Specialist Underweight Babies

[Megan Angell]

Hi everyone, i am new to this forum and have joined due to a worrying situation with one of my baby guinea pigs. I have had him two weeks and he is about four months old. His name is Guinness and doesn't seem to be in full health. the first concern arrived just a few days after bringing him home, it started with a bit of discharge at the eyes and a bit of crust. he also had a wet chin (at the time it was worrying however, it later turned out that he was a messy drinker) Guinness also had what appeared to be discharge coming from his Nostrils and around his mouth. as it was the weekend i was unable to take him to the vets for two days. he was prescribed baytril antibiotics which is to be taken oral once a day for ten days at 0.36ml. within two days of taking this he seemed to perk up, on the fourth day he had deteriorated again. i arranged for him to go back to the vets, he was then prescribed a anti inflammatory along with a worming solution. he has been on these since, it has only been a couple days so far and he still seems okay in him self-still eating and drinking fine. the main issue with Guinness is his deteriating weight loss at such a young age despite eating non-stop! he was weighed on the first vet consultation at 315g, he has then been weighed daily with the result rising and droping. This morning he weighed in at 275g which is a lot less than the other babies that are the same age as him that i currently have, they are currently weighing in at 390-409. He is now having Avipro plus powder on his vegetables and always has access to hay and biscuits, I have also purchased the Oxbow critical care for herbivores which is due to arrive tomorrow. he will be going back to the vet wednesday this week to see if there is any improvement, if there is no sign of this then he will be booked in for a xray to see if there is anything wrong with his teeth and a possible blood test. as i am aware that this can be dangerous for a guinea pig at such a young age i am hoping for any suggestions to help with weight gain for this young guinea.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone, i am new to this forum and have joined due to a worrying situation with one of my baby guinea pigs. I have had him two weeks and he is about four months old. His name is Guinness and doesn't seem to be in full health. the first concern arrived just a few days after bringing him home, it started with a bit of discharge at the eyes and a bit of crust. he also had a wet chin (at the time it was worrying however, it later turned out that he was a messy drinker) Guinness also had what appeared to be discharge coming from his Nostrils and around his mouth. as it was the weekend i was unable to take him to the vets for two days. he was prescribed baytril antibiotics which is to be taken oral once a day for ten days at 0.36ml. within two days of taking this he seemed to perk up, on the fourth day he had deteriorated again. i arranged for him to go back to the vets, he was then prescribed a anti inflammatory along with a worming solution. he has been on these since, it has only been a couple days so far and he still seems okay in him self-still eating and drinking fine. the main issue with Guinness is his deteriating weight loss at such a young age despite eating non-stop! he was weighed on the first vet consultation at 315g, he has then been weighed daily with the result rising and droping. This morning he weighed in at 275g which is a lot less than the other babies that are the same age as him that i currently have, they are currently weighing in at 390-409. He is now having Avipro plus powder on his vegetables and always has access to hay and biscuits, I have also purchased the Oxbow critical care for herbivores which is due to arrive tomorrow. he will be going back to the vet wednesday this week to see if there is any improvement, if there is no sign of this then he will be booked in for a xray to see if there is anything wrong with his teeth and a possible blood test. as i am aware that this can be dangerous for a guinea pig at such a young age i am hoping for any suggestions to help with weight gain for this young guinea.

Hi and welcome!

Could you please add your country, state/province and UK county, so we can tailor any advice to what is available anmd possible where you are. How piggy savvy is your vet? Has he checked the crucial back teeth yet or just the front teeth? I agree that a further check-up is needed, at least an x-ray.

I would recommend to top him up with syringe feed, but please be very careful and rather let him nibble it off a spoon than syringing, which could cause pneumonia if things go down the wrong way. You can mush up pellets until the recovery food arrives.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

@furryfriends (TEAS)

 

[Megan Angell]

Hi and welcome!

Could you please add your country, state/province and UK county, so we can tailor any advice to what is available anmd possible where you are. How piggy savvy is your vet? Has he checked the crucial back teeth yet or just the front teeth? I agree that a further check-up is needed, at least an x-ray.

I would recommend to top him up with syringe feed, but please be very careful and rather let him nibble it off a spoon than syringing, which could cause pneumonia if things go down the wrong way. You can mush up pellets until the recovery food arrives.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

@furryfriends (TEAS)

the vet has only checked the front teeth so far but the xray is for him to check the back ones as it was originally thoght that he had a respiratory infection. i have spoon fed him a porridge mixture of oats and bran with a little apple grated on as i read that can be helpful with weight gain.

 

[Wiebke]

the vet has only checked the front teeth so far but the xray is for him to check the back ones as it was originally thoght that he had a respiratory infection. i have spoon fed him a porridge mixture of oats and bran with a little apple grated on as i read that can be helpful with weight gain.

Please make sure that up to 80% of the food intake is hay-based fibre for the guts to work at their best.

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

the vet has only checked the front teeth so far but the xray is for him to check the back ones as it was originally thoght that he had a respiratory infection. i have spoon fed him a porridge mixture of oats and bran with a little apple grated on as i read that can be helpful with weight gain.

An xray isn't going to tell very much about the back teeth. The mouth needs to be examined properly, ideally using gags to hold the mouth open.

 

[Megan Angell]

Guiness has constent access to hay, even through the night he then has his biscuits which he picks at if he feels like it and has a cup of fruit a day however that has been increased this week in hope that would help him gain weight. he constantly eats this is why it is a mystery to me as to why he is still loosing weight. i think they are planning on doing that also while he is under light sedation. also i wouldnt of thought he would have problems with his teeth at such a age and surely if it was his teeth, wouldnt he stop eating?

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

Sorry for all the questions, but how guinea pig savvy is your vet? Making sure you have a vet who is knowledgeable about piggies makes a huge difference, especially when dealing with something a little unusual;

 

[Megan Angell]

its just my typical local vet she seems to have knowledge about guinea pigs but has admitted she isn't a specialist. there is a specialist near me but are only open two days a week so i didnt manage to get into them so i had to take him to my local vet so that it was getting somewhat dealt with. his nose is clearing up nicely at the moment its just the weight loss that is my main concern at the moment but am struggling to find foods to help with this

 

[Wiebke]

its just my typical local vet she seems to have knowledge about guinea pigs but has admitted she isn't a specialist. there is a specialist near me but are only open two days a week so i didnt manage to get into them so i had to take him to my local vet so that it was getting somewhat dealt with. his nose is clearing up nicely at the moment its just the weight loss that is my main concern at the moment but am struggling to find foods to help with this

Here is our recommended piggy savvy vet locator: Guinea Pig Vet Locator
Is one of them within your reach? there should be several in the Bristol area.

 

[Megan Angell]

thank you for that, i shall have a look and hopefully find a vet close

 

[Megan Angell]

Hello again. Guiness has been on antibiotics for another five days along with working treatment. However there is no improvement and his weight still goes up to come back down with a day or two. I'm started to get really puzzled as he is eating loads still and doesn't seem to be having a issue in doing so, so I'm pretty sure it's not something to so with his teeth.. Any more advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[Elwickcavies]

I would suggest going to a guinea savvy vet for a second opinion. Have any other antibiotics been tried other than Baytril? Septrin can be good against URIs. It may well be worth an xray to see if there are any other issues. Weight loss like this can be due to diabetes or thyroid problems, so a blood test may help. To get a good xray at the right angles, a whiff of anaesthetic is pretty standard, but your vet will need to assess the breathing issues before deciding what to do. Is Guiness pooping ok?