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URGENT! please help.

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Elsa

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background info on my piggy's health problems: I have a guinea pig which hasn't been doing very well for the last months he had recurrent eye infections and an abscess under his chin, he has lost a lot of weight ever since and has never gotten back to been fully recovered.

So for a month or so he has been eating mainly the core of sliced cucumbers, some grass, sometimes a little bit of sugar free toasted breed and also I have been syringe feeding him baby food the last couple of months cos otherwise he would get dangerously thin, he is still very thin and now in the last days he became very very picky, would no longer eat the cucumber and would only neeble on the bread and spit most of the baby food. And since yesterday he is not eating anything at all! he won't even neeble on the food despite his teeth are fine.

So since yesterday he is really thin, not eating by himself and spitting all the baby food also his stool is very small shapeless and has mucus on it and he smells.
I just took him to the vet which look at him for a few minutes, oddly assumed that he was on antibiotics until I told him he hadn't been on antibiotics for month, then he said it might be an infection on his intestines and injected him with something which didn't told me what it was, I assume it was antibiotics and told me to bring him back tomorrow and try to keep feeding him baby food.

Now I think he might have fatty liver disease but the vet told me he would have to take a blood test to find out and that my guinea pig is too weak now, but I am worried, if it is fatty liver disease wouldn't antibiotics be really bad for him? also, could the fact that he was eating so little and most of what he was eating was baby food be the cause of fatty liver disease? the baby food (vegetable baby food) seem kind of oily to me.
So should I keep feeding him baby food? or could this worsen a possible fatty liver disease because of its oiliness? and if so what else can one feed a guinea pig with liver disease? and finally, are antibiotics bad for a guinea pig with fatty liver disease?

PS: I don't think it's bloat or gasses because he doesn't complain when I touch his belly or anything like that.
 
It sounds like your piggie has dental problems. Is he seeing a vet that a piggie savvy vet? I would suggest seeing a different vet if you are not making any progress.

With regards to the liver, it sounds like your vet is talking about something call hepatic lipidosis. This happens when animals arent eating properly. You need to get some vitamin C down your piggie and good nutrition to help it. Have you tried Critical care formula or mashed up soaked guinea pig pellets, this will give him better nutrition than the bread and cucumber you are giving. The baby food is ok to give, but this isnt any fibre in it to bind his poops up. This is probably why hes having diarrhoea.

I would suggest changing to a better diet first. I understand he isnt eating/spitting it, but sometimes (no matter how horrible it seems) you need to get him to eat even if you force him a little. A piggie not eating is a very sick piggie. See a different vet too? Sounds like he needs some major dental work and some proper treatment for the abscess such as flushing it out with antibiotics. He needs more agressive treatment to get better.

Where abouts are you? We may be able to point you in the direction of a good vet nearby.

x.
 
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CrawleyGuineaPigRescue said:
firstly are you managing to squeeze the pus out of the abcess daily or every other day?
Secondly, are you anywhere near Crawley for me to help?
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No no, his abscess is long cured. His problem is that he hasn't been really eating too much for months, I have had to syringe feed him almost every day to try supplement the little else he eats, and the most immediate problem is that he has stopped eating completely since yesterday he will refuse baby food, spit it out and he wont eat the little other things he used to eat and also, his stool is shapeless and has mucus and smell, that's why I was asking if anyone else thinks it's fatty liver because I think that the months of not eating properly (for whatever underlying reason) might have make him develop fatty liver which would be an immediate threat if not treated.
 
Abi_nurse said:
It sounds like your piggie has dental problems. Is he seeing a vet that a piggie savvy vet? I would suggest seeing a different vet if you are not making any progress.

With regards to the liver, it sounds like your vet is talking about something call hepatic lipidosis. This happens when animals arent eating properly. You need to get some vitamin C down your piggie and good nutrition to help it. Have you tried Critical care formula or mashed up soaked guinea pig pellets, this will give him better nutrition than the bread and cucumber you are giving. The baby food is ok to give, but this isnt any fibre in it to bind his poops up. This is probably why hes having diarrhoea.

