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Poorly Pixie

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catslovelycats

catslovelycats

Junior Guinea Pig
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Oh dear. Having had one of my pigs put down lat week, I now have another poorly one!

Pixie (normally the mouth of the herd) is huddled in a cuddle cup, very quiet and with discharge coming from her eyes. She seemed fine yesterday, but I know pigs go downhill quickly. I've separated her from the others, is in a rehab cage with Critical Care, hay, haycake, pellets, pear, greens, cucumber. She has taken a piece of cucumber and lettuce but not eaten much of either.

I'll take her to the vet tomorrow. In the meantime, anyone got any suggestions about how I can make her as comfy as possible? If need be, I'll brave the snow to go to a pet shop.

Any ideas what she might have?
 
If she is not eating you need to syringe feed her critical car. And to be honest i would try and get her to a vet today. Piggies can go downhill quickly so maybe ring your vet for some advise. It is sometimes cheaper to get a consultation in the daytime on a Sunday than wait till the nightime also.


x.
 
I am sorry for your continuing distress!

Make sure that you weigh her daily to monitor the food intake.
Hand feed her regularly; your care can make all the difference. A piggy needs 120ml over 24 hours to keep up the weight, even if it is a struggle. Little but often does the trick, if necessary round the clock.

Have her seen asap tomorrow by a piggy savvy vet. if she continues to get worse quickly, get her seen by an emergency vet; they are usually general vets with sometimes not much experiences with small animals.

Here are tips for hand feeding: http://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html
 
She still hasn't eaten - not even her favourite foods. I've managed to get a bit of CC in her I think - more landed on me! She's not doing anything, so I'm keeping her in a cuddle cup on my lap. I reckon tonight will be make or break, with syringe and CC at the ready all night.:{
 
Have you tried her with some freshly cut grass? That's the only thing I can tempt my poorly Yoshi with at the moment, I'm hoping parsley will work too so I'll get some tomorrow. Have you tried parsley?
 
Sorry, meant to add some healing vibes... :laluot_29::laluot_29:
 
catslovelycats said:
I've tried parsley. I will pick some snow covered grass and see how she responds! Then I'm leaving the poor girl alone while I have a quick bath!
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Give the grass a quick wash in some warm water first as food that is very cold (straight from fridge etc) can upset piggy tummies.
Hope she will be okay :)
 
It will take 24-48 hours before you may start to see a response/improvement from the first dose of the anitbioitic. This time is critical for her and you need to force feed her with critical care especially as she has even turned down grass. Try and get 20-30ml into her at one feed (which will be very difficult so even 5-10ml is a good amount) and you need to feed her every 2-3 hours in view of the fact she is not eating anything for herself.

Can I ask please
a) how much does she weigh
b) What is the dose/amount of baytril in ml you are giving her (presumably twice a day?)
c) has the vet mentioned that she has a problem with her lungs/breathing or is this just an upper respiratory infection?
HTH
x
 
a) how much does she weigh
I don't know - he weighed her and said but I can't remember - he said the weight was OK for her age. i will weigh her when I try the next feed
b) What is the dose/amount of baytril in ml you are giving her (presumably twice a day?)
2ml once a day
c) has the vet mentioned that she has a problem with her lungs/breathing or is this just an upper respiratory infection?
no he thought it is colitus - her breathing seemed fine when he listened

Thanks for the info re feeding her. I'm struggling to get any CC down her right now, but I assume the fact she's licking means that not all of it is going on my lap and some of it is going in her mouth...?
 
Is she having blood streaked poops or diarrhoea then? Colitis is an inflammation of the large intestines, its odd the vet has diagnosed this when she has ocular discharge. You may want to call your vet tomorrow and as for some pain relief for her, or for a second opinion. Any piggies in any kind of discomfort is less likely to eat so giving her some pain relief will hopefully cover all bases. Did your vet give her a full examination, not saying they are wrong, just sounds like they did the typical sending a piggie home with some Baytril and hoping for the best?

As for syringe feeding there is quite an art to doing it as you do not want you pig to aspirate and food into her lungs. Placing the syringe into her mouth into the diastema (the gap between the front incisors and the back molars) and angle it towards the other side of the mouth and ever so slightly towards the back. Place half to 1ml into the mouth and take the syringe out allowing your piggie to process the food in the mouth and swollow. The one thing i have learned with syringe feeding over the years is its time consuming and you have to be patient by putting small amounts into the mouth and allowing the animal to swollow. Ive seen many an inexperianced (not suggesting you are) force too much food into the mouth so that it dribbles out as the patient cant process all the mass of food in the mouth.

Hope this helps a bit. So sorry your piggie isnt well.

x
 
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As Abi nurse has said - a dignaosis of colitis when the symptoms are ocular dischaarge seems a bit confusing to say the least.....and also baytril would not necessarily be the antibiotic of choice for a gut infection. I'm wondering if because she has not been eting she has gone into gut stasis (ileus) and needs a motility drug and this is what you;re vet is defining as colitis?

I see you are not far from me - is there any chance you can get her in to see Melissa or Rob, the cavy savvy vets at Seers Croft Horsham for a second opinion tomorrow? 01293 851122.

If you need some help with syringe feeding please Pm me for my phone number tomorrow morning so we can discuss whether the roads from me to you are clear of snow!
HTH
x
 
hi pebble
seers croft is where i took her to today!

we're not having a good night
if she makes it through i'm going to my vet

she had done 4 poos on way to vet
they were well formed but stuck together with a mucus
that's when vet said colitus

she's making strange noises (not wheezing) since about 11pm
i'm sitting up on sofa with her
poor thing is restless but also listless
 
Thank you all for your kind and helpful comments. Sadly Pixie has just passed away in my arms. It wasn't a peaceful death, sad to say. She seemed to be fitting and in a lot of discomfort. I just wish I'd realised sooner that something was wrong with her.
 
catslovelycats said:
Thank you all for your kind and helpful comments. Sadly Pixie has just passed away in my arms. It wasn't a peaceful death, sad to say. She seemed to be fitting and in a lot of discomfort. I just wish I'd realised sooner that something was wrong with her.
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Poor Pixie- I'm so sorry for your loss. ((HUGS))!
 
I am really sorry for your loss, I don't think there was anything else you could have done. Hope you are okay.
 
Thanks everyone. It is very upsetting but life goes on and my remaining pigs are being fed at a rate of knots to make sure that they are eating and not ill with whatever Pixie had! They're lapping it up!
 
So sorry to hear Pixie lost her fight, so young 8...
Run free sweet girl, another little one taken to The Bridge far too soon :(
Play safe little Pixie with the others who have left us xoxo
 
on no thats such a shame
dont blame yourself animals have a way of hiding their illnesses, the fact you took her as soon as you could is all you could have done
RIP pixie :(
 
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