Where People & Piggies Thrive

Newbie or Guinea Guru? Popcorn in!

Register for free to enjoy the full benefits.
Find out more about the NEW, drastically improved site and forum!

Register
  • ONE THREAD per pig please!
    We really want your pig's history all in one place to help you. Please don't start a new thread for a new issue. Just reply to your old one. We can edit the title for you if needed.

Stones Kodi's Medical Thread

Nikkipig

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Posts
288
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
288
Her old thread is here (link: https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...Medical-Thread?p=985001&highlight=#post985001), but it's been around too long for me to reply to it.

I got an email back saying Dakota should go in for an exam, so she had an appointment today. The vet took x-rays, an ultrasound, and a sterile urine specimen. He found some sludge in her bladder and thinks she is going to be prone to stones. The discharge has stopped (at least, for now, it was an on/off thing to begin with).
Well, it looks like the time has come for Kodi to go back to the vet. She's been producing a LOT (not a little, a LOT) of white spots on the fleece as of lately, and I've caught her squeaking in pain on more than one occasion. Today, after she squeaked, I scooped her up and took a look at her genital area and noticed some discharge (not bloody, at least). Anyways, I'm working at an animal sanctuary now, and will be getting my first paycheck very soon. As soon as that happens, I'll book her an appointment with the vet. I'm also working double shifts in case she does have a bladder stone and needs surgery. I dread the thought of having another stone pig after what my old girl Nikki went through when she was alive... but these are the chances we take for the ones we love. I will keep you all updated after the vet visit. Wish us luck.
 

GeekKate

Active Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 1, 2009
Posts
23
Joined
Aug 1, 2009
Messages
23
Best of luck!! I hope your baby feels better soon and that she doesn't need surgery. Please keep us posted on how things go.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
Her old thread is here (link: https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...Medical-Thread?p=985001&highlight=#post985001), but it's been around too long for me to reply to it.


Well, it looks like the time has come for Kodi to go back to the vet. She's been producing a LOT (not a little, a LOT) of white spots on the fleece as of lately, and I've caught her squeaking in pain on more than one occasion. Today, after she squeaked, I scooped her up and took a look at her genital area and noticed some discharge (not bloody, at least). Anyways, I'm working at an animal sanctuary now, and will be getting my first paycheck very soon. As soon as that happens, I'll book her an appointment with the vet. I'm also working double shifts in case she does have a bladder stone and needs surgery. I dread the thought of having another stone pig after what my old girl Nikki went through when she was alive... but these are the chances we take for the ones we love. I will keep you all updated after the vet visit. Wish us luck.

Best wishes for your vet visit, NikkiPig. I hope everything turns out with an easy solution for Dakota. My, and my herds thoughts are with you.


Looking forward to hearing positive news :)
 

Nikkipig

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Posts
288
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
288
I just got paid this morning, so I made a vet appointment for Kodi. The earliest opening my vet has is this Wednesday at 4:30 pm, so that's what I took.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
Hopefully Kodi can hold out until Wednesday, and she isn't in too much discomfort. Do let us know how you make out with her. Our thoughts are with you guys.
 

Nikkipig

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Posts
288
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
288
I just got back from taking Dakota to the vet. The vet palpated her abdomen, took x-rays, an ultrasound, and urinalysis with sedimentation and found no stones. Yay! He is going to have a culture test done on her urine to test it for any other medical issues that may be causing her problems. He said the results will be back in about 3-4 days.
 

CupcakeCavy

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Jan 4, 2017
Posts
103
Joined
Jan 4, 2017
Messages
103
I just got back from taking Dakota to the vet. The vet palpated her abdomen, took x-rays, an ultrasound, and urinalysis with sedimentation and found no stones. Yay! He is going to have a culture test done on her urine to test it for any other medical issues that may be causing her problems. He said the results will be back in about 3-4 days.
Hope everything turns out fine and Dakota starts to feel better! :)
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
Sounds like a fair bit of good news, NikkiPig! Relieved to hear all seems to be ok, looking forward to hearing more of the same when the test results are in!
 

Nikkipig

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Posts
288
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
288
My exotics vet called me this morning (as I was driving home from buying more lettuce for the girls, coincidentally). Kodi's culture test results came back clean! :)
 

Guinea Pig Papa

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
May 12, 2015
Posts
387
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
387
Oh, Nikkipig, I'm so happy you've got some good news! Must make you breathe a whole lot easier!
 

Nikkipig

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Posts
288
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
288
Kodi's got some sort of digestive/intestinal funk, I do believe.

Backtrack a week, and I noticed "poop balls" (five or six poops stuck together), along with some oddly shaped poops in the cage. After the bizarre poops failed to go away on their own, I cut back on the trio's veggies for a couple of days. At the time, I believed the weird poop was due to me overfeeding them their daily portion of veggies (my mistake- it happened once). After cutting back on the veggies for two days, the poop returned to normal, so I returned to feeding the usual sized portion of veggies.

However, on Wednesday of this week, the yucky poops returned, and this time, they stunk, badly. I use fleece in the main housing area of the cage and it was stained from soft poops being squashed (there has been absolutely no diarrhea). At this point I took veggies out of their diet entirely, and began supplementing each of the pigs with roughly 30mg of vitamin C daily. Since cutting the veggies out of their diet completely, the poop has slowlyyyy begun to return to normal.

