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My rescued Guinea Pig.

L

Lucy Holyoake

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Mar 25, 2019
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Location
West Midlands
Hi everyone,
I have rescued a beautiful male guinea pig from a relative that has completely neglected him! :( I'm posting on this forum as I don't have a lot of knowledge about guinea pigs, but I could not leave him there! I study animal management at university, so I have good knowledge about keeping pets and looking after them, but I have not specialized in guinea pigs and would appreciate any help people can give me. The previous owner does not know the age of Ronnie, but I known for sure that he has been kept by my relative for at least 4 years.

He was not fed correctly in terms of amount, not really provided with fresh water on a regular basis and I'm not sure if his enclosure has ever been cleaned out! His enclosure was disgusting, which is why I took him away.

I have taken him to a vet who suspects that he has bumble-foot and has prescribed medication to help with this. He is currently having 0.35ml of Baytril twice a day along with 0.19ml of matacam per day to help with the pain. I was also advised to take all substrate out of the enclosure to stop anything becoming stuck to the paw. He usually has sawdust as a substrate with plenty of hay and newspaper underneath. He is currently on newspaper with the hay. Is this okay for him? At the moment, he is being cleaned out every day to make sure that everything is clean for him. When he recovers, we are going to clean his enclosure twice a week at a minimum.

His paws are being soaked in salt water for around 30 seconds - 1 minute per paw, which is being incredibly good for. (bless him)

The vet also says that he is slightly underweight, he currently weighs 1kg but should be around 1.3kg according to our vet. For around three/four days, I was struggling to get him to eat anything and he would hide away all day. The last few days, I have managed to get him to have 20g of food pellets, plenty of hay and fresh veg. Is this due to the infection or adjusting to a new environment? or is this normal for GP? He is now drinking plenty of water throughout the day, which is changed at night every day.

Also, he seems to be urinating a lot! The newspaper that we take out of the enclosure is soaked through every day. Is this a normal of urine for a GP? He does not seem to be pooing as much as when we first had him, although there is still a fair amount.

Finally, I have noticed that he has been sneezing a few times a day, I did not think anything of it but I have read on other forums that GPs are prone to all sorts of illnesses. I am going to mention this to the vet when he returns on Thursday (28/03/19).

I would appreciate any advice or information that anyone can share with us to help him recover from his previous life and give him a better future.
Thanks in advance!
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. Well done for taking on this poor piggy and trying to get the best care for him possible.

It may be that your vet is not overly knowledgeable with pigs as it can be difficult to find a really good vet but sounds like you have a fairly decent starting point. I would start weighing daily at the same point in the feeding cycle to monitor any gain or loss. Weight varies in adults from 800g upwards and can be affected by the overall length of the pig etc. My lowest healthy adult maintained around 850g and my heaviest healthy adult has been around 1200g. 1300g would be quite heavy and not within what most owners will see as normal. A better check for healthy weight is checking the heft to see if you can feel the rib cage with a light layer of fat over it. This guide explains in much more detail Weight - Monitoring and Management

A fair few members on here have experienced bumblefoot, it's not something I have personal experience of. @Jaycey @helen105281 might be able to give some more advice.

Finally with the sneezing it could be something like a Uri or it could just be hay dust or pellet dust getting up his nose. Weighing daily to begin with will help you get a feel for whether anything else is going on. With uri the need to eat comes third to the need to breath and the need to drink so weight loss can happen fairly quickly. It's worth keeping a close eye on the breathing and if he starts breathing rapidly or you hear a clicking or hooting noise with his breathing then I would recommend returning to the vet asap
 
Welcome to our friendly forum. You have come to the right place for all things piggy. Well done in rescuing Ronnie. Newspaper and hay are fine for him to be on. Piggies wee and poop ALOT. Output lags behind input by 2 days so may well reflect that he didn't eat much a couple of days ago. Baytril can also reduce the appetite. Do you have any Pro C to give an hour after Baytril? It's around a fiver from Pets at Home. Just put a pinch in a small amount of water, syringe it up and syringe it into Ronnie.
 
Betsy said:
Welcome to our friendly forum. You have come to the right place for all things piggy. Well done in rescuing Ronnie. Newspaper and hay are fine for him to be on. Piggies wee and poop ALOT. Output lags behind input by 2 days so may well reflect that he didn't eat much a couple of days ago. Baytril can also reduce the appetite. Do you have any Pro C to give an hour after Baytril? It's around a fiver from Pets at Home. Just put a pinch in a small amount of water, syringe it up and syringe it into Ronnie.
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Thank you for replying.
I haven't got any pro C, what is that? I will get some when I finish work tonight. He has improved on eating over the last few days, so hopefully it was just a side effect of the medicine.
He's very active and vocal over the last few days and is adapting well to being handled by us. I'm sure this isn't something that he was used to before!
 
Lady Kelly said:
Hi and welcome to the forum. Well done for taking on this poor piggy and trying to get the best care for him possible.

