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No appetite and stomach problems

loopytheone

loopytheone

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
May 20, 2018
Messages
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Location
Nottingham
Hi everyone,

New poster here, but I'm getting really worried about my pig and my vets don't seem to be much help. I was looking for help/advice.

Missy is a 3 year old female pig. On the first of May, she underwent spaying to remove ovarian cysts. She seemed to recover well and the wound is mostly healed, with the last bit of scabbing coming off now.

For the last three days, she has had little to no appetite. Her appetite was reduced for about a week previous to this, with her turning her nose up at treats more often, but as she was still coming to the plate for veggies and biscuits and eating hay, I wasn't too concerned. Her stomach was making extremely loud gurgling noises and you could feel what feels like air moving through her stomach from the sides. On the 12 of May she was 980 gs (down from 1050 pre-surgery). She had large cysts removed, so I thought that weight loss was normal.

Friday night (the 18th) I could tell something was the matter. I put her in a cage box on her own because I was concerned and noticed she didn't pee or poop once from 6.30-9pm and wasn't accepting any food at all. I took her to the emergency vet at 9pm and he told me he didn't feel anything wrong and she didn't seem to have bloat. He gave her a vitamin B injection and some metacam and told me to syringe feed her some science recovery plus (the sachets you put with water). She was active when being handled, but in her cage she only slept and wouldn't move around.

Since then, she has gone through phases of having very tiny poos, large, very soft poos, poos with tails and often goes 3-4 hours without pooping at all. The soft poops were after I started trying to syringe feed her every three hours this morning, so I cut it down as I didn't want to give her diarrheoa. Her stomach is making loud gurgling sounds again and though she will nibble some cucumber/herbs sometimes, she isn't really eating at all. She is still bright and active when I have her out but only sleeps when she is in her cage, never coming out/eating/exploring etc. By the 18th she was down to 900 gs, 880 yesterday and 865 today.

I am taking her back to the vets tomorrow morning but given what they said last time, I'm not sure they will be much help. I don't understand what the matter is or how to help her. Any help/advice would be gratefully received.
 
Are your vets exotic specialists?
Many vets rarely see guinea pigs so don’t always know what to look for.
Check the vet locator on the forum to see if there’s a recommended cavy savvy vet within travelling distance.
Please keep us posted.

Welcome to the forum
 
Thanks. I live in Nottingham, the nearest vet on your list is the other side of Derby. No, they aren't exotic specialists but they are the best ones I've found locally.

Just got up and she has had diarrhoe everywhere. I cleaned her and her cage. Not sure what else I can do. I don't want to force feed her critical care if it goes through her like that.

She still seems bright in herself and is nibbling hay. I don't know what to do right now.
 
Phoned the emergency vet. He said as long as she is bright eyed and active then she can wait until the morning. He told me to give her 1ml of critical care every two hours to keep her fluids up.

I've just fed her and put her back to bed. It's torture leaving her and knowing that she might die before I go to feed her again, but I think she needs to sleep and have peace and quiet rather than a distressed mummy holding her. Gonna be a long night.
 
How is Missy this morning? Sounds like she is having a tough time and you will be too. Is she having any hay at all? Have you syringed her some more recovery food?
@pig in the city may know about Derbyshire vets but she is more Sheffield way but tagged her in case.
 
Hi I recommend a trip to Alfreton park veterinary hospital in Alfreton Derbyshire. See either Ellie Whitehead or Claire Bush.
It sounds as if her guts are not working normally and she may need some gut stimulants and pain relief.
Try adding pooh from a healthy pig into her recovery feed to balance her gut flora. Plus fibreplex (available on line) for extra fibre and probiotics.
 
Hi guys, thanks for your well wishes.

Missy went to the vet this morning and he examined her. She is down to 750 gs now but is active when being handled and seems hydrated. Feeling her stomach, he said he can feel something abnormal around her bladder but he isn't sure what it is. One thought he has is that she might have kidney disease/failure, but he doesn't want to risk putting her through the stress of sedating her to get a decent blood sample. He checked her temperature and found it is normal.

His current theory is that she must have a bacterial infection in her stomach/bowels. He gave her baytril as an injection and some to give by mouth, and gave me some fibreplex, like you suggested (she loves it!). I'm trying to syringe feed her 30 ml critical care a day. She still has diarrhoea but it is more like porridge now than the awful watery stuff that was all over her last night. She will nibble at hay and cucumber but not in any great amount.

Sadly I'm very limited in terms of travelling distance. I actually live in the south of Nottingham/Derby and it would be a 30 minute car trip to Alfreton. And unfortunately, the only person I have that can drive wont drive anywhere outside of the local area. Of all the local vets I've tried, these have been the best ones so I'm hoping they can help her. We're actually seeing the surgeon in charge of the practise, who is the one that did her spaying.