I would suggest changing to a better diet first. I understand he isnt eating/spitting it, but sometimes (no matter how horrible it seems) you need to get him to eat even if you force him a little. A piggie not eating is a very sick piggie. See a different vet too? Sounds like he needs some major dental work and some proper treatment for the abscess such as flushing it out with antibiotics. He needs more agressive treatment to get better.

Where abouts are you? We may be able to point you in the direction of a good vet nearby.

x.
Click to expand...

No, my vet didn't talk about fatty liver, I suggested it, he ignored me basically. sorry I think I might not have been able to describe my case understandably because English is not my first languague.
But basically my guinea pig is not eating anything at all since yesterday and is having loose stool with mucus and bad smell.
 
Oh and he doesn't have dental problems, his front teeth are fine, I reckon if he had an overgrowth on his back teeth he would at least neeble the foot with his front teeth which are actually perfect, he doesn't do this, also at this moment I'm not interested in why he hasn't been eating "too much" I'm just trying to find out if I'm dealing with fatty liver right now, and what should I do about it, if antibiotics are bad for it and if baby food might worsen it, because these are the most immediate problems.
 
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Elsa said:
Oh and he doesn't have dental problems, his front teeth are fine, I reckon if he had an overgrowth on his back teeth he would at least neeble the foot with his front teeth which are actually perfect, he doesn't do this, also at this moment I'm not interested in why he hasn't been eating "too much" I'm just trying to find out if I'm dealing with fatty liver right now, and what should I do about it, if antibiotics are bad for it and if baby food might worsen it, because these are the most immediate problems.
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Can you not get hold of this:

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/rabbit-suppl...197/oxbow-critical-care-for-herbivores-p-2426

It'd be much better than baby food or mash up some Excel pellets.

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/guinea-pig-supplies-guinea-pig-food-c-665_667/burgess-excel-guinea-pig-p-1310

Where are you based?
 
flintstones said:
Can you not get hold of this:

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/rabbit-suppl...197/oxbow-critical-care-for-herbivores-p-2426

It'd be much better than baby food or mash up some Excel pellets.

http://www.vetuk.co.uk/guinea-pig-supplies-guinea-pig-food-c-665_667/burgess-excel-guinea-pig-p-1310

Where are you based?
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response.

Right now it's nightime and also I have never seen that critical care thing around here. Tomorrow I'm trying to get someone to drive to an exotic vet but I was mainly searching for advise on how to pass through the night as I've read that fatty liver is deadly within short time if untreated.

With the symptoms I have described would you say he has fatty liver syndrome?
At home I have some fresh vegetables, parsley and some sprouts.

Can baby food worsen fatty liver due to the oiliness of it? because I need to feed him something and I don't seem to have much option at the moment, but I don't want to make him worse.
 
I'm sorry I know nothing about fatty liver.

Do you have any nuggets that you could soak in hot water to make mush and then leave to cool perhaps he might like that.

I would also recommend asking on Guinea Lynx they have some very experienced members.
 
if he has problems with his back teeth (ie. spurs) it can cause ulcers on his tongue...so he wouldn't eat at all. I'd say the first thing to do is to check his teeth.
 
I am a little concerned that you have focused on a disease that is the worst case senario and not why your pig has stopped eating. I hope you find a vet that has more experience and can help you get to the bottom of what is wrong.

There are lots of reasons why an animal will stop eating, this I have had lots of experience in and treated an awful lot of animals through illness, some life threatening and some mild but knocks them for six. Once they stop eating it is difficult to get them to improve unless they start again, it could be ulcers on the mouth or even though you say its not teeth, if the back teeth are sharp and cutting into his cheek or tounge he wont want to eat as it hurts.

Good luck with the vet.
 
