Baby Ella

**pigsforlife** · #1 04-17-08, 10:05 am

A friend referred a man to me, who was having trouble with one of his guinea pigs. His story was the usual - 2 females from a petstore, turns out 1 is a male and the other a female. So 5 babies are born, and 3 males (1 adult, 2 bubs) and 1 female go to new homes. He wants to keep the Mum, and 1 daughter. The other sow, he wanted to keep an eye on as she wasnt gaining weight properly. He became extremely worried today, and so called me and later dropper her off here - no idea why he didnt just take her to the vet but I am glad she came here. Ella is a tiny, 338 gram, white and black fluffball, 5 weeks old. I am assuming she is a peruvian, or a sheltie but it is hard to tell as her hair is rather "ratty". Anyway, after not succeeding in getting fluids and food down her - through various methods I took her to the after hours vet, as by this time it was about 9pm. The vet took her temprature and found it was low, and upon palpatating her stomach found it was really gassy and she believed that there was an intestinal blockage. At that point, they admitted Ella, and put her in a heat box with oxygen if needed and 1ml of baby food washed down with half a ml of water every hour. A x-ray was taken shortly after which revealed that the only problem was gas, but the vet believes this will resolve itself with the food they keep pushing through her system.As Ella is so small, she is in a fragile state, but beginning to move around more. Ella is foster, though I sincerely doubt that will last. We shall see. Wish her luck!

**pigsforlife** · #2 04-17-08, 10:09 am

So sorry about my post above, I put in paragraphs but when I hit submit they all disappeared!

**Cosmictadpole** · #3 04-17-08, 10:25 am

Good luck baby Ella! Hope you feel better soon.

CF#5 · #4 04-17-08, 11:29 am

They should give her two doses of Mylicon 8-10 hours apart. For a pig her size, I'd say 0.2 cc each dose should be plenty. That should clear the gas out a lot faster than ordinary food and liquids.

**cavyinhawaii** · #5 04-17-08, 11:45 am

Poor baby. Who knows what he had been feeding her. Glad she's on the road to getting better.

**fourboys4now** · #6 04-17-08, 04:53 pm

Yay, hurray Ella has a wonderful person who took her to the vet and cares about her health. Hope she's better soon.

**pigsforlife** · #7 04-17-08, 04:57 pm

Ella made it through the night, and is being discharge soon so I can pick her up at 8am. Ella will need hourly feedings of CC and a dash of baby food for flavour. I have some metacam here, so if she appears in pain I can give her some. GL has advised me that I get her on some motility drugs, so I will have to call the exotic vet later on and see what I can do.

**pigsforlife** · #8 04-17-08, 10:55 pm

Ella is now home with me and I am feeding her 2mls of Critical Care every hour, which I am trying to drop back a bit to try and get her to eat by herself. She is still lethargic, but more alert. At last weigh in (a few hours ago) she was at 318 grams. I have got some simethicone into her and will repeat this again tonight. She has also had some metacam, and I will give her some more later. Vet appointment with Dr Vickridge -- the exotic specialist -- is at 4pm.http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/b...21/Ella001.jpg

**Rattie Mom** · #9 04-18-08, 11:28 am

Awe! What a little love Ella is.

Sending lots of good thoughts her way for a speedy recovery!

**Wheek Weak** · #10 04-18-08, 11:46 am

Sending you piggy hugs and kisses, Ella!

Don't pay any attention to that "foster" stuff that you hear. You're in a wonderful home now with someone who will take fantastic care of you and make sure you have the best of everything to be healthy and happy!

Best wishes, little one, for a speedy recovery!

**pigsforlife** · #11 04-18-08, 05:56 pm

Ella is still with us, but no poops since last night. I am betting that it is because we have swapped her off the baby food -- pumpkin (which was really thick) the hospital were giving her and onto Critical Care (which is really thin). Does that make sense? I am hoping to get her out onto the grass today to see if she will eat that. Here is a photo of her http://www.guineapigcages.com/photos...hp/photo/10913

**pigsforlife** · #12 04-18-08, 06:02 pm

Oh I forgot to give you all the update on her vet appointment yesterday. Back from our vet appointment and all settled in. Vet suggested earlier when I rang up to book the appointment that I lengthen out the time between feedings, and I did so but she became really lethargic as she wasnt eating by herself. So I have began 1-2 hour feedings, of 2-4mls. I was suprised at what 4mls of CC, 2 mls of water and a massage can do (And now she has decided she will try some veggies, which she wasnt going to do before I gave her food, water and a massage, YAY)! I had already picked up the Infacol (simethicone) but the vet prescribed it as well. 0.2mls every 6 hours for 24 hours. And she also prescribed Metacam, 0.06mls, three times a day for 5 days. She felt her stomach and there was gas there, and it was quite obviously painful for Ella. So she suggested pouring hot water over a flannel, squeezing it out, and then slowly massaging her stomach. But this gets her stomach all wet, and I dont want her cold, so I prefer massaging her whilst she is lying on the heat pad, and she seems to enjoy it as well. She also looked at one of her poops and found yeast. So we are on Flaygl Oral Suspension for 5 days for that. Upon inspecting her teeth, she found something rather interesting and I am not sure whether or not anything will/can be done about it. Basically, Ella's top teeth are not long enough, and she has an overbite.

**Ziggy&Herald** · #13 04-19-08, 01:20 pm

Poor baby, if it's not one thing, it's another. I'm sorry I don't have any good tips, but just wanted to say hope she gets better and kudos to you for everything your doing for her!

**I<3MyBabies** · #14 04-19-08, 01:57 pm

Hey P4L --

How is little Ella? I was thinking about her as I was doing my feedings with Tonks last night. Hope you are holding up well!

**pigsforlife** · #15 04-19-08, 10:14 pm

Ella is maintaining her weight, despite the fact that I only fed her once during the night. So she must be eating some bits. Still very gassy (even I can feel it), so I am massaging and having her on the heat pad. She likes to eat hay when I massage her. Still no poops but I am wondering whether that may be due to the fact that past Critical Care feeds were the consitency of water where as they are now more like a paste - yet I can still suck it up in the syringe. Talked to the vet as I wanted her put on motility drugs but, the vet only upped her pain relief to tramadol, which is apparently constipating. So I am awaiting some responses on GL as to whether to continue or discontinue that. Upped the amount and frequency of simethicone she is getting, hoping that will help. If she isnt eating by herself, and pooping normally by tomorrow she has to go into the vet for all day monitoring, and then maybes she will go on the motility drugs. How is Tonk?

**Wheek Weak** · #16 04-25-08, 10:22 am

How is Ella doing? I hope it's good news.

We're still thinking about you, Ella. Rufus, Teejay, Ruby, and Otus are sending you their best wishes to get better and be as spoiled and happy as they are!

Update us as soon as you can pigsforlife.

**Rattie Mom** · #17 04-25-08, 11:06 am

Poor Ella.

I have a bunny that has gone into stasis twice since I adopted him last summer. It's very scary when they get gassy like that, won't eat or poo. I have no experience with piggies in stasis, but it sure sounds like Ella has the same symtoms as my Harvey bunn had.

We had Harvey on Simethicone and Cisapride. The Cisapride was a life saver. It really helped to get Harvey "going" again. I doubt he would have recovered on the Simethicone alone.

Sending continued good thoughts for Ella.

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