• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

One Of My Boys Is Sick With Diarrhoea :(

Maddykins

Maddykins

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Dec 14, 2013
Messages
292
Reaction score
111
Points
355
Location
Merseyside
I have two boars, both about 4 years old. One of them had diarrhoea yesterday and was not eating or drinking for at least a good few hours and the diarrhoea was getting worse rather than better. We phoned the emergency vets and they advised we take him in - this was around 11.30am last night. My partner took him there and had to wait a couple of hours to be seen, vet said they didn't know what was wrong with him and mentioned that he was "quite old" (since when is 4 old for a guinea pig? is it?). Vet felt his tummy and said there was nothing in it at all :(and kept him there overnight, said they would syringe feed him nutrient-rich food and keep an eye on him. We called them this afternoon and was told that he still has diarrhoea (unclear yet whether any better or not) and that the vet says he can come home but he will need to be syringe fed every 3 hours or so round-the-clock. My partner has gone to collect him and has a discharge appt with the vet in a few minutes.

I am worried he hasn't received the best piggy-savvy care as it didn't sound like they were going to actually investigate what is wrong with him? We are able to syringe feed him - well, I'm not as I'm very ill at the moment with a chronic condition but my partner will do it. But I hate to think he is just being sent home to us to feed him and that there could be something wrong that isn't being treated? I feel like he is too young to die yet :( He has had diarrhoea once before a few years ago but that lasted less than 24 hours and he was still eating hay throughout that time and then it cleared up itself and he went back to eating his pellets again the next day too, so it's worse this time. He hasn't eaten anything different/unusual, and his brother is fine and does not have diarrhoea. They are indoor pets if that makes any difference.

Any advice/suggestions appreciated.

Also it has come to dawn on me that I really take their health for granted and am not prepared for them to be sick so I want to set up a mini first-aid set. I have looked on the PDSA shop and they have syringes for feeding, and a few different special feeds: Supreme Science Recovery, Supreme Science Recovery Plus, and Oxbow Critical Care. Any advice as to which is best? And what else should I have ready in a first-aid kit for the pigs?
 
Sorry I should have put diarrhoea in the title and now I don't think I can change it?
 
Has your boy got any medication or has he just been put on syringe feed?
Are you speaking about soft/shapeless poos or runng diarrhoea?

The more background we have, the more we can help you. Thanks!

PS: I have adjusted the title. We have only a limited time slot for making corrections.
 
I'm not 100% sure yet as I wasn't the one who took him to the vet but I did quiz my partner and he seems to think the vet only mentioned syringe feeding and nothing about any medication. He still hasn't got there yet as we forgot there are transport disruptions today but I have given him strict instructions to quiz the vet thoroughly about it!

Diarrhea was a mixture of soft shapeless poos but proper diarrohea as well, as in actual liquid coming out of his bum and getting stuck in his fur around his tummy/bum etc and leaking onto his cage floor. In the morning it was more like soft squishy poop but by the late evening it was actual liquid when we took him to the emergency vets.
 
Maddykins said:
I'm not 100% sure yet as I wasn't the one who took him to the vet but I did quiz my partner and he seems to think the vet only mentioned syringe feeding and nothing about any medication. He still hasn't got there yet as we forgot there are transport disruptions today but I have given him strict instructions to quiz the vet thoroughly about it!

Diarrhea was a mixture of soft shapeless poos but proper diarrohea as well, as in actual liquid coming out of his bum and getting stuck in his fur around his tummy/bum etc and leaking onto his cage floor. In the morning it was more like soft squishy poop but by the late evening it was actual liquid when we took him to the emergency vets.
Click to expand...

Please keep syringe feeding and watering - the last is important as fluid poos are dehydrating.
If it is not firming up within a day or two of the onset and taking off any fresh food, then it may be worth considering a float to find out what is causing the diarrhoea so you and your vet can tackle it appropiately. It is obviously more than just a little tummy upset that is sorting itself out on its own. :(

I would recommend to get some dioralyte from the pharmacy and add this to any water you offer (follow packet advice). You could try and see whether fibreplex can help with the recovery phase; it is more effective than mere probiotics.
@helen105281 @furryfriends (TEAS) @Freela
 
Thanks both, finally he is back from the vet!

On first observation he's significantly better than yesterday - more active and he's eating a bit of hay and went to have a drink of water soon after being put back in his cage. He was so happy to see his brother and vice versa, his brother went straight to him and was cuddling and grooming his ears :luv:

My partner said the vet says we need to syringe feed him Supreme Science Recovery every 2 hours during the daytime but that he doesn't need night feeds anymore - my partner expressly said we will do night feeds if necessary but vet said there wasn't a need, what do you lot think? His diarrhea is mostly just squishy misshapen poo now but still a bit of runny liquid but not as bad as yesterday. Vet also says he needs enrofloxacin twice daily 0.34ml as she thinks he has an infection of some kind.

