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Poorly piggy Theo.

Buggster10

Buggster10

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi all need advice on my other piggy now( not having a great month!) Theo has an upper respiratory infection. He's on baytril and metacam. Only now he's losing a lot of weight. He was 1300 and is now 930:( the vets are seeing him tomorrow again as emergency. He is not eating but we have out him on critical care food syringe and are feeding on the hour. He hates it and now refusing anything or water. His poo because he's not eating is like this:-( is his gut shutting down? His teeth were checked but vet said look ok? I'm hoping it's not turned to pneumonia.help. Worried sick.
 

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Buggster10 said:
Hi all need advice on my other piggy now( not having a great month!) Theo has an upper respiratory infection. He's on baytril and metacam. Only now he's losing a lot of weight. He was 1300 and is now 930:( the vets are seeing him tomorrow again as emergency. He is not eating but we have out him on critical care food syringe and are feeding on the hour. He hates it and now refusing anything or water. His poo because he's not eating is like this:-( is his gut shutting down? His teeth were checked but vet said look ok? I'm hoping it's not turned to pneumonia.help. Worried sick.
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Hi!

Baytril (as any other antibiotic) can completely wipe out the gut biome/kill the appetite in some piggies.
Please speak to your vet about whether it is better to push through or to try another antibiotic.

Make sure that you get at least 40-60 ml into him in 24 hours just to keep the gut going; ideal would be 60-90 ml but that can be too much of a goal with a piggy completely off its food. The poos are a sign that he is not eating and drinking as much as he should. The poo output usually lags a day behind the intake, but it can also be 2 days with a slow gut.

Does Theo have a healthy mate? In this case, you can support the gut with twice daily totally freshly made 'poo soup', i.e. the transfer of healthy live guinea pig gut biome; the less time between dropping the poo and syringe the water it has soaked in, the more live stuff will reach the gut. It is a bit gross but mimics natural recovery behaviour and provides tailor-made gut bacteria etc.
If done properly, it is more effective than probiotics. Give it either 1 hour before or 2 hours after the antibiotic.
In addition I would recommend a course of fibreplex which will add more stuff. Many piggies don't like having it squeezed into their mouth but will eat in their syringe feed.

You can also add some dioralyte to the water you are syringing if you or your vet a thinking that he may be a bit dehydrated.

Here is more information on how you can support Theo through this. Keep in mind that any overweight will come off very quickly in an ill piggy so the initial weight loss can be rather dramatic.

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

All the best for getting through this!
 
Wiebke said:
Hi!

Baytril (as any other antibiotic) can completely wipe out the gut biome/kill the appetite in some piggies.
Please speak to your vet about whether it is better to push through or to try another antibiotic.

Make sure that you get at least 40-60 ml into him in 24 hours just to keep the gut going; ideal would be 60-90 ml but that can be too much of a goal with a piggy completely off its food. The poos are a sign that he is not eating and drinking as much as he should. The poo output usually lags a day behind the intake, but it can also be 2 days with a slow gut.

Does Theo have a healthy mate? In this case, you can support the gut with twice daily totally freshly made 'poo soup', i.e. the transfer of healthy live guinea pig gut biome; the less time between dropping the poo and syringe the water it has soaked in, the more live stuff will reach the gut. It is a bit gross but mimics natural recovery behaviour and provides tailor-made gut bacteria etc.
If done properly, it is more effective than probiotics. Give it either 1 hour before or 2 hours after the antibiotic.
In addition I would recommend a course of fibreplex which will add more stuff. Many piggies don't like having it squeezed into their mouth but will eat in their syringe feed.

You can also add some dioralyte to the water you are syringing if you or your vet a thinking that he may be a bit dehydrated.

Here is more information on how you can support Theo through this. Keep in mind that any overweight will come off very quickly in an ill piggy so the initial weight loss can be rather dramatic.

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

All the best for getting through this!
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Thanks so much. His cage buddy is healthy although he is the one with prolapsed penis I posted about few weeks ago. Does link show where to get fibre Plex. ?he's eating parsley tonight but not much at all. Absolutely worried sick
 
Buggster10 said:
Thanks so much. His cage buddy is healthy although he is the one with prolapsed penis I posted about few weeks ago. Does link show where to get fibre Plex. ?he's eating parsley tonight but not much at all. Absolutely worried sick
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You can order fibreplex widely online when you google. ;)
 
Will his mates poo soup be ok ? Wasn't sure if prolapse penis would make it not ok?
 
