GuineaGuy
Junior Guinea Pig
Hello All,
I'm really sorry but this could be a long one!
Piggy Marie had a spay and 2 ovarian cysts removed last October. Her large cysts were preventing her from moving and causing slight redness on her feet (she has always had very sensitive feet and it wasn't unusual to see this redness). For the first 7 days or so after her spay she was very inactive (understandably) and we were reluctant to move her too much but in sitting still her feet became VERY red, which we were given some Flamazine cream for
We then lost her beautiful cagemate and husboar, Butters, she seemed to be coping but naturally was a rid reclusive. Over this time her feet actually picked up a few scabs and her front right paw became very swollen. We had a course of anti biotics and were told to use a dilute hibiscrub solution twice a day followed by the flamazine and was given metacam to help with the pain.
However, they seemed to be getting worse - and we think the hibiscrub was reacting with her feet. Her rear feet became very red and sore and the front bad one wasn't really getting any better. We dropped the hibiscrub and instead just used warm water (cooled down from a kettle). A couple of weeks ago, despite them looking a bit better she started dragging both her feet behind her and was clearly in a lot of pain, so we worked out a larger dose of Metacam. In the past, too large a dose has caused her to have soft poos, so we increased it slowly to see how she would tolerate it. We had reached 0.28ml, we came home to find she had had terrible diarrhoea and rushed her to the vets. Annoyingly, her feet were looking the best we had seen them, so the increased Metacam had really helped with the inflammation.
We cut out veggies and she was nibbling hay and pellets but her weight was dropping. We tried Critical Care, but this also gave her soft poops even with a fairly 'dry' mix. She was weighing about 800g before the diarrhoea. On Sunday she had dropped as low as 631g. Her weight was remaining stable and she appeared to actually be eating - we were trying to use Cirtical Care only as a 'top up'. It seems that somehow she has cut herself between 2 of her toes on her 'good' front claw. This has scabbed over and is rubbing which has caused this foot to redden and swell slightly. All the time her poops have remained soft, and as her movement is limited, she ends up standing in them which is not helping her feet at all.
I have since found that crushing her pellets and mixing them up with some warm water is proving a quite effective syringe food - she actually likes it and her poops aren't quite as soft and her weight is up and has remained stable at about 670g for the past 3 days.
So thats where we are at. We are desperate to get our girl better - her hair is looking shinier so we hope we are on the right path but feel like we are going around in circles a bit.
If anyone could offer any advice, it would be most gratefully received, a few things in particular:
She isn't eating much (if any) hay, is it possible to crush this up and mix in with her syringe food?
I think that if we can get some more fibre into her, her poops will normalise.
Is it possible to give her too much syringe food?
She started with 5ml, an hour apart, 3 times a day (30ml in total). We are now up to 10ml, an hour apart, 3 times a day (60ml in total). I have read 120ml is best. Is it safe to give 20ml a time? She is willingly taking it, so will she stop when she is full?
Any tips for getting her feet better?
We really want to stop the redness. All the sores on the back feet have heeled and we want to keep it that way, but we need to reduce the inflammation.
Thanks in advance for any help.
I'm really sorry but this could be a long one!
Piggy Marie had a spay and 2 ovarian cysts removed last October. Her large cysts were preventing her from moving and causing slight redness on her feet (she has always had very sensitive feet and it wasn't unusual to see this redness). For the first 7 days or so after her spay she was very inactive (understandably) and we were reluctant to move her too much but in sitting still her feet became VERY red, which we were given some Flamazine cream for
We then lost her beautiful cagemate and husboar, Butters, she seemed to be coping but naturally was a rid reclusive. Over this time her feet actually picked up a few scabs and her front right paw became very swollen. We had a course of anti biotics and were told to use a dilute hibiscrub solution twice a day followed by the flamazine and was given metacam to help with the pain.
However, they seemed to be getting worse - and we think the hibiscrub was reacting with her feet. Her rear feet became very red and sore and the front bad one wasn't really getting any better. We dropped the hibiscrub and instead just used warm water (cooled down from a kettle). A couple of weeks ago, despite them looking a bit better she started dragging both her feet behind her and was clearly in a lot of pain, so we worked out a larger dose of Metacam. In the past, too large a dose has caused her to have soft poos, so we increased it slowly to see how she would tolerate it. We had reached 0.28ml, we came home to find she had had terrible diarrhoea and rushed her to the vets. Annoyingly, her feet were looking the best we had seen them, so the increased Metacam had really helped with the inflammation.
We cut out veggies and she was nibbling hay and pellets but her weight was dropping. We tried Critical Care, but this also gave her soft poops even with a fairly 'dry' mix. She was weighing about 800g before the diarrhoea. On Sunday she had dropped as low as 631g. Her weight was remaining stable and she appeared to actually be eating - we were trying to use Cirtical Care only as a 'top up'. It seems that somehow she has cut herself between 2 of her toes on her 'good' front claw. This has scabbed over and is rubbing which has caused this foot to redden and swell slightly. All the time her poops have remained soft, and as her movement is limited, she ends up standing in them which is not helping her feet at all.
I have since found that crushing her pellets and mixing them up with some warm water is proving a quite effective syringe food - she actually likes it and her poops aren't quite as soft and her weight is up and has remained stable at about 670g for the past 3 days.
So thats where we are at. We are desperate to get our girl better - her hair is looking shinier so we hope we are on the right path but feel like we are going around in circles a bit.
If anyone could offer any advice, it would be most gratefully received, a few things in particular:
She isn't eating much (if any) hay, is it possible to crush this up and mix in with her syringe food?
I think that if we can get some more fibre into her, her poops will normalise.
Is it possible to give her too much syringe food?
She started with 5ml, an hour apart, 3 times a day (30ml in total). We are now up to 10ml, an hour apart, 3 times a day (60ml in total). I have read 120ml is best. Is it safe to give 20ml a time? She is willingly taking it, so will she stop when she is full?
Any tips for getting her feet better?
We really want to stop the redness. All the sores on the back feet have heeled and we want to keep it that way, but we need to reduce the inflammation.
Thanks in advance for any help.
