Cjay
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi!
I've had Bailey for four years and he usually weighs around 1200g. Since Christmas he's had problems with his teeth and been for two dentals, 3 weeks apart. Initially it was thought he was struggling to eat due to a cut in his cheek, but even after being given Metacam and Emeprid, he still refused to eat. He went in for an X-ray under GA when I noticed he'd dropped 200g despite syringe feeding, and our exotic vet found his molars were slightly overgrown due to a unusual bite. In the x-ray it also showed slight shadowing in his lungs which the vet thought was the start of a chest infection. She corrected this by filing the molars and also his incisors and put him on Baytril and Zantac. He did attempt to eat small pieces of dry food at first but still noticeably struggled and was continually losing weight. He seemed to be intolerant to the Baytril, as he became very poorly, lethargic and developed diarrhea and was taken off it.
He's been to the vets on 5 occasions and has been fed a combination of mushed pellets, Critical care and Science Recovery, small pieces of veg, grass and mushed alfalfa hay pieces (when he'll take it) over the past few week. He's on at least 20ml every 4 hours, but is still struggling to maintain weight. Bailey just plays with his hay but doesn't want to eat it. We've given him Avipro Plus (probiotic) and some Metatone Tonic alongside Dioralyte. She performed a second x-ray, dental and blood work on Monday and found that the shadows in his lungs had darkened, his liver was slightly inflamed (most likely due to not eating properly) and that there was a little spike bit of tooth that was not visible on the x-ray. All his other blood work was in the normal range. He's now on 0.6ml of Septrin Pediatric twice daily alongside his Metacam 0.6 twice daily.
The past few days he's been up and down, sometimes sounding clicky from the URI. Yesterday was a bad day as he wasn't eating well, but today he has big appetite so we've been feeding him roughly 40ml every 2/3 hours. He still enjoys floor time so his fight definitely isn't over yet. Problem is, despite his now increased appetite, he still doesn't want to drink from his water bottle or eat dry food. He's more than happy to get both out of a syringe though, but his weight went down to 908g this morning. I'm stuck for ideas on how to bulk him back up again and I'm worried what the vet is going to say on Monday, because other than the problems she's treating, she's now stumped. She did mention there's always a small chance that the shadows could be something more sinister, but she said she's felt around and he has no signs of any growth.
I don't know what else to try
I've had Bailey for four years and he usually weighs around 1200g. Since Christmas he's had problems with his teeth and been for two dentals, 3 weeks apart. Initially it was thought he was struggling to eat due to a cut in his cheek, but even after being given Metacam and Emeprid, he still refused to eat. He went in for an X-ray under GA when I noticed he'd dropped 200g despite syringe feeding, and our exotic vet found his molars were slightly overgrown due to a unusual bite. In the x-ray it also showed slight shadowing in his lungs which the vet thought was the start of a chest infection. She corrected this by filing the molars and also his incisors and put him on Baytril and Zantac. He did attempt to eat small pieces of dry food at first but still noticeably struggled and was continually losing weight. He seemed to be intolerant to the Baytril, as he became very poorly, lethargic and developed diarrhea and was taken off it.
He's been to the vets on 5 occasions and has been fed a combination of mushed pellets, Critical care and Science Recovery, small pieces of veg, grass and mushed alfalfa hay pieces (when he'll take it) over the past few week. He's on at least 20ml every 4 hours, but is still struggling to maintain weight. Bailey just plays with his hay but doesn't want to eat it. We've given him Avipro Plus (probiotic) and some Metatone Tonic alongside Dioralyte. She performed a second x-ray, dental and blood work on Monday and found that the shadows in his lungs had darkened, his liver was slightly inflamed (most likely due to not eating properly) and that there was a little spike bit of tooth that was not visible on the x-ray. All his other blood work was in the normal range. He's now on 0.6ml of Septrin Pediatric twice daily alongside his Metacam 0.6 twice daily.
The past few days he's been up and down, sometimes sounding clicky from the URI. Yesterday was a bad day as he wasn't eating well, but today he has big appetite so we've been feeding him roughly 40ml every 2/3 hours. He still enjoys floor time so his fight definitely isn't over yet. Problem is, despite his now increased appetite, he still doesn't want to drink from his water bottle or eat dry food. He's more than happy to get both out of a syringe though, but his weight went down to 908g this morning. I'm stuck for ideas on how to bulk him back up again and I'm worried what the vet is going to say on Monday, because other than the problems she's treating, she's now stumped. She did mention there's always a small chance that the shadows could be something more sinister, but she said she's felt around and he has no signs of any growth.
I don't know what else to try