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what would you do? (multiple symptoms)

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gizmo01

gizmo01

Adult Guinea Pig
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well humphrey has been on ear drops and baytril for 5 days now and the change has only been minor he displays lack of co-ordination, lethargy, unwillingness (refusal) to eat or drink (how often should i syringe feed him?) runny nose/eyes dirty ears its like he's got some sort of brain damage (stroke?) i dont know what to do he's got a checkup on sat for the ear drops anyway I'm at my wits end he is fluctuating between 1.5 and 1.75 pounds hes nearly 12 months old and quite large well he was.... malletheadmalletheadmallethead
 
What does the vet say? He really needs medical care. You cannot look after him alone if he is refusing to eat or drink as that is really worrying. :(
 
It might be worth trying Panacur. A couple of years ago I had a piggie who displayed similar symptoms and Panacur really made a difference.

Is he eating anything for himself? If not, he needs to be having approx 120 mls of syringe food every 24 hours.

How guinea pig savvy is your vet?
 
he'll eat a bit of food carrot banana hay but its only a sample we can only get 4ml of food into him in a single sitting before he starts fighting you off and backing away or spitting it out we have been to the vets 4 times in the last week and a half with him because it started with URI sympotoms she did check his teeth both insisors and molars and there wasnt anything out of the ordinary
 
furryfriends (Excellent Adventure Sanctuary) said:
It might be worth trying Panacur. A couple of years ago I had a piggie who displayed similar symptoms and Panacur really made a difference.

Is he eating anything for himself? If not, he needs to be having approx 120 mls of syringe food every 24 hours.

How guinea pig savvy is your vet?
Click to expand...

Can pigs get E.cuniculi? It would fit...

gizmo01 said:
he'll eat a bit of food carrot banana hay but its only a sample we can only get 4ml of food into him in a single sitting before he starts fighting you off and backing away or spitting it out we have been to the vets 4 times in the last week and a half with him because it started with URI sympotoms she did check his teeth both insisors and molars and there wasnt anything out of the ordinary
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What are you using to syringe feed him? If you're using critical care, maybe try the critical care fine grind, or supreme recovery? I found the Cameo preferred these to the critical care - and I also mixed in some fruit based baby food (the pouches where the only ingredients are fruit) for extra calories.
 
we use a mixture of supreme recovery and mushed pellets (burgess)its like hes not interested the minute you force him he just turns away i can get him to eat pellets if i stick them in his mouth

edit his poos are a funny beige/tan brown colour and really small

edit hard food seems to make him wince
 
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He really needs a lot more food than that. How are you holding him when you syringe feed him? You need to hold his head steady and get the food in. Some take a while to get used to being syringe fed.

How did she check his teeth? Did she just look in the mouth using a scope? If so, it's difficult to see anything in that way. You really need to use the buccal pad separators to get a proper view of the molars.

If it's something brain related then Panacur may help.
 
gizmo01 said:
we use a mixture of supreme recovery and mushed pellets (burgess)its like hes not interested the minute you force him he just turns away i can get him to eat pellets if i stick them in his mouth

edit his poos are a funny beige/tan brown colour and really small

edit hard food seems to make him wince
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Cameo went through a phase of eating pellets if I poked them in her mouth...I also found she'd eat veg and hay if I poked it in her mouth too - so I'd get long thin strips of veg, put it in her mouth, and she'd munch it up until it was gone - but wouldn't eat for herself!
 
yeah it was like a hollow magnifying tube she used I'm holding him on my lap back towards me and i hold his head put the syringe in and squeeze he'll happily take 4 but no more than that its like when he is eating he can only manage small samples
 
Really sorry to hear this - it must be very worrying for you.


Given he;s eating and drinking vritually nothing, you need to syringe feed 20-30ml (full stomach capacity) every 2-3 hours (time taken for stomach to empty). You might need to also syringe 5ml of fluid every hour if he is looking dehydrated.

There should have been an improvement within 5 days so you do need to return to the vet and a proper culture/diagnosis needs to be done.
Might be worth culturing the ear exudate (is there pus?) or sample from the nostril as sometimes it can be a bug resistant to baytril.

My Tia developed a sudden head tilt with pus in the ear and was found to have a bug that was resistant to septrin, baytril and zithromax and she had to have daily gentamycin injections for a week - which cleared it up great but was the ONLY antibiotic that killed the bug.

Theroretically pigs can get E cuniculi - but it is rare and would normally only be caught from an infected rabbit in close contact
Some info on the bug in rabbits
http://www.houserabbit.co.uk/resources/content/info-sheets/ecuniculi.htm


There are other more probable causes in Humphrey's case which is basically a respiratory infection that has developed into a middle/inner ear infection (or vice versa) that is baytril-resistant (think pseudomonas and/or you also need to rule out ear mites).

I would go back to the vets tomorrow and get cultures done and keep maintaining syringe feeding while you wait for the results which should come back by monday/tuesday. In the interim your vets might like to try a different antibioitic given that baytril is so ineffective and ensure you have gut stimulant medication for the weekend given his lack of food intake.

