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Urgent advice needed! Sick guinea

Mystic_Willow

Mystic_Willow

New Born Pup
Joined
May 5, 2018
Messages
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Points
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Location
Northern Ireland
Hey so long story short I have been given a guinea pig today were I work. A man came in with a very sick guinea pig and said that he no longer wanted it. I decided to take the guinea due to how bad she was but I am not sure what is happening and can’t get to a vet till tomorrow as it is 11:20 at night.

She is making a lot of gurgling noises and also sounding as if she is throwing up( which I no she can’t but it sounds like that). She also keeps having seizures or something similar. She will go ridged and start flinging her head round. She cannot wall and will not eat or drink unless I assist her.

I have her in a smaller cage and in a warm place we’re she won’t get cold but she sounds like she is coughing and also the sound whenyou cough but are full of phlegm.

any advise would be great as I am bringing her to the vet first thing tomorrow morning and the vet specialises in Guinean pigs.
 
Can you get her to an emergency vet as that does sound quite serious, best of luck to you and your piggy 💞
Until you can get her there step in with syringe feeding and watering if you haven't already and she isn't eating as you need to keep the guts moving, there is a guide on the forum but unfortunately I can't link on my phone, mushed up pellets will do if you don't have recovery food
 
To be honest she sounds in a very bad way and I would be getting to the emergency vet straight away. If you call your vets the details of the out of hours/emergency vet should be on a recorded message
 
Lady Kelly said:
To be honest she sounds in a very bad way and I would be getting to the emergency vet straight away. If you call your vets the details of the out of hours/emergency vet should be on a recorded message
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I have no way to get up at all. I don’t drive and I have tried calling the few people I know with cars. All has been no.
I am now just at a loss at what to do as I know I will have a way to get to the vets tomorrow but as of tonight it just isn’t happening :(

I have gave her some water and she took it down but is currently lying on he side and twitching her legs.

she did open her mouth and I seen a bit of plastic in there so took it out, not sure if that is what was causing a part of the problem but I am gonna keep trying tonight to see if I can get a car to take me up.
 
Mystic_Willow said:
Can something respiratory be causing the shaking and fit like episodes?
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I don't know, I don't think so, I'm sorry but it's sounds like she won't make it, I hope I'm wrong. Will she take any syringed mushed up nuggets? I am thinking not.

What you are saying, it sounds like the body is starting to shut down. It happened to one of my old boars like this. Again I could be wrong, hopefully she will get sorted at the vets tomorrow
 
SkyPipDotBernie said:
I don't know, I don't think so, I'm sorry but it's sounds like she won't make it, I hope I'm wrong. Will she take any syringed mushed up nuggets? I am thinking not.

What you are saying, it sounds like the body is starting to shut down. It happened to one of my old boars like this. Again I could be wrong, hopefully she will get sorted at the vets tomorrow
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Yes, so she has just got down a whole syringe of mushed up excel guinea pig pellets. So at least that is something :)
 
Sorry for being negative, but I have spoken to people a few now on here, with Guineas in emergency situations, describing the same sort of condition, and some didn't make it. Let's keep fingers crossed 🤞👍
 
SkyPipDotBernie said:
Sorry for being negative, but I have spoken to people a few now on here, with Guineas in emergency situations, describing the same sort of condition, and some didn't make it. Let's keep fingers crossed 🤞👍
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Hey, don't think of it as being negative, maybe realistic? But piggies surprise us all the time, their strength, their endurance. There is still hope, and Mystic_Willow is doing as much as they can, so that is a lucky guinea pig. Not disagreeing with you btw.
 
Piggylove82 said:
Hey, don't think of it as being negative, maybe realistic? But piggies surprise us all the time, their strength, their endurance. There is still hope, and Mystic_Willow is doing as much as they can, so that is a lucky guinea pig
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Thanks, yea she is doing a great job by the sounds of it. Sometimes they do surprise us. Hopefully this one does 🙂
 
SkyPipDotBernie said:
Will she stand up atall? And is the vet you have, good with guinea pigs?
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She is trying, since giving her the food there has been less shaking and coughing/gurgling noises. She is still shaking her head a bit but there is a slight improvement. I really hope she will be ok as she is an absolute sweetheart. She is only 4 months old so I really hope she has the will to keep on fighting.
 
Mystic_Willow said:
She is trying, since giving her the food there has been less shaking and coughing/gurgling noises. She is still shaking her head a bit but there is a slight improvement. I really hope she will be ok as she is an absolute sweetheart. She is only 4 months old so I really hope she has the will to keep on fighting.
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Also yes the vet is good. He has don’t both neutered on my two males and saved my other two guineas, which have now passed a good lot of years ago. He also deals with my tortoise too lol. I would trust him with any of my pet family.
 
Mystic_Willow said:
Also yes the vet is good. He has don’t both neutered on my two males and saved my other two guineas, which have now passed a good lot of years ago. He also deals with my tortoise too lol. I would trust him with any of my pet family.
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It's great to have a vet like that. You are doing an amazing job. You are giving this guinea pig a chance, and that's all she needs someone to do. I hope she will be OK x

What line of work are you in?
 
