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Specialist Our Guinea Pig, Apple, Is Poorly.

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Hi all, Apple is not having the best of days today. She is struggling to eat any food by herself, she is going through the chewing motions but nothing is going down (previously she was able to eat some hay independently). She has also lost weight (from 858g to 824g over the course 24 hours). We are syringe feeding her on liquid nuggets as much as we can but it's becoming harder and harder as as she is more reluctant to chew and swallow the liquid food, it just sits in her mouth. We are just trying to get her to eat anything. Currently had some success with porridge oats - Apple managed to eat 3g of oats independently over the course of an hour but it looked hard work for her. She is sleeping a lot also.

When left to run around by herself she is reasonably lively which gives us hope.

We will continue the hourly feeds overnight and do everything we can to get her through the next 18 hours or so before Simon can take a look at her.
 
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I do hope she will be ok :( Unfortunately this is why it is crucial to get them seen quickly; even though you have, they can deteriorate so fast it is scary :( Giving her small feeds every couple of hours through the night will help a lot. Hang in there, Simon is the best vet to see in this case x
 
We are fearing the worst now.. she just will not ingest any food we syringe feed her and we are now hearing little squeaks when she breathes? Could this be an upper respiritory infection, or a secondary infection to what she already has perhaps? We also noticed a lot of saliva in the mouth when we were trying to get food into her as well. We are going to try an nebulise her to see if this helps.
 
Good luck. You are doing everything you can and I send big hugs. We know what this is like x
 
Thank you all for your help, advice and support you have given us, We are hoping Little Apple can stay strong till we see Simon tomorrow. Any advice or anything i can try through the night help give her some energy will be gratefully received. Apples Very Worried Mummy
 
Can you hear any fluid on her chest at all? If you hold her up to your face & put your ear against her chest do you hear any noise?
 
Unfortunately yes, we can hear intermittent bronchial noises, although it sounds like it might be more in her throat? Hard to tell for sure, though.

Earlier on today when I rustled the kale bag, she squeaked but it sounded like a very weak squeak to how it normally is.
 
Ok it's possible she may have aspirated food/fluid/saliva even, or have the start of a URI :( I think you may have to get her to an out of hours vet, particularly if she can't swallow at all :( I'll tag @Wiebke as she is about & has a lot more experience than I do in URIs x
 
Chris24 said:
We are fearing the worst now.. she just will not ingest any food we syringe feed her and we are now hearing little squeaks when she breathes? Could this be an upper respiritory infection, or a secondary infection to what she already has perhaps? We also noticed a lot of saliva in the mouth when we were trying to get food into her as well. We are going to try an nebulise her to see if this helps.
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HUGS

I am very sorry for you! it sounds like your girl has got problems swallowing and it is most likely that some food has gone down the wrong way, hence the noisy breathing.

@furryfriends Excellent Adventure Sanctuary has made good exeriences with using itrafungol in ill guinea pigs with salivating problems even if they don't have fungal issues. It may be something you want to speak about with your vet as it is prescription only. You also may want to have her chest checked.

It is very hard when your piggy is steadily deteriorating instead of getting better; I feel for you! :(
 
It is with great sadness to report that Apple is no longer with us. She was struggling to breathe, either due to aspirated food or a secondary URI, and on top of the weight loss, tiredness, fatigure and growing inability to swallow even syringe fed food, we decided she was suffering too much to go on.

This special piggie will always have a place in our hearts.

It has been a long and painful journey for us but we want to thank everyone who provided help and guidance along the way

Chris and Kim
 
Awww I'm so sorry to hear your sad news about little Apple. You guys did everything you could for her. Rest in peace little one and popcorn over the bridge x
 
I'm so sorry you have lost your precious girl. Sweet dreams Apple.
 
I am so so sorry for your loss :( I lost one of mine years ago in a similar way. You did everything you could, but sometimes things just happen too quickly xx
 
Chris24 said:
It is with great sadness to report that Apple is no longer with us. She was struggling to breathe, either due to aspirated food or a secondary URI, and on top of the weight loss, tiredness, fatigure and growing inability to swallow even syringe fed food, we decided she was suffering too much to go on.

This special piggie will always have a place in our hearts.

It has been a long and painful journey for us but we want to thank everyone who provided help and guidance along the way

Chris and Kim
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HUGS

I am ever so sorry; you have done what you could. That is all that any loving owner can. It is always so gutting when your when your very best can't save your beloved piggy and its little body can't take anymore. :(
 
I'm sorry Chris and Kim. You both did everything that you could. Popcorn free, Apple x
 
Thank you all our Baby Apple is now at peace popcorning through the green fields hopefully in time we will find some peace as well. I'm now worried about her sister (Peaches) they were so close. Peaches has always been a very cuddley pig & were spoiling her rotton & spending lots of time with her but she's not herself at all she does not want cuddles at the moment, while Apple was ill Peaches who was the submissive Piggie looked like she was trying to claim top pig & now she's alone she seams to be a different Piggie she's exploring more not wanting our companies & when out of the cage all she wants is to get back in. I'm hoping we can help her through this our plain is to see how she goes give her all the love we possibly can, I'm hoping we can find her a new house mate but it will be entialy her decision.
 
Fearing the worst, we decided to take a few extra group photos of our girls a few days before Apple passed. This one is our favourite shot of Apple and her sister Peaches.

Rest in peace our little darling.

7AWtAB6.jpg
 
AWW popcorn free gorgeous little Apple, So sorry she didn't make it. Big hug for you both.
Your final act of kindness, its always hard when these furball critters leave us :bye:

You could try Peaches with a soft toy (the type suitable for newborn babies... no bits to chew, break or swallow) for company.
xx
 
GPTV - Thank you We have already given Peaches a toy rabbit which has Apples scent on it which seams to have helped a lot she snuggles up to it at night.
 
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