Pyometra? Or Something Else?

[Abwettar]

Hi everyone, this may be a little long winded but I'm not sure what's going on and could use some advice!

Basically I have a female Guinea pig at the minute who seems to be going to off her food. Now, my Peaches is the greediest Guinea pig I've ever known, to the point she once ate a large portion of bin bag for no reason other than she could.

So she seems to have primarily stopped eating her nuggets. She's always eaten a healthy amount of nuggets alongside her veg and hay but the last week or so especially she just seems to have stopped. I filled up her bowl on Thursday morning and it's barely been touched by this morning, she can only have had a couple out of there tops (I left them to try to monitor how much she was eating - normally I fill it up with fresh daily).

When I get her out though she seems fine in herself, she's still going to the toilet as normal and eating her own faeces as normal. I've checked her over and her teeth seem fine. Her stomach does feel a little hard, but there's no obvious pain or discomfort when I press anywhere.

I know about two months ago I was having a problem with her back end being mucky - there was no puss or blood or diarrhoea, it just seemed to be urine in her fur. I put it down to her losing her cage mate and not moving around as much - she started to just sit in the same spot all the time. I just kept on top of cleaning her cage and her bum and she seemed fine. And it has since stopped.

So I just have no idea what's happening. I'm not sure if I should be worried or not? She is an older Guinea pig, around 5 years old. But as I say she's still active and her behaviour hasn't changed in any other way, and she doesn't appear to be losing any weight or to be in any pain.

I just feel that of I take her to the vets they'll do what I did, give her a health check and find no problems. So has anyone had anything similar before? I'm just not sure what's best - take her to the vets or keep monitoring her?

Thank you.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone, this may be a little long winded but I'm not sure what's going on and could use some advice!

Basically I have a female Guinea pig at the minute who seems to be going to off her food. Now, my Peaches is the greediest Guinea pig I've ever known, to the point she once ate a large portion of bin bag for no reason other than she could.

So she seems to have primarily stopped eating her nuggets. She's always eaten a healthy amount of nuggets alongside her veg and hay but the last week or so especially she just seems to have stopped. I filled up her bowl on Thursday morning and it's barely been touched by this morning, she can only have had a couple out of there tops (I left them to try to monitor how much she was eating - normally I fill it up with fresh daily).

When I get her out though she seems fine in herself, she's still going to the toilet as normal and eating her own faeces as normal. I've checked her over and her teeth seem fine. Her stomach does feel a little hard, but there's no obvious pain or discomfort when I press anywhere.

I know about two months ago I was having a problem with her back end being mucky - there was no puss or blood or diarrhoea, it just seemed to be urine in her fur. I put it down to her losing her cage mate and not moving around as much - she started to just sit in the same spot all the time. I just kept on top of cleaning her cage and her bum and she seemed fine. And it has since stopped.

So I just have no idea what's happening. I'm not sure if I should be worried or not? She is an older Guinea pig, around 5 years old. But as I say she's still active and her behaviour hasn't changed in any other way, and she doesn't appear to be losing any weight or to be in any pain.

I just feel that of I take her to the vets they'll do what I did, give her a health check and find no problems. So has anyone had anything similar before? I'm just not sure what's best - take her to the vets or keep monitoring her?

Thank you.

Please have your girl checked for arthritis, kidney problems or womb/ovarian cyst issues. If necessary, ask for a scan.

Change her bedding in the area daily or if necessary twice daily. Give her regular gentle bum baths with hand warm water as she cannot clean herself all that well anymore in order to prevent urine scald. Also have the underside of her feet checked; they can become irritated and infected, especially the weight bearing front legs are prone to bumblefoot in these situations when they are combined with a less than perfect blood circulation in elderly piggies.

Pyometra is an infection of the womb lining; it is curable in the early stages, but fatal if it is not treated promptly enough. It is most common in new mothers but can happen in sows where the reproductive system is going wrong. You generally notice the smell and the swollen genitalia.