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Unwell Piggy?

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Trotter95

Junior Guinea Pig
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Floss is currently being looked after by the vets.
She has no motivation of moving much, didn't want to eat even though I tried to put food next to her mouth, noticed it last night and as soon I saw her this morning with no change I sent her to the vets but at the moment I am at work and the vets said there is nothing wrong physically but they gave her painkillers and will handfeed her to get her bowel moving.
I have 7 other Guinea pigs and they all mixed well but this one seems to be quiet one out of them all.
I am planning to put her in a separate cage as soon I collect her.
Any advice would be great
Many thanks
 
I would suggest that the vet does a scan and/or xray. The pig could be bloated and so doesn't want to eat.

Does she have any other symptoms, anything that could suggest an infection?

What about lumps or bumps? Especially around the mouth as abscesses can put them off eating.

What are her teeth like?
 
I was told by the vets that her teeth are all good and no visible health problem... All I can tell is that she has a very little energy to move. I'm hoping her organs hasn't shut down as I had previous experience with Curly Wurly who passed away last year which is why I'm very concerned with Floss not eating however Curly did pass diaherria whereas Floss is normal.
 
I would suggest taking to a specialist vets as normal vets aren't always good at dealing with exotics. We always use a specialist now, much better at dealing with problems that normal vets don't recognise. Hope all goes well and Floss is back to her normal self soon.
 
The vets said she is fine but she did stop eating for a while as she lost weight so will have to handfeed her for the next couple of days hopefully regain the weight.
My other half reckons she might be bullied by one or two girls in the cage as she is very timid.
 
Her motivation is still the same... No interest of eating any food but will eat and drink if i inject the food/water in her mouth.
I put Honey (a piggy who is great at nursing) in a same cage as Floss.
Does anyone knows the amount of food they must eat? The vets said they inject 20 cc/ml into her yesterday (a whole day) also given her some banana...
 
Trotter95 said:
Her motivation is still the same... No interest of eating any food but will eat and drink if i inject the food/water in her mouth.
I put Honey (a piggy who is great at nursing) in a same cage as Floss.
Does anyone knows the amount of food they must eat? The vets said they inject 20 cc/ml into her yesterday (a whole day) also given her some banana...
Click to expand...

Your Guinea pigs isn't off her food for no reason, she certainly isn't "fine". Your vet clearly isn't piggy savvy so I would highly recommend she sees another vet for a second opinion.

She will need a full MOT to establish the problem- teeth/eyes/ears checked, chest and gut sounds listened to, palpation of her abdomen, temp taken etc... Have you checke the recommended vet locator on the forum ? This will give you a cavvy savvy vet near you.

Please keep syringe feeding food into her mouth; either critical care/recovery or mushed up pellets. Also weigh her daily to make sure you are feeding enough.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Let us know if u can find another vet and get an appointment x
 
Yeah i thought the same therefore i booked an appointment with cat and rabbit clinic in Northampton (they're absolutely brilliant also has great experience with guinea pigs) tonight.
I was given recovery food by the local vet... She is taking it in but I'm not entirely sure if its help to move her digestion system. I am hoping the vet I'm seeing tonight can help
 
Just came back from the vets and they said they can't see any obvious reason why she can't eat such as kidney stones or digestion problem etc. But noticed her teeth aren't normal so filed them straight and gave a good check over but couldn't see why she stopped eating. Perhaps too competitive for her to get food from the food bowl as i have eight guinea pigs in a two floor cage. So they said all i can do is to hand feed her get all the calories into her hopefully boost her energy and from there she can pick herself up over the weekend.
I'm keeping all of my fingers crossed this will go well
 
Trotter95 said:
Just came back from the vets and they said they can't see any obvious reason why she can't eat such as kidney stones or digestion problem etc. But noticed her teeth aren't normal so filed them straight and gave a good check over but couldn't see why she stopped eating. Perhaps too competitive for her to get food from the food bowl as i have eight guinea pigs in a two floor cage. So they said all i can do is to hand feed her get all the calories into her hopefully boost her energy and from there she can pick herself up over the weekend.
I'm keeping all of my fingers crossed this will go well
Click to expand...
What vet did you see? Did they check the back teeth? Simon is a vet at that clinic and is excellent with Guinea pigs, he definately would've checked the back teeth and gave her a thorough exam.

