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Worried About Cocoa

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gatorgirl

gatorgirl

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone. So I've seen the recommendation of feeding Cocoa porridge to help her gain weight but I'm concerned something else is going on. I have already discussed it with my vet but have not received a lot of help. All I really see Cocoa doing is just sitting in her cage kind of all fluffed up. She does start walking around when fresh veggies are put in her cage but I would say 90-95% of the time she just seems to chill. On the other hand her cage mate, Callie, seems to be wired up all the time.

When we first got Cocoa I had to take her to the vet for an URI so she was sick when we got her. She is completely over her illness and just last month had another visit with the vet and all was fine. I just finished hand feeding her a pellet smoothie but that didn't seem to be a big hit with her. Luckily she did eat some. I have to say that she is cooperative when it comes to syringe feedings. I found this recipe and wanted to get some opinions

1/8 cup of Kleenmama timothy pellets
3 tsp of anise seeds (available in the spice aisle)
4 tsp of plain, untoasted wheat germ (available in the cereal aisle)
1 plain acidophilus, 100mg capsule

1. Grind the pellets and anise seeds to a smooth, relatively uniform dry mix (I use a small, inexpensive Proctor Silex coffee grinder).

2. Add the untoasted wheat germ and the contents of one 100mg acidophilus capsule to the ground mix (use a separate mixing bowl if you have a small capacity grinder).

3. Run this mix back through the grinder to grind to a finer powder. It also helps distribute the ingredients a little more evenly.

4. When finished, dump into a small zip-lock storage bag and refrigerate until needed.

What do y'all think? And sorry if there is another thread about this but I wanted to ask this question while I had a little quiet time before my kiddos start going to bed! Thx
 
Is she eating at all for herself? I think you need to get her checked by another vet if possible. I appreciate that this can be easier said than done in the US but there is clearly something wrong. Does she just look at the veg or does she attempt to eat it at all? What is her weight?

There are a few possibilities for what could be wrong but diagnosis would need to be done by a vet - heart issues, dental issues, gut issues to name a few. Is she pooing at all? How is her breathing? is it laboured? Does she mouth or drool when she tries to eat?

As for the recipe, am I right in thinking anise is fennel seeds? If so they apparently are good for digestion, I have known cold fennel tea to be given to pigs with digestive issues, and I actually drink it myself to cope with IBS so can see why it is in the recipe. I can see that you have got the recipe from Guinea Lynx so it obviously comes recommended. You could try it but I would be more inclined to try proper syringe food first like Oxbow Critical care as it has the right balance of everything she needs if she is not eating. You can add probiotics in too and extra vitamin C if needed. You could always use your recipe aswell though and alternate between the 2 so she has some variety. I do however think the cause of her behaviour needs to be addressed as a priority.
 
Well the vet has seen her in this calmer state before and I would like to think the vet knows what she is doing -- plus she used to own guinea pigs in the past. Last night before I went to bed Cocoa was very animated and running about the cage with her pal Callie. Now, I don't know if guinea pigs can show behavior where one seems to be "in charge" but I think that is what Callie is doing during feedings. There has beens several times where I had to kind of move her away from Cocoa while she was trying to eat because Callie would try to eat on the same leaf of lettuce or ect. Maybe Cocoa is just not eating enough.

Everything else about her seems to be ok. No labored breathing, no drooling and she does poo normally and eats it occasionally as well (I see her eating her poo while I'm holding her so I presume she is doing the same type of behavior in the cage as well). It just seems odd that after her spoon feeding of her pellet smoothie she seemed more energetic. I think part of the problem is that she is filling up on fresh veggies and then have little desire for pellets but she does love her hay.

I will carefully limit her amount of veggies and continue with her pellet smoothies. Last night her smoothie was on the thicker side and I had her eating it off the spoon. Am I crazy to think that Callie is trying to dominate her around the food bowls? I saw that type of behavior with my two dogs but do all animals show that behavior? Thx
 
Well I definitely saw dominating behavior from Cocoa's cage mate Callie. That would explain the small hole in Cocoa's ear that I discovered last week. For now I will separate them for feedings and next week I will have to look into a larger cage . . . maybe a C&C cage that I have heard so much about.
 
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