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Sick Piggy :(

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PiggyOinkOink

PiggyOinkOink

Junior Guinea Pig
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Noticed this evening that Benji did not come out for his food and was just sat in his house all fluffed up like his face was swollen. I put the food to his mouth and he did not respond and I noticed he has a tiny scab on his nose which he had once before.

He doesn't move really and when he breathes there is a tick sound every time. When his heart beats, you can see his body move to the beats and he juts stands there fluffed up.

I had a tiny bit of meds (Loxicom, Zantac, Baytril) left over from his neutering a few wks ago and I gave him them. There was pretty much no Loxicom left as it had started to stick to the bottom so I had to put a small amount of water to dilute it. I have enough Zantac for at least 2 more doses and the Baytril I did not give however there is probably enough for 1-2 doses (at 0.6ml). When giving him these, I initially picked him up in my hand with his body in my palm and legs on my chest to give the syringe but he seemed to have little fits so I thought it was probably painful or something so managed to give it another way.

I separated him from his son, who seems fine, and as I don't have any more cages (already have 4!), I put him in the carry case with some hay and mushed up pellets I extracted from the food. He seems to be at least nibbling at the hay slowly and bits of the newspaper but won't touch the mushed pellets.

I imagine I need to take him to see a vet but not sure where I can find an exotics vet at this time..great to happen on a bloody wknd to when I have 2 animal hospitals walking distance and they are closed! ..Actually just had a look at the Harmsworth Memorial has an emergency vet that works at weekends and Bank Hols! Great! Calling them now...

Sick Benji.webp
 
It could well be the beginnings of a URI or Pneumonia if his breathing is clicky. Glad that you are calling the emergency vet, good luck.

Ask them to check for any fluid on his chest aswell (this would fit with the clicky breathing) as he may need diuretics and also if he has a stuffy nose Bisolvon would help clear it.
 
I rang the emergency number 0300 123 8071 given on the main 0300 123 0712 but every time it connects, it rings for a second then they hang up! I'm gonna keep trying but I will probably have to find another vet I imagine.
 
That's typical, I had issue getting through to our emergency vet once when my hamster needed to be PTS and it was horrible. Hope you get through soon.
 
Well I'd rather one that was specialised in exotics..the only other one on the vet locator is in Sheen and that is not exactly a place that is easy to get to. Changing a few trains and then buses...and it might not have an emergency service.. I will keep trying the RSPCA for a while then find another if they don't answer.
 
Finally got through! Hopefully it won't be a problem that I am not completely registered. I actually had a castration booked for him from April in 2wks but I got it done from the Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital instead, so I would be registered on their systems at some level.
 
I would be inclined to give him antibiotics unless your vet has prescribed them for the specific issue, apart from Metacam as long as you know the correct dosage. If he does have a URI, Baytril is usually he correct antibiotic though, but he ideally needs probiotics alongside it, as it is known to upset the stomach.

I am so sorry he is poorly, good luck at the vets xx
 
Well you can actually just turn up at the door as they are 5pm-9am week days + wknds and bank holidays emergency service, but for I think it's only for people on benefits or low income strangely. It was a COMPLETE NIGHTMARE to even get there as there was the Wireless Festival on and no buses would stop at Finsbury Park leaving me to find my way in Holloway. The tube was working but there were tons of drunk people on the street and lots of noise. I'm sure it was very stressful for him. I even got lost because the maps on my phone doesn't work but if the bus had run until Finsbury Pk then I would have known the way, but I had to walk to Holloway to get the tube so a 15m journey took about 1hr! :(

I have some sad news..they told me he had a turn and he really gasping for breath and nearly died. They put him on oxygen and gave him antibiotics and he is staying there for the night. The vet was asking me if he was going to the toilet ok and I assumed he was as I hadn't really noticed, as she said there was some stringy mucus coming out of his anus and it was crusty so it appears that it is some sort of intestinal infection; very serious as guinea pigs only show they are ill when it's very serious. She said she had never seen this before in her life. He was in severe pain when they did an abdominal exam so that's why she thinks its abdominal. There's no way to identify if the castration might have caused it and she said they don't usually bother doing scans on piggies so small so nothing might show up, plus it would probablyt have stressed him out more and helped him along his way if they tried. They usually treat any symptoms that are noticeable and that's it.

She told me its a possibility that he might not make it through the night and they will give me a call if he doesn't make it. The staff member that took him in said he looked a little better from before but if he did manage to make it then he would be in for a few days at the minimum. He was my 1st guinea pig and it's very sad, my friend cried when I told him..I hope he makes it as he is the most special piggie out of my lot and I was hoping to reunite him and his gf, Rebecca, in 3 weeks after the 6wk castration period. She has been depressed since leaving the cage and now spends most of her time sat in her house and getting fat. She is very picky and dominant and you can't put her with another piggy except her 1 daughter. If he dies then she will be depressed her whole life. I lost Snowy yesterday when I gave him to my friend but I didn't expect to lose another one the next day..the 7 remaining piggies are all deathly silent now like they sense something happened.
 
Thanks for asking but no...so I am hopeful..but even though I said to call me if he didn't make it, they sort of said for me to call between 2-4 and I didn't remind them..perhaps the news will be delayed..if he is fighting his way through it then they said he will have to stay a few days at least before he could go home. I am trying to rack my mind on how he could have caught an abdominal infection but I can't think of anything. I have been cleaning out the cages all night and cutting the long haired ones hair and giving them baths and spraying them with Xeno 200 in case it might be fly strike..but I'm not sure whether the vet would have noticed if it was that already. I live over lots of green and I get lots of flies in the summer that really annoy me. I am going to get an electric fly killer to kill those pesky once and for all. I hope that his son won't get anything as he was in the cage with him, so will be keeping a careful eye on him for a while.

