Not Eating Please help!!! Piggy so sick after surgery

Poor Oliver! I'm so sorry you and he are having to go through this.

You need to read https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html. Guinea pigs MUST eat often or they go into GI stasis where their intestinal system just shuts down. You may have to force feed him, and it's called "force" feeding for a reason. The pig probably won't like it, but it has to be done. Basically, you're going to wrap him in a towel like a burrito, so he can't get away, and force the food into his mouth.

After you've read the guinealynx info, post back here with any questions -- I'll keep an eye on this thread. The pedialtye/critical care mixture will be a good thing to give him.

You'll need one large syringe (no needle) and a bunch of small (1 ml or 2 ml) syringes (also no needle). You pack the stuff into the large syringe with a spoon or however you can get it in there, and you use the large syringe to fill the small ones.

Good luck, and here's hoping Oliver pulls through.

The probiotic (acidophilus) should be given an hour or so before or after any antibiotic dose -- most people give it after.

Oh poor baby! I hope he gets better! I have a pig Pickle who had his eye removed last year too, but the circumstances were a little different. One thing my vet had me do was as many times a day as I could, at least four, put a warm washcloth with saltwater over the site, it helps drain the pus.

Definitely make sure to force feed! He probably won't like it but its for the best. I have heard pedialtye/critical care is great, I used mashed pellets and carrot juice for mine. Sometimes they'll take it a little better if it is slightly warm- not hot, just maybe a notch above room temperature. another good tip is put the syringe in kind of on an angle, behind his incisors.

If you are getting toward the end of the antibiotics and the infection is still there be sure to go back to the vet, sounds like he has a bad infection now. I monitored Pickle's mainly by smell, because it would often have a foul odor before it would look bad.

You're doing great so far hang in there, and get better soon Oliver!

Oh my goodness!!! Poor Oliver! Guinea pigs must eat, so start syringe feeding him immediately. But you do realize, having only one is a big difference for guinea pig. If the infection keeps coming back, it could be very hard for a small animal such as a guinea pig to deal with it. I mean, from what I've read, this poor animal has had an eye removed and the socket flushed. Twice. This will be extremely hard for Oliver, and if worst comes to worst, he should be put down to stop the suffering.

PiggyLove1 said:

Oh my goodness!!! Poor Oliver! Guinea pigs must eat, so start syringe feeding him immediately. But you do realize, having only one is a big difference for guinea pig. If the infection keeps coming back, it could be very hard for a small animal such as a guinea pig to deal with it. I mean, from what I've read, this poor animal has had an eye removed and the socket flushed. Twice. This will be extremely hard for Oliver, and if worst comes to worst, he should be put down to stop the suffering.

Click to expand...

It's not easy on them, but it is certainly something that can be recovered from and they can live a fine life afterwards. As long as he has the strength to fight off the infection he'll be ok, and force feeding will be the main thing to help him regain strength now. Once it is gone completely after the initial infection he may need a regime to keep it away. I had this trouble after my Pickle had an eye removed after a bite from a cage mate (though the infection sounds like it was more mild than Oliver's). After the initial infection was gone he had the site open slightly so it can drain. Then once or twice a day I clean it off and put a topical antibiotic on the site. Other than that hes as good as any other pig.

It's a rough situation, but not hopeless for sure.

PiggyLove1 said:

This will be extremely hard for Oliver, and if worst comes to worst, he should be put down to stop the suffering.

Click to expand...

Yes, it is good to have this thought in the back of the OP's mind but she/he is willing to anything needed for their poor piggy. That should be the very last thing if this boy does decide to stop fighting. He sounds like a little fighter! Keep trying, @D_inski , you're in the right place for some awesome advice! @bpatters gave you some wonderful advice; start hand feeding asap to keep his stomach moving. I would even ask the vet about a Vitamin B-12 injection just to give him that boost he needs. If not, get some pills to give him at your home.

PiggyLove1 said:

But you do realize, having only one is a big difference for guinea pig.

Click to expand...

Not really, I have a blind 4 week old; she literally has NO eyes and she has her cage mapped out very well. She is a very happy girl; zoomies and popcorns everyday. It's not like they are in the wild taking care of themselves. Most blind piggies do very well. Do you have experience with a blind piggy to say this? I know @RodentCuddles has a blind girl as well and from what I have read she is doing very, very well.

A guinea pig can usually do very well with just one working eye or no eyes...yes my girl is blind and deaf, but it doesn't stop her living her life..this morning she was 'running' around *not running..more of a fast walk but fast for her!* and climbing up on the pillow then half jumping half falling off it..the difference is though she never saw or heard so she doesn't know what it's like to see..so with that in mind your boy will take a bit of time to get use to this new way of life.

I hope your boy pulls through! I'm not the best with medical care so will leave that to the others but I wish you and Oliver the best of luck!

