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mystery illness in piggie

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nicole05

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Hello,
I have a 2 1/2 year old male piggie. About 3 weeks ago I noticed he was tilting his head to the side. I was worried he may have an ear infection so the very next day I took him to the vet. At the vet his head tilt was barely noticeable, even though the night before it was bad. The vet said he didnt see any signs of an ear infection but he was going to put him on antibiotics to be on the safe side. We took him home and strated his medicine.By the second day his appetite had noticeably decreased.We figured it was a side effect.By the fourth day he wasnt eating any hay or pellets, only certain veggies.We took him to the vet.He gave us critical care to syringe feed him and a different type of hay and pellets to entice him to eat.We stopped his antibiotic.We took him home and he still wouldnt eat the new type of food.Then he wouldnt eat his carrots or peppers at all, he would only eat kale and parsley.He would put carrots and peppers in his mouth but they would fall out.And he stopped drinking from his water bottle.He had drool on his chin and matted fur there.We thought he may have a bad tooth.We took him back to the vet 2 days ago and they did an xray.They said there was absolutley nothing wrong with his teeth.The xray did show a black mass over his stomach.The vet said this was air/gas that was caught and gave us motility drugs to give him to get his system moving again.Also pain medicine.He said if we didnt see an improvemnet within a couple days to bring him back for more tests.We will take him this Friday if theres no improvment.At this point he only takes water through a syringe we give him.Wont touch his bottle.We force feed him critical care and his motility drug,he seems to hate both of them.The only thing he eats is kale,and he seems to have trouble keeping it in his mouth and chewing it. How can I get him to eat again? Hopefully the gas bubble will clear up soon but the medicine doesnt seem like its working....Thanks so much. : (
 
Sorry your piggie is poorly.

It is very difficult to suggest what could be going on as there seems to be many symptoms that could be numerous problems.
Well done for persisting with syringe feeding Critical Care, I know it can be unpleasant but at the moment you will be keeping your piggie going, you need to be aiming for 120ml a day, please if you aren't already doing so weigh him so you can see how much food you are getting in each day.

From what your vet said regarding the X-ray it sounds like piggie has Bloat on top of his other issues - the gut stimulant should be helping to keep things moving through his system, also gently massaging piggies tummy at the sides will help disperse the gas, if piggies are bloated they sometimes do not want to eat.

Another concern is the food dropping from the mouth and trouble chewing, that normally indicates dental problems. How did you vet check the teeth? Did they physically check inside his mouth? Sometimes the back teeth can be very hard to check. I would be inclined to get the teeth checked over once again by your vet or another as a second opinion.

Hope you can get to the bottom of it and sending your piggie lots of healing vibes x
 
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Thank you so much! I didnt know about massaging his sides,I will try that tonight. And I'm very puzzled by his symptoms as far as dental issues.He really seems like he has a bad tooth but the vet spent a good amount of time looking in there and he said my piggie was very cooperative and he was able to look at every tooth.And I saw him feeling the outside of his jaw and he said there was no swelling.And the xray showed no abscess.So maybe a second opinion is needed. Ill see how it goes! Thank you so much. : )
 
He really does sound like he has a problem in his mouth, the drooling, reluctance to chew and dropping food are normally an alarm bell for dental issues, I would definitely advise getting a second opinion, Maybe there's something your vet is missing and another vet might spot it.

Poor thing, hope he gets better quickly!
 
Thanks everyone for the help. I took him back to the vet and after observing him the vet finally agreed with me he has a tooth problem...He trimmed his teeth but found an abcess in the back of his throat which he drained.The vet said afterwards my piggie was eating hay.However when I took him home he wouldnt eat again. I was hoping this would fix the problem but its been 4 days later and hes still not eating again. He will occasionly eat a small handful of green bell pepper.But no hay,pellets,kale,parsley,or carrot.The only thing he will eat is broccoli which I'm hesitant to let him eat every day...isn't that bad for his stomach in excess? I just had this idea he would be recovered as soon as that abscess was popped,especially since the vet said he saw him eat a pile of hay right after...how long should I expect this to take? And any ideas of food even a sick piggie with a sore throat cant resist? Thanks!
 
You need to be weighing him daily to check on his weight, if he cannot eat for himself you will need to syringe feed him something like critical care to keep his weight up. Did the vet give you any pain killers such as metacam to help with the soreness. If not I would speak to your vet regarding this, as pain will prevent him form eating. I would contact your vet again.

Hoping someone with some experience of this may be along soon to advise you on anything else you can do.
 
Yes the vet gave us Metacam to give him. He also did advise us to get a scale to monitor his weight,which we are going to do. Keeping our fingers crossed.
 
Oh I should also mention we are giving him Critical Care every day. Even though he hates it and its very stressful to see him go through that. But there really is no other choice.
 
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