Hi everyone, I'm new to this forum - joined because I wanted to ask other guinea pig owners for some advice on how to handle my beloved piggy.
His name is Arthur, he's an indoor piggy, and I've had him for just over 3 years. He could be a bit older than this, though, because I adopted him.
He was doing great until a couple of weeks ago - everything was normal. Then all of a sudden, I noticed his poo was getting very soft and smelly, and also getting stuck around and in his bum. He's stopped drinking, isn't eating as much at all, and as a result has lost quite a bit of weight. A couple of weeks ago, I also noticed that his top front teeth, which are usually perfectly level, have become unbalanced (one longer than the other).
I took him to the vet, and he was given antibiotic injections to help any inflamation that might be going on inside his tummy (when the vet pressed on his tummy, he was in pain). The vet told me to wait a couple of days, see if Arthur got any better, then call if there was no change.
Arthur got no better, so I took him back and asked the vet to check his teeth - thinking that perhaps his teeth had overgrown and this was causing him to eat and drink less, and perhaps affect his poop. The vet decided, then, that it might be best to put Arthur under general anaesthesia and have his teeth tended to.
That was supposed to happen today, but I chickened out of it because I'm so worried that Arthur is so stressed out right now and so ill that he won't wake up after being put under. I want to see if I can get his strength up first with syringe feeding, and also doing the messy job of helping him out with his bottom half, then see to his teeth then. They're not so bad that they're causing major discomfort yet.
Did I make the right choice with this? I just don't want to stress him out anymore - he's been extremely scatty the past couple of days since the vet and sometimes won't even let anyone touch him - which is very out of character. But when he's not like this, he's very clingy to me and the past couple of days has learnt to jump into my arms from the cage door when I'm sat by it.
That's the thing - he loves being fed through the syringe most of the time (I've mashed up some of his nuggets into some water until the Critical Care mix arrives tomorrow), and also tries to eat food from his bowl now and then. So he hasn't completely given up.
Anyway, sorry for the babbling essay! I was just really hoping that someone might be able to give me some advice as to how to best handle my guinea pig's situation. SO worried about him right now and pray that he can get past his problems and be his normal self again.
His name is Arthur, he's an indoor piggy, and I've had him for just over 3 years. He could be a bit older than this, though, because I adopted him.
He was doing great until a couple of weeks ago - everything was normal. Then all of a sudden, I noticed his poo was getting very soft and smelly, and also getting stuck around and in his bum. He's stopped drinking, isn't eating as much at all, and as a result has lost quite a bit of weight. A couple of weeks ago, I also noticed that his top front teeth, which are usually perfectly level, have become unbalanced (one longer than the other).
I took him to the vet, and he was given antibiotic injections to help any inflamation that might be going on inside his tummy (when the vet pressed on his tummy, he was in pain). The vet told me to wait a couple of days, see if Arthur got any better, then call if there was no change.
Arthur got no better, so I took him back and asked the vet to check his teeth - thinking that perhaps his teeth had overgrown and this was causing him to eat and drink less, and perhaps affect his poop. The vet decided, then, that it might be best to put Arthur under general anaesthesia and have his teeth tended to.
That was supposed to happen today, but I chickened out of it because I'm so worried that Arthur is so stressed out right now and so ill that he won't wake up after being put under. I want to see if I can get his strength up first with syringe feeding, and also doing the messy job of helping him out with his bottom half, then see to his teeth then. They're not so bad that they're causing major discomfort yet.
Did I make the right choice with this? I just don't want to stress him out anymore - he's been extremely scatty the past couple of days since the vet and sometimes won't even let anyone touch him - which is very out of character. But when he's not like this, he's very clingy to me and the past couple of days has learnt to jump into my arms from the cage door when I'm sat by it.
That's the thing - he loves being fed through the syringe most of the time (I've mashed up some of his nuggets into some water until the Critical Care mix arrives tomorrow), and also tries to eat food from his bowl now and then. So he hasn't completely given up.
Anyway, sorry for the babbling essay! I was just really hoping that someone might be able to give me some advice as to how to best handle my guinea pig's situation. SO worried about him right now and pray that he can get past his problems and be his normal self again.
