rolandinthehay
Well-known Member
Cavy Slave
- Joined
- May 29, 2013
- Posts
- 314
- Joined
- May 29, 2013
- Messages
- 314
My guinea pig Alfie is almost 7 years old (will be in July). Yesterday, we noticed he was in his hidey most of the day. He responded to veggies earlier in the evening, but seemed a lot less energetic than normal. We noticed he seemed to have a lot of poops (fully formed for the most part) stuck in his bum, so we cleaned them out using the impaction instructions on Guinea Lynx (w/ mineral oil).
The rest of the evening, things got way worse. He laid facing the wall for the rest of the night. He was lurching forward off and on, but otherwise would not move. His head was almost tilted forward and down, so his nose was facing the floor. His eyes looked pretty watery, but it was white almost like his normal cleaning fluid. He has always had a lot of cleaning fluid for most of his life, though, so IDK if that has anything to do with this. He would eat some veggies or hay only if placed directly in front of him.
This morning we rushed him to our vet. They did an exam, listened to lungs, heart, checked his teeth, took a radiograph, but couldn't find anything obviously wrong. He had a bit of gas, but not as bad as the vet has seen. She still prescribed a motility drug. No stones. The vet noticed a weird small growth on a few of his vertebrae and diagnosed it as spindylosis. She prescribed pain meds (metacam) for now and told us to feed him critical care until he starts eating regularly again. She wasn't overly concerned with his eyes, but did prescribe an eye-drop antibiotic, just in case.
We took him home and gave his medications, but he is not doing well... He is now laying (not facing the wall anymore), but his head seems tilted in comparison to his body and it is only in this position when he lays. He looks so uncomfortable. My heart is breaking for him and I don't know what to do to keep him comfortable. I feel helpless and like I'm failing him and I just thought I would post incase anyone has experienced anything like this and has advice. Yesterday, I was hoping it was just his time and he would go peacefully, but now it seems like something is seriously wrong and he is in severe pain.
The rest of the evening, things got way worse. He laid facing the wall for the rest of the night. He was lurching forward off and on, but otherwise would not move. His head was almost tilted forward and down, so his nose was facing the floor. His eyes looked pretty watery, but it was white almost like his normal cleaning fluid. He has always had a lot of cleaning fluid for most of his life, though, so IDK if that has anything to do with this. He would eat some veggies or hay only if placed directly in front of him.
This morning we rushed him to our vet. They did an exam, listened to lungs, heart, checked his teeth, took a radiograph, but couldn't find anything obviously wrong. He had a bit of gas, but not as bad as the vet has seen. She still prescribed a motility drug. No stones. The vet noticed a weird small growth on a few of his vertebrae and diagnosed it as spindylosis. She prescribed pain meds (metacam) for now and told us to feed him critical care until he starts eating regularly again. She wasn't overly concerned with his eyes, but did prescribe an eye-drop antibiotic, just in case.
We took him home and gave his medications, but he is not doing well... He is now laying (not facing the wall anymore), but his head seems tilted in comparison to his body and it is only in this position when he lays. He looks so uncomfortable. My heart is breaking for him and I don't know what to do to keep him comfortable. I feel helpless and like I'm failing him and I just thought I would post incase anyone has experienced anything like this and has advice. Yesterday, I was hoping it was just his time and he would go peacefully, but now it seems like something is seriously wrong and he is in severe pain.