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Swollen bottom

AliP

AliP

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Apr 22, 2018
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Location
Lancashire UK
My 4 year old Flora has had lumps under her “armpits” for several months but has not seemed unwell in any way, so we decided to leave well alone. After a week in piggy kennels I picked her up yesterday to find a large and obvious swelling around her anus, I weighed her and she has lost weight. Very worried, I will ring vets today. I don’t know if it’s connected to the other lumps.
what could be the cause?
 
As piggies hide their illnesses and will often continue to seem well, anything out of the ordinary always needs to be checked out. Please do have her seen by a vet. If you are in the uk, then vet care is provided 24/7 so I would have her seen by an out of hours vet today.

Please step in with syringe feeding straight away to prevent further weight loss and enable keep the guts to keep functioning.

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
 
Ok yes i will get her seen today, she is eating but we will hand feed her too. Just checked her again and urine seems to be dripping out, perhaps causing the skin to swell?
 
AliP said:
Ok yes i will get her seen today, she is eating but we will hand feed her too. Just checked her again and urine seems to be dripping out, perhaps causing the skin to swell?
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I wouldn’t think so. It sounds as if she has got a urinary tract problem/blockage. As they are open all hours all in the uk (assuming you’re in the uk) do call the vet right now.
As she has lost weight then she hasn’t been eating enough hay. Mush up pellets with water and give them to her - syringe if you’ve got it, or spoon if you haven’t.
Do read the guides I linked in

Could you also please add your location to your profile as it makes it easier for us to advise you
 
Yes I am reading the links now. Yes I am in the UK I will try to change my profile. I have syringe thanks I will start.
 
Hope your piggy is ok and is seen by a vet soon. Do let us know how you get on! Sending positive healing vibes
 
The vet prescribed pain killer and took a urine sample. He wondered if she had arthritis in her spine and couldn’t posture to wee correctly, but I am doubtful. She has just passed blood I am so worried. She is taking the syringe feed well and eating by herself too but I am very concerned.
 
AliP said:
The vet prescribed pain killer and took a urine sample. He wondered if she had arthritis in her spine and couldn’t posture to wee correctly, but I am doubtful. She has just passed blood I am so worried. She is taking the syringe feed well and eating by herself too but I am very concerned.
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I wonder if she has a urethral stone. If you feel around the vulva area, can you feel anything hard?
 
She seems to be passing poo constantly although it is formed ok. The fur is wet on the photo where I have been cleaning it. No feeling of a lump.
 

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Also I have realised the photos look like I am handling her very badly, I have tried to delete them and I can’t, please understand I was trying to show the problem but I can see that the pictures look awful as though I am not being good at holding Flora.
 
AliP said:
Also I have realised the photos look like I am handling her very badly, I have tried to delete them and I can’t, please understand I was trying to show the problem but I can see that the pictures look awful as though I am not being good at holding Flora.
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Don’t worry about that - you are just showing her to help with advice - you’re holding her securely and you know what you’re doing - I hope the medication helps and hopefully the sample shows what is wrong - are the vets specialists in guinea piggies ? Debbie at TEAS and Piggies&buns are likely correct as they’re very experienced. Take care and keep feeding and monitoring her - sending BIG hugs to you both
 
she has gained a little weight since we started syringe feeding yesterday, but is passing some blood from her bottom.
I am not certain how experienced the vets are with guinea pigs, we always use the same company but different individuals seem to vary, I haven’t found anywhere very specific for piggies but will ask around some more
 
Flora has been prescribed antibiotics by the vet that saw her yesterday for a UTI. She will see a specialist vet on Wed morning which we found via your vet located link. She is taking her syringe feeds well.
 
Ah here’s hoping Flora gets better very soon and great you’re seeing a guinea pig specialist !
 
I hope that your appointment tomorrow with a cavy savvy vet will help get her sorted and more comfortable. Well done with the syringe feeding.
 
VickiA said:
I hope that your appointment tomorrow with a cavy savvy vet will help get her sorted and more comfortable. Well done with the syringe feeding.
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Thanks, she seems to be glad of the extra food, I am also giving her veg with the others out of the way (like a head start).
 
Flora saw the exotic pets vet today, she was excellent. She did an X-ray on her bladder, there were no stones. She has changed her antibiotic and given a larger dose, she gave her an injection of it to start her off. treating as UTI for now.
fingers crossed
 
Hi Flora has completed a strong dose of antibiotics as exotic vet wanted to treat as though UTI but her bottom area remains as swollen as before, and although eating and being syringe fed 3 times daily she has lost the 20 grams she gained and is going in the wrong direction. I have booked her to see the specialist vet again on Monday, any thoughts on what else I could get her to look for?
she already did an x ray which showed no bladder stones. I will try to attach a photo of what the swelling looks like. She is clearly unhappy now and seems more withdrawn, she used to be the head honcho. It’s awful to watch.C043595E-D819-4032-AB40-044E6C9CE0C5.webp
 
Is there a possibility it could be gynaecological? But I’m sure the vets would have checked that option. Hope you can find out what’s wrong with Flora soon and get her sorted x
 
AliP said:
Hi Flora has completed a strong dose of antibiotics as exotic vet wanted to treat as though UTI but her bottom area remains as swollen as before, and although eating and being syringe fed 3 times daily she has lost the 20 grams she gained and is going in the wrong direction. I have booked her to see the specialist vet again on Monday, any thoughts on what else I could get her to look for?
she already did an x ray which showed no bladder stones. I will try to attach a photo of what the swelling looks like. She is clearly unhappy now and seems more withdrawn, she used to be the head honcho. It’s awful to watch.View attachment 152746
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Has your vet felt for the present of a stone logded just above her bits? Otherwise they look normal to me for a slightly skinny or older piggy.

PS: Unfortunately with you starting a new thread, I cannot see what has been said before or ruled out. You'll just get a standard answer if you start the process from scratch again. Keep in mind that we are all doing this for a free in our free time, so not everybody will ever read all threads or remember what has happened several days or weeks before as we jump between lots of threads in a day on top of our own jobs, guinea pigs and family commitments.

For that reason, we strongly recommend that you continue with your original thread. You can always pick it up again via the search function underneath the top bar. A new post will come up in the alerts notifications or the new posts listing for us but it will allow us to check back and to tailor any recommendations on any ongoing problem. Thank you.
 
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