Do you have some critical care to top her up with syringe feeding?
 
It was cat and rabbit clinic in Northampton and it was simon who checked her over and did also checked her back teeth.
He said it is not normal for guinea pig to lie flat or have a trouble with keeping balance. He said he is concerned about her being weak. He advised me to hand feed but didn't give me any recovery food but gave her fluid that could help boosting her energy.
I was thinking could i boil and mash the carrots and inject them into Floss? As carrot is quite rich - dont know if it's any help?
 
If you don't have critical care then you can make a pellet mash and feed that in a syringe to your piggy. It's important to keep the guts moving with food and water.
 
I agree with @VickiA . Make a pellet mash and syringe that into her mouth (a syringe with the tip snipped off and edges smoothed, no needle obviously). Feeding veg purée won't do much for her and will just cause an upset tummy.
 
She's shaking like mad now but as soon as i hold her back and stroke her head, shaking kinda calm down, she is also very sleepy... i just feel awful seeing her like this
 
She sounds like she could be having seizures. Are you able to get her back to the vet? Try and take a short video of what she's doing so you can show the vet to help them with their diagnosis. It's really hard when we take them to the vet and they don't show any signs of what they have done at home.

Really hope she's okay this morning x
 
Definitely take a video. You feel awful doing it but it really helps the vet. I have a pig that occasionally has seizures and it really helped the vet to actually see what was happening.
 
No she behaved exactly the same when we was in the vets and Simon said he couldn't understand why she is being like this and it's a very tricky situation. He said all I can do is to hand feed her 100ml per day and hopefully over the weekend she'll improve. He said she is trying because her heartbeat is still strong and taking food/drink.
Her shaky has ceased for now and starts but lying flat and hardly moving now but still taking water and food through syringe.
 
I'm really sorry you are going through this, make a pellet mash and just persevere with it. To be honest when I was doing the same to get Jemima's weight up I could easily have two episodes of American Horror Story play on Netflix while I fed her. Tiny bit at a time, it's exhausting work but hopefully will make a difference
 
Trotter95 said:
No she behaved exactly the same when we was in the vets and Simon said he couldn't understand why she is being like this and it's a very tricky situation. He said all I can do is to hand feed her 100ml per day and hopefully over the weekend she'll improve. He said she is trying because her heartbeat is still strong and taking food/drink.
Her shaky has ceased for now and starts but lying flat and hardly moving now but still taking water and food through syringe.
Click to expand...

Please continue with syringe feeding, especially with feeding fibre, as that should make at least 80% of the food intake. Please just give her as much as she is willing to take and do not force anything down her if she doesn't.
Here are is our syringe feeding guide with lots of useful tips: Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
It is generally much cheaper to buy a recovery formula brand online than getting it from your vet. Ideally you have some at home for an emergency. If not, mushed up pellets will tidy you over.
First Aid Kit For Guinea Pigs

I hope that she is going to improve. If not, contact the clinic promptly again after the weekend.
 
Sending lots of healing vibes. It's awful when they are ill. I hope that hand feeding her will help her regain her strength.
 
Just to let you all know she is no longer suffering. Just came back from the vets and there is no guarantee of her surviving the tests if I send her for one as she is very weak. She stopped taking food/water. The vet reckons it got something to do with her nerves because she cannot stop shaking at the age of 11 months which is definitely not normal. I didn't think she will make it over the next week because I saw big changes since this morning to this evening.
It definitely broke my heart but at least she is no more suffering whatever she is experiencing. R.I.P my beautiful floss.
 
So sorry for your loss, but it sounds like you tried everything you could, and in the end made the kindest decision for her.
 
I'm really sorry to hear of your loss, you did absolutely everything you could. I hope you can take some peace from the fact that she is no longer suffering
 
How heart breaking! I am so sorry for your loss :hug:
 
I'm so very sorry. You have just made the very kindest decision for her. You loved and cared for her very much. Big hugs. Xx
 
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