Also the vet put him on 2ml baytril once a day. Is that a normal amount?
IMG_20200211_201735966.webp
 
2ml is two syringe fulls and sounds like a very high amount although I’m not a vet. I would perhaps query it with your vet?
You will be able to give the Pro C as it is a probiotic. I’m giving it at the moment to a piggy of mine who’s on antibiotics
 
Claire W said:
2ml is two syringe fulls and sounds like a very high amount although I’m not a vet. I would perhaps query it with your vet?
You will be able to give the Pro C as it is a probiotic. I’m giving it at the moment to a piggy of mine who’s on antibiotics
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I did query it and she triple checked but said it was ok as infection bad - I'm not convinced though
 
Claire W said:
It should be fine if she triple checked. Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you
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I was questioning the vet constantly and still not sure she's right so I really appreciate your worry too cos it's made me not question myself x
 
Theo actually loved the poop soup last night and did his first wee in two days so it must have helped. So we are continuing with that and I bought pro c and this herbal and dandelion mix and he's actually giving it a go. It's better than no food. I'm going to give the baytril after the vets today to see if makes a difference on appetite. His poo is still very stringy:-(
 

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We are trying our best with emeraid critical food but he is refusing it so I'm literally making it going in.. he tried some parsley again tonight but looks exhausted. He now weighs 920. Vet wants to put him under sedation to lol at back teeth but she's concerned he won't survive as losing weight so quickly. She's wondering if the URI if just covering something else:-( back again to get tomorrow morning
 
Buggster10 said:
We are trying our best with emeraid critical food but he is refusing it so I'm literally making it going in.. he tried some parsley again tonight but looks exhausted. He now weighs 920. Vet wants to put him under sedation to lol at back teeth but she's concerned he won't survive as losing weight so quickly. She's wondering if the URI if just covering something else:-( back again to get tomorrow morning
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BIG HUGS

Please don't force any feed in if he can no longer process it. Just make him as comfy as you can and keep him warm but not hot.
 
Update from vets. URI has cleared but still losing weight and now 900 g. She examined mouth again and this noticed his right side of back teeth are pointy and sharp so more than likely giving him pain so has issued a dental pain relief plus metacam. Baytril has been stopped. She wants to scan full body plus mouth and then we have to make decisions whether to get teeth done or not. The last piggy in our family hare you may remember me posting about had his jaw dislocated by them in doing the teeth so I'm reluctant to let them.. I may contact specialist vet to ask for further advice. Any advice from this forum would be appreciated x
 
Buggster10 said:
Update from vets. URI has cleared but still losing weight and now 900 g. She examined mouth again and this noticed his right side of back teeth are pointy and sharp so more than likely giving him pain so has issued a dental pain relief plus metacam. Baytril has been stopped. She wants to scan full body plus mouth and then we have to make decisions whether to get teeth done or not. The last piggy in our family hare you may remember me posting about had his jaw dislocated by them in doing the teeth so I'm reluctant to let them.. I may contact specialist vet to ask for further advice. Any advice from this forum would be appreciated x
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If you can get as far as Northampton to the Cat&Rabbit Care Clinic for your dentals, Theo would be in the best of hands, not needs a full GA/operation and be able to eat again normally straight after. It is really totally worth the trip! Simon does about 25 piggy dentals every week and is the vet with the most experience in the whole of the UK - most vets (including exotics) never see as many cavy dentals in their whole career!
The Cat and Rabbit Care Clinic

Please follow the tips for feeding dental piggies in our syringe feeding guide: Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
 
The extra painkiller and no baytril has made Through a happy boy! He is eating! Will consider Northampton. Thanks will update you Monday when he next returns to vet but I don't feel comfortable with them doing the operation. Does So.on file back teeth without full anesthetics?
 

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Enjoying parsley. He will not eat in his cage with cage buddy so we are taking him out to eat
 

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Buggster10 said:
The extra painkiller and no baytril has made Through a happy boy! He is eating! Will consider Northampton. Thanks will update you Monday when he next returns to vet but I don't feel comfortable with them doing the operation. Does So.on file back teeth without full anesthetics?
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Yes, Simon doesn't normally use anaesthetics unless he cannot get into the mouth when teeth are too badly overgrown.
Please do not wait too long as teeth will overgrow very quickly when they are no longer ground down properly.
 
Qualcast&Flymo said:
The Cat and Rabbit Clinic have a website, the number is on there. Hope you can get the help you need 🤞
Edit - Here it is : 01604 478888
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Thank you. He did normal poo to day and huge wee. Will still continue critical care as he needs to gain weight. X
 
I would definitely recommend Simon, I take my two boars for conscious dentals and Simon is marvellous! We drive up from Cornwall and is certainly worth it. my Ted would not be here if it weren’t for Simon. If you don’t trust your vet, don’t let them do a dental on him, find a good one you can trust and has the experience. Hope you can get your little man sorted x
 
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