Restless, frantic ? not slee

[Olivitree]

Hey folks.

‘Not sure if this is behaviour or illness at this point!

I have a post op old lady, 5 years old this year, had a breast lump removed, a few cells seemed a little suspicious, but not enough to confirm cancer, so we decided it best to remove it and see.

Healing up very well, not many stitches left and no bumpy scarring in the places the stitches have already Disappeared from.

 

[Olivitree]

Darn, sorry, my tablet messed up in typing and posted it early somehow and 5 minutes wasn’t long enough to fix it, here’s the rest:

Seemed all was going well but today she stared acting strangely, walking/marching around complaining (warbling/ squeezing in an irritated fashion, as if being harassed by an over interested male.) and trying to get to my other two, chewing bars, etc. She’s not really sleeping long or settling like she use to, she’s the same if I pick her up when she use to sit still and chill out for a while. Now she’s fidgeting constantly and sounding irritated. It’s also effecting her interest in food, she’s eating, but in much shorter sittings.
She settled down for a while when I cuddled her with one of our other girls(the only one that gets along with her relatively ok, after many attempts to mount her first.

she’s alone at present as we lost her buddy sadly but haven’t managed to get her a new friend with her op going on then the lock down. I also need to adjust our cages some as I measured them wrong for two piggies.
This behaviour is brand new today.
Any ideas? I’m at a loss.
Is this just that she’s in season?

 

[wiggypig]

A few things I would consider would be any meds that could cause side effects that are making her uncomfortable. Is she on any meds? Has her routine or the diet being offered to her been changed recently? Have you done a full health check recently? Look inside ears, close look at her eyes, peek inside her mouth to check the condition of her teeth and gums as best you can.

If you can give her some floor time in a warm cozy room, maybe you can hang out on the floor with her. You can act casual and subtly socialize with her, since she isn't chilling out while being held. My piggies always preferred to be pretty independent, yet still very social. Maybe she is missing the company and socialization of the other piggy but still wants some autonomy. Perhaps that could help explain why she is less relaxed with you. I have a solo pig who lost his neighbour (did not get along when introduced but enjoyed being housed across from each other), I began visiting him a bit more. When I visit, I pretend to take interest in his hay (ruffle it around and talk to him about how yummy hay is in a happy voice), offer him pieces of hay by hand and act happy and excited about veggie/pellet times. I also play a quiet radio all day for my solo piggie. At least things like that keep some lively energy in the room for the remaining piggie.

You could ask your vet to help investigate and note any other symptoms if any. If she is in pain, maybe that could make her restless too. Did she recently stop a round of pain meds for the surgery?

Best of luck to you by the way!

 

[Deleted member 131797]

How long post op is she? Sounds like a week or two with no stitches left?

the trying to get to the other pigs/biting bars behaviour sounds like she could be in heat/her season. Keep an eye on her weight. If she’s in heat that should setting in 2 days or so.

I’d be more worried if huddled in a corner and being quiet With puffed up fur which indicates pain. Maybe she’s feeling more like herself and she’s happy for it.

 

[Olivitree]

Ok as an update, she's relaxed again today, she's settled right down again, napping and eating normally. Still concerned as to what might have been the cause though!

To generally note her surgery time, it was the 21st of march so we're quite a long ways in to healing.

@wiggypig
She is on some meds, she's on loxicom(the metacam alternative thingy), I did give her, her dose slightly earlier when she started acting up because I was concerned she was uncomfortable, it didn't seem to make a difference at all. I give her pretty regular check overs, she does have a bit of a skin condition that we've never been able to work out the issue, we've tried all sorts, done tests, still has bouts where her skin gets dry and her hair falls out, it has never seen to irritate her as such but we are still investigating it, shes having mild symptoms of it at the moment, just a little dry skin not nearly as much as normal.

Thank you for the suggestions on socialising with her, she's a very guinea pigs-pig but as we're all in lock down and I'm low on other options, I'll try some of your advice and see if I can be more of her friend!

I'll have a chat with my vet but I suspect they wont have her in to physically check her. I'm keeping her meds all the same until the last stitches have fallen out, theres a couple left that haven't come out as fast as the rest but they look ok, no swelling or anything.

