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poorly gp

  • Thread starter Thread starter debbiecreasey
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debbiecreasey

my sidney is very very poorly, he has been to the vets and is on antibiotics but he is loosing weight and will not eat i tried feeding him with a siringe but not a lot of weight gain, please help with some advice please.
 
Hiya - sorry to hear your guinea is poorly.

What did the vet say was wrong with him?

How much and how often are you feeding him with the syringe?
 
To be brief
Age, how much weight loss, any dental problems, why antibiotics and what sort, any sign of cystitis or a bladder stone, whereabouts are you?
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I'm not sure how old sydney is as i rescued him, he has lost a lot of weight, he is drinking when i syringe it in him & he is taken quite a bit, having problems syringing in mushed up pellets as they keep blocking the syringe. he is hardly moving and mostly stays in one place and wants to keep going to bed. i have 2 other gp but one of them bit him quite badly about a year ago so have to keep them apart but they are next to each other in c&c cage, and i put them together while i keep an eye on them. please **** tell me how i can help him as he is my baby and is very tame, the vet didnt know what was wrong with him but didnt really seem that bothered! he has been back a few times and she just keeps giving him antibiotics.
 
he is weeing and pooing and the vet said his teeth were ok, so how do i know if it is kidneys or cystitus? any1 have any ideas what it may be. please. very worried mummy. x
 
debbiecreasey said:
I'm not sure how old sydney is as i rescued him, he has lost a lot of weight, he is drinking when i syringe it in him & he is taken quite a bit, having problems syringing in mushed up pellets as they keep blocking the syringe. he is hardly moving and mostly stays in one place and wants to keep going to bed. i have 2 other gp but one of them bit him quite badly about a year ago so have to keep them apart but they are next to each other in c&c cage, and i put them together while i keep an eye on them. please **** tell me how i can help him as he is my baby and is very tame, the vet didnt know what was wrong with him but didnt really seem that bothered! he has been back a few times and she just keeps giving him antibiotics.
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Umm. Many vets are notorious for knowing very little about guinea-pigs. Sorry to be blunt. I think you need to find a new vet, as your current one doesn't sound like he knows what's wrong and therefore your gp is unlikely to get better. He could have a serious parasite infestation and antibiotics are not going to help. If he's losing weight, did your vet not bother to worm him? Hopefully someone on here can help you to locate either a guinea-pig savvy vet or a rodentologist (guinea-pig and other rodent specialist) near you. If you can get to Cambridge, then Vedra from the Cambridge Cavy Trust is highly regarded on here.

I'm sure there is special food you can buy for guinea-pigs who keep losing weight; someone on here can probably advise you.

Also, how much is a lot of weight; have you been weighing him? [If not, please start as it's a very useful aid to working out what's wrong.]
 
he picks food up but then dosn't eat it, but i have just checked on him and he did seem to be eating a little. so hopefully thats a good sign.
 
you could give him baby food, but it does seem worrying that your vet couldnt give a damn! sorry i have no medical advice but alcesterpigs will be back on soon and he is a piggie expert
 
I always fear the worst when a pig is lethargic and shows little interest in food. It is often symptomatic of heart problems. However, you say he has tried to eat, albeit not very much.
There is a significant difference between being unable to eat and being unwilling to eat. There is more hope for pigs in the first category than in the second.
I would stop the antibiotic. Correct treatment can only follow a correct diagnosis.
Neither would seem to apply to your pig.
Treatment; Get his teeth checked by someone who knows what they are doing.
If looked at by a knowledgeable vet do NOT let the pig be given a General Anaesthetic, there is no need for it.
Keep syringe feeding, blocked nozzle is easily solved, make the feed with a little more water. If only everything else were that easy!
You must keep giving him fluid, water is fine but rehydration fluid would be better.
Keep him warm.
 
I agree with the others that you need to find a new vet. Dangerous to just keep giving antibiotics with no idea why he needs them. How long has he been on the antibiotic and did the vet explain you need to give a probiotic with it?

Critical care is much easier to feed through a syringe than mushed up pellets. It's made by Science Selective and available on the net but someone may be able to suggest a shop you can buy it in as well. I use bio lapis as a probiotic but again there are others available and other members may have more suggestions about that. If you have a healthy piggy living next door to him you can mush up some of his pellets and use as an interim probiotic.

Good luck with finding a better vet and hope your little guy pulls through.
 
How is he this morning, Debbie?

Given the symptoms I would also first check the teeth. It sounds like he wants to eat but can't.

Will he take the syringe-feed off a spoon or plate? I've found the pigs that do want to eat and enjoy the mashed food, will take it off a plate. It won't give you an accurate idea of how much he is eating, but it is important he gets something down him at the moment.

Weighing daily on kitchen scales can give you an idea of if he is getting enough food in him; if he continues to lose weight despite syringe-feeding it's usually a sign that he is not getting enough. A pig who is not eating generally needs a minimum of 60ml throughout the day; 10ml every few hours seems to work well.

Good luck, do keep us updated!

LesaC said:
Critical care is much easier to feed through a syringe than mushed up pellets. It's made by Science Selective...
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Just to follow on from what Lesa mentioned, there are two syringe-feed formulas that do the same job - Science Recovery is made by the same company that make the Science Selective dry food. Critical Care is made by Oxbow.
 
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Laura thanks for spotting that - got myself totally mixed up there and its actually the Oxbow one I have and should have recommended. I heard before that the Science Recovery one is harder to feed - is that right?
 
Have you tried giving her Burgess Guinea Excel pellets?
It mashes down and is very easy to administer with a syringe, it costs a fraction of the other "special" feeds.
 
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