Laaaauren
Junior Guinea Pig
Hello all, I posted to the forum last week regarding my guinea pig called Storm. In my previous thread I mentioned how he had lost weight and wasn’t eating properly. Upon suggestion from the forum we sought the help of an exotics vet and were given a number of different gastrointestinal medications, as well as painkillers and critical care.
At first the medicine seemed to work splendidly and the first day of the critical care Storm was lapping it up without me even having to syringe feed him. He then started to eat more hay and nuggets which my partner and I were overjoyed at. Yesterday (16th July) we took him for a re-consultation with an exotics vet who said Storm had put on weight and seemed to be doing well, but that he might have some dental problems. She sent us home with more of the gastrointestinal medication, the painkillers and critical care, and Storm seemed to be making a great recovery.
However, a day later he seems to have gone back on his progress; he’s not drinking (I’m having to syringe him water) he won’t touch his critical care, and whenever he tries to eat any hay or nuggets it’s as if his teeth just can’t chew properly and he just drops the food back on the floor. We’re so worried about him, I’ve booked another vet appointment for tomorrow (18th July) but I was wondering if anyone had any tips on getting him to eat/drink more.
Also I find syringe feeding the critical care almost impossible: it’s too thick for the syringe and when I add more water it either won’t go in the syringe or it just gets clogged up. Even worse is that even when I do manage to get some of the CC into the syringe it shoots out and I’m worried it could choke him. If anyone has any suggestions on making the process easier that would be great!
At first the medicine seemed to work splendidly and the first day of the critical care Storm was lapping it up without me even having to syringe feed him. He then started to eat more hay and nuggets which my partner and I were overjoyed at. Yesterday (16th July) we took him for a re-consultation with an exotics vet who said Storm had put on weight and seemed to be doing well, but that he might have some dental problems. She sent us home with more of the gastrointestinal medication, the painkillers and critical care, and Storm seemed to be making a great recovery.
However, a day later he seems to have gone back on his progress; he’s not drinking (I’m having to syringe him water) he won’t touch his critical care, and whenever he tries to eat any hay or nuggets it’s as if his teeth just can’t chew properly and he just drops the food back on the floor. We’re so worried about him, I’ve booked another vet appointment for tomorrow (18th July) but I was wondering if anyone had any tips on getting him to eat/drink more.
Also I find syringe feeding the critical care almost impossible: it’s too thick for the syringe and when I add more water it either won’t go in the syringe or it just gets clogged up. Even worse is that even when I do manage to get some of the CC into the syringe it shoots out and I’m worried it could choke him. If anyone has any suggestions on making the process easier that would be great!
Our exotics vet wanted to see how he got on with his medication first but it doesn’t seem to be helping, besides maybe the painkillers. We took him to the vets again today and they want to do a full check of his teeth asap and perhaps also an x-ray if they’re unable to find anything concrete.