Refusing To Eat Hay

[Hannah P.]

Last week I noticed that Ginger stopped eating hay, and not really acting well. She never stopped eating altogether, she wouldn't refuse a treat or pellets, but she would not eat hay. There was nothing wrong with the hay, she had been nomming with enthusiasm just a few days before. I took her to the vet on Saturday, and they took x-rays and said that she had some gas in her intestines, so we were given some Metoclompramide to help move the gas along and Meloxicam to ease the discomfort. The vet also looked in her mouth, and said that her bottom molars were a little long, but that probably wasn't the cause of her not eating hay. So I've been giving her the meds, and also trying to get her to eat Critical Care, but she would much rather eat pellets.

Anyway, she seems much better now but still not eating hay! For the past couple days I've been trying to hand feed her hay, and she's taken it but only if my hand smells like a veggie or another treat of some sort. I'm probably going to schedule another vet appointment this weekend, but the vet said that was the next thing to do if she didn't wear her teeth down on her own was to get them filed, and I would really like to avoid that, especially after reading about the problems that @CavyConnoisseur had with Theodore, though the vet that I go to seems rather cavy savvy. I just don't understand why she would be refusing hay but not any other food. Any advice?

 

[rome_italy]

have you tried a different softer hay? some weeks ago I had to buy another bag of hay at the local shop, although I still had a lot of boxes of hay (stored in another place). My piggies appreciated a lot the new softer hay and now that it is finished they are not eating the old one like before. But I give them a lot of fresh grass... are you giving fresh grass, too? grass contains silica for eroding teeth, have great nutritional properties (more than vegs) and help the gut to develop good bacteria. Of course you cannot introduce a new food if the gut is not okay; but if she has troubles now with the usual hay and if her gut is okay, you can try with fresh grass.
My piggies don't eat pellets (only few pieces), eat few vegs, a good amount of hay, but eat a huge amount of grass and now at 8months old their teeth are amazingly eroded (and no gas in the belly).
In UK you have such an amazing grass...
(Bunny Heu is the name of the hay I bought recently which was much appreciated by my piggies)

 

[Hannah P.]

have you tried a different softer hay? some weeks ago I had to buy another bag of hay at the local shop, although I still had a lot of boxes of hay (stored in another place). My piggies appreciated a lot the new softer hay and now that it is finished they are not eating the old one like before. But I give them a lot of fresh grass... are you giving fresh grass, too? grass contains silica for eroding teeth, have great nutritional properties (more than vegs) and help the gut to develop good bacteria. Of course you cannot introduce a new food if the gut is not okay; but if she has troubles now with the usual hay and if her gut is okay, you can try with fresh grass.
My piggies don't eat pellets (only few pieces), eat few vegs, a good amount of hay, but eat a huge amount of grass and now at 8months old their teeth are amazingly eroded (and no gas in the belly).
In UK you have such an amazing grass...
(Bunny Heu is the name of the hay I bought recently which was much appreciated by my piggies)

The hay that I'm giving right now seems very soft with few hard pieces. I switched to this type a few months ago and like your piggies, she seemed to appreciate the softer hay. I do not give fresh grass, because where I live lots of pesticides are used in and it's just not very reliable or healthy. I've tried growing wheat grass specifically for my guinea pig, it never lived very long, but Ginger seemed to enjoy it.

 

[Amy Barton]

Carry on giving her the critical care of she is not eating hay as it has Timothy hay in it so it will keep her digestive system working. My piggys love alfalfa king Timothy hay which you can buy from pets at home. It is a lot fresher than some of the other brands. I think the best thing to do would be try different brands of hay as she may just not like the taste of the hay you are feeding her.

 

[Hannah P.]

Carry on giving her the critical care of she is not eating hay as it has Timothy hay in it so it will keep her digestive system working. My piggys love alfalfa king Timothy hay which you can buy from pets at home. It is a lot fresher than some of the other brands. I think the best thing to do would be try different brands of hay as she may just not like the taste of the hay you are feeding her.

Thank you. If she continues to refuse this hay I will try some different brands, but she seemed to like it before, so I can't understand it if she just suddenly "decided" she didn't like this certain brand of hay.

 

[MJG]

My two suddenly stopped eating one brand of hay , no warning no signs just stopped ... so naturally I changed brands to a much more expensive brand and they can't get enough .

 

[rome_italy]

The hay that I'm giving right now seems very soft with few hard pieces. I switched to this type a few months ago and like your piggies, she seemed to appreciate the softer hay. I do not give fresh grass, because where I live lots of pesticides are used in and it's just not very reliable or healthy. I've tried growing wheat grass specifically for my guinea pig, it never lived very long, but Ginger seemed to enjoy it.

my piggies did not appreciate wheat grass, they ate it once but looking at me in a weird way!
It's a pity that you cannot cut some fresh grass for them... maybe you might try to go to a private lawn (a church, a supermarket, some private garden... I also go to private gardens). You could wash the grass at home with water or bicarbonate as we have to do with the veg (grown with loads of pesticides, too).
And, I don't know what it is, but I have heard of a product called "ready grass", it should be grass dried in a fast way for keeping all the vitamins. I have read something here on this forum (but in Italy it does not exist on sale)

 

[helen105281]

Can I ask where you are located? If you are in the UK, there is a wonderful vet that is very experienced in dental issues in Northampton, people travel from all over the country to see him.