Piggylove82 said:
It's great to have a vet like that. You are doing an amazing job. You are giving this guinea pig a chance, and that's all she needs someone to do. I hope she will be OK x

What line of work are you in?
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Yea, I just hope it is enough. I work in a pet shop but it is very small (family run but not my family) and there is actually no pets sold in the shop, only pet supplies and food.
 
And the man thought you could help his guinea pig? I know it's a huge burden, and not of your own making. I would not wish it upon anyone. But you are a very kind person for taking on this responsibility. He at least didn't abandon the sick animal to die alone, and many might have done that. Instead, he entrusted her to your care. Regardless of the outcome of this, know that it makes you a very special person in this world. For doing what you're doing x
 
If you can give her warm water through a syringe (not too hot) that might help loosen up some phlegm in her lungs, and may help her cough.

Edit: It's a bonus if you can get some sort of vitamin C supplement in her as well.
 
By the sounds of it this is all due to the piece of plastic in her mouth that was slowly choking her to death.
Thank goodness you found and removed it.
keeping her in my thoughts, I really hope she recovers. Good luck at the vets. Do let us know how you get on :luv:
 
hrsrdr said:
If you can give her warm water through a syringe (not too hot) that might help loosen up some phlegm in her lungs, and may help her cough.

Edit: It's a bonus if you can get some sort of vitamin C supplement in her as well.
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Please be extremely careful giving such advice. Piggies should only be offered water in a syringe that they are willing to take themselves as it is so easy to aspirate by forcing them to have water. Also I'm not sure how it will loosen anything in the lungs when the water isn't going into the lungs at all.
 
I really hope that the vet can help today and that it hasn't been too late. I appreciate you have been doing a lot to keep her going but I don't understand why you wouldn't just call a taxi to get to the emergency vet, it's something I have had to do previously (before I was able to drive) and it's not cheap but time was of the essence for me and I didn't want to wait on two buses to get there.
 
Lady Kelly said:
I really hope that the vet can help today and that it hasn't been too late. I appreciate you have been doing a lot to keep her going but I don't understand why you wouldn't just call a taxi to get to the emergency vet, it's something I have had to do previously (before I was able to drive) and it's not cheap but time was of the essence for me and I didn't want to wait on two buses to get there.
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Hi, I also have to think of my other animals in the house, the vet is a two hour drive from my house and I just cannot do that in a taxi as I have a young one in the house too and am on my own. She got to the vet this morning though and they gave her pain meds and she has been kept in. When feeding her last night, which I stayed up the whole night with her doing feeds and making sure to always check on her, she has had no more fit like episodes and she ate half a grape on her own in the early hours of this morning.
She is at the vet now and they said she has ate a small bit of food but is still extremely wobbly on her feet. They said they are hopeful which I am glad to hear as it is at least one good news. Hopefully she will pull through. 🤞
Thanks for all the advise though but please believe me when I say I just couldn’t get up to the vet but I made sure that I did everything I could last night.
 
Mystic_Willow said:
Hi, I also have to think of my other animals in the house, the vet is a two hour drive from my house and I just cannot do that in a taxi as I have a young one in the house too and am on my own. She got to the vet this morning though and they gave her pain meds and she has been kept in. When feeding her last night, which I stayed up the whole night with her doing feeds and making sure to always check on her, she has had no more fit like episodes and she ate half a grape on her own in the early hours of this morning.
She is at the vet now and they said she has ate a small bit of food but is still extremely wobbly on her feet. They said they are hopeful which I am glad to hear as it is at least one good news. Hopefully she will pull through. 🤞
Thanks for all the advise though but please believe me when I say I just couldn’t get up to the vet but I made sure that I did everything I could last night.
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You have done an asweome act of kindness. Don't worry about anything. Fingers crossed for the piglet
 
Best of luck and many healing wheeks for poorly piggy, when you accidentally take on a sick piggy from a random background out of the goodness of your heart because you know their original owner wouldnt help them then all you can do is the best you can, and know its better than their previous owner would have done x
If she made it through the night and is now getting vet care that's great news and I really hope she pulls through!
 
PigglePuggle said:
Best of luck and many healing wheeks for poorly piggy, when you accidentally take on a sick piggy from a random background out of the goodness of your heart because you know their original owner wouldnt help them then all you can do is the best you can, and know its better than their previous owner would have done x
If she made it through the night and is now getting vet care that's great news and I really hope she pulls through!
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I know, no one else would take her and he wasn’t going to take her to the vet so dear nose what he would have done after that but I decided to take her home.

I have been told that she is eating small amounts of hay and food but still can’t use her back legs but is standing upright now instead of on her side. So I guess that’s good news 😊 I'm praying she pulls through too.
 
Mystic_Willow said:
I know, no one else would take her and he wasn’t going to take her to the vet so dear nose what he would have done after that but I decided to take her home.

I have been told that she is eating small amounts of hay and food but still can’t use her back legs but is standing upright now instead of on her side. So I guess that’s good news 😊 I'm praying she pulls through too.
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I think, once she has built some strength from eating gradually, she has a good chance of standing again, I bet she has been kept in a small cage with little exercise too, which will sfiffen up those joints and muscles. Infact, if she has been neglected and is malnourished, the muscles will be in a poor state maybe at the moment
 
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