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Strange Behaviour from Bramble...

I've had loads of piggies have anaesthetic (lost count how many) some multiple times and all have been fine. For something like a tooth examination or an xray they are only mildly sedated and not put fully under. There's always a slight risk but the way I look at it is without a full examination and finding out what's wrong with a piggy they can't be treated, that's a far bigger risk to their health and life.
Sending you and Bramble good luck for your vet visit. I hope they can find out what's wrong.
 
Many thanks for all the replies, this has given me a lot of hope! 🙏

Only problem is, I just rang the vets to ask how much the procedure would cost, and then asked to book him in, but the appointment isn't until next Thursday 10th! :( Will he be alright until then?
 
Over the years I’ve had piggies who have needed anaesthesia and they have recovered well.
Phoebe behaved as if she’d had a hard night partying after her anaesthetic but recovered quickly.

There is always a risk though.

Holding you in my thoughts
 
Brambles dental procedure is tomorrow and I very nearly talked my partner into cancelling his appointment, this morning!

The reason is that Bramble was full of beans this morning and last night (and now actually too), and apart from being a lot thinner and no longer eating his pellets or many other foods, he seems quite himself again, well at least the best he's been in days!

Also, we got him some pea flakes today, for the first time in ages (the other two don't really like them, believe it or not!) and he gobbled them up quite quickly, even though they are hard, so if he can eat them, surely his teeth can't be that bad! Plus, I was thinking, is it really worth the risk of the anaesthetic tomorrow, and what if they don't find anything?!

I'm also really worried about him being on his own all day in a strange place, it's going to be so horrible for our poor baby! 😟 Really don't know what to do, I know it's too late now to cancel really as he has to be there at 8:20 in the morning, but if something goes wrong and he didn't really need the examination I don't think we'll ever forgive ourselves! 😥 😥

My partner wants him to go, but I'm really not sure it's the right thing to do. :help:
 
I know it’s scary but you need to know what is going on to be able to solve it.

You said you won’t forgive yourself if something goes wrong but the reality is you won’t forgive yourself if you don’t do it now and instead wait only to find he worsens and it’s then either a more major issue which is harder to solve or even too late to solve.

I have had many animals under anesthetic and never had a bad outcome.

We as owners will blame ourselves no matter what we choose to do or not do.
 
Ok, I've just given him some dandelions, some long ones, and he is eating some of them, but does still seem to be having some problems eating, so I guess we'll just have to take him tomorrow. 😟

I don't think we're going to sleep well tonight and tomorrow's going to be a long day! Just hope and pray that it's all worth it and he's back to normal as soon as possible! 🙏🙏🙏
 
Bramble went in to the vets at 08:20 this morning and I just rang the vets and he is all fine and ready to come home! 🙏 :yahoo::yahoo::yahoo:

Haven't yet found out what the problem with his teeth was but will update when I find out. We're going to pick him up at 2pm..... 😊 Just hope he starts eating properly again now that whatever the issue was, has been sorted! He had really improved since last night and even ate some lettuce for the first time in ages, but still barely touching his pellets, which he used to love, so praying that will all change once he gets home. They don't have masses of pellets, but we do like to give them a small amount daily, to meet any nutritional needs that they may be missing from their other food.

Just so happy and relieved he got through the anaesthetic ok! :yahoo:
 
Just picked him up and we were totally shocked to hear that she hadn't found anything at all wrong with his mouth/teeth, after a thorough examination! 🫤

So, we are none the wiser as to why he had stopped eating as much/certain foods and had lost weight. She also gave his body a good feel to see if she could feel any lumps inside him but there was nothing. She asked us a lot of questions to try and ascertain what could have been causing the change in his behaviour/eating, but we couldn't really think of anything. The ONLY thing we can think of is that when they were all out on the grass over the last couple of weeks, he could have picked something up off of that that made him ill and go off of his food? We do have a dog who toilets on the grass (we do pick up her poo!) in the morning and we also have Foxes visit the garden during the night, but we haven't been putting the boys out until around midday/1pm and the sun has been on the grass, so surely any dog/Fox urine would have been dried out/evaporated by the sun?

