Not Eating Misko's Medical Thread

Thank you bpatters.

We will keep him off the veggies.
I am puzzled at what is happening now, we feed him critical care every 4 hours or so at a full dose and he still just lost 50g overnight and keeps losing?!

He poops like all the time now and there is almost a 100 of his poops in the cage. As soon as he gets critical care he has to poop. It is not diarrhea.

Is it possible that motility drugs now move the food through his digestion system too fast? He is on Cinapride, Reglan and Zantac.

How much CC are you giving him? He needs 100+ cc's, per day, for every kilogram he weighs, given in 6-8 feedings around the clock. You adjust up or down according to the weight of the pig, and down if he's eating a significant amount of something else.

It's possible that he's on too much motility medication, but if that's the case, I'd expect to see really soft, maybe mushy poop. It's more likely that you're not feeding him enough CC.

He is getting at least 100 cc per day and eats a bit of hay and pellets himself, but I guess we will have to go higher and even more often and start measuring in cc's.
Every feeding he would get 1 tablespoon of critical care, which would be 20-25 1ml syringes depending how thick we make it.
When he was healthy he was around 1250g, as of today he is 1060g.
I feed him 1 tablespoon last night at 8pm, than at 12am, than at 4am. And my wife at 8am, and then weighted him and he was 50g lighter than then day before.
Really depressing.
I will try lowering his dose of motility drugs a bit as well. He literally poops all the time.

You were right bpatters.
We didn't feed him enough CC. We changed to 25cc every 3 hours and now he is steady around 1100 grams.
He always ate and pooped twice as much compared to our other piggy. Maybe he just needs more.

In a few days it is going to be a month of force feeding critical care.
And his poop still doesn't look right and still not eating enough by himself.
We do see small improvements in appetite and general activity, but it is going very slow.

We are having hard time finding critical care here in Canada.
I already bought all the bags from local vets and everybody has it on backorder, even online stores and amazon.
Some vet offices told me oxbow stopped producing critical care, I don't know if that is correct information.

You were right bpatters.
We didn't feed him enough CC. We changed to 25cc every 3 hours and now he is steady around 1100 grams.
He always ate and pooped twice as much compared to our other piggy. Maybe he just needs more.

In a few days it is going to be a month of force feeding critical care.
And his poop still doesn't look right and still not eating enough by himself.
We do see small improvements in appetite and general activity, but it is going very slow.

We are having hard time finding critical care here in Canada.
I already bought all the bags from local vets and everybody has it on backorder, even online stores and amazon.
Some vet offices told me oxbow stopped producing critical care, I don't know if that is correct information.

I highly doubt that Oxbow has stopped producing it. I suppose it's possible but it's SO widely used that I just can't see it.

Where in Canada are you located, @Mike221? Just city and province.

Saskatoon SK

I also checked Amazon, both Canada and U.S. and I can confirm what you've said is true. I also put in a call to my vet tonight and was told that they have been ordering, but all sizes for the last month have been back ordered. This isn't great news. You CAN use pellet slurry in a pinch. It's not optimal and it's more difficult to prepare but it will keep him alive.

I was able to get ahold of few more bags. 2 vets in a nearby city had some in stock. But something is definitely happening, so I am stocking up.
Our vet might get some more, she always seems to get it somehow. I'm just playing it safe, cos how things are going Misko will need it for a while

The vet clinic in my area isn’t having trouble getting all types of food, and some medications such as Vetmedin heart meds. I picked up a prescription yesterday and they are calling in orders every day just to be on backorder. I think as more people get sick with Covid there are fewer at work to make meds, fill orders, warehouse supplies, and ship products.

My Friar Tuck and us are fighting the exact same battle as you and Misko. Thanks for sharing your experience on my own thread, and I've read Misko's thread now myself...cheers for both our piggies fighting this battle.

We're in the U.S., and there's the same big critcal care shortage here. We wrote Oxbow asking why and no answer. We got one large bag from Amazon, though all sizes are out of stock now. It's out of stock everywhere else online as well. Luckily one of our vets has it, that's now our only source.

Sorry for not replying to you MerryFriarTuck , we are going through a nightmare.

We are losing Misko, he is fading away.
I've never cried as much as today.

