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So So Upset :( :( Nightmare Day :( :(

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This is not your fault! Please do not blame yourself. You have rescued him from hell and given him love.
 
Thank you piggyfan... x I've been feeling so bad for him in case it was something I've done :( This forum's a life saver... thanks for everyone's help xx
 
So sorry to hear this its sounds terrible for you and your lovely boy. As he is on antibiotics he will need probiotic to settle his tummy. If you cant get any from vets then pets at home do one. This may help him feel more like eating x sending you and him my love x
 
piggyfan said:
Oh no! What a shame he is doing this to himself. @Bekki maybe can help with a collar? He really does need syringe feeding. Can you get critical care?
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@Mudpuppy I have a collar my vet made for my boar, I could post it to you but cant get to the postie until friday so you wouldnt have it until next week.
 
Just catching up with this thread and I am so sorry for you and your boy.

If the wound has pus in there, chances are it is infected. You could try cleaning it yourself by making a saline solution of 1 pint of cool boiled water (I use it from the kettle) mixed with 1 teaspoon of salt. Gently clean the area and remove any pus with cotton wool or a cotton bud.

What antibiotics have you been given? If it is Baytril this can upset a guinea pigs stomach causing them to stop eating so a probiotic is recommended. I have been using Fibreplex which comes as a paste. It also provides them with a little food. You can also get probiotics in powder form. Both should be available from your vet or you can order online.

As for a collar, most vets are reluctant to use them before anything else as they can stress the piggy out. Collars generally do not come small enough for guinea pigs so they have to be made. I very recently had one myself. My vet made it using a bird collar but she cut it down to size so it would fit.

Eliza very sadly died just a few days ago (nothing related to her current problem) but the collar did prevent her from scratching her wound.

I really do hope your boy will be ok. It is truly heartbreaking to see them so poorly.

Please try and see a vet ASAP x
 
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Poor boy, that sounds really sore for him.

How often were you advised to give the painkiller? If you have been given metacam then it wears off after about 10-12 hours and he is likely to be in a lot of pain. If you are only giving it once a day I would ring your vet and ask if it can be given twice a day.

It's really essential to get as much food into him as possible - if his poos start to shrink in size or stop altogether then it's a sign that he could have gut stasis

If you can get him back to the vets tomorrow, I think it would be a good idea.
 
You could try mixing the baytril with something more palatable. Cash absolutely refused to take his and just ended up stressing himself out avoiding the syringe so we mix it with a tiny bit of cranberry juice or smoothie to mask the taste - much easier for all of us! Hope you can get to the bottom of Fraggles problems and get him healthy soon!
 
I agree, see if you can get more pain killers, he probably is in pain. Are you giving probiotics? Also you can get a larger syringe at a pharmacy. That would help you get more food down. Feel better little pig!
 
Thanks everyone - the vet gave me metacam and I have to syringe it from one syringe to another - doesn't work - so basically I'm just using a cat syringe :/ it's once a day, but I'm going to ask if I can give it twice a day.
Thankfully, it looks like he's stopped chewing it......cross fingers............ no new sore and raw patches, so let's hope he has associated the pain with the chewing..... tonight will be the big test....
Thanks for the offer @Bekki , very kind - I popped back to the vets to get some critical care as suggested on here last night - they had a similar stuff, but asked me to bring him in first thing in the morning tomorrow so he can be cleaned out and monitored whilst I'm at work, though randomly he seemed to be doing the chewing at night.
I managed to get the majority of the liquid food down him, though the syringes are rubbish! Think I'll be popping down the chemists to get a bigger one, and one that actually sucks stuff up! 2.5 hours it took to try and feed him the packet :( we were both just as tired as each other! On the plus side, he has done two small patches of pee and done some poops at last, though they are still quite small. Thanks for the probiotic tip - I wasn't told about that at the vets! Must get some, as I'm convinced it's the antibiotics that's putting him off his food - it's Baytril. Sorry to hear about Eliza @Claire W :( :( x
Although poor Fraggle will have been to the vets 3 times in 6 days, and despite the wars he's going through, he's STILL such a gentle loving little piggy, bless him - he's so jovial despite being so poorly, and still enjoys his cuddles and kisses (albeit verrrrry gentle ones) from me. I'm so luck to have a lovely little Fraggle - hope he has turned a corner with this chewing thing and will go from strength to strength! :love: xx
 
Glad to hear that your vet is still being proactive in his treatment, I have been to ones who just said "take some baytril and if it doesn't work you're SOL." glad he is making some poops, and I hope it's all uphill from here!
 