The only other thing I can think of is that they often pee in their food bowl, like once a day/every 2 days but I immediately take it out and clean it then spray pet safe antibacterial spray before putting it back. Also, I often put the left over dry food from the 2 girls, as they don't really eat it very much, into the boys and it for sure has a few poops in it, but I thought that they would avoid these. The bedding was actually mostly dry and I could have used it for a few days more. These are the only things I can think might have caused abdominal infections, or just that after the castration, there was an infection which never was cleared properly and has persisted until now. I guess I will never know as I presume they will not do a post mortem.
 
I hope you get some good news soon.

I have been thinking about the poos and a pig that is going into gut stasis can do stringy mucousy poos and if he has been having breathing issues he may not have been eating he should. His tummy would also be painful to touch if this was the case.
 
Yes actually I came to the same conclusion with something I read online earlier (that he had gut statis), but didn't know about the stringy mucous poo. Yes the vet said when they were examining his abdomen he had a bad turn (so I guess it was very painful) and they had to put him in an oxygen tent otherwise he would have died. Fortunately, I did not get a call and I called about 3 when they said and apparently he is doing better. He is on painkillers and antibiotics but not eating so they asked me what was his favourite food, spring greens, so I hope he did try to eat! He is going to be moved out of the oxygen tent and into a normal ward later. She also said they hadn't come to a diagnosis and didn't know why he was like that but that potentially they could still lose him. She said that herbivores need to eat very regularly and when they stop due to illness, since their tummies are very sensitive everything can shut down. I think she might be alluding to gut statis but didn't say it.

I'm thinking they should also have given him a gut stimulant as well as the other stuff. It wasn't mentioned but I'm assuming if a piggie is ill or isn't eating then they would. I'm sure he is feeling much better with the painkillers as I could see myself when I gave him the scrapes of Loxicom I had that he became more alive with curious piggy behaviour again lol But that's not dealing with the core issue. I have to ring tomorrow afternoon to get an update but it at least appears more hopeful than last night.

I was having a think and I have been getting at least 1 head of broccoli and sometimes a cauliflower too. I would usually give them a floret each once a day sometimes twice, but I read somewhere today that it can cause gas so this might have lead to a build up perhaps. Though actually, since he is a messy eater, I tend to give him the broccoli stalk (not peeled) as it won't leave as much mess to attract flies. The other piggies seem fine, but do you think this could be a factor?
 
It could be a factor but I am not certain. Possibly if he was having that with spring greens too then it could be a build up of too much gassy foods.

Ideally the vet should do the following to keep his system going and help him produce poos:

Give a gut stimulant
Massage the abdomen regularly
Syringe feed regularly

My thought was that as you had said his breathing was bad then he could have been choosing to breathe rather than eat. How had his eating been in the days up to last night?

Glad he has improved since yesterday.
 
I believe he was eating ok as all my piggies come up to the cage and I hand them pieces of food to eat. I usually start with celery but I had noticed that he wasn't very interested in it 1-2days before this. I had thought he was being fussy as it's never been his favourite and it took him time to want to eat it when I introduced it first. When I cleaned the cages yesterday I didn't find any scraps left over, though his son could have munched them all, but I'm sure he did take food from me until the evening I saw him ill.

I have to phone today to see how he is, I couldn't get through earlier. Someone phoned me twice withheld earlier but didn't leave a msg and I hope it's not them telling me he's gone.....:(
 
Finally got through and they said he is better and they are still treating his symptoms. As I only speak to a nurse/volunteer then they can only tell me what is written on the screen. They couldn't even tell me if he is eating but said that if he wasn't then it would have been noted. They want to keep him in another day and possibly might release him tomorrow but they will do an assessment tomorrow and decide then. There was nothing else they could tell me when I asked whether they have pinned down why he may have gut stasis.
 
Glad he seems better, have they now agreed that it is gut stasis then?
 
I am just coming to the conclusion from what you have said and what I've read online also that is is likely gut statis. They weren't able to tell me anything, I just ring a number, give a reference and they read whatever is written on the system lol Aside from that he was better and they would like to keep him overnight again, there was nothing else she could tell me, neither could she answer any questions on his condition. I imagine that is the difference between a private vet, where they have less staff and usually the same vet is on hand for all queries, and a hospital where they must see tons of animals and have more staff/volunteers, bureaucracy and a impersonal service.

It is one of the RSPCA hospitals that was featured for 3 series with the much beloved Rolf Harris in Animal Hospital in the 90's and operates a drop in service 9-3 every day and emergency outside these hours 365 days a year (unfortunately only for people on benefits or on a low income), so as well as offering second to none availability and service, it must be super busy.

I am just in the process of finding out what vets in my area sell critical care stuff for guinea pigs as private vets seem the only place to get this stuff.
 
Good news! He has been improving over the past two days and will be sent home tomorrow :) He apparently isn't eating pellets but fresh food yes. I have got about 20 days of Supreme Recovery Plus so hopefully he can regain his strength and appetite soon. I'm wondering how much the vet bill will be for 4 nights stay! lol
 
Just found this thread and so so happy your little man is okay! Vets aren't cheap are they :(
 
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