@Elthysia

Shes a week and a half(ish) post op, she's got a couple of stitches left I think, at the very least there's a small hard lump that feels the same as the stitches did. It doesn't seem to cause her pain if I gently squeeze it, its not swollen or oozing or anything it looks pretty much healed top to bottom of the line other than that lump.
I still have her on the loxicom as I'd quite like those last stitches to be gone so she doesn't start chewing on it now, she did have a bit of a go on it sa few days after the surgery but didn't do much damage luckily.

I hope it is just she's feeling more like her self! she always was a very sassy guinea pig with a lot of opinions, I'm not sure I've ever noticed my guinea pigs go into season before, but I guess they've always had friends in the cage during that time so they haven't wanted to GET anywhere.

Bit of a worrying time with the lockdown going on and not really being able to go to the vet too easily!

Fingers crossed she stays chilled out!


Thanks both of you for getting back to me!

 

[wiggypig]

@Olivitree No worries! That's good she calmed down a bit! Yes being locked down with a pet (who has medical issues especially) adds some stress!

One thing I tend to do sometimes when my piggies are ill is hover while checking on them and that makes them anxious so I try to be mindful of that. If you hover, it can seem like you're acting like a predator. Of course piggies need to be monitored when sick but we (giant humans) also have to be aware of the attention we are paying to them or their illness/wound etc. as they can feel quite vulnerable in the moment and then become more weary of human attention while in a state like that. It can be tricky to be responsive to their symptoms/signals and provide supportive care while also trying to keep their routine feeling "normal".

If she cuddled with her buddy in the past, that would keep her cozy and warm. Now that she's solo, perhaps she'd like access to a fleece tunnel, stuffed animal or anything like that. You can get creative with cardboard boxes, fleece and binder clips if you don't Just having a super cozy, soft warm bed/hiding spot to help compensate for not having a cuddle buddy might be nice. My piggies have stuffies and never chewed them, but some piggies might chew parts so you'd have to watch for that. I also like to cut toilet paper rolls into different shapes, sometimes hide treats inside as a boredom buster to keep her busy and hopefully distracted from her chewing her stitches and whatever caused her to march around anxiously. If she doesn't have things like that already, maybe that could help keep her feeling calm and soothed.

Nutrition, inflammation/allergies and gut flora can be connected to skin problems in humans, I would hazard a guess that could be true for guinea pigs too. So if she gets nutrient dense foods (antioxidants/Vit. C - kale, blueberries for example) that's great. If her skin issue could be fungal, I've heard spores can hang around in bedding. I'd imagine they could probably hide in wood hideys too, but I really have no idea. Ringworm (which is fungal) is common in piggies and can cause dry patches and hair loss. Hope whatever is going on clears up! Since she had a breast lump it makes me wonder if her skin/hair issues could be related to hormones. If your vet hasn't looked into fungal/ringworm or hormones, perhaps those would be good questions/topics to research for the future. At least she doesn't seem bothered by her skin issues, that's good.

I've never used it, but...
Oxbow has a Skin & Coat vitamin Oxbow Animal Health

*Note that Meloxicam (an ingredient in Loxicom) should not be taken with "Supplements, such as glucosamine, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E", see source below.
Meloxicam: 7 things you should know - Drugs.com

 

[Deleted member 131797]

I’m surprised she’s still on pain meds a week and a half after Op if there are no problems. The longest mine have been on pain meds post op has been a few days max. Not judging or saying it’s wrong, I’m just surprised.

 

[Olivitree]

@wiggypig She has a heat pad in her home for warmth as shes a bit older and on her own, it went in post op so she could go and sit on it if she wanted and I just never took it out as she seems to love it, but a soft toy couldn't hurt so she has something to snuggle with thats a good idea.
We've tested and treated for ring worm, it could be in the wood hide I guess so maybe she keeps getting infected, maybe its time to get a new wood hide, although I know I'm susceptible to ringworm as I caught it off one of my piggies a long time ago and we've seen no spread of her condition amongst us or her buddy while he was still with us. Quite baffling, we've been trying to work this out with the vet for about 6 months or more!

@Elthysia to be honest thats probably over caution on my part as we didn't have a post op check (unfortunately lock down occurred just after her op, so we did a brief check in via email instead), I had a large quantity left over from her friend who needed them for his issue so it wasn't doing me harm and didn't seem to be doing her harm (she loves it, for some reason!) and once she gave it a small nibble I just really didn't want her to do herself an injury while getting to the vet is difficult. I have had her off of them since yesterday to see how we go.

 

[Merab]

I can’t offer any advice but can assure you of my support.
Holding you in my thoughts