What to do for Zoe

Terramycin is also known as Oxytetracycline and is a dangerous medication for guinea pigs. This medication can kill. The eye ointment however, is safe to use. How many injections did the vet give your pig? And what was the reason this medication was given?

From GL, here are the instructions on what to do:

Treatment for antibiotic associated diarrhea:
DISCONTINUE THE ANTIBIOTIC CAUSING DIARRHEA IMMEDIATELY.
If the animal is still eating and acting normally:
Provide grass hay (helps to restore gut motility)
Remove all grain based foods (high levels of starch encourage the grown of E. coli and Clostridium spp.)
Limit pellets
Hydrate via subcutaneous fluids
Supplement with vitamin C tablets or liquid (30-50mg/kg q12-24h) (besides being a nutritional requirement, it may "slow the absorption of enterotoxins through the cecal wall")
When the droppings are firm, discontinue C supplement and give fresh dark leafy greens high in C. Pellets can lose their vitamin C so supplementation with a natural source is important.

If the guinea pig is not eating, much more aggressive therapy will be required. Brown and Rosenthal also advise fecal Gram stains to check for clostridial spores if the diarrhea persists or the animal goes downhill. If found, treat with metronidazole (flagyl) @ 20mg/kg PO q12h. If no clostridial spores are present, do a fecal culture and treat with baytril while waiting for results. Give fluids IV SC or IO if the animal is systemically ill. Guinea pigs with profuse watery diarrhea have a poor prognosis.

Thanks for your reply, I did not know about crossthread and I am sorry.
Zoe has never had dirrohea, she has had soft poops the consitency of custard when thick, like a blob with no shape.

Here in South Australia vets will NOT use Baytril or Septrin on guinea pigs for many many years it has always been terramycin anitbiotic injections and this was from the so called guinea pig expert vets.

In October last year, Zoe started to pass blood we were freaking out as we had lost Choloe to passing blood. Took to our vet who said just keep an eye on it. (Have left that vet now)Anyway come the weekend Zoe was losing more blood so took her down to the emergency vet who kept her in over night, the vet gave her 2 antibiotic injections have no idea what they were just that they were short term. she was also on metacam.

She prescribed Terramycin injections as she believed Zoe had a infection in her uterus. so from end of October to early January i am guessing and saying Zoe had 6-8 injections at that time. It was later found she had cysts in the ovaries and a mass on the outside of her uterus. she had surgery and got NO pain killers or antibiotics. She did however get probiotics of Protexin. When we tried to put Zoe on her normal diet the soft poops started so for 3 months she was on a grass hay diet and slowly we added other foods. But like I said it always takes 3 days to upset her tummy except for carrots which do that pretty much straight away. I bought some rocket leaves 3 weeks ago and gave her half a leaf twice a day by day 3 she had the soft poops-not runny but no shape, green and smelly but a thick consitency.
Vets here in South Australia know nothing about guinea pigs as when they are learning they learn about them as lab animals and sadly people here think it is cheaper and better to replace a sick guinea pig instead of fixing it.
My vet is doing a rodents/guinea pig on line course via Sydney university and everything her tutor tells her she swears by.

If you have a page or a link about the dangers of terramycins to guinea pigs I would love to copy it and send it to her. But even when Petal and Rosie were alive (2004, 2005) Terramycin was used, stupid me trusted the vets and I had never heard of probiotics until January this year. None of my piggies were ever given any probiotics till this year with Zoe.

Now was told NOT to give her grass at present as (a) it gave her the mushy poops and (b) spring grass was too rich. As for the pellets she is on Oxbow cavy cuisine and Oxbow timothy hay but she won't eat either very much.
she has oaten (USA and UK call it oat)hay, we have always put a pinch of vitamin C powder in their water bottle every day. Zoe has had many poop tests and all were normal, they were Sent down Adelaide to the lab and throurgh testing was done. i do not know the actual details of the test results only that they were normal and showed no parasites.

the last time Zoe had a Terramycin injection was around the 7th of January this year. so am hoping i have explained the situation better. am having trouble with the links from the messages but hope to hear from you or anyone soon. Thanks so much and sorry for cross posting. Also if you have that page on Terramycin and the dangers and the benefits of Baytril and Septrin I could forward it on to my vet.