Anyway, he's home now, but he's very subdued and hasn't moved much. The vet did check his heart rate and said it was fine just before we left, so hopefully it's just the effects of the anaesthetic that's making him still feel a bit woozy, and he'll be back to his usual self in a bit!

Really would love to know what was wrong with him........ 🫤🤔
 
Hope Bramble will be himself soon.

The usual advice is to avoid dog/fox pee tainted grass altogether. The sun will just dry the water part of the wee, leaving the other components of the urine (ammonia etc) behind- so if anything the bad stuff is more concentrated.

The best thing is to fence off (or cover with their run) the part of the grass your piggies use, so the dog or fox can't use it at all
 
I would agree - if there is dog and fox pee risk from the grass then don’t put them out at all. A few hours of sun on it isn’t enough to make it safe

You did the right thing by getting him checked.
 
Sorry that you still don’t have any answers.
Mystery illness is so frustrating.
Being subdued today is most likely a reaction to the anaesthetic.
When any of mine have needed anaesthetic it’s usually taken until the next day for them to perk up, sometimes a little longer.
Hope he’ll be brighter tomorrow.
 
Merab said:
Sorry that you still don’t have any answers.
Mystery illness is so frustrating.
Being subdued today is most likely a reaction to the anaesthetic.
When any of mine have needed anaesthetic it’s usually taken until the next day for them to perk up, sometimes a little longer.
Hope he’ll be brighter tomorrow.
Click to expand...
Thanks.
Yes we really didn't expect him to be so subdued, but then we found out he was given an Opioid drug today, so obviously that has affected him in a big way, and he's still not himself now, even hours after! 😟
We've had to syringe feed him earlier, but now won't be able to do it again this evening as my partner had to go to work and I can't do it by myself.
He did eat a tiny bit of wet food earlier, but then stopped and is now just sat on his shelf sort of sleeping with his eyes open, and he's been this way for about two hours.
Not sure what to do with him now, do I try to encourage him to get down off of the shelf and get into his hay, or just leave him for now?

This is so horrible, it's like he's had all of the life and spirit taken out of him, yet this morning before he went, he was so happy and active! 😭😭😭

So wish we had never taken him this morning!
 
I don’t know if this helps at all and I’m not a medical expert, but our Winnie was given an opioid injection on Saturday (Buprelieve) and we were shocked at how much it affected her. She was so dazed and disinterested. Barely moving and not interested in food, sitting on her own. It has now thankfully passed (touch wood) and she is perky again but it took a while and we had to syringe feed her, weigh her daily etc. and for the first day we had to keep cleaning her up and changing her pee pads as she was so zonked she was weeing on herself, which is very unlike her. It’s horrible to see, but things did improve and she is perky again now.

I would say keep talking to your vets if anything concerns you though, they should be able to advise.

Hope bramble is on the mend soon.
 
Hopefully the drugs will be out his system by tomorrow.
I’m not a health expert but from my experience it can take a while to get over an anaesthetic.
It’s the same for humans - we don’t suddenly recover from an anaesthetic within a few hours but we still expect our piggies to be back to normal within hours.
Be patient and if you’re still worried tomorrow morning then call the vet.
I used to leave a small dish of Critical Care with added mashed banana beside the piggy so they could easily get at it..
Maybe some grated carrots or shredded lettuce as well may tempt him to eat.

We make the decision that seems best at the time. Second guessing yourself only makes you feel worse, many of us have felt the same way over the years.

Hugs 🤗
 
Whenever mine have had an opioid they have taken at least 2 days and sometimes longer to get back to normal.
If he has been on grass that could have been toileted on by foxes it would be a good idea to get the poop tested for parasites/worms.
They can last in the soil for months and in the case of giardia 18 months. Removing the poop from the grass will not remove any parasites that may have made their way onto the grass or into the soil. One of mine had giardia and worms years ago when I didn't know we had foxes in the area and hadn't taken precautions to keep them off the piggies grass.
 