 

[pig in the city]

Try readigrass and see if she will eat that. I would get her teeth checked by an experienced vet before agreeing to dental work

 

[Hannah P.]

my piggies did not appreciate wheat grass, they ate it once but looking at me in a weird way!
It's a pity that you cannot cut some fresh grass for them... maybe you might try to go to a private lawn (a church, a supermarket, some private garden... I also go to private gardens). You could wash the grass at home with water or bicarbonate as we have to do with the veg (grown with loads of pesticides, too).
And, I don't know what it is, but I have heard of a product called "ready grass", it should be grass dried in a fast way for keeping all the vitamins. I have read something here on this forum (but in Italy it does not exist on sale)

I will have to find somewhere to get reliable grass to feed her, and I too have heard of readigrass on the forum but it is not on sale where I live either.

 

[rome_italy]

you may try to have a glance online; if you live in UK there are several shops (also Amazon.Uk) which delivery free of charge. Online you have a greater choice of products and shops and prices are lower. I also buy everything online although I have some petstores nearby.
I hope you can find a good lawn because fresh grass is their healthiest food. I am sure there are lawns or little green areas around you which you have never noticed . If you find some, cut the grass, spray it with water and keep it closed into a plastic bag in the lowest side of your fridge; it keeps its freshness for 2 days.
Anyway, piggies are weird and stubborn sometimes... I know a lady who bought a lot of boxes of hay online because her piggies loved a certain brand and now she has 8 kg in her garage butpiggies have suddendly decided to refuse that hay...

 

[Hannah P.]

I brought Ginger to the vet again today, as she had stopped eating pellets and drinking water on her own. Her molars were rather long, so she needed to have the surgery to get them filed down. We also noticed some swelling on the left side of her face, just before her molars, so there's an abscess there and she'll be getting antibiotics for that. The surgery was successful and what had happened was she had somehow broken her left front molar, and so it infected the gum and that caused the abscess. The broken tooth fell out in surgery, and her other molars were successfully filed down. The abscess also started to drain by itself, so she won't need another procedure for that. She's beginning to wake up from anesthesia now and I will pick her up in a few hours. I assume that she broke her tooth by chewing on her cage, but I recently made her a new cage, and she can't do that anymore.

Basically, the gas that we saw in the x-ray probably wasn't bothering her, and she was treated for the wrong thing. Unfortunately, I do not live in the UK, so I couldn't go to the vet in Northampton (the vet that I do go to is experienced with guinea pigs), and I also don't have very good access to some of the brands of hay and grass recommended, but I can order some on Amazon.

 

[Hannah P.]

So Ginger was doing fine, eating pellets, drinking water from the bottle, and even beginning to nibble at her hay. And now she has stopped eating by herself altogether. She's refusing pellets and has once again stopped eating hay, and I haven't seen her drinking so I've been syringe feeding water as well as Critical Care. She was getting better, and now she seems to be going back to the way she was before the surgery. The only thing she hasn't refused is veggies and other treats. I was wondering whether or not one of her medications was causing this? I'm giving her baytril, for the abscess (the abscess seems much better, barely any lump anymore), as well as a probiotic.

 

[Eriathwen]

This sounds quite similar to my Blackberry who had an overactive cecum. She ate hardly any hay, eventually very few pellets but would still eat little bits of veg and treats. It might be worth asking your vet if they think that could be a possibility? Blackberry was given an antacid but I cant remember its name..she did really well on it for quite a while.

 

[Hannah P.]

This sounds quite similar to my Blackberry who had an overactive cecum. She ate hardly any hay, eventually very few pellets but would still eat little bits of veg and treats. It might be worth asking your vet if they think that could be a possibility? Blackberry was given an antacid but I cant remember its name..she did really well on it for quite a while.

What is an overactive cecum? I didn't find anything on the internet about it. I will ask my vet about it as i will probably bring Ginger back tomorrow since she isn't pooping either.

 

[Eriathwen]

Basically what I was told was the cecum is where all the fibre they eat is fermented and either sorted into undigestable fibre and passed as poo, or as digestable fibre which the body uses. If it's over active it doesn't get the chance to do this properly before passing it all through as poo which can make them feel unwell and give them diarrhoea. When they feel unwell enough to go off food, it's usually hay they stop eating first. I could be wrong but I believe critical care is mostly digestible fibre which could be why she has stopped pooping, her body is using too much to have any to excrete? In Blackberrys case the contents of her guts became too acidic, hence the antacids. It could have been the antibiotics messing with the bacteria which altered the PH maybe? But I would think the probiotic would have been enough to stop that happening...

Sorry, thats not very helpful :/ I hope you get some answers tomorrow at the vets, its so draining when they're ill!

 

[Hannah P.]

I took Ginger back to the vets, and the tooth that had broken is now growing back witch has sealed off her abscess from draining, so she's probably not eating because it's putting pressure on her face. We're keeping her on Meloxicam, Metoclompramide to keep her gut moving and maybe boost her appetite, Bene-Bac probiotic, and Baytril but we may have to switch to a stronger antibiotic now. Today I noticed she has discharge from her left nostril, the same side as the abscess, and I know that this could be an indicator of an abscess but is it normal? Is the abscess now draining from her nose?