I forgot to mention am looking for suitable bedding-yes there is a post in bedding, at present we use woodshavings and hay but Zoe has developed red pads on her hind feet.
Have talked to my vet about fleece, vetbed etc and she said they may chew it and cause blockages.
Have you ever heard of a guinea pig being allergic to oaten hay? As Zoe never use to have red pads.
I am in Australia and I am looking at safe petbeds for my girls here is a shop near us are any of their beds suitable and sorry if posting this link is wrong.

(broken link removed)
any help would be much appreciated. Thank you. With the link once on the site type in pet bed and it will show you what they have.

Diarrhea comes in different forms, it can range from slightly soft poo to completely watery stools.

Here are my suggestions.

1. Up the amount of hay and get timothy hay (edit: I see you already have timothy hay) or another good grass hay but don't use oat hay for a few days as it's harder on the digestive system. If fresh grass is upsetting her system, stay off it for a few days and just give a minimal amount of veggies. No cauliflower for a while as it's pretty gassy. I'd give cos or red/green leaf lettuce, capsicum and coriander for now in very small amounts to see how she does.

3. Get a probiotic such as acidophilus from a druggist or health food store and give about 1/2 a capsule twice a day to help restore gut flora.

4. Go back to the vet and get a fecal gram stain test done.

5. Print these pages out and show it to your vet.
Guinea Lynx :: Dangerous Medications
Guinea Lynx :: Antibiotics

Maybe salana will come along and give more advice.

Thanks so much for the links, though did not see Terramycin on the list. For now Zoe's poops whilst blacker than normal and smaller are pellet in shape.
What i wanted to know was what would be a suitable diet for her as mentioned in diet some food after 3 days gives Zoe soft mushy poops.
Like corriander, basil, mint, thyme, lettuce, capsicum, rocket, things like carrot, carrot tops, cauliflower give soft poops almost instantly.
As for the probiotics would protexin from the vet be alright?
I am sorry if i misled you about Zoe's poops for now they are normal but blacker and smaller but certain foods upset her now. And it is because of all the Terramycin injections plus maybe hormones that have caused her to have a delicate tummy. Before all this Zoe could and would eat anything, I am also syringe feeding her critical care as she is not eating much at present. I wanted to know what was a healthy balanced diet for a delicate tummy as I don't want Zoe to have soft poops anymore nor to lose weight like she has been. We take Zoe to vet every 2 weeks to be weighed her weights for the last 4 times were July 28th 925grams down 47grams in 2 weeks. August 5th 950grams up 25grams in 8 days, August 11th 965grams up 15grams in 6 days, august 22nd 920grams down 45grams in 11 days.
We are currently feeding her in very small amounts 4 times a day brocoli, parsley, silverbeet, celery leaf, baby spinach leaf, she has unlimited supply of timothy hay and pellets(both Oxbow).
Thank you so much for all your help, and i will save the information you have given me for future reference. For interest Zoe turned 4 on august the 4th.

ABS by Injections have been known to cause problem, especially at the injection sites. Oral ABs are tolerated much better.

And why does the vet want her to lose weight?? Losing weight is a bad sign in guinea pigs.

Terramycin is also known as Oxytetracycline which is on the list of dangerous meds at gl.

We are currently feeding her in very small amounts 4 times a day brocoli, parsley, silverbeet, celery leaf, baby spinach leaf

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Broccoli needs to be fed not more than once or twice a week, it's too gassy. Parsley is too high in calcium for older pigs to be fed more than once or twice a week. Spinach is super high in oxalates and Vitamin A and in my opinion shouldn't be fed at all but it can be fed once or twice per week in small amounts. Silverbeet is chard so can be fed daily but if it's causing her more problems then I'd cut it out of the diet for a few days.

I told you in my last post on this thread what you can feed for a few days.

