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Unsure If My Piggie Is Poorly

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Katie1988

Katie1988

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi Everyone,
I have two piggies, Yogi (3.5yrs) and Kiwi (2yrs). I am concerned with my eldest Yogi as she is showing signs of illness, I saw her yesterday before work and she seemed fine but today when I came home I found her sat on wet newspaper looking rather depressed. I did the piggie talk and she wasn't very responsive, so I picked her up and noted that her tummy was a little bloated and felt heavier than usual, her tummy hair is a bit patchy now as well.

I was thinkin she may have internal parasites? I've used a nit come on both of them and just seen quite a bit of dark flakes (they've always had this). Yogi itches quite a bit but again she's always done this despite being treated for fleas/ticks/mites on several occasions. She comes alive when I give her some cherry tomatoes (her fave)

Has anyone else not been through this with their guinea pig?
 
Katie1988 said:
Hi Everyone,
I have two piggies, Yogi (3.5yrs) and Kiwi (2yrs). I am concerned with my eldest Yogi as she is showing signs of illness, I saw her yesterday before work and she seemed fine but today when I came home I found her sat on wet newspaper looking rather depressed. I did the piggie talk and she wasn't very responsive, so I picked her up and noted that her tummy was a little bloated and felt heavier than usual, her tummy hair is a bit patchy now as well.

I was thinkin she may have internal parasites? I've used a nit come on both of them and just seen quite a bit of dark flakes (they've always had this). Yogi itches quite a bit but again she's always done this despite being treated for fleas/ticks/mites on several occasions. She comes alive when I give her some cherry tomatoes (her fave)

Has anyone else not been through this with their guinea pig?
Click to expand...

Hi and welcome!

Please see a vet asap if you suspect bloating, especially if the tummy is hard and tight to the touch!

What kind of bedding are they on? Newspaper is not exactly absorbent, so lying on it and in their pee is bound to impact on the belly hair. Are your piggies outdoors piggies or indoor piggies? What kind of diet are they on? How much hay and vegetables do you give them?

From what I can understand, you have so far just treated on spec with low dosed shop products? Each guinea pig skin parasite needs specific treatment and ideally a vet diagnosis, so you treat properly for what they actually have and with a product that is high dosed enough to deal with the specific issue. Sadly, cheap general shop products are too low dosed to do that and only make things worse rather than better by keeping owners from looking for proper treatment. At the worst, they build up resistence rather than curing. Fungal and mange mites, the two most frequent and worst skin issues, won't show up in a nit comb anyway. :(

As we have got members from all over the world, we find it very helpful if you please added your country, state/province or UK county to your details, so we can tailor any advice to what is available and possible where you are. Please click on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scroll down to location. Thank you!
We have got a piggy savvy UK vet locator on the top bar, but can provide a link to recommended vets in other countries.
 
she does sound poorly so i would get her seen by your piggy savvy vet as soon as possible. the bloated sides in particular are concerning.
 
She's running around the floor at the moment looking for food but she is not as lively as usual, maybe I'm looking into this too much. I will try to attach some photos I've just took of her.

Thanks for your replies guys. Just to note, they are both kept in the same indoor cage on the same diet. They have access to hay daily and some fruit and veg every other day. Kiwi is not showing any signs of illness. I took Yogi to the vets a few weeks ago to treat a punchered eye (she is a demic!) and he checked through her fur and did not note any concerns with her skin etc. The piggies have blankets for beds which are on a platform, Kiwi uses it but Yogi does not. I thought this might be because I have seen her misjudge the jump and hit the side so I installed the plastic ladders which came with it to ease her but she wont use it unless kinda forced too.

Yogi's poos look healthy and no signs of worms. She used to be very skinny naturally but since I have taken the water bottle off as it was leaking and put a bowl down she seems to have put on weight?
 
i don't think you're looking too much into it. always better to err on the side of caution with their health. signs of illness can be subtle so it's good you have noticed this change :)
 
Thanks for going to the effort of taking photos. They do show what appears to be a bit of thinning of the hair. I would suspect an external problem rather than internal parasites. A trip to the vet to give them both a health check would be in all your best interests, for peace of mind and just in case it is bloat.
 
Update
I took the plunge and took Yogi to the exotic vet, he confirmed it was likely to be bloat caused by too much banana!
We were given a treatment course which Yogi has completed and is passing food without a problem now. However, her poos are like hamsters, she is weeing and drinking enough but has gone off her dry food quite a bit. I am considering switching the food as I think she feels the food is too dry as she takes gulps of water with the nuggets.
 
It may be that she needs some extra fluids, you could try syringing her some water or probiotics. Avipro Plus has electrolytes in so would work well and I have even given Dioralyte in the past.
 
If her poo's are the size of hamsters it's likely her food intake has went down. Are you weighing her daily?

Guinea pigs have this great way of kidding on they aren't unhealthy. I know over the years I have thought oh it's me being paranoid and everytime my gut has been right. They are just fantastic little creatures at masking there discomfort.
 
honestly, get some metatone tonic I'm unsure of dose, but someone on here could probably help with that.
I gave this to my wee girl who was poorly and had small poos, just gives them a bit of a boost and they love it.
Maybe speak to vet and see if emipred is needed, as its a gut stimulant
 
Dose for Metatone is 0.5ml once a day for 1 week and 0.3ml once a day for a second week.
 
Hi everyone,
Just to update you all. Yogi has started eating her dry food again thank god and she seems to be enjoying the science selective food I've been giving her.

Today is the last day of her antibiotics treatment and she has deteriorated. I think she may have something more serious than just a chest infection. She is finding it hard to squeek and is still not very active. Anyone had this? She's been outside today, I thought it would have done her some good
 
It's really upsetting me seeing her like this. I thought we were making progress with her eating more solid food on her own and her poos looking better
 
Does her breathing seem laboured at all? did the vet say if she had any fluid on her chest?
 
It has been prior the the treatment it really was. It's hard to describe really, it's more noticeable when she's trying to talk. She's not talking anymore now poor baby.

The vet just said she had a severe chest infection. He didn't say anything about liquid on her lungs, he said she was in quite a bit of pain and her lungs were expanded
 
Bless her, if you think she has got worse I would get her back to the vet, she may need a longer course of antibiotics or a change of antibiotic. Plus she may now have fluid that would need clearing.
 
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