• 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

Piggy With Ongoing Digestive Problems

Status
Not open for further replies.
Fredginge

Fredginge

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Feb 13, 2011
Messages
46
Reaction score
2
Points
0
Location
Northants, UK
Hi, my 3 year old girl developed what appeared to be bloat 2 weeks ago. She stopped eating and pooing. We took her straight to vets and with CC and vets meds to get gut moving she appeared better in 24 hours. She then started getting soft poos which at one point were very wet. The vet then prescribed baytril. She continued to eat and drink, but went off pellets. She was obsessed with trying to eat her sisters poo, sticking her face constantly up her backside! We took her back to the vet after the baytril ended, with soft poo still and she had lost 10% body weight! The vet prescribed probiotics and gave a vit c injection. We are another 5 days in with no improvement and I think she is losing more weight. She is very happy, lively and squeaking for veg. She isn't eating as much hay as she normally would and won't eat nuggets. Any help and advice appreciated. Also we found lump on her hind quarters this eve. Possibly cyst or lipoma? possibly more noticeable due to weight loss, however we were concerned about cancer or something underlying causing her other problems?
 
Hi!

It can take several weeks after bloat for the guts to stabilise again. Please weigh her daily and if necessary hand feed her mushed up pellets with 1 ml syringe whose tip has been cut off just bleow where it widens for the plunger. Make sure that she has plenty of hay. Fibre is the most important aprt of the diet to help get the guts back on track.
http://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html

If she has soft poos or looks bloaty again, stay off veg until things are back to normal. Then introduce veg back into the diet only very carefully and slowly.

Baytril is well known for causing tummy upsets and soft poos. it is also a very harsh antibiotic, so your piggy has been trying to eat its friend's poos in order to re-stock the gut flora. You can offer poo soup made from soaking fresh poos from a healthy piggy in water and then syringing that. it is rather disgusting but as good as probiotics and usually a hit with the piggies!

Otherwise you can help the guts by adding a probiotic like bio-lapsis to the diet (if necessary syringe with a bit of water). Fibreplex is also very good in these situations. You can get both via the internet when you google, as I don't know your country.

I wouldn't worry about cancer, but please have any lump checked by a vet. It is likely to be some kind of cyst, but you simply cannot diagnose lumps via the internet!
 
Thank you for your reply. Today she seems to be having wetter poo unfortunately. Still happy and eating. Still won't touch her pellets though. We have given her some mushed up pellets twice, but it is hard to get it in her. She is on the bio lapis and has 1ml solution by syringe per day. It's also in their water but they are not drinking it, so I have had to put a separate bottle to ensure they drink. I don't know what else to do! Might try the mushed poo next time, but there weren't any fresh in the cage when I just syringe fed her now.
 
I agree with Wiebke regarding the use of Bio-Lapis & Fibreplex. Minky has head tilt & is Baytril long term & did have similar problems with chasing her companions round to catch their poos.

For dosage of Bio-Lapis it states to mix a sachet to 50ml of water but you've got to use it within 24 hours. I open the sachet & divide it into 4 & mix 1/4 with 12ml of water & syringe feed 6ml at break before her veggies & the other 6ml at teatime again before her veggies. If you're using Fibreplex as well, initially give her 1ml (1 notch) 3 times a day. If she's still on Baytril you can cut it down to just 1ml d a day as she starts to improve. You could also ask your vet about Sisapride, Emiprid & Zantac which are all used for piggies on Baytril. When Minky was at her poorest she was taking all of them twice a day. Now I just alternate between them with days of them too.
 
Thank you so much for your advice. I don't have any fibreplex. I will take your advice on the bio lapis. Think I will give her some critical care this evening to get some fibre in. She isn't on the baytril anymore. I'm so worried about her. :-(
 
We went out for a good few hours and on arriving back her poos have firmed up nicely! They are small but normal in consistency. That was after syringed nuggets and some grass before we went out. Think she has been tucking In To her sisters poos too! She has had syringed nuggets with some critical care mixed in since we arrived home. Fingers crossed! Just weighed her and she hasn't lost any from yesterday.
 
Wilma is still not right! Happy and eating well except for nuggets. She goes from having great poos to diarrhea, which seems to come on in the eve after we have given her bio lapis, crushed nuggets and veggies.
 
I had these problems with Treacle, she kept swinging from normal to wet then normal and so on.. each time though she also lost weight despite help. I ended up calling it a day, when she just dropped too much, and became obviously unhappy, refusing the syringe. Had she bee a youngster I would have tried to keep her going, but her age was against her, and I didn't want her to start suffering :(
I hope your girl is feeling a bit better x
 
Poor Treacle! Well after Tuesday night of Wilma looking very poorly and close to taking her back to the vets with diarrhea, in the past 24 hours she has really improved! Eating well, now eating the nuggets! Her poos look almost normal! However she still only weighs 700g. Hoping the weight will rise now she is eating nuggets. Fingers crossed!
 
Wilma update. Wilma had a few more down days at the end of last week. But has had two consistent days of normality! Eating well, pooing well. I started her on fibreplex on sat and since then things improved. She is having all different varieties of hay and today I got some special pellets from the vets which they both love- pro fibre. She is now 750g and has been more stable in weight, rather than going up and down. Fingers crossed she continues to stay well.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top