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Medicine problems!

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CharlieH

CharlieH

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Hi all,

I'm trying to get Fibreplex into Tiffypig 3 times a day and to put it basically... She's resisting :(

I know its not plesent for her but we really need her to take it and I'm at a bit of a loss with it!

We currently have it slightly diluted as the syringe was too stiff to do directly so we syringe it into an eggcup then back into an easier syringe each time. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. Poor baby is sat here looking very hard done by :(

Thanks!
 
Unfortunately, as horrible as it is, you will have to be forceful with her to get it in. When Lilly was poorly he put up such a fight, i had to sit on the end of the sofa with him bum against the arm so he couldn't go anywhere and force his mouth open to get the syringe in..

Good Luck xx
 
Have you tried wrapping her in a towel? Can be helpful in wriggly pigs. Try popping the syringe at an angle in her mouth towards one of the back corners of her mouth (not directly towards the back of the throat). Try holding either side of her head to imbolise her from moving away. If this doesnt work, try not holding it at all, sometimes minimal restraint can work just as well. I'm not much help, but basically, its patience, practice and a little bit of the piggie complying too.

If you need anymore help, dont hesitate to ask.

x.
 
Thanks for your replies!

A little paw always appears to push the syringe away and it's so heartbreaking!

Thanks, I'll try wrapping her in a towel again, we did try it but she kept reversing into it, we'll just have to wrap her a bit better!

We'll persevere and hopefully she'll get used to it and we'll get better at it haha! Might try putting her against the sofa so she can't really get away from it.. but her little face would just kill me lol!

Thanks for your help :)
 
Please try as often as you can - the more you can get into Tillypig the better. 120ml is your aim over the course of 24 hours. it is very much a fight with a very ill piggy - and if they feel they can get away with it, they will try.
 
When I've had to do this, I've wrapped piggie in towel or blanket, not too tightly, but firmly, sat on my lap facing away from me/slightly sideways. It is difficult as they do sometimes manage to get a paw out. Please peservere. It's stressful I know. Strangely my piggie adores Fibreplex and won't let go of the syringe sometimes and looks for more!

I do hope he feels better soon. General vets only seem to know about Baytril and not Septrin (in my limited experience). I changed to a better vet because I found that I got better advice from people on here than my previous vet which although great, you need an experienced vet in GPs. :)
 
Sorry folks, I thought I'd replied to this again yesterday, thank you all for all of your help!

Last night and this morning Tiffy took her medicine relatively easily thanks to your suggestions! But at lunchtime it was a little more of a struggle as it was me and her on our own (before we had had one person holding her in the towel and me doing the syringing!) but we just about managed, poor mite.

However, she has been very quiet this afternoon and doesn't seem very happy so we have booked her into the vets for 5.20. Poor baby I hope there is something they can do for her.

Does anyone have any suggestions of things to say to the vet.. her current symptoms (if that's the correct word?) are:

  • Diarrhea
  • Not eating many pellets (used to like quite a few)
  • Loss of weight
  • Being slow and lethargic
  • Gurgling stomach like she's hungry (sounds literally like a persons stomach, and not always quieter!)
  • Squeaking and shuffling uncomfortably when touching her stomach
  • Occasional lone squeals when her cage mate comes over as if she's uncomfortable (could be entirely unrelated but thought it was worth a mention)
If there's no medicine for this as a specific condition, do you recommend that I ask for pain relief for her, in case she is in some pain? Or will it do more harm than good?

Just thought I'd seek some of your experience and help if possible before going to the vets so I can suggest / ask anything you can think of when I'm there again!

x>>
 
Hi. What has the vet said?

My boy recently got bloat from too much rich grass and had a bloated gurgly tummy. Just wondering what her diets like normally? I'm no expert at all and someone will know more on here perhaps.

You need to keep her digestive system moving as long as the vet has ruled out any blockage and maybe syringe feed if she isn't eating. Has the vet given her any medicine?

Hope she feels better soon poor mite x
 
Sorry to read Tiffypig is poorly.

I would get a poo sample sent away to get looked at, we are doing this with Megan who has soft poo's after she eats veg.

How much weight is she losing? If she is not eating and maintaining her weight you will have to syringe feed something like Critical Care to her.

A tip on the fibreplex is to insert a 1ml syringe inot the tip of the fibreplex syringe and suck out 1ml from the fibreplex tube as it is much easier to administer fibreplex form a 1ml syringe.

What did the vet say today? Lots of vibes Tiffypigs way and hugs to you x
 
Thanks for your replies!

Vet was very comprehensive and really took my concerns into consideration, I'd definitely ask for an appointment with her next time I go to them, I was very impressed as some of the vets we've seen in the past have been a bit almost disinterested.

