Hello everyone!
My guinea pig has been having multiple issues in the recent 3-4 months. The following health issues have been really concerning me. This is going to be a long post but please please kindly take the time to read the whole post as it could potentially save his life.
1) Soft stools.
This has been the case for the past month or two. He's 3 years old and from what I have read, its fairly common for older boars to develop rectal laxity. And that seems to be the problem here as well. I have been gently evacuating his bowels. Sometimes, his feces seem formed and adhered together and sometimes he has slightly soft stools which are malodorous. Either ways his poop pellets don't appear well formed. On account of this he has lost weight. Not all at once, but about a 100 grams over the past 3 months. Currently I have been monitoring his weight. And its been stable at about 830 grams (previously it was about 940 grams). I took him to the vet and he prescribed some probiotics and multivitamins. I have been supplementing him with some vitamin C. I am thinking about going to the vet again to do a blood exam, he had called me for a follow up if the problem did not resolve. Its been about 2 weeks since my last visit to the vet.
2) Weight loss.
As i mentioned above, the weight loss appears very significant to me now. And i am extremely worried about it. Vets in India are not very experienced with exotic animals and I lost my precious 4 month old piggie 2 years ago to misdiagnosis. So i really do not want to risk anything this time. What should I be doing? Could it be an infection? Could be some kind of deficiency? Should I be supplementing him with anything else? Also please kindly know that I do not have access to specialized guinea pig meds/supplements here in India. I can try looking them up and see if i can order them off the internet, but it might take a while for them to arrive. Please suggest some immediate measures.
3) Hair loss and skin darkening around hind legs.
I had not noticed this before for a while but then I realized that he has lost a lot of hair on his hind limbs. The ankles also seem irritated and blackish. I read about it and it seems that he may be biting at his own skin and causing hair loss. Or it could be due to Vitamin C deficiency. Or could be mites. How do I identify the cause? Sources mention that it could also be because he's in pain. But he appears to be walking fine. Then again guinea pigs are good at hiding illness, so its hard to know for sure.
Are all the above symptoms correlated in some way? I am very very worried about him. Have been for a while now. I am a medical doctor myself and I have a life-altering exam coming up in a month. I have been really busy studying. But i would never be able to forgive myself if something were to happen to my Pichu because of my lack of attention or inadequate care.
Please please help me out. I really want him to be okay. I can't even think straight right now. I feel so terrible watching my beautiful boy waste away. I know it's not too late, because he's really been okay otherwise. After having my two piggies for 3 years, I can tell that he's okay. But if I don't do anything about it, I'm terrified of what might happen.
Any advice on the matter will be highly appreciated. I will forever be indebted.
Thank you. Kindly respond as soon as you can.
-Maithili
My guinea pig has been having multiple issues in the recent 3-4 months. The following health issues have been really concerning me. This is going to be a long post but please please kindly take the time to read the whole post as it could potentially save his life.
1) Soft stools.
This has been the case for the past month or two. He's 3 years old and from what I have read, its fairly common for older boars to develop rectal laxity. And that seems to be the problem here as well. I have been gently evacuating his bowels. Sometimes, his feces seem formed and adhered together and sometimes he has slightly soft stools which are malodorous. Either ways his poop pellets don't appear well formed. On account of this he has lost weight. Not all at once, but about a 100 grams over the past 3 months. Currently I have been monitoring his weight. And its been stable at about 830 grams (previously it was about 940 grams). I took him to the vet and he prescribed some probiotics and multivitamins. I have been supplementing him with some vitamin C. I am thinking about going to the vet again to do a blood exam, he had called me for a follow up if the problem did not resolve. Its been about 2 weeks since my last visit to the vet.
2) Weight loss.
As i mentioned above, the weight loss appears very significant to me now. And i am extremely worried about it. Vets in India are not very experienced with exotic animals and I lost my precious 4 month old piggie 2 years ago to misdiagnosis. So i really do not want to risk anything this time. What should I be doing? Could it be an infection? Could be some kind of deficiency? Should I be supplementing him with anything else? Also please kindly know that I do not have access to specialized guinea pig meds/supplements here in India. I can try looking them up and see if i can order them off the internet, but it might take a while for them to arrive. Please suggest some immediate measures.
3) Hair loss and skin darkening around hind legs.
I had not noticed this before for a while but then I realized that he has lost a lot of hair on his hind limbs. The ankles also seem irritated and blackish. I read about it and it seems that he may be biting at his own skin and causing hair loss. Or it could be due to Vitamin C deficiency. Or could be mites. How do I identify the cause? Sources mention that it could also be because he's in pain. But he appears to be walking fine. Then again guinea pigs are good at hiding illness, so its hard to know for sure.
Are all the above symptoms correlated in some way? I am very very worried about him. Have been for a while now. I am a medical doctor myself and I have a life-altering exam coming up in a month. I have been really busy studying. But i would never be able to forgive myself if something were to happen to my Pichu because of my lack of attention or inadequate care.
Please please help me out. I really want him to be okay. I can't even think straight right now. I feel so terrible watching my beautiful boy waste away. I know it's not too late, because he's really been okay otherwise. After having my two piggies for 3 years, I can tell that he's okay. But if I don't do anything about it, I'm terrified of what might happen.
Any advice on the matter will be highly appreciated. I will forever be indebted.
Thank you. Kindly respond as soon as you can.
-Maithili
