cysts showed up on the scans but due to her symptoms suggesting she has ovarian cysts, she is due for a rescan, early ovarian cysts are small so not likely to show up on scans.
I have been trying extremely hard just to maintain Lottie's weight, she went from 1100g down to 930g in a few months, I've been weighing her daily since her hormonal problems began, the weight loss was not rapid, she still had a good appetite but was using more calories than she was eating due to constantly chasing and mounting her cagemates, this is exactly the same pattern of events that happened to Harriet. I couldn't watch Lottie lose anymore weight and become as thin as Harriet was before her spay, so I began to hand feed critical care, she has eaten 15-20ml of it per day willingly for 3 weeks and this has been enough to sustain her weight around 950g, I'm also giving her Fibreplex and Pro-Fibre probiotics to encourage her to eat more. This is all working well but this is just to maintain her weight, a normal piggy would gain weight with this extra help.
Harriet has recently been given a course of antibiotics, since her spay she struggled awfully to gain weight, it's currently both of them that I'm giving extra help to, Harriet has been diagnosed with a UTI which may have been present since her surgery, explaining why she struggled so much to recover. Since being on antibiotics the improvement in Harriet is tremendous, she has tonnes of energy and has gone from 920g to 980g in just 5 days of antibiotics. Harriet's situation has made me wonder if Lottie also has a UTI, since she had bladder pain in the exam it could be possible, however I still haven't seen any obvious symptoms of it.
Lottie also appears to have a raised temperature, she's hotter than my other piggies and her pink skin is more red than it should be, especially around her eyes and ears. I've noticed also whilst hand feeding her critical care she exaggerates her swallowing and makes this clicky, squelching sound when she swallows. Tonight I attempted to give her nightly hand feed and she wouldn't take it, she was showing huge interest in the food but seemed off put, she wanted to take the syringe but would turn her head away, but then come back repeatedly, this is very strange behaviour, normally she would take it immediately. It seemed like she was in pain, I then began to wonder about a dental problem.
A few days ago she was especially grumpy and I thought maybe she has interstitial cystitis like her Mum Tizzie, so I gave her a dose of Loxicom just to see if it would help, and this actually did help her, a lot! Her hormonal behaviour completely went away, she seemed happy, spent much more time with her head in the hay bag and gained lots of weight that day, today I also notice her nipples are smaller, still enlarged, but smaller...
For me I think a course of antibiotics and painkillers/anti inflammatory meds are in order as well as the rescan of her ovaries and bladder and a good look at her teeth, I have a gut feeling Lottie has some kind of infection making her feel so rubbish but it's such a range of symptoms I worry she has more than one problem.
I've come here to you guys for advice on what to discuss with my vet on Monday as both myself and they are stumped. Based on the information I've given and your personal knowledge and experience, is there any specific issue you think this could be, or is it multiple issues at once?
Any insight is hugely appreciated!
