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Sick Very lethargic Guinea pig, not making any noises.

CavyLover00

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A few weeks ago my piggie, Aela (whom I've had for 3 years) started developing signs of a URI. I begged my mom to help pay for her to go to the vet, and it took 3 hours of her screaming at me before she finally agreed. We went and the vet said there was nothing wrong with her. She gave us antibiotics just in case there was something they couldn't see or hear.
I gave them to her and she really started to be cheering up and being herself. And then her treatment was over and she stopped acting like herself.
My mom won't take me back to the vet again and I'm really worried about her safety. She's not eating as much, doesn't drink. She just lays in one spot in her cage and doesn't respond very much.

What can I do to help her until she can get to the vet, and how can I convince my mom to take her?
I'm crying so hard right now. I know she's older and a lot of her health problems could stem from that but I think she needs help and all my mom does is yell at me over it.
I'm 16 but she won't let me get a job so I can't pay for her at all. What "allowance" I get is like 20 dollars and I save that up and buy her stuff or my grandpa buys her stuff.
 

bpatters

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I'm sorry, but she really needs a vet. How old is she?

How much is she eating? And what is she eating? Is she pooping normally?
 

CavyLover00

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I'm sorry, but she really needs a vet. How old is she?

How much is she eating? And what is she eating? Is she pooping normally?
shes eating only veggies, she leaves her pellets alone. And she only ate a little over half of her veggies from this morning.
I don't know how old she is, but when we got her she was already full grown so I'm assuming she's pretty old.
I think I might have to sell something to be able to pay for another vet visit. And I'll have somebody drive me.
I'll be going on vacation so I'm gonna try and go tomorrow and leave it up to my boyfriend to take care of her until I get back.
I know she's old and the vet said she's old and she's gonna have a lot more health problems, but I want her to be as healthy as possible until her last day.
 

bpatters

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How long have you had her? Guinea pigs can live eight years or more, although most don't make it much past seven.

Does she eat her hay? Lack of interest in pellets could indicate a tooth problem.
 

Fay

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Also, was the vet an exotic vet or a standard small animal cat & dog vet? Standard vets are not trained to treat exotic pets like guinea pigs. But yes, you will have to figure out how you can save up some money to pay for vet visits. I'd aim to save up about $1.5-2k. Why won't your mom let you have a job? Maybe you could go around peoples houses and offer to do chores like mow the lawn in exchange for cash.

I'm also concerned about how your mom is behaving towards you, it sounds kind of abusive to me. Have you considered talking to a school counselor or a trusted adult like a teacher about her behavior? They might be able to help you out. I'd also start thinking about an exit plan so you can move out when you're 18. You shouldn't have to live like that with your mom being so controlling, at least more so than is reasonable for a parent.
 

CavyLover00

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Also, was the vet an exotic vet or a standard small animal cat & dog vet? Standard vets are not trained to treat exotic pets like guinea pigs. But yes, you will have to figure out how you can save up some money to pay for vet visits. I'd aim to save up about $1.5-2k. Why won't your mom let you have a job? Maybe you could go around peoples houses and offer to do chores like mow the lawn in exchange for cash.

I'm also concerned about how your mom is behaving towards you, it sounds kind of abusive to me. Have you considered talking to a school counselor or a trusted adult like a teacher about her behavior? They might be able to help you out. I'd also start thinking about an exit plan so you can move out when you're 18. You shouldn't have to live like that with your mom being so controlling, at least more so than is reasonable for a parent.

it was an exotic vet. There's only 2 near me and one is extremely expensive.

I don't have anybody (adult wise) to talk to because I'm homeschooled. The only person I have to talk to about it is my boyfriend
 

mjalred

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I had a pig, she died a few days ago (from old age we think) who got sick all the time. After the second time she go sick, my mom refused to take her to the vet. She wouldn't eat or drink at all, so I decided to try and fix her myself. I force fed her everyday, and within 4 or 5 days she was completely back to normal. If there's no way you can bring her to the vet, force feeding is the best thing you can do. https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html <------- this link should help you. I have to say however, force feeding may not help. It sounds like your piggie could be pretty old, and while she may not necessarily die, there is a good chance you could lose her. If your Guinea pig is being lethargic, and not eating or drinking much, but the exotic vet can't find anything wrong, maybe it's just your piggie's time to go. Best of luck to you.
 
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Fay

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it was an exotic vet. There's only 2 near me and one is extremely expensive.

