Not Eating Paralyzed Guinea Pig, Won't Eat

Try bell peppers for the Vit. C. not as strong as a supplement but not to shabby either. If he eats hay and other veggies it's probably not his teeth. Only way to know for sure is to set up a video and record and watch and see if he eats or drops. Most stuff tends to happen when your not watching unless you have the time (and bladder) to watch 24/7.

Maplepig said:

He says he needs to find an "irrigation syringe" or something like that, because it's not made for attaching to a needle so it's not quite so narrow..

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He still isn't likely to find what you need. Here are two links from Amazon to give both of you an idea of what works:

(#1 choice) (broken link removed)
(#2 choice - can be found in pet stores) (broken link removed)

If the stopper (rubber end) on the syringe begins to stick, rub a little coconut oil on it and then wipe it off. It will lubricate the plunger so it doesn't stick......which will cause you to squirt a large amount at once and risk choking the animal.

Insofar as Vit. C goes, here is what you need:


Syringe about 0.5mL straight or mixed with water if you prefer. It is pretty sour, but cavies seem to like it anyway. BTW, if you have difficulty syringing virtually ANYTHING to a cavy, mix it with unflavored Pedialyte (buy the generic brand). I've never had a cavy who didn't love it!

Rather than leaf lettuce, I suggest you buy a couple packages of spring mix. The way to keep it fresh longer is to repackage it.......put a layer of paper towel into a ziplock baggy and then add the mix. This keeps it moist without the excess moisture causing it to spoil too soon.

Have a fun shopping day!

rosspiggys said:

Try bell peppers for the Vit. C. not as strong as a supplement but not to shabby either. If he eats hay and other veggies it's probably not his teeth. Only way to know for sure is to set up a video and record and watch and see if he eats or drops. Most stuff tends to happen when your not watching unless you have the time (and bladder) to watch 24/7.

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I tried bell pepper--he wouldn't eat it. And he seems to be struggling with his hay...he has to get it at just the right angle, or he can't seem to eat it.

@spy9doc , thank you! That's all very helpful. We have some spring mix...is there anything in a spring mix that they might NOT be able to safely eat? (for example, ours has spinach in it...is that okay?)

Also, as for the vitamin C: I know that I'm a human and not a guinea pig, but I had to take a vitamin C supplement for awhile, and the one time that I took it without food I got very sick. It was very unpleasant. Is that something that can happen to Maple if I don't feed him at the same time as I give him the vitamin C, or is that just not a problem guinea pigs have? I wouldn't want to make him sick.

Maplepig said:

@spy9doc , thank you! That's all very helpful. We have some spring mix...is there anything in a spring mix that they might NOT be able to safely eat? (for example, ours has spinach in it...is that okay?)

Also, as for the vitamin C: I know that I'm a human and not a guinea pig, but I had to take a vitamin C supplement for awhile, and the one time that I took it without food I got very sick. It was very unpleasant. Is that something that can happen to Maple if I don't feed him at the same time as I give him the vitamin C, or is that just not a problem guinea pigs have? I wouldn't want to make him sick.

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Some people pick out the spinach, but I don't bother. Sparky gets so few greens that are high in calcium that I don't worry about a little spinach in the spring mix. With regard to the Vit. C, I have had no problem with syringing it away from food. I syringe the Vit. C with his heart meds in the evening. If you're concerned about it, then dilute it with water or a little pedialyte.

spy9doc said:

Some people pick out the spinach, but I don't bother. Sparky gets so few greens that are high in calcium that I don't worry about a little spinach in the spring mix. With regard to the Vit. C, I have had no problem with syringing it away from food. I syringe the Vit. C with his heart meds in the evening. If you're concerned about it, then dilute it with water or a little pedialyte.

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Got it. Many many thanks

And the saga continues.

I watched Maple trying to eat his pellets today, and I figured out why he dropped them all. For whatever reason, he can't eat them unless he can get them at exactly the right angle. I even saw him toss one in the air to try to get it right. I think he successfully ate maybe three. He's having a similar problem with lettuce. When we feed it to him, he does all these weird things before he can start the sideways chewing motion. He'll toss his head, and shake his head, and move his jaw up and down until he can get it just right. I don't know what to think of that...is it his teeth, or something else?

He is, however, eating hay. And he's making a real effort to eat his pellets. Also, we got a tiny syringe to use for the Critical Care until we can get a proper one. That didn't go well. If you can avoid it, never try to use a 1 cc syringe to feed a guinea pig 3 tablespoons (aka 45 cc) of goop. Not a good idea.

Does anyone know what's going on with the chewing? We're planning on bringing him back to the vet Thursday

I'd bet on teeth.

bpatters said:

I'd bet on teeth.

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That's what I thought. If he's eating hay and chewing hard things, will his teeth wear down enough? Or do they need to be trimmed in some way?