Also please see the diet and nutrition charts. It's a sticky thread at the top of the Diet and Nutrition forum.

Her pads could be red because of the cage she lives in - I think you mentioned she lives on hay and newspaper. These are not very soft. If the pad looks swollen then it could indicate bumblefoot. I doubt she is allergic to oaten hay.

None of my girls have EVER eaten their fleece, or the towels I originally had them on before I switched to fleece.

I can not believe she did not get pain meds after she was spayed. Poor pig. You really need to find a new vet.

I would also stop putting vitamin c in her waterbottle. Instead, if she needs vitamin c get the chewable kind for kids. You will have to cut it up to get the correct dosage. Most pigs learn to take it straight like that, but you may need to pound it up and syringe feed it to her.

My little man, that I mentioned in your other thread, has had sloppy poops the past few days. I talked to the vet, started him on Critical Care feedings, one acidophilious capsule (found at the supermarket or chemist) a day and had him on a bland diet. Lots of timothy hay and oaten hay. I think his sloppy poops were diet related. He was used to a diet of bok choy and carrots, and I had switched him cold turkey onto cos lettuce, mint, basil - the whole works. So I have him back on bok choy and carrots, and am now slowly adding new foods.

i thought she may be allergic to the hay as none of the other piggies have ever had a problem with sore feet.
And Ly& pigs I mentioned in my above post the foods you suggested cause Zoe to have soft poops after 3 days I have tried her on these slowly and they have the same affect. When Zoe has soft poops I use Protexin from the vet as I never give my piggies anything unless the vet okays it.
i will cut down the brocoli, parsley and spinach, but as she has a delicate tummy it will be hard to find her things to eat that haven't upset her in the past. You suggested I'd give cos or red/green leaf lettuce, capsicum and coriander these I have tried in the past small amounts and they have upset her after 3 days. I will check out the chart but don't want to make too many changes too fast and make matters worse. Thanks to all who have replied to this post. As for zoe's feet I am getting some cream the vet recomended and am looking into fleece or something softer.
It still amazes me as Petal lived to 5.3 years and Rosie 6 years and they had straw and wood shavings, Choloe was 2 before we found she had cancer. Jessie is 2 and her feet are fine. But will look into the diet thread, checkout fleece and try this creme. Thanks again.

Forgot to mention when feeding Zoe she gets a very small amount of each of the foods I feed her. Like parsley she would get 1 small bushy bit NOT a whole parsley. I have looked on the charts and the ones in yellow which are for daily we have tried and they have affected her. So for now will keep with what we are feeding her and just add more timothy hay and oaten hay.

I don't remember--what brand of pellets are you giving, and how much? I would cut out the pellets, or drastically reduce them. Starches from grains used in pellets can cause stomach upset. Jackie had to go on a hay-only diet (plus vitamin C and acidophilus) to help him out. The oat hay is also starchier, I believe.

How much of the lettuces, etc. are you giving her per day? What if you tried--day 1, red leaf lettuce, day 2, coriander, day 3, rocket. Would that give her soft poops? I don't suggest capsicum because it is sweeter and that can be a factor.

Definitely give acidophilus at least twice a day. It made a big difference for Jackie. And don't stop when you see improvement, I would say she should probably get it twice a day for a month. You want to establish a good culture. I'm not sure that I like the composition of the Protexin--one thing it includes is the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (normal bread yeast) which can ferment in the gut and cause problems.

Also you may want to try simethicone. If her poops are full of tiny bubbles, the simethicone will make them combine into a big bubble that hopefully her guts will move along while she continues to digest the solids. She may fart more, but I'm assuming that you wouldn't mind if it meant solid poop.

Does she eat any of her poops that you see? She may need a B vitamin supplement. It also would help her feel more hungry. And I would give her a sliver of a human's vitamin C tablet. Don't get one with sugar or artifical sweeteners, though.

The simethicone that Salana mentioned worked well with Ella. It is a liquid that you get for Baby's, purchased from the chemist. You can get acidophilious and vitamin c from here too.