Mudpuppy said:
Thanks everyone - the vet gave me metacam and I have to syringe it from one syringe to another - doesn't work - so basically I'm just using a cat syringe :/ it's once a day, but I'm going to ask if I can give it twice a day.
Thankfully, it looks like he's stopped chewing it......cross fingers............ no new sore and raw patches, so let's hope he has associated the pain with the chewing..... tonight will be the big test....
Thanks for the offer @Bekki , very kind - I popped back to the vets to get some critical care as suggested on here last night - they had a similar stuff, but asked me to bring him in first thing in the morning tomorrow so he can be cleaned out and monitored whilst I'm at work, though randomly he seemed to be doing the chewing at night.
I managed to get the majority of the liquid food down him, though the syringes are rubbish! Think I'll be popping down the chemists to get a bigger one, and one that actually sucks stuff up! 2.5 hours it took to try and feed him the packet :( we were both just as tired as each other! On the plus side, he has done two small patches of pee and done some poops at last, though they are still quite small. Thanks for the probiotic tip - I wasn't told about that at the vets! Must get some, as I'm convinced it's the antibiotics that's putting him off his food - it's Baytril. Sorry to hear about Eliza @Claire W :( :( x
Although poor Fraggle will have been to the vets 3 times in 6 days, and despite the wars he's going through, he's STILL such a gentle loving little piggy, bless him - he's so jovial despite being so poorly, and still enjoys his cuddles and kisses (albeit verrrrry gentle ones) from me. I'm so luck to have a lovely little Fraggle - hope he has turned a corner with this chewing thing and will go from strength to strength! :love: xx
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Please do not use bigger syringes! They could cause your piggy to aspirate the food down into his lungs & could be fatal! You need to use 1ml syringes, cut the end off, remove the bung & file smooth. Is it Recovery food you have been given?
 
These are 1ml syringes, I use the ones on the left for water & the ones on the right I use for the food, I cut the ends off, removed the bung & filed them smooth. The Recovery food can be made up a couple of teaspoons at a time, just add cool boiled water to mix to a smooth paste, not too runny.
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Thank you for the advice... yes it is a Recovery sachet like the one above.. the vet was surprised that he liked it! x

It think Fraggle is turning a corner...cross fingers.. he spent the day at the vets and got his wound cleaned out - I've had some iodine to keep it clean twice a day and some gel to put inside it to keep out stuff like hay. He turned his nose at the guinea pig food and veg, but he ate some grass and dandelion leaves they gave him... he has eaten some more grass this evening. Back to the vets on Monday to check that he's still doing ok :D

The vet admitted that she panicked a little when she saw the photos of the wound yesterday when I went to buy some Recovery... she is quite young and she said she went home and spent all evening doing loads of research and reading over her Uni files to try and read up about it all and figure a way to treat the wound ... fair play, bless her! x :))
 
That's awesome that your vet did some extra research for you; it shows that she really cares about his recovery. I hope his appetite goes back to normal and his wound heals well without further complications.
 
Thank you. He is doing a little better today, though I have been catching him sticking his head down there and trying to bite. He's been eating dandelion leaves and a bit of strawberry today. I've given him some more Recovery and have bought him some probiotic (as recommended by some of you on here, thank you) to mix in some water which I let him suck out of a small mice water bottle when he's on my lap. He moving around a lot more this evening and enjoying a new giant tunnel I bought for him! :yahoo:
As long as the wound starts to close up, I think he will be ok! :nod: x
 
Thank you @guineaguy :) he's got such a soft personality, and how could anyone not love that little face and those beady eyes and his little soft nose! :roll: He even let's me kiss the top of his nose or head when I say goodbye before going to work! Yep... I've lost the plot! :bronco:
 
it comes to us all. I was sitting nose to nose with salt for about twenty minutes yesterday, supposed to be cleaning out. She doesnt like being picked up so love it when i am allowed to be this close to her. She is one of my antisocials
 
I've just been reading through third thread from the beginning, I'm so glad he's improving! Fingers crossed to a full recovery :)
 
Thank you :) He isn't any worse anyway, so we'll see how things go. Found a little patch of something on the bottom of his back this morning, looks a bit matted, so may be mites (even though he had a dose of xeno off the rescue centre before coming to me, so that was only 4 weeks ago) but he's seeing the vet tomorrow again so I'll show her that to see what she thinks. I've given him another dose of spot on last night. If it's mites, then no wonder he's been biting :( Not seen him itching himself much though... so not sure. Poor Fraggle, in the wars! :/ x
 
Hmmmm just done some research on google images, and it does look like a small patch of mange mites on his rump above his back legs.... a website also suggested that they can lie dormant for months and start breaking out when a guinea pig is under the weather.... which unfortunately would make sense in this case.... will get it checked out asap tomorrow. @Wiebke I've heard you are quite knowledgeable about skin conditions - what do you think?! x
:eek:
 
I am very sorry that you are having a tough time. Both mites and fungal problems can make an unwelcome appearance whenever the immune system is lowered through illness or stress. You'd better have it checked by a vet as to the right diagnosis and appropriate treatment. From the location, it could be either.
 
Thanks. It's only the size of a 5p and not red or sore at the moment (though difficult to tell as he has black a bottom, but the skin doesn't look broken), so hopefully if it is something like mange then it will have been caught fairly early. Thank you x
 
I agree to see what the vet says, thinking about it it could be a skin issue that started this all off in the first place as they can really go at themselves when they are itchy. Your vet may want to look at either children's Piriton or a course of steroids (he could not have them at the same time as Metacam though) to break the itch scratch cycle. If it is fungal the course of treatment would be different.
 
Thanks - poor Fraggle - just hoping he can be cured asap.... don't like to see him sad and squeaking
 
Glad to report that the vet thinks Fraggle is doing a bit better by this evening! :yahoo: The wound is slowly healing, but still needs to be kept clean, and he also needs to continue with the baytril and metcam for a while..... he is still not eating/drinking much but am sure he'll get there, fingers crossed :hug:
Also got the bald patch checked out..... the vet wasn't sure, but a nurse that specialises in small furries explained that it was just his oil gland! Phew! :yahoo:
 
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