I don't have anybody (adult wise) to talk to because I'm homeschooled. The only person I have to talk to about it is my boyfriend

Yeah unfortunately exotic vets are expensive :( which is of course part of the problem.

If you want to talk to someone/counselor you can do so by calling this place: https://www.childhelp.org/hotline/ - It's free and anonymous. It will allow you to just talk to an adult whose trained to help you with these things and will be able to give you advice, just like a school counselor. At worst you'll be able to just get it all off your chest to someone whose impartial, at best they will provide you with tons of good advice and resources that you can use to take action.
 

CavyLover00

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Yeah unfortunately exotic vets are expensive :( which is of course part of the problem.

If you want to talk to someone/counselor you can do so by calling this place: https://www.childhelp.org/hotline/ - It's free and anonymous. It will allow you to just talk to an adult whose trained to help you with these things and will be able to give you advice, just like a school counselor. At worst you'll be able to just get it all off your chest to someone whose impartial, at best they will provide you with tons of good advice and resources that you can use to take action.

So I have a very sad update. My mom finally agreed to take her to the vet and so we took her to the exotic vet. And when we got there they could tell something was wrong. They still couldn't find anything and they said there was nothing they could do. They said we could continue her on antibiotics but the day after she went off them all the problems would come back.
So, they suggested putting her down.
today has been extremely hard and I've been sad all day and I broke down earlier this morning. I held her until her last breath and cried hard.
She was eating veggies and hay even when she couldn't keep herself up. She was just so thin and lifeless.
thank you for your support about my mom. It's always been hard but today she showed true emotion as she broke down and cried too. I am going to talk her her about our relationship
thank you all <3
 

lattiee

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I'm sorry for your loss of your special guinea pig . I was wondering what was the name of antibiotics was given to your piggy at the beginning when she first started to show signs ?
Plus, your mom should had taken serious account of getting a piggy to the vet right away and if its not the right type of one it would be better to get more than one opinion to make sure she was properly treated at least even tho your mom was a bit weak at getting her to the vet it does sound to me that the vets that you saw were pretty lazy ones as did any of the vets do any xray, or blood tests ?

It does sound like she should had been hand fed with mushy pellets in a syringe and it sounds like she was a bit dehydrated since she wasn't drinking water which is a sign of bloat so what kind of veggies were you giving her ?
 

CavyLover00

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I'm sorry for your loss of your special guinea pig . I was wondering what was the name of antibiotics was given to your piggy at the beginning when she first started to show signs ?
Plus, your mom should had taken serious account of getting a piggy to the vet right away and if its not the right type of one it would be better to get more than one opinion to make sure she was properly treated at least even tho your mom was a bit weak at getting her to the vet it does sound to me that the vets that you saw were pretty lazy ones as did any of the vets do any xray, or blood tests ?

It does sound like she should had been hand fed with mushy pellets in a syringe and it sounds like she was a bit dehydrated since she wasn't drinking water which is a sign of bloat so what kind of veggies were you giving her ?
they checked everything they could. They listened to her breathing and checked her teeth. She was eating everything but her pellets. And she was drinking. I was giving her a special diet spoon fed to her twice a day that was given by the vet the first time. No matter what we did that the vet said (they're very well known for taking good care of the exotic pets that are taken in so I didn't think they were lazy). This was her 3rd time going to the same vet and the past two times they took great care of her and knew what they were doing.
They said there was absolutely nothing they could do at this point. I do think if my mom would've agreed to take her to the vet earlier this wouldn't have happened.
 

lattiee

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they checked everything they could. They listened to her breathing and checked her teeth. She was eating everything but her pellets. And she was drinking. I was giving her a special diet spoon fed to her twice a day that was given by the vet the first time. No matter what we did that the vet said (they're very well known for taking good care of the exotic pets that are taken in so I didn't think they were lazy). This was her 3rd time going to the same vet and the past two times they took great care of her and knew what they were doing.
They said there was absolutely nothing they could do at this point. I do think if my mom would've agreed to take her to the vet earlier this wouldn't have happened.

What was the antibiotic name that was given to her at the beginning of her issues as was it Bactrim ? What about a hydraion Sub Cue ? So if they did end up giving her a xray and a blood test and the hydration subcue along with antibiotic not working.
If so with all those issues it sounds like if a vet couldn't have found anything wrong its more likely it wouldn't have changed anything even if your mom took her earlier it sounds more likely it was her time to go . I'm sorry for your loss !
 

mjalred

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I'm so sorry for the loss of your piggie, I'm sure my Mabel will be right there along Aela, to greet her at the rainbow bridge.
 
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