Peaches isn't doing well

[kikirllett]

Hi all! Just need a place to vent to people who understand guinea pigs as lovely, beautiful creatures instead of "but it's just a rodent."

Yesterday we took Peaches to get the snip so in a few weeks he can finally reunite with his sister. Unfortunately, we got a phone call stating there was a complication (one of his testes was too fatty) so they had to make another cut in his abdomen. They didn't wanna cut through excess fatty tissue.

He was a little slow coming around and cold at first but he's been awake since about 11am (surgery was at 10:30am). They told us to call at 14:00 to arrange picking him up. He's now been in the hospital overnight and still being monitored, instead of coming home yesterday.

He hasn't eaten, so they've had to syringe feed him.... Surely it's normal after such a surgery to not what to eat? The only reason they advise to keep him in is because he isn't eating. I've never had to deal with guinea pig surgery before so I'm in a constant state of stress.

 

[Merab]

Recovery from surgery can be slow and stressful for the humans.
I don’t have the experience to offer anything helpful but do want to assure you of my support

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this.
It is normal to be a bit out of it for a while but it is important they start eating independently as soon as possible (usually within a couple of hours) and they must be eating before being allowed to come home. Piggies cannot go without food and being reluctant to eat can mean recovery from anaesthetic isn’t going quite as normal.
He is in the best place to be monitored and hopefully he will be ok soon

I’ve added our post op tips below to help you look after him once he comes home.
Make sure you weigh him every morning so you can monitor his hay intake, and prepare to step back in with syringe feeding a recovery feed if he is losing weight (as it means he still isn’t eating enough). Daily weight checks will need to continue for a week or two once the comes home, and then if all is well you will be able to go back to the routine weekly weight checks

Best wishes

Tips For Post-operative Care

 

[CTWC]

I hope Peaches is soon feeling better

 

[DavRz]

Sending well wishes for Peaches to make a full recovery.

 

[Truffolo]

I hope Peaches gets better soon

 

[weepweeps]

I hope Peaches is doing ok now? It’s good they have kept him in until he’s feeling better. I had a piggy struggle with the anaesthetic after bladder stone surgery. Unfortunately he didn’t make it. But maybe if they had kept him in it would have been a positive outcome

Sending you hugs at this stressful time.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi

How is Peaches and how are you today?

Operation complications are always bad news; we all dread that kind of call. The longer a piggy is under, the greater the risk of an additional bad reaction and post-op complications to GA drugs.

 

[munchmonster]

Sending you my best wishes during this stressful time and healing vibes to Peaches. x

 

[KK327]

Hope Peaches is getting better and home with you. Stan took a long time to come round and I was frantic but when we did pick him up he was still very groggy which is frightening as well. Hopefully your vet had done the most sensible thing for Peaches and he’s now recovering well. Sending positive vibes x

 

[kikirllett]

Hello all!

Thank you all for your kind messages and care

Peaches came home today around 7pm, he still hadn't eaten in the vets but he's had some lettuce and pellets once home. He's not gotten his usual appetite back just yet but progress is progress. The vets told us to go get some of the syringe food at any time if he stops eating. We haven't weighed him just yet, we're leaving him to settle but in a couple of hours he's due his first antibiotics, so I'll weigh him then.

He's got antibiotics and painkillers and we have to give him them both twice a day.

He's back at the vets on Monday for a check-up, fingers crossed!

 

[Merab]

Hope that now he’s back in his own home he’ll start to improve

 

[Posyrose]

I hope his appetite increases soon.

 

[Rivervixen]

Sending best wishes for you and peaches

 

[Freela]

Sending all the best to Peaches, I hope his appetite picks up and he is soon back to normal!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Hello all!

Thank you all for your kind messages and care

Peaches came home today around 7pm, he still hadn't eaten in the vets but he's had some lettuce and pellets once home. He's not gotten his usual appetite back just yet but progress is progress. The vets told us to go get some of the syringe food at any time if he stops eating. We haven't weighed him just yet, we're leaving him to settle but in a couple of hours he's due his first antibiotics, so I'll weigh him then.

He's got antibiotics and painkillers and we have to give him them both twice a day.

He's back at the vets on Monday for a check-up, fingers crossed!

I’m glad you’ve got him home

While it’s good he has eaten some lettuce and pellets as it shows his appetite may be restarting, do remember that it is hay he needs to be eating to keep his weight up and keep his gut working properly. Syringe feeding replaces lost hay intake so until he eats hay properly again, he needs to be syringe fed.
If he isn’t eating hay then I would syringe feed him now as veg and pellets isn’t enough.
You can mush pellets with water to make an emergency version of the syringe feed:

How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency

 

[weepweeps]

Glad he’s home. Hopefully he will start to eat very soon. I was told to keep Percy warm. Do you have a snugglesafe?

 

[kikirllett]

Ah sorry, I always forget to count hay because I always top up so much that I don't count it when I'm "feeding" them if that makes sense.

He's eating hay, not a lot, but he's eating it. I appreciate the emergency pellets instructions though, thanks!

 

[kikirllett]

Sorry, not familiar with how to use a forum, I hit quote but it didn't do anything

 

[kikirllett]

Glad he’s home. Hopefully he will start to eat very soon. I was told to keep Percy warm. Do you have a snugglesafe?