Sunday evening he had floor time, he was active, running around, asking for treats, eating hay.
He seemed great. During the last week we slowly started reducing his motility drugs and metacam.
He was still on 0.25ml Metacam twice daily and 0.1ml Cisapride twice daily.
Monday morning my wife gave him CC, and left him in the cage. He was eating hay when she left.
I woke up half hour later and found him in his hut facing the inside. I knew something was wrong right away.
His head was tilted to the right and he refused to eat anything.
His belly was stone hard and he had spasms.
His condition was deteriorating rapidly.
He had hard time passing poops and by the evening he was completely lethargic.
He was falling to the right side, couldn't use or move his front right leg.
We thought we will lose him overnight, but we kept fighting and forcing CC whole night and massaging his belly.
We got him back on all his meds, and today in the morning he started passing poops.
Currently he poops a lot and poops actually don't look too bad. Best since his surgery.
Problem is that he is completely lethargic, can't move at all, he is completely disoriented.
If we leave him lying on the belly, he just turns to his side.
His whole rear end is vibrating, he has spasms and breaths very hard. He is in lot of pain.
Heartbreaking.

Today I took him to the vet to get fluids and to check him.
When she saw him she suspected a stroke, but said it passed over a month from the surgery so it shouldn't be that.
Than she suspected inner ear inflammation and did x-rays.
Images showed signs of otitis that could fit with infection of inner ear.
Interestingly his left side looks worse than his right, but he tilts towards right side.
She consulted with a specialist and they decided to treat with antibiotic Azithromycin, taking in account that antibiotic started all this to begin with.
This is the last shot to save him.

Misko has less than 5% life left in him.
I just can't believe this all happened in just 24 hours.
He is in lots of pain, completely lethargic and breaths hard and his whole body vibrates, especially rear end around his belly.
Our feeding CC is only thing keeping him alive.
Only positive thing is that he started pooping really a lot, and poops look good.
It is hard to feed CC because he has hard time chewing and swallowing, but we still manage.

We are heartbroken. He is suffering.
We don't know if/when it is the right time to say enough, and take his pain away

Any input is highly appreciated from more experienced guinea pig owners.

Could all this be caused by a sudden and severe bloat attack?
Can bloat cause the symptoms he is having ( unable to walk, move, falling to the side)?
I just don't understand, how this inner ear thing happened and how it is connected to his bloat problems...
From your experience, can a guinea pig recover from the condition Misko is in if we continue to fight and force CC?

I'm so sorry he's having such a hard time.

Bloat can't produce an inner ear problem, nor would it affect his lack of orientation. But he could have more than one problem and they could be completely unrelated.

It does sound like a stroke or other neurological problem, but it could be related to the ear infection.

It's a hard decision to have to make. I probably tend to make it earlier than some would, because I really can't stand to see them in pain. At this point, I'd probably give the antibiotic 24 hours to see if you see any improvement. If not, then I'd let him go.

Do keep us posted on how you both are doing.

I am so sorry. My heart hurts for you and for Misko.

Azithromycin is, in my opinion, a miracle antibiotic. That's not to say that it will save Misko, or that's even the problem. I'm just saying that each time I've used it, it's worked and worked very, very well.

It does sound like a bloat attack to me, but I'm definitely not an expert. It also sounds like it may be partially neurological but the cause I haven't the faintest idea. Bloat could also be a symptom of a bladder stone, but you've done xrays and it almost certainly would have shown up there.

My fingers are crossed the Misko turned around during the night, and today will bring happier news. Waiting to hear good things.

No worries @Mike221, I'm so sorry you and Misko are going through this. I know how it feels...well wishes and hoping to see good news soon.

Thank you all for your support.
Misko has passed away yesterday evening. We are heartbroken. Life makes no sense for us currently.
He was just over 4 years and had the nicest, kindest personality.
It hurts even more because we sent him for the benign lump removal surgery.
Lump was huge, but didn't affect his life. It continued to grow and we did it to avoid complications when he will be older.
I can't help it because I feel responsible, that I failed him.
We moved to a new house few days before his surgery, our other piggy was sick as well, and I didn't have benebac at home to give him after the antibiotics.
Third day on antibiotics he got diarrhea and problems started.
I will always question myself, what if

Aw, @Mike221 .......

I was hoping for the best. I really was. I am so sorry. I know how much Misko and Cupko mean to you.

Sometimes things just go wrong. You can't predict it and you can't plan for it. Misko knew how much you loved him, and tried to make a better life for him. You gave him 4 years of love and care, and that's what he'll take with him to the Rainbow Bridge.

Please, don't blame yourself. You had no way of knowing anything would happen other than improving his life, and he loves you for that.

Rest in peace, Misko. You family loves you very much, and will miss you forever.

@Mike221, I'm so sorry to read of Misko's passing and please do not blame yourself. You did everything for him with the best of intentions and put your heart into his care.

I'm so sorry, @Mike221.

@Mike221, I'm so sorry for your loss. You did so much for Misko and shouldn't blame yourself. These little ones are so good at hiding illness and pain, many times we don't know what the situation is until it's gotten serious. Take care of yourself.