Maplepig said:

That's what I thought. If he's eating hay and chewing hard things, will his teeth wear down enough? Or do they need to be trimmed in some way?

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The molars will almost certainly need planing. What you're describing is almost certain to be his molars. Have a look at his incisors. Do they seem to be worn at an angle?

They need hay to keep their molars ground down. If he's been eating hay fine prior to now, something has likely grown wonky in his mouth. After a molar planing the hay will again help in keeping them ground.

Guinea Pig Papa said:

The molars will almost certainly need planing. What you're describing is almost certain to be his molars. Have a look at his incisors. Do they seem to be worn at an angle?

They need hay to keep their molars ground down. If he's been eating hay fine prior to now, something has likely grown wonky in his mouth. After a molar planing the hay will again help in keeping them ground.

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What do you mean by a molar planing?

I'll have another look at his incisors, but last I checked they didn't seem to be worn at an angle. Also, he is eating hay again. So that's something

This evening's feeding was rather traumatic. Maple has decided that he now hates any and all syringes, but for the first time we were actually able to get something into him. Mostly because I finally realized I was too timid and turned the syringe over to my mom. While sympathetic, Mom understands the "force" in "force-feeding," and she didn't let him get away. The new syringe also helped.

Speaking of the new syringe...y'all, we bought 13 syringes today. I think we might be crazy. However, it should be noted that 12 of those syringes came in a single pack, and we only got them because we thought they'd be the best thing we could find. Later, though, my wonderful and dedicated mother found an infant-feeding syringe of some sort at the pharmacy, and we were back in business. It's got a wide enough opening to easily let the goop through, as well as a long enough end to make feeding possible. And it holds two teaspoons, which is much more reasonable than 1 mL.
@spy9doc , I did try valiantly to find the small pet feeding syringe you suggested. But if it's supposed to be something I should be able to find at any pet store, you haven't met my pet store. The closest one is 45 minutes away, and...well, they're more cat and dog people there.

Speaking of things that I should be able to find and can't, we checked 4 1/2 stores and found no vitamin C supplement. All we could find were multivitamins, but I was fairly sure that wasn't what I was looking for. But we're going to the farther away and bigger city tomorrow, and we should be able to find something then. Also, besides that it was a very successful day. We found corn and spring mix and kale (he doesn't like that, apparently) and all the other things, and I got him some hard timothy-alfalfa blend hay cubes to chew on (he's not super into the one I gave him, but I know he can eat it because he ate an alfalfa-carrot version. I think it'll help him wear his teeth down, as well as get timothy into him when he can't eat it normally).

Tomorrow my boy is going back to the vet. Apparently they have to put him under anesthesia to look at his teeth, which makes me very uncomfortable, but I'm going to trust they know what they're doing. It'll be nice to actually meet this vet I've heard so much about. I'm hoping she'll show us how to do guinea pig PT.

Besides all that, there are four other updates:
1) It seems that he can't eat timothy hay because he can't get it at the right angle. So while he was eating his house today I plopped some soft, aromatic orchard grass in front of his face. Then I watched him eat it for what felt like ten minutes. It was a beautiful sight.
2) We've been weighing him every day for the last four days. Over the first three he was dropping steadily by degrees of about ten grams, but today he remained stable (by which I mean he went up 2 g, but that's not a significant amount). So that's good. Or at least not bad.
3) He is now pooping normally, although it's very small--more hamster-sized. Also seems like a good sign.
4) He's grooming now, which I hadn't seen him do for a while. And when I came into the room at feeding time last night, he wheeked loudly in greeting, a sound I haven't heard for I'm not sure how long. Also seems good.

We're praying for a safe vet appointment tomorrow. Thank you so much @bpatters for the suggestion of orchard grass! I never would have thought like that but it's working like a charm.

Pestsmart sells the Vit, C supp. That's where we gt ours.

rosspiggys said:

Pestsmart sells the Vit, C supp. That's where we gt ours.

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Thanks

Maple went to the vet yesterday, and they trimmed his teeth. It seems to have helped. He's eating the orchard grass just fine, but he's still not very into his pellets. He'll walk over and eat one pellet, then he'll go and do something else. *Shrugs*

We're also giving him vitamin C now. His mouth looks rather red after his encounter with the vet yesterday, and I think the vitamin C may have irritated it. Right after we syringed the vitamin C to him, we fed him a piece of cilantro, and he didn't seem to be able to eat it (he had eaten it just fine a few minutes before). So Mom thinks that the acidity of the vitamin C hurt his mouth, and I think she's right because he could eat cilantro fine in just a few minutes. I'm hoping that's something that will go away with time (and vitamin C).

Other than that, he's doing pretty well! The vet has us doing a little exercise with him to help him get the strength back in his legs. The right is definitely stiffer than the left, but they're both getting better. Yay! Thank you all so much for your help.