His cage is already lined with fleece... We have air conditioning in that room too so I'm sure he's comfortable! I don't have a snuggle safe though unfortunately!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Sorry, not familiar with how to use a forum, I hit quote but it didn't do anything

It’s ‘reply’ you use to reply to a specific post

 

[kikirllett]

It’s ‘reply’ you use to reply to a specific post

Thanks, I realised after I tried to respond to someone else

 

[weepweeps]

His cage is already lined with fleece... We have air conditioning in that room too so I'm sure he's comfortable! I don't have a snuggle safe though unfortunately!

How is he doing?

 

[kikirllett]

How is he doing?

Still not too happy with his eating (less than 20g of pellets today), two romaine leafs and some hay eaten but not a normal amount.

Else he seems his normal self. He's moving around his cage fine and has been peeing and pooing a normal amount. He's had some conversations with his neighbour (Female piggy, two cages facing each for same of avoiding pregnancy).

His weight last night was 754g, right now it's 752g.... So a mini loss but not drastic. If he hasn't eaten anymore in the next few hours we're going to begin syringe feeding just for peace of mind.

The vets are seeing him on Monday, but we can call tomorrow if necessary... But they had said his vitals were good at the time and that they didn't know why he wasn't eating, they put it down to unfamiliar surroundings +stress in general.... But now he's back home I'm not sure why he's not eating as much.

 

[weepweeps]

Oh bless him. It must be so scary for them to go to the vets and have an operation. It’s good he has not lost much weight. Take each day as it comes. Hopefully he will be munching away very soon.

 

[Truffolo]

Still not too happy with his eating (less than 20g of pellets today), two romaine leafs and some hay eaten but not a normal amount.

Else he seems his normal self. He's moving around his cage fine and has been peeing and pooing a normal amount. He's had some conversations with his neighbour (Female piggy, two cages facing each for same of avoiding pregnancy).

His weight last night was 754g, right now it's 752g.... So a mini loss but not drastic. If he hasn't eaten anymore in the next few hours we're going to begin syringe feeding just for peace of mind.

The vets are seeing him on Monday, but we can call tomorrow if necessary... But they had said his vitals were good at the time and that they didn't know why he wasn't eating, they put it down to unfamiliar surroundings +stress in general.... But now he's back home I'm not sure why he's not eating as much.

I hope he feels better soon

 

[Piggies&buns]

Still not too happy with his eating (less than 20g of pellets today), two romaine leafs and some hay eaten but not a normal amount.

Else he seems his normal self. He's moving around his cage fine and has been peeing and pooing a normal amount. He's had some conversations with his neighbour (Female piggy, two cages facing each for same of avoiding pregnancy).

His weight last night was 754g, right now it's 752g.... So a mini loss but not drastic. If he hasn't eaten anymore in the next few hours we're going to begin syringe feeding just for peace of mind.

The vets are seeing him on Monday, but we can call tomorrow if necessary... But they had said his vitals were good at the time and that they didn't know why he wasn't eating, they put it down to unfamiliar surroundings +stress in general.... But now he's back home I'm not sure why he's not eating as much.

Do bear in mind that pellet intake is just one tablespoon, rather than an amount by weight. Its not pellet intake you are monitoring. depending on the brand you use, the one tablespoon may not weigh much anyway - Ie the brand of pellets I used to use, one tablespoon weighed just 6g, so if mine had eaten 20g of pellets then they would have been grossly overfed them (I dont give pellets at all now).
With that said, weight loss is only considered weight loss when it hits 50g (so he has not actually lost any weight as yet), but if you know he is not eating hay, then he does need to be syringe fed

Is he on painkillers?

 

[kikirllett]

Do bear in mind that pellet intake is just one tablespoon, rather than an amount by weight. Its not pellet intake you are monitoring. depending on the brand you use, the one tablespoon may not weigh much anyway - Ie the brand of pellets I used to use, one tablespoon weighed just 6g, so if mine had eaten 20g of pellets then they would have been grossly overfed them (I dont give pellets at all now).
With that said, weight loss is only considered weight loss when it hits 50g (so he has not actually lost any weight as yet), but if you know he is not eating hay, then he does need to be syringe fed

Is he on painkillers?

He's on this food, we provide around 50g a day for both guinea pigs.

Unfortunately since he hasn't eaten anything at all, so we mushed some food and syringe fed last night and this morning. He's no longer drinking water or eating hay. He's at the vet tomorrow at 2:30pm... I just feel so confused as to why he won't eat.

He's down 12g in weight, so still not considered a loss if the threshold is 50g. I cannot comprehend how he isn't losing weight at this point with so few nutrients entering his system.

He's on 0.2mg of baytril of & 0.3mg of an antibiotic (apologies, I'm in bed with a migraine, I'll get the name tomorrow morning). He has it twice a day through two different syringes...

Will of course mention the not eating to the vet but I'm unsure how else to go about the situation.

 

[kikirllett]

Ugh sorry, the antibiotic is Baytril, it's the pain killer I'm forgetting the name of. I'm so out of it right this second, sorry.

 

[CTWC]

Good luck at the vets