Tiffy is going back in tomorrow at 8.30 (with Crumbypig for company who'll get very upset and lonely otherwise.. :( lol!)

The vet thinks that she may have a problem with her back teeth being misaligned or one that's sharp / wonky and she's going to have a good look tomorrow. She had a good look in her mouth with the ear scope thing, she said one tooth looked a little sharp but not madly so but she couldn't see the very back teeth as Tiffy was shuffling about and chewing on it! So tomorrow she'll be having a little anesthetic to get a better look. We talked about the concerns of anesthetic but the vet said she's only going t have very little to make her dozy for about 5 minutes while they have a look, so I feel a bit better knowing it won't be a full dose, still worried though :(

She said they'll also be taking a poo sample from her to test! Luckily they have a lab at the vets so can get some results relatively quickly.

She thinks it's more likely a tooth problem than an infection / parasite as currently Crumby isn't presenting with anything (touch wood) but we're waiting to see what the results of the teeth exam are before ruling anything out.

Little lady wanted to say hello...

2i21qc5.jpg


Poor sweet girl :( we'll do what we can to get her healthy again, whatever it takes :)
 
sport_billy said:
Sorry to read Tiffypig is poorly.

I would get a poo sample sent away to get looked at, we are doing this with Megan who has soft poo's after she eats veg.

How much weight is she losing? If she is not eating and maintaining her weight you will have to syringe feed something like Critical Care to her.

A tip on the fibreplex is to insert a 1ml syringe inot the tip of the fibreplex syringe and suck out 1ml from the fibreplex tube as it is much easier to administer fibreplex form a 1ml syringe.

What did the vet say today? Lots of vibes Tiffypigs way and hugs to you x
Click to expand...

Didn't see this before replying or I'd have replied in my message haha!



She's lost about 150g now in total, but she's eating pellets and hay as much as she can so we're keeping a close eye and I've syringed a few pellets!

Thanks for the fibreplex tip too, the syringe is so stiff it's been almost impossible to get it into her!

Thank you and hope Megan is OK too! Lots of love and hugs her way :)
 
CharlieH said:
Tiffy has gone in and the nurse has promised to look after her. I miss my baby 8...
Click to expand...

Keeping everything crossed for Tiffy, please keep us updated. Big hugs to you x
 
Thanks folks!

Tiffy was seen by the vets and her teeth have been filed as they were a little sharp. They tried twice to get bloods from her but each time her veins collapsed and they couldn't get any :(

She has critical care and antibiotics to take but my mum was going to check whether she can have her veg back as she's pining without it!

Poor mite, I haven't seen her yet as I'm at work until 6.45 but when I do, she'll be getting some SERIOUS cuddles :(

I'm just so thankful she's come round OK, I wasn't keen on a GA.

Fingers crossed for some good luck and progress with this piggy, she's had her share of hard times!
 
Thank you piggyfan!

On closer talking to my mum who picked her up.. it's not such happy news :( she didn't want to tell me but the vets have said they're not hopeful. 8...

Tiffy seemingly has a problem with swallowing, they think. There was so much gunk in the back of her mouth that the vet said that it was very likely that the gurgling stomach was literally a hungry piggy. :( She had lost even more weight overnight and is quite a spindly pig now :(

We have septrin for her and some recovery sachets and we're going to cross all our fingers and toes it's just a bug and she'll be ok :(

We're keeping her warm and cosy and she's having a very few veggies this evening after having none for days. I could cry I feel so sad for her but we've decided we're going to try whatever we can. The vets want her back to have a check over on Wednesday with a view to PTS if she's thinner or more poorly.

I'm not giving up my baby without a serious fight but equally I'm not going to have her suffer, though I think Weds is too soon, we'll have to discuss it.

If anyone knows of anyone who's had this kind of problem, could they point them to this thread as I'd love some advice or experienced words about it.

So sad right now :(
 
So sorry to hear this, poor little baby. I can't advise but I just wanted to say I am thinking of you and Tiffy and sending healing vibes and hugs to both of you x
 
JayneG said:
So sorry to hear this, poor little baby. I can't advise but I just wanted to say I am thinking of you and Tiffy and sending healing vibes and hugs to both of you x
Click to expand...

Thanks JayneG, it meant a lot and I'll give her an extra cuddle for you!

She seems relatively perky this morning but is cuddled to the warm pad I put in her cage, so I guess she's a bit cold :( but she seems happy(ish) enough!

Its medicine time again....!
 
Oh no, just caught up on Tiffy's thread. Massive hugs to you.