It seems like he is on the mend already so hopefully with the medication and syringe feeding he will be a lot better over the next few days, I am very happy as I was so worried!

He is drinking water from the bottle now, shall we still add diarylite to the bottle or not bother? He shares the bottle with his brother.
 
Oh also vet said to go back to feeding him veggies as well, I thought usual advice is no fresh stuff whilst diarrohea?
 
I’d hold off the greens until all poops are back to normal. If you’re worried about VitC you can add a pinch of pro c or a dash of pineapple juice into your syringe feed.
 
I read on Guinea Lynx about using a healthy pig's poop as a probiotic mushed in with the syringe-feeding formula. Would this need to be one of their soft poops that they normally eat or any type of poop from the cage? My pigs eat their soft poops straight from their bum so I can't really steal one of them easily for my sick pig :xd:
 
I have another quick question, the Supreme Science Recovery sachets say that once the formula is made up, it can't be kept for longer than 12 hours. Is that strictly true or do you think it could last a bit longer? It's just we are making up a whole thing of formula in one go as we don't know how to measure it properly otherwise and if we can only keep it for 12 hours we will have to bin some which seems a shame.
 
If your piggie is put on medication as although he is being syringe fed it's not fixing the problem it's just avoiding It from getting worse which is why the poops have stayed xx keep us updated x
 
My partner has been really struggling to syringe feed him today, he is being very uncooperative. I had a look at the syringe feeding guide here and it recommends 1ml syringe and the vet gave us 5ml syringe to feed him the Recovery, so he ended up diluting the formula a bit more to use a 1ml syringe instead which worked better but it means the formula is a bit more diluted than advised. It was the only way he could get some down him though. Poor boy is still clearly very ill but on the plus side the diarrhea seems to have stopped now, the last few hours he's just had very soft misshapen poo but not proper liquid so fingers crossed. He has lost so much weight in a short space of time so I still don't feel like we are through the woods yet.
 
That's a shame,I guess you need to start somewhere! I hope he improves and like I said make sure to keep us updated! x
 
Great to hear that the diarrhea is getting better. I usually use the Recovery at a more liquid consistency than it says on the packet. I also only make up a bit at a time (one or two feeds) so that it isn't hanging around for too long. The extra water helps with dehydration too.

Others here are more knowledgeable than me and may have better advice.
 
Iggy was very uncooperative with syringe feeds but I can highly recommend adding in a bit of wheat grass powder as he suddenly couldn't get enough of it and just ate it off a spoon in the end! I used critical care with some nuggets mashed into it and the powder, I don't know if that would help or not but I know the woes of a pig fighting the syringe feeds!

I'm glad he's doing a bit better, bet you never thought you'd be praying for a poop nugget eh? :))
 
Where do you buy your wheat grass powder from? It's definitely worth a try.

We really should have only made a bit of the formula up instead of a whole packet but we just sort of panicked and just followed the instructions on the packet. I need to buy some more as the vet only gave us two packs and we will be wasting a lot of this one as it will have been open too long soon. Sigh.

Feel so sad for my poor little fluff:(
 
Just done his daily weigh-in and he's lost weight again since yesterday, which means we're obviously not getting enough in him...I'm really worried about him, do we urgently need to take him back to the vets? My partner is calling the emergency vet now for some advice.
 
yes ,i would take him back to the vet if he is still having runny diarrhea.he probably needs hydrating.need to try and find out what is causing the diarrhea.there is a vet locator at the top of the page and there are some recommended cavy savvy vets in leicestershire.:hug:
 
Maddykins said:
Where do you buy your wheat grass powder from? It's definitely worth a try.

We really should have only made a bit of the formula up instead of a whole packet but we just sort of panicked and just followed the instructions on the packet. I need to buy some more as the vet only gave us two packs and we will be wasting a lot of this one as it will have been open too long soon. Sigh.

Feel so sad for my poor little fluff:(
Click to expand...

You can get it from any health food shop (it's fashionable now!) and I got loads recently from Holland And Barratts in the penny sale.

If you run out you can just use mushed nuggets as emergency while you wait to get some more, it's not too bad.

Hope he's okay!
 
I don't live in Leicestershire anymore, woops, I need to update that. I did use the Vet Locator here but there are none in my city unfortunately so we are using our PDSA pet hospitals.

He went back to the vets again since last I posted and had IV fluids and was syringe fed regularly there and they X-Rayed his tummy and said it was full of gas, is that bloat? Then when he had picked up a bit and ate some apple voluntarily they sent him home yesterday afternoon but with a check-up appt booked this morning. So we have been contuining to syringe feed him and he went back to the vets this morning and his weight was stable despite more diarrhea yesterday so vet said to continue his antibiotics and just keep syringe feeding him really. He wheeked for his pellets this morning for the first time but he only ate 2 bless him.

We are crossing our fingers he will pull through. He is such a skinny thing right now it's heartbreaking to see him so sick. :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top