She has an appointment to go back to the vet on friday. If she hasn't improved, he will do a scan and possibly surgery to investigate the abnormal area he felt in her lower abdomen. I've put her in her own cage now (her mummy, Meg, was getting very angry with only having access to half a cage!) and I will be feeding/cleaning/checking up on her every four hours. She seems brighter in herself as the day has gone on so here's hoping she improves.

PS. This is Missy <3
 

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How is Missy doing now? Has her weight loss slowed down? If she is feeling a bit stronger try to get more syringe feed in her eg 40ml or 50ml in a day - 30ml sounds a bit low to me if she is not eating anything much herself. Has she shown any interest in hay? Can you offer her some treat hay or oat hay?
 
It's good that she is a little better. I agree with stepping up the syringe feeding. 50ml /kg per day will prevent weight loss but you need more to encourage weight gain.
Baytril isn't the best antibiotic for gut issues. Septrin or metronidazole are better. In fact Baytril commonly causes gut problems.
If you managed to go to Alfreton l think it would be helpful. They do most things as a one stop visit and if you explain that transport is a problem they will advise by phone.
She is a cutie and deserves the best!
 
Sounds like you re doing a great job and Missy is getting the best care possible.

If her poos are still runny I would cut out all fresh veg until they improve.
Just stick with syringe feeding, pellets and hay for now.
I agree with @pig in the city about Baytril.
It can be rough on their stomachs and really kill their appetite too - we had better luck with Septrin when our piggy was ill recently.

What I would say is stick with it.
Be very proactive with syringe feeding, and also offer different types of hay, soaked pellets, and water (via syinge) if she isn't drinking.
Anything basically to tempt her to keep eating.

Weigh daily at the same time and make a list of things to ask the vet at your next visit.

There is a good guide to syringe feeding here:

Not Eating, Weight Loss Over 50g And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
 
Hello everyone, thank you for your advice and support.

I'm afraid to say that Missy died today. She was okay at 6 am, but when I went to feed her at 9 am she was very sleepy and lethargic and seemed like she was in pain. She hadn't pooped or peed since yesterday.

The vets scanned her and found that she had an intestinal blockage and a lot of free fluid in the abdomen which was causing the swelling. She was in distress at this point and I had to decide if they should operate on her. They put her chances of getting through the operation and being able to fix the problem at about 5%. So I took her in my arms, kissed her goodbye and let her go. My heart is absolutely broken that my beautiful baby girl is gone.

They are doing an autopsy tomorrow to try and find out what caused the fluid and the blockage. I will post the results here in case this awful event can be of any help to anyone in the future. In the mean time, here are some of my favourite pictures of Missy from when she was healthy.
 

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Oh I am so sorry to read this. Sending my best wishes. She was such a beautiful piggy x
 
I have been following this thread and hoping that Missy would get better. My heart sank when I read that you had to help her over the Bridge. Sleep well little one. You are out of pain now and your Mummy will always love you. Sending you :hug:@loopytheone. Take time to grieve.
 
Really sorry that Missy didn't make it, was hoping she might have been improving - so sad. Hope the post mortem gives you and the vet some answers - very hard time for you
 
So very sorry to hear this. You did your very best for her. She was a beautiful piggy xx
 
So sorry, my heart broke when I read this.
You tried so hard and did your very best for Missy.
Sleep tight little piggy.xx
 
Thank you so much everyone. Is there anywhere I can share a bunch of my favourite pictures of her from when she was well? Or would here be the place? I don't even have words to describe how I feel right now but I have to be strong for Meg, my other piggy. She's Missy's mum and she doesn't understand why Missy isn't back from the vets yet or why I'm so upset.
 
We have a Rainbow Piggie section where you can share memories of Missy. There is no time limit and you can post there whenever you feel ready.
 
I got the autopsy results from the vets today. Missy had very thickened linings of the intestines in the caecum and a mass there blocking the intestines. They would have to send it to a lab to check if it was cancer, but I don't think there is any point. I imagine her ovaries (which were unusual even for cystic ones) were probably cancerous as well and it would explain why I struggled to keep weight on her. There wouldn't have been anything they could have done.

I don't know if it is relevant, but Missy is actually the result of a brother-sister mating (I have her mum and the breeder kept her in with her brother). She's never been strong like her mum and I wonder if a predisposition to cancer/tumours was a result of that. I've got a few more questions to ask so I'm going to go in and talk to the vet again on sunday.

Thank you all for your advice and support here. Hopefully I can get involved in the forum in a more positive way from now on.
 
So sorry for your loss after you have done so much for Missy.
She was a beautiful lady.
Hope you will stay with us.
 
Thank you for being so brave and for fighting so hard for your little piggy. I hope you can take a little comfort in knowing there was no more you could have done.
Sending hugs.xx
 
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