Fingers and paws crossed for him.

x
 
off to vets today humphrey didnt eat anywhere near enough of his veggies last night just 'samples' of everything and over the weekend I'm going to struggle with his feeding shedule so off to the vets see whats what hopefully they'll want to observe him but the wont x-ray without anesthetics (company policy) so no x-rays for humperdink poor lad hes been on and off ill for 3 weeks now
 
gizmo01 said:
off to vets today humphrey didnt eat anywhere near enough of his veggies last night just 'samples' of everything and over the weekend I'm going to struggle with his feeding shedule so off to the vets see whats what hopefully they'll want to observe him but the wont x-ray without anesthetics (company policy) so no x-rays for humperdink poor lad hes been on and off ill for 3 weeks now
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Really? Pigs (especially sick ones) are stupidly simple to xray without anaesthetic. I've had Big Dave and Cameo xrayed several times each without anaesthetic.

Does your vet know what they're doing when it comes to exotics? It might be worth looking for a specialist?

If you think you're going to struggle with feeding and such, ask if he can be hospitalised. The nurses will feed him round the clock, and with them not being emotionally attached, may find it easier to do than you currently are. I had Cameo hospitalised several times for nightly feeds, it's so exhausting when you're getting up in the night AND with the emotional side of it too!

Keep us updated, let us know how he gets on.
 
I dont have much to add but if he isn't eating much of his veg you could also try syringe feeding him mashed veg or get some baby food as long as you check the ingredients to make sure its pure veg. My sisters had a lot of positive results feeding baby food to her poorly animals, especially when they wont eat on their own. I really hope you figure out what's causing this soon. Healing vibes for humphrey.
 
just had a phone call humphrey has survived anesthesia and a full x-ray dental check and is fine nothing wrong with his gnashers at all. he's had a full neurological exam aswell and the prognosis is no good they don't know whats wrong basically they are recommending an exotics specialist in leeds but he may need a £600 MRI scan just to find out the problem thats £600 i dont have what's the next move guys and girls?
 
So sorry to read that he is still unwell and no cause has been found, I have no advice to offer, but just wanted to say I've got everything crossed for him. x
 
Have you got any panacur? Got to be worth a shot, certainly cheaper than an MRI. Did they do a dental exam looking in his mouth as well as xrays?

I think if it hasn't already been done, the gunk in his ears should be cultured. His refusal to eat could just be down to the baytril
 
yeah they used a 'bucal?' seperator or something to look in his mouth and check the teeth we've been referred to a specialist in nottingham unfortunatly she cant see him till monday where can i get a bigger syringe feeding him with a 1ml one is a pain in the arse
 
gizmo01 said:
yeah they used a 'bucal?' seperator or something to look in his mouth and check the teeth we've been referred to a specialist in nottingham unfortunatly she cant see him till monday where can i get a bigger syringe feeding him with a 1ml one is a pain in the arse
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A bigger syringe doesn't mean quicker feeding. In fact you could cause choking or even worse him aspirating some of the food, by trying to syringe too much in at a time.

I do a lot of syringe feeding as I have many animals needing syringe feeding at the Sanctuary, and I always use a 1 ml syringe. Syringe feeding isn't easy, and it takes a lot of time but if you want to give him the very best chance then it has to be done. You need to get in approx 120 mls of syringe food per 24 hours, if the piggie isn't eating anything for himself. I frequently get up in the night to syringe feed sick piggies if they haven't managed their quota throughout the day. It's a pity you don't live closer as I would be more than happy to have your piggie here for syringe feeding as it's one of the services I offer through my pet care business (Little Badger's Pet Care).
 
yeah we have like 4 or 5 kicking around. What should i ask the specialist who is seeing him on monday? our vets rang this morning to ask my consent on giving humph something unlicenced (forgot the drug) is this normal plus would pain killers encourage him to try eating for himself (he winces on his right side if eating a pellet i put in his mouth)
 
There isn't much licensed for piggies I frequently sign a form to say I am aware that the medication is not licensed so that in its self is not unusual.

Can not help in terms of the drug without knowing the name.
 
Painkiller (metacam) could make a huge difference, because if a piggie associates eating with pain he really isn't going to do it.

Find out which drug they are suggesting. Some unlicenced drugs work incredibly well but there are some drugs that are very dangerous to use with guinea pigs.
 
humphrey gave up

unfortunately humphrey didnt make it i collected him from the vets at 2 and he had a seizure as soon as i got home so i rushed him back to the vet. he had a further 2 seizures on the way and a 4th final one at the vets this one he didnt come around from. I'm a little stunned and have work at 5 :( what do i do with marmite i have a trio and 2 single boars now :(
 
gizmo01 said:
unfortunately humphrey didnt make it i collected him from the vets at 2 and he had a seizure as soon as i got home so i rushed him back to the vet. he had a further 2 seizures on the way and a 4th final one at the vets this one he didnt come around from. I'm a little stunned and have work at 5 :( what do i do with marmite i have a trio and 2 single boars now :(
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I"m so sorry love HUGE HUGE HUGS XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When you feel up to it, maybe give one of the rescues a call and see if you can go boar dating xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

RIP beautiful Humphrey 8...8...8...
 
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