• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Scratchy is not himself :(

Status
Not open for further replies.
JodyMitchell

JodyMitchell

Joined
Mar 3, 2011
Messages
33
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Dundee, Scotland.
Hi, I am looking for a little help and advice. Scratch is roughly 6 years old. Recently he has not been acting himself. He has not been drinking his water or eating his nugets, however he does still eat his fresh food every lunch time. He seems to whimper every now and again and allot of the time just sits, not moving, and never responds to me when I call on him.
I had him to the vet a week ago and they prescribed him with some antibiotics which I give him twice a day. The vet seemed to think it was a urine infection as there were spots of blood in his pee.
Since then there has been no blood in his urine but his droppings are lighter in colour and not as solid. I have just came home from work and he is not doing any better than when I left him this morning. I will be taking him to the vet on my lunch break tomorrow but was wondering if anyone had any clues on what is up with him and how I can make him more comfortable untill then?
I love him so much and cant bare seeing him like this :(
Any help is much appreciated.

Jody & the pigs x
 
Aw bless him, he does sound poorly :(

I think you are doing the right thing taking him back to the vet. If it he were my piggy I would ask for an x-ray just to rule out any bladder stones or sludge.

Good luck, I hope you get on ok tomorrow let us know how you get on.
 
If I were you I would also definitely want an xray/scan as soon as possible, to rule out stones.

Pain can affect a piggy's appetite. Is he still eating hay? If not I'd be worried about him not getting enough fibre. Is he pooing as much as usual? If he's not eating enough then he could well need syringe-feeding to keep up his food/water intake and a probiotic could help. Piggies really need to keep their guts moving - this is very important.

If there are no stones present on the xray then it could just be a stubborn UTI (urinary tract infection) as these can sometimes take a while to clear up. Either way I would ask the Vet if they could prescribe something for the pain (the anti-inflammatory drugs Metacam and Rimadyl are often used in guineas and can help manage pain).

I really would go back to the Vets as soon as possible.

Fingers crossed for the little man x
 
Thank you for the quick reply!

He has been eating his hay as normal. I cleaned him out yesterday and have noticed there is not as much poop as usual. It is also not coming out as solid and is lighter in colour. I have syringe fed him some water and also his antibiotics. I put him back to bed but as soon as I closed the cage he started whimpering again. Hopefully the vet will help him tomorrow. I will let you know how we get on. Thanks again x
 
The fact that he's not pooing as much makes me think it'd be worth you syringe-feeding him some food if you're confident with syringe-feeding (which I assume you must be as you're administering the ABs already). Here's a guide if unsure:
http://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html

Vets sell food specially designed for syringe feeding (Recovery, Critical Care) and this can also be bought online...but if you dont already have some you can make some syringeable consistency feed by soaking his usual nuggets in some boiled water - just let it soak, mush it up and let it cool. Obviously just syringe a tiny amount in each mouthful and make sure that each mouthful is completely swallowed.

Another thing you could do for him tonight is syringe feed some unsweetened Cranberry juice (like Ocean Spray Light) or homemade barley water, if you have them to hand or can get to a late night supermarket. These are often given to piggies to soothe the symptoms of Cystitis/UTI etc - not a cure but can help ease things. To make the barley water just boil up some pearl barley and water, let it simmer gently for 30-45mins then drain off the liquid and let it cool. Any of it can be given to pigs but I think the best thing is to squish the barley through a sieve and collect the sticky viscous "gloop" and let piggy eat that - either lap it off a spoon or syringe-fed. Some people mix a bit of cranberry juice in with the barley gloop.

Hope Scratchy has a better night (and you too!) and gets good help at the Vets tomorrow. Best of luck x
 
Hi love did you also give him probiotics whilst taking his meds? This helps with the gut flora :)

HEALING WHEEEEEEEEEEEKS FOR SCRATCHY XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
 
Scratchy's Progress

So we went to the vet and she uped Scrathcy's dose of antibiotics. The day after was brilliant. He was running round, eating his nugets, drinking plenty of water and scoffing his face with fresh veg! His poops even looked better. Everything seemed fine. However he seems to have slowly gone back to his old ways :( He has not been drinking much water so I have had to go back to feeding him through a syringe. He has not been eating his nugets since yesterday so I am about to hand feed him some lunch. I even put down his favourite piece of veg and he simply took a nibble and turned away :( He has also been whimpering today and I noticed its when he tries to pee or poop. I am going to continue with the antibiotics over the weekend as they do take a few days to kick in. If he is not better by Monday then I will be taking straight back to the vet. I just hope he gets better soon.

Jody and the pigs x
 
One of our pigs was whimpering when pooping and sometimes even without a reason, so I've done a fair deal of research into what could be the cause.
You have to definitely eliminate the stones first. What type of water is he getting? It has to have low calcium content - Deeside mineral water is the best, we get ours from Asda or Waitrose. If a pig is on a high calcium water they can get bladder lining inflammation I was told, which then causes them to whimper when they are passing poop or peeing. Our boy had a massive cyst on his liver and a fatty lump around his intestines, which was probably contributing to a lot of problems.
Make sure you give him probiotics while on medicines and syringe feed him enough - he needs good bacteria and enough energy to survive.
 
I have to say that you really MUST rule out bladder stones.

I lost my boy in July after an op to remove a bladder stone, and his symptoms are pretty much like your piggies.

Please.......take him back to the vet and ask them to either do a urine test or an x-ray. So many people have lost piggies on here through baldder stones, they are horrible horrible things :(

I'm not meaning to scare you, but these stones form and grow very quick (in a matter of weeks sometimes) and if he has one and it gets stuck in his urethra then its really not a good outcome.

Fingers crossed for you and your boy x
 
Good luck for Wednesday. It'll be good to know for sure, so you can figure out how best to go from there x
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top