Healthy Diet

[petal]

Our piggy Zoe thanks to vets and Terramycin injections and no probiotics has a permanent damaged tummy and food can give her soft poops like custard.
Like 3 weeks ago bought a packet of rocket leaves gave her half a leaf twice a day and by day 3 she had soft poops. Carrots, carrot tops, and cauliflower and spring grass is out they give her instant soft poops, rocket, corriander, basil, thyme, mint, are out as by day 3 Zoe has soft poops.
Had to take to vet yesterday as for no reason she stopped eating, still have not found the reason for this. Vet kept saying she was happy for Zoe to lose weight and be healthy-she is doing a guinea pig and rodent course on line via the Sydney University. Zoe was 965grams 7 days ago and is now 920grams.
I am feeding her grass, parsley, celery leaf, brocoli, Oxbow timothy hay and Oxbow cavy cuisine(last 2 she is now not touching), for now am feeding via syringe critical care mixed with apple puree baby food. Any help would be appreciated. Thanking you in advance.

[sammy_kaye]

Have you posted this question in the Diet and Nutrition forum? I would possibly also try the Medical forum as this seems to be a medical problem too. You will get a quicker response there as more members watch that forum.

You should also check out the nutrition threads there. Ly has a really good one. It looks like you are mainly feeding the 'occassional' foods that should be limited to 1-2 times a week.
http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...arts-info.html

Have you tried Romain (Cos) lettuce or green/yellow capsicum with the seeds removed? I would imagine that with her stomach you would have to feed small amounts initially until you have gaged her reaction to them.

[petal]

Yes we have tried her on romaine lettuce and capsicums and it is always after 3 days it affects her tummy. Will do as you say and post in health and foods and see how i go. i posted here cause it was in the Australian/New Zealand section. Thanks so much.

[sammy_kaye]

No problem. I only tend to post here when it is about New Zealand. Like finding cubes etc. Any guinea pig questions I post on the main forums. More likely to get a response there. Good luck with getting your piggie better. Guinea Lynx may also be a place to find information as they have good medical knowledge.

[petal]

Thanks again. Have posted in health, food and bedding as trying to find suitable bedding too. Have had piggies for years and never had so many problems before. But like people piggies are all different. Have a wonderful evening and hugs to your furries.

[Ly&Pigs]

Please do not crosspost the same thread in multiple forums. It's considered flooding the board. Please pick the most appropriate forum section for your questions. This thread is now closed. Please refer to the thread petal has in the medical section.

Sammy, please also don't tell other members to post their questions in multiple areas of the forum.

http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/...at-do-zoe.html

[linda_chicha]

petal, did you take your piggie to a cavy savy vet? If not, you really need to take her to a cavy savy vet.

965g is a normal weight for a piggie. If she keeps losing weight, there is definitely something wrong. Keep giving her hay and cut down on veggie and grass. Don't give her brocolli and cauliflower too and try to give her the Critical Care on its own. Try to avoid apple puree food because it would be high in sugar.

ETA: I just realised that this is an old post. Sorry. Please update how the piggie is doing.

[petal]

No i have not taken zoe to a piggy savvy vet as they are non exsistent here in South Oz. In fact it is the piggy savvy vets that worry me! it was piggy savvy vets that gave zoe Terramycin injections that cause her to be sick in the first place.
My vet is not piggy savvy but she listens, she is willing to learn she is doing a guinea pig rodent course on line via Sydney university. A vet in the UK emails her and they talk over Zoe's treatment, I like this vet as she is up front, honest and listens.
Since I posted zoe for unknown reason on August 22nd would not eat so had to syringe feed her. Took her to the vet but could find nothing wrong with her.
Since august 22nd her weights have been Aug 22nd 920grams down 45grams in 11 days; Aug 25 915grams down 5 grams in 3 days. Aug 29th 915grams steady in 4 days; Sept 5th 900grams down 15grams in 7 days.
Have tried Zoe on critical care on it's own and she won't eat it. with the cauliflower only give the white on the leaves as it is high in fibre.
Zoe has had 5 months of hay and grass and her poops are normal if anything a bit dry. As for having something wrong with her, Zoe has had blood tests, urine test, poops tested, scans, x-rays and everything is normal.
She is getting oaten hay, Oxbow timothy hay, Oxbow cavy cusine, grass, cucumber, celery leaf, silverbeet and critical care with apple puree every 3-5 hours. Poops and everything else is normal. think I have a copy of her blood tests which I will paste here.
Kirsty has asked me to forward Zoes Haematology results on to you. All the values are normal, but numbers have been estimated from the smear only.

White Cell Count 8.0 x 10 9 /L
Neutrophils 21 % 1.7 x 10 9 /L
Band Forms 0 % 0.0 x 10 9 /L
Lymphocytes 71 % 5.7 x 10 9 /L
Monocytes 1 % 0.1 x 10 9 /L
Eosinophils 7 % 0.6 x 10 9 /L

FILM MORPHOLOGY: RBC: Normal WBC: Morphology normal. PLATELETS:
Adequate, Aggregated.

All these values are within normal referance ranges, but numbers have
been estimated from smear

We also ran a USG (Urine Specific Gravity) and diffstik on Zoes urine that you dropped in. Her USG was 1.010 and everything else was normal, except the PH was 9 and there was a trace of protein, but bear in mind this was using a human dipstick.
Regards,
Ursula
Urine has been tested again about 10 days ago no protein present. thanks for you post am looking into a hugh fibre diet for zoe. Have a wonderful night.

[linda_chicha]

Check this link: http://www.oxbowaustralia.com/SA.htm

The vets listed there have knowledge of guinea pigs. Some of the problems from a pig not eating are teeth problems.

A friend of mine's pig was sick. She took him to a vet with little knowledge of guinea pigs. I told her to ask him to check for the pig's teeth. Vet said the teeth were fine but the pig still wasn't eating. I told my friend to take the pig to a cavy savvy vet. The vet diagnosed the pig and one look, she said that he got a spur on his back teeth. Once he was operated, he was fine.