Fast forward to today. After careful observation, I've realized Dakota is the one producing the abnormal poop (she produced some while I was handling her). I find this odd for several reasons:

There has been no changes to their diet prior to this week. Each pig always gets about a cup of veggies per day; same time; same amount; same veggies. Their salads consist mainly of green leaf lettuce, 1 baby carrot per pig, 1 grape tomato per pig, and 1/8 of a green bell pepper per pig. All veggies are thoroughly rinsed before feeding. As far as pellets go, they are given 1/8 of a cup, per pig, of Oxbow pellets. They have access to unlimited SPS timothy hay and filtered water that is changed out every morning. They have been on this exact diet for at least a year with no issues until now.

Adding to this, Kodi has shown no signs of distress. She is alert and active. No eye or nose discharge. No weight loss or gain greater than half an ounce per week. No signs of pain when urinating or defecating. Very vocal as usual (she's been wheeking up a storm due to the lack of veggies).

My current plan of action is to keep the veggies out of their diet until the poops are *completely* cleared up, then slowly add them back to their diet (ex. add lettuce one day, wait and observe, if in the clear, add carrots, and so on). However, I do have probiotics on hand, and was wondering if they would be useful in calming Kodi's stomach down. I have Bene-Bac and human-grade probitotic acidophilus tablets.
 

bpatters

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Posts
29,251
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
29,251
The smelly poops are undoubtedly cecal ones (the ones they eat), which have a terrific odor.

Your idea to totally restrict veggies until everything clears up is a good one. Wait until you've had a couple of days of normal poops before starting veggies again. I'd only add that you should wait at least 48 hours between each one that you add back in to make sure the one you just added isn't the one causing the problem.
 

Nikkipig

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Posts
288
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
288
Okay. Thanks! And yes, I will wait at least 48 hours between adding veggies once I reach that stage. Will update once I figure out which pesky veg is causing issues.
 

Nikkipig

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Posts
288
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
288
Everyone's poop returned to normal after restricting veggies for several days. That issue is resolved, and everyone is back to eating the usual foods.

And so, a new problem surfaces... Kodi almost certainly has mites, or at least a fungal infection. I've been noticing excess fur on the fleece and even found a decent sized chunk of it. At first, I couldn't identify which pig it came from, as it was white fur and all three of my pigs are predominantly white-colored. Anyways, as I was handling Kodi tonight I felt a few rough patches on her skin. Closer examination (digging through abby fur is quite difficult) revealed tiny patches of scabby skin, dandruff- likely from itching/nipping at the skin, and tuffs of hair falling out. Kodi hated the rough patches being felt- they obviously were quite sore to the touch as she tried to wiggle out of my grip for dear life and bite my fingers off.

I'd post a photo for reference, but again, Kodi is an abby so even parting the fur is a total pain in the butt, I hate to irritate her any further, andddd I don't have enough hands to hold the fur and snap a pic. Besides, the rough patches are smaller than the size of a pea. I'm not sure I could photograph them clearly even if I tried.

I'm going to pull up the Ivermectin dosing chart and get all three of my girls started on it tonight. If the Ivermectin doesn't clear things up, I'll treat for a fungus, but I don't think that's the issue.
 

bpatters

Moderator
Staff member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Posts
29,251
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Messages
29,251
It's more likely a fungus than mites. Hair coming out in small clumps is pretty diagnostic for fungus. Hair coming out because of mites is more likely to result in bald or nearly bald spots, but not tufts of hair.

See https://www.guinealynx.info/fungus.html
 

Nikkipig

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Posts
288
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
288
Interesting. I must've had the symptoms for the two confused. Thanks.

I'm quite tired as of now and it's late here, so I just briefly scanned over the article. Not much wants to sink in at the moment. I'll do more reading and research tomorrow and proceed then with treatment.

I really wish I could get a picture of her fur. I can hardly see the flakes of skin myself because they're so tiny. Whatever she has, I caught it early. I do know that the tufts of fur have black dots on them. I first thought they were the roots of the hairs. Now, I'm wondering if they're pieces of scabbed skin that's been itched and nipped at. Hmm.

ETA: I'll see if I can persuade my dad into helping me get a photo tomorrow since I need to get a closer look at the skin anyways. I don't know if it'll work, but I can try.
 
Last edited:

Nikkipig

Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Posts
288
Joined
Aug 11, 2011
Messages
288
I managed to get some photos of Kodi. She screamed like a banshee every time I touched the area around her sore spots. Poor baby.

These are the two sore spots, and the only ones I'm able to find. Both are on her rump. They really are as small as they look (and I have itty bitty fingers- ring finger size 5) It takes me a while to even find these buried beneath all her fluff.
37DdS4r.jpg

7zjgyp7.jpg


This is a whole body picture just to give you an idea of how she looks overall. You really wouldn't be able to tell anything is wrong just by glancing at her.
AzdS4kG.jpg


Now I'm wondering if it's a fungal infection or bite wounds. Any thoughts?
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.

Similar threads

Guinea Pig Papa
Replies
9
Views
498
Guinea Pig Papa
Guinea Pig Papa
AbuBalooandMe
Replies
3
Views
404
bpatters
bpatters
4boipigs
Replies
115
Views
5K
Guinea Pig Papa
Guinea Pig Papa
mccolgan22
Replies
2
Views
311
mccolgan22
mccolgan22
pigglesworth_palace
Replies
3
Views
119
bpatters
bpatters
Top