He's not blind, he's one eyed. And he wasn't born that way either. He got his eye removed, and that is harsh even for a human! Plus, this isn't about your blind guinea pig, it's about Oliver, and when I said the thing about putting him down, it was to let him/her know that no matter how much you love your piggy, sometimes it's what needs to happen. @Melissa123

I never said it was hopeless... @Agrimony

Again, I had a pig with an eye removed, and yes it was very hard on him (both of us really), but he fought through it. He is totally fine and well adjusted now, on a topical antibiotic regimen but other than that he's great. If the OP and Oliver are willing to keep fighting, he could make it through and be great. I know your comments aren't meant to hurt and are from the heart, but I don't want the OP to lose faith or give up. I hope there is a happy ending here.

If this helps, these are a couple pictures of Pickle's surgery. The first is two days after surgery and his first day home, the second picture was about two days after that when the infection was getting bad, and the third is him now. I think your Oliver has a worse infection, I'd just keep up with feeding and when in doubt call your vet. I bot hered my vets constantly, he went to two different ones, and had follow up appointments for a couple months after. It's a long process.

@PiggyLove1 , when a person is frantic about whether or not their pig will recover, it's not a good time to point out all the horrible things you think may go wrong.

This is the medical forum, and there are quite a few people on this forum who can give good medical advice. Your post contributed nothing to Oliver's well-being. Please refrain from posting here unless you can actually contribute something helpful to the situation.

Thanks.

@bpatters Thank you so much for the great information! That article was so helpful for me. I think I wasn't feeding frequently enough...I was only giving him 5cc 3 times per day. After work yesterday I started feeding every couple hours, I tried mixing in my healthy pigs poop with his food to give him some more healthy bacteria for his gut, I crushed up some probiotics and vitamin c and mixed that with baby food, pediatlyte, critical care, crushed pellets, and today he is much better I think. I even woke up in the middle of the night and did a feeding and I have my roommate feeding him while I'm at work today. I think I'm going to get some pumpkin for fiber like the article suggests. I have been fighting with Oliver to get him to eat at all and this morning he seemed to have an appetite finally. When I gave him the syringe with food he actually was agreeable to taking it instead of fighting me. Also, I've been trying to keep him warmer as before I was worried he was too hot and so had him by the air conditioner. I've switched out his bedding also and it seems he likes the towels better. Thank you again, I really appreciate your help.

@Agrimony I really appreciated the pictures you put up for me. I feel so much hope now seeing your piggy healthy and happy after his surgery. I've been feeling very scared that I'm going to lose my boy or worse that I'm hurting him and should put him down, but I really feel like we have a fighting chance now. I added a little warm water to my piggy's mush before giving it to him and you're right! He seemed to take it better when it was a little bit warm I'm going to try the warm rag with salt water tonite when I get home. I've been putting 50/50 hydrogen peroxide/water on it a couple times a day but I think the washcloth idea will be a good idea as well to help draw out all that icky stuff.

@Melissa123 Thank you for the words of encouragement! And I will talk to my doctor about the B-12 to see if maybe that would help him

@RodentCuddles I'm glad to hear that he can live a normal life still with having only one eye. I was worried how his cage mate would treat him and how he would react to her once I put them back together.

So now I have a couple new questions... Oliver seems constipated this morning. He walks around like he's trying to poop and when I picked him up I could see a little poop coming out but I had to pull it out to get it to come out for him. I was very gentle and it wasn't super hard to pull out but he doesn't seem like he's able to push it out by himself. His poop isn't normal at this point which I figure is just because of the diet he's on right now. It's very long and thin instead of the normal pellet like poops.

How do I help him be able to go to the bathroom better? Maybe add some pumpkin in what I'm feeding him like the article said?? I have him in a smaller separate cage from the normal big one he shares with his cage mate and he isn't trying to poop at all when he is in the small cage. I keep having to put him in the big cage (I take his cage mate out when I do this) in order to get him to try to go poop. He runs around a little bit and only then do I see anything coming out of him. Also, I was reading something somewhere that you have to rub their bellies or put them on a vibrating pillow to help with bloating? Do you think I should do this? I don't know if it's bloating or just that he's having trouble pooping... Sorry if this grosses everyone out!

Second question is in regards to him and his cage mate. I've let them see each other a couple times since his surgery but if they are in the big cage together they start teeth chattering at each other pretty quickly so I pull his cage mate out to let him wander around and get some exercise. Is their relationship going to be bad from now on? How do I get them to be ok with one another again?
Lastly, do you think it's ok for me to give him a bath? He smells really bad lol.

Thank you again everyone! I really appreciate all your help and Oliver appreciates it too!! I've attached 2 pictures; the first one is the surgery site as of last night and the second picture is him falling asleep on my lap after he just had a feeding

@D_inski , to me it sounds like his GI tract is moving too slow right now. I am not sure about adding pumpkin- someone else will hopefully add to that for you!
Try to keep him as active as possible- lots of floor time. A vibrating pillow should also help to get things moving again. My boy Guinness has bloat issues and he HATES having his stomach messed with- the pillow works wonders on him.
Does he seem bloated? When you tap on his belly is there a hollow sound? He may benefit from GI meds- Metoclopramide and Cisapride help to keep the GI tract moving- also works for my boy!
Continue with lots of hand feeding, the more food going through his system the better.

As far as the cage mate issues goes- is there a way to have their cages right next to each other? I know they shouldn't be together during his recovery time. I have heard of piggies having surgery and never accepting their cage mates again- it really just depends on your piggies.