I am praying it is a bug, I really hope she improves soon. Thinking of you both. Lots of love and vibes Tiffypigs way. x x
 
I'm praying that too, really am!

She seems happy in herself today and has a LOT more energy than she's had in a few days so I really am hopeful, but we'll have to wait and see.

If she hasn't improved by Wednesday than I plan to discuss ALL possible options with the vet and see if there's anything else we can try, I don't want to give up on her but equally I don't want suffering. But today she's seemed happy and hungrily eating away so she's hopefully feeling OK and is swallowing something at the moment. The amount she's been wolfing down, I can't imagine she'd be able to hold it in her mouth so she must be eating some ( crossed fingers :( ) and she was so happy to get some pepper after all this time!

We managed to get her medicine and recovery formula into her well today and she's been quite talkative for once so I've really got my fingers crossed!

I'll keep you updated as to how she's doing, thank you for all of your love and vibes, if she could thank you herself, she certainly would :)
 
Ah bless her. Such a cutie. She seems quite sprightly doesn't she. How's she doing today? Loving her plush blanket!
 
How is Tiffy today? x
 
Ah sorry for no update properly yesterday!

She seems to be doing quite well actually! Her weight is stable and unchanged in 3 days (but still only 800g) and she's LOVING the recovery food that she has, she won't let go of the syringe unless you wiggle it away from her, but then searches for it again lol! Funny girl.

She seems happy in herself and the diarrhea has calmed down, her poop is just a bit soft now, but much better than the liquid that she had before.

We'll still see the vet on Wednesday as things can quickly change, I'm still quite concerned about her weight and after only a couple of pieces of veg she gets the runs again, so we'll have to see what the vet says.

I'm really happy with her progress so far though, she's rather enjoying cuddling up to a wheat pack in her cage right now that I've just warmed and she gets a nice fresh warm one every few hours (even through the night, lucky girl :p haha) which she seems to be enjoying!

Fingers crossed she's on the mend! She's turned into such a friendly little girl and comes over to lick your hands now, cutey!
 
I would suggest you do not give veggies at the moment as that seems to be upsetting her guts. Just keep going with the critical care and you can also add fresh grass. Once she has fully recovered you can the introduce veggies slowly - noting which ones cause problems and which ones don;t. Remember that what goes in one end takes 24 hours to show at the other end so if the poops become soft again you need to consider what she ate the day before.

Now she has had her teeth done she will probably be feeling more comfortable about eating so ensure she has plenty of hay and that she is now eating it. You can also try giving her pellets softened with cooled boiled water for a few days to encourage her to eat. Keep up the critical care for now.

Keep monitoring her weight and her poops - if the squishy poops don;t improve she may need gut stimulants for a few days (metoclopromide or emeprid are often prescibed but she should also have rani-tidine as this stimulates the hind gut) - this will also help with the gurgling/emptiness. As far as weight is concerned it can take a few weeks to put on weight - as long as she isn;t losing any then it looks like the dental has done the trick.

Hope this helps
x
 
Pebble said:
I would suggest you do not give veggies at the moment as that seems to be upsetting her guts. Just keep going with the critical care and you can also add fresh grass. Once she has fully recovered you can the introduce veggies slowly - noting which ones cause problems and which ones don;t. Remember that what goes in one end takes 24 hours to show at the other end so if the poops become soft again you need to consider what she ate the day before.

Now she has had her teeth done she will probably be feeling more comfortable about eating so ensure she has plenty of hay and that she is now eating it. You can also try giving her pellets softened with cooled boiled water for a few days to encourage her to eat. Keep up the critical care for now.

Keep monitoring her weight and her poops - if the squishy poops don;t improve she may need gut stimulants for a few days (metoclopromide or emeprid are often prescibed but she should also have rani-tidine as this stimulates the hind gut) - this will also help with the gurgling/emptiness. As far as weight is concerned it can take a few weeks to put on weight - as long as she isn;t losing any then it looks like the dental has done the trick.

Hope this helps
x
Click to expand...

Hi Pebble,

Thanks so much for your reply, it's really helpful :)

I'll make sure to introduce things slowly (rather than the massive plate of veg she keeps asking for!) and it's good to know that grass is a good option too, she won't be complaining about some of that for tea!

i had no idea that there were even gut stimulants for pigs ") so I'll definitely bear that in mind and suggest them to the vet if she's still in the same position in a couple of days, thank you :)

I'll definitely keep up the monitoring of her and her poops, there seems to have been more progress today as her poop seems to look back to normal *touch wood*

Popped into the vets this evening for a weigh and pain killer as she was gritting her teeth a bit and seemed a little lethargic, but she's good as new now and we've both had a little sleep on the sofa. rolleyes

:) xx>>>
 
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