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Poorly Guinea Pig;advice from other