BTW- your pics won't work for me!

@Melissa123 His belly doesn't seem bloated to me, but I've never dealt with bloat before. I noticed his belly is finally filling out a little compared to the past couple days that he's been so skinny but I don't know if that means he's bloated?? Where in the world do you get a vibrating pillow lol...

@D_inski, I'm glad he seems to be doing better.

Re separating them -- you'll probably have to do full reintroductions again when Oliver is well enough to go back with his buddy. It may help to just confine him in one end of the big cage. You can make a temporary grid divider and then take it out when the time comes. In the meantime, switch sides with the pigs fairly frequently. I've read recently of several people who have done that before introductions, and they seem to think it helps.

How old is Oliver? Young pigs don't usually need their sacs cleaned, but middle-aged and older ones may. See https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/85830-Awesome-video-on-how-to-clean-the-Anal-Sac on how to do it.

Just a tip -- if you'll hit the "Enter" key after each paragraph, it'll break up your posts and make them much easier to read.

I just wanted to add words of encouragement for you. I had a rabbit that had an infection in his eye and needed it removed. After the surgery his eye continued to get infected and it was a long road to recovery but he pulled through and lived another 8 years as a one-eyed-bunny. The one eye never seemed to slow him down much at all.

D_inski said:

@Melissa123 His belly doesn't seem bloated to me, but I've never dealt with bloat before. I noticed his belly is finally filling out a little compared to the past couple days that he's been so skinny but I don't know if that means he's bloated?? Where in the world do you get a vibrating pillow lol...

Click to expand...

I have this pillow- it works pretty well for mine
! (broken link removed)
His belly would be much more round than normal if he does have bloat. A lot firmer as well and you would hear a hollow sound if you tap on it. Just keep an eye on him.

Also I forgot to add- I wouldn't bathe him until he is a bit healthier if he were mine. His system couldn't handle another issue to deal with if he were to catch a draft or chill before he dried completely.

Love the pics- he looks like he is enjoying some one-on-one time with you!

@D_inski - hang in there and be positive!

My first reaction to the post is that you are not feeding him nearly enough. The back of the critical care pkg gives details - it's 3 tablespoons dry for every 1kg of pig based on normal weight for your pig. So if he normally is 1250 grams, he needs 4 tablespoons (before it's mixed up) to maintain and more if you are trying to get weight back on. Weigh him every day at the same time. If you are force feeding and a lot is not making it in, weigh him before and after feedings so you can get a sense of how much made it. Even if he seems like he is eating more on his own, still feed and weigh continuously. Pigs eat all day and all night, and even if it looks like he's eating often, he may not be eating nearly enough. Keeping his weight up is important.

I swear by canned pumpkin. It makes the critical care so much easier to feed. I mix batches of 1 tablespoon dry critical care, 1 heaping tablespoon canned pumpkin and then water to thin it down. I would ease him into adding the canned pumpkin, not do it all at once, to avoid upsetting his gut. Crushed pellets are difficult to syringe (and the critical care is better anyway) and some other additives you mentioned can have added sugar or other chemicals that may or may not bother him. The canned pumpkin is a good source of fiber to keep things moving, and doesn't have the risks some others have of upsetting his gut. Feed slowly, carefully, to avoid choking.

Watch his water intake. If the mixture is watery that you are feeding, he may be getting enough. Otherwise syringe a small bit of water as well on a regular basis.

For the pooping issues - talk to your vet about a motility medication. Cisapride and metaclopromide can be used to keep things moving and can do wonders in a matter of hours. I would call them now when it's just a small issue and before it comes something more. You can see poop issues from diet changes, reactions to the medications, not getting enough water, etc. And since GI stasis as well as bloating can be potential issues, I tend to err on the side of using the motility medications just to eliminate one extra worry. https://www.guinealynx.info/motility.html

Being active and moving around is also helpful for him to poo. I wouldn't do the vibrating pillow - if there are signs of bloat I'd go back to the vet. I agree completely with @bpatters about giving him a section of the original cage, swapping sides occasionally (then they still smell like each other). I would avoid putting him with his old cagemate, and would just plan for reintroductions later when he is better. No bath for now. Just spot clean him if needed with a washcloth, but remember that anything you can do to reduce stress for him will aide in recovery.

And don't loose hope in him or in yourself.

Is he still on the bupropion? He may have stopped eating because of pain if not. I would see about switching to a different pain med, though, like meloxicam. It doesn't make a pig sleepy or dopey. You can give it orally.

He might also have stopped eating because of antibiotic intolerance. Baytril can cause stomach upset, even if you are using a probiotic (hence the stringy poops). If he doesn't begin to feel better and start eating more on his own, you may want to change antibiotics. Perhaps chloramphenicol or doxycycline, or even Bactrim. Or a combination of two. My Timmy needed to take Bactrim and Chloramphenicol to get over his infection after his eye was removed.

I want to add that Timmy will still occasionally have problems with his eye if the tiny opening becomes blocked. I have to keep it opened to allow for drainage.

Well I tried to help I'm just not good with sympathy... @bpatters