It may be that your vet is not overly knowledgeable with pigs as it can be difficult to find a really good vet but sounds like you have a fairly decent starting point. I would start weighing daily at the same point in the feeding cycle to monitor any gain or loss. Weight varies in adults from 800g upwards and can be affected by the overall length of the pig etc. My lowest healthy adult maintained around 850g and my heaviest healthy adult has been around 1200g. 1300g would be quite heavy and not within what most owners will see as normal. A better check for healthy weight is checking the heft to see if you can feel the rib cage with a light layer of fat over it. This guide explains in much more detail Weight - Monitoring and Management

A fair few members on here have experienced bumblefoot, it's not something I have personal experience of. @Jaycey @helen105281 might be able to give some more advice.

Finally with the sneezing it could be something like a Uri or it could just be hay dust or pellet dust getting up his nose. Weighing daily to begin with will help you get a feel for whether anything else is going on. With uri the need to eat comes third to the need to breath and the need to drink so weight loss can happen fairly quickly. It's worth keeping a close eye on the breathing and if he starts breathing rapidly or you hear a clicking or hooting noise with his breathing then I would recommend returning to the vet asap
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Thank you! I have looked at the guide and will follow what it says about keeping a log. When I hold him I can feel his spine towards the back and can slightly feel his ribcage, but it is not visable.
I am going to phone the vets when I get home from work and see if I can speak to the lady that we are dealing with to let her know what's happening.
 
Most cases of Bumblefoot I have dealt with have been due to heart issues as the circulation is affected. However, this does sound more likely to be related to the conditions he was kept in. We used to use a Hibiscrub soak on Nigel's feet but that was a good few years ago. I would recommend changing his bedding to Vetbed as this will wick away any moisture from his feet. You will need something absorbent underneath like towels or a washable incontinence pad. Some people use newspaper underneath too.

I would also ask the vet to check his heart just in case. The sneezing also needs checking out, though this could be related to the bedding he is on. I also second the probiotics recommendation while he is on Baytril.
 
@Lucy Holyoake I would change his bedding to VetBed if possible. Hay and newspaper doesn't offer much comfort to his sore feet and it may be the reason why you're seeing lots of urine, as there's nothing in the bedding to absorb it. VetBed with a puppy pad underneath would work great.

Like Helen I used Hibiscrub for my bumblefoot pigs. One was related to a heart issue.

Does your boy have open sores on his feet? Why does the vet think bumblefoot? Could it be urine scald?
 
Lucy Holyoake said:
Thank you for replying.
I haven't got any pro C, what is that? I will get some when I finish work tonight. He has improved on eating over the last few days, so hopefully it was just a side effect of the medicine.
He's very active and vocal over the last few days and is adapting well to being handled by us. I'm sure this isn't something that he was used to before!
Click to expand...
Pro C is a probiotic and is good for piggies on antibiotics as it's helps to replace the gut flora.
 
I've dealt with (mild) bumblefoot with my past boar Sheepy, he was very unwell after his suspected stroke/lots of issues. Vetbed definitely great with him so I'd recommend it too.

Great you adopted him from a horrible situation, sure he'll be treated brilliantly now :) as he deserves :)
 
Heartwarming to hear you have saved this little fella from a life of neglect.
If you are in the UK you can find a local piggy savvy vet using the vet locater on the forum. A lot of general vets don't know too much about guinea pigs.
Hope he gets back to good health soon.
 
Jaycey said:
@Lucy Holyoake I would change his bedding to VetBed if possible. Hay and newspaper doesn't offer much comfort to his sore feet and it may be the reason why you're seeing lots of urine, as there's nothing in the bedding to absorb it. VetBed with a puppy pad underneath would work great.

Like Helen I used Hibiscrub for my bumblefoot pigs. One was related to a heart issue.

Does your boy have open sores on his feet? Why does the vet think bumblefoot? Could it be urine scald?
Click to expand...
The vet wasn't 100% on exactly what he has as she said it could be a number of things. His one paw is extremely swollen and has what looks like a hole on the bottom of his foot. The vet pierced the swelling with a fine needle and only blood came out, but no puss.
The hole looks like it has begun to scab up a bit and he has rough skin all around the bottom of his paw. It is only the one paw that is affected.
 
Aw, know you can get him sorted, and have a happier life x good on you for giving him a new home x
 
Poor little fella. Well done for rescuing him. It certainly sounds like Bumble foot with the way your describing it. Hopefully he's on the mend soon.
 
Welcome to the forum! Well done for taking this little guy in!
 
Hi everyone,
just an update on Ronnie; he has been seen by the vet again and she said that his improvement is amazing! She did not expect his paws to have improved as well as they have (which is awesome). He is not on antibiotics anymore, but it still on pain killers to help him manage. He needs to go back in a few weeks to have another check up to keep an eye on him.
He has put on a little bit of weight in the week and has a full appetite back.
I noticed he began to become a little wheezy over the last few days, but after speaking to the vet she says it may be due to the change in hay as he does not show any signs of it being health related.
We have brought him a new cage as a treat and he is loving it.
I am so so happy that he is making a recovery and thank you for everyone's help and advice when we needed it.
:yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:
 
Well done you are doing a great job. Great to hear Ronnie is doing so well. :clap:

I would keep weighing him daily for the time being and if he loses any weight get him straight back to the vet.

Do keep us updated on Ronnies progress and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

Don't forget we love to see pigtures.
 
Welcome to the forum and well done on rescuing Ronnie.
It sounds as if he’s landed on his paws with you and now has a very loving and caring owner.
Hope the improvement continues.
Please can we see pictures
 
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