Well this morning Bramble wasn't too bad, a lot more with it thankfully! 🙏 He ate some lettuce, cucumber and a little bit of corriander, then we syringed fed him a bit of the Critical Care sachet they kindly gave us at the vets yesterday evening, but again he's barely touching his hay. 😟 It's really weird like sometimes he forgets he's supposed to be eating 'tonnes' of hay a day, although he used to before all this (whatever it is!) started. Now he often just sits for ages staring up on his shelf, at his two neighbours, or just sitting in his box 'next to' the hay, instead of eating it, like he's got dementia or something, although he's not even two yet! 😟

He often looks a bit fluffed up too sometimes, like he's in pain or discomfort, but just don't know what is wrong!😭

I really just feel so stressed and frustrated with it all. Having Guinea Pigs was supposed to be fun but we can't even go out for a few hours today, like I wanted to, without worrying about them. And as it's the last 'warm' sunny day for a while, we wanted to put them out in the run before we went out too, but again worry they'll be ok out there on their own while we're gone, plus it doesn't warm up enough until about 1pm, so we won't be able to go out until late to make sure they're ok, then have to rush back to do it all again in the early evening! 😩

Don't get me wrong, I do love them to bits, but they certainly have made us lives much more stressful in the two years we've been owning them, and we have a LOT less time for anything else nowadays.
 
I’m glad he is a bit brighter.
Finding out what causes mystery weight loss/pain etc isn’t always easy.

He may well have interest in eating grass - putting him out would be a good idea if the logistics work for you. Picking some grass for him maybe if you can’t. I certainly would be wary of the dog/fox pee issue you mention though.
(We don’t recommend they are outside unattended though.)
 
Piggies&buns said:
I’m glad he is a bit brighter.
Finding out what causes mystery weight loss/pain etc isn’t always easy.

He may well have interest in eating grass - putting him out would be a good idea if the logistics work for you. Picking some grass for him maybe if you can’t. I certainly would be wary of the dog/fox pee issue you mention though.
(We don’t recommend they are outside unattended though.)
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The run has been in the same place since a couple of weeks ago, so there shouldn't be any 'fresh' dog/fox pee on it. We have always (over the last two years) had the pigs out on the lawn and they have been fine afterwards.

Their run is also very safe for us to leave them out for a few hours, obviously we wouldn't leave them unattended if the temperature was going to get very hot/cold though.
 
Storm1974 said:
Just picked him up and we were totally shocked to hear that she hadn't found anything at all wrong with his mouth/teeth, after a thorough examination! 🫤

So, we are none the wiser as to why he had stopped eating as much/certain foods and had lost weight. She also gave his body a good feel to see if she could feel any lumps inside him but there was nothing. She asked us a lot of questions to try and ascertain what could have been causing the change in his behaviour/eating, but we couldn't really think of anything. The ONLY thing we can think of is that when they were all out on the grass over the last couple of weeks, he could have picked something up off of that that made him ill and go off of his food? We do have a dog who toilets on the grass (we do pick up her poo!) in the morning and we also have Foxes visit the garden during the night, but we haven't been putting the boys out until around midday/1pm and the sun has been on the grass, so surely any dog/Fox urine would have been dried out/evaporated by the sun?

Anyway, he's home now, but he's very subdued and hasn't moved much. The vet did check his heart rate and said it was fine just before we left, so hopefully it's just the effects of the anaesthetic that's making him still feel a bit woozy, and he'll be back to his usual self in a bit!

Really would love to know what was wrong with him........ 🫤🤔
Click to expand...

Hi

It is the dog pee that is poisonous to guinea pigs; we haven't had much in the way of rainfall in recent weeks in the UK. Fresh dog pee can and sadly does kill. We have been contacted over first-hand cases on here.
First Aid: Immediate Care Measures and Non-medication Products

I am however very glad that it is not a dental problem. But I sincerely hope that you and your vet can find out what it is.

Have they checked for a potentially badly bloated stomach but not gut? (Happened to my Ffowlyn but needed an x-ray/scan to finally find it after more than one vet trip)
A brain tumour? (That was my Carwyn; sadly we only found it when he started haemorrhaging and had to be pts)
 
Thanks to those who have asked if Bramble is ok today. 🥰

He is a lot better today, he has been enthusiastically eating his veggies, for the first time in a while, and he has also been eating grass and 'some' hay though not as much as he used to, it seems. 😕

Anyway he does seem a lot better so that has made us very happy, and long may it last! 🤞☺️
 
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