Lizzie, I'm not focusing in the worst case scenario, I am just trying to take all possibilities into consideration since the vet seems disinterested in diagnosing properly. That's why, if the guy is basically "guessing" that it's an intestinal infection, I wan't to make sure that the treatment he is prescribing for that wouldn't worsen him or even kill him if what he actually has is something else like for example fatty liver, which symptoms fit as good as any other guess.

Unfortunately I won't be able to take him to the exotic animals vet today either because I don't drive and there is no one willing to drive me there to the middle of nowhere, so I'll just try a different vet around where I live and cross fingers...
 
Lizzie said:
if he has problems with his back teeth (ie. spurs) it can cause ulcers on his tongue...so he wouldn't eat at all. I'd say the first thing to do is to check his teeth.
Click to expand...

He has had this problem (not eating much) for quite a while and although he has only almost stopped eating completely in the last 2 days, all the other times he has seen either the not very helpful vet or the good one they both agreed his teeth are fine, I'd still like to be sure of it myself but I can't force them to get x-ray of my guinea pig, specially if he is as weak as he is at the moment he wouldn't be able to handle the anaesthesia.
Last time he saw a vet, yesterday, he didn't say anything about his teeth as possible cause and didn't look at his mouth, well in fact he barely touched him, didn't even weighed him and didn't check up his file on the computer or anything at all....
 
Lizzie said:
I think you need a new vet.
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I definitely do! I only took him to the "not helpful" vet yesterday because I thought it might be an emergency and I thought maybe he will be able to help at least until I could get someone to drive me to good vet clinic where they are true professional. Unfortunately I don't have a car or a drivers licence so It's not really my choice, I can try luck with some other vets around until tomorrow then my mother can take us in the car.
 
If a guinea pig is not eating properly, and has mainly been living off a diet of soft food then I would think there's a high possibility his teeth are overgrown as he's had nothing to wear them down. I've no personal experience of this but I know from reading about others who've had guinea pigs with dental problems that even a few days of them not eating properly can lead to the teeth becoming overgrown. Whilst his front teeth may look fine, you can't see into the back of his mouth so don't know what the back teeth are like. Drooling and exaggerated chewing are signs of teeth problems so keep an eye out for this.

Baby food doesn't really have all the nutrients he needs, the better option is to make a sludge mix by soaking some pellets in warm water and once completely cooled syringe feeding him ( I think someone else mentioned this ), or leaving some on a saucer so he can lap at it. Try some other fresh foods, and does he have hay?

The soft poo could be down to the fact he's not eating properly, if it becomes too soft then a probiotic may be needed to keep his gut balance stable. I'd also recommend getting some critical care if you can, I've fed it to several sickly piggies in the past and they've always seemed quite keen on it. Is he drinking water on his own? If not you'll need to syringe this

All of the above is to just try to keep him going until you can get him to a decent vet and find the root cause of the problem as there's something thats causing all of this.
 
Elsa said:
He has had this problem (not eating much) for quite a while and although he has only almost stopped eating completely in the last 2 days, all the other times he has seen either the not very helpful vet or the good one they both agreed his teeth are fine, I'd still like to be sure of it myself but I can't force them to get x-ray of my guinea pig, specially if he is as weak as he is at the moment he wouldn't be able to handle the anaesthesia.
Last time he saw a vet, yesterday, he didn't say anything about his teeth as possible cause and didn't look at his mouth, well in fact he barely touched him, didn't even weighed him and didn't check up his file on the computer or anything at all....
Click to expand...

I agree you need a new vet. You DONT need an aneathetic for an xray either.

x.
 
when our boar was ill we kept on feeding him recovery mix for months, but they do get overgrown teeth when off hard food that would wear the teeth down. the recovery mix has to be as thick as possible to try and keep teeth in order, I cut the tip of the syringe off to be able to pick up extra-thick recovery mix. still, his front teeth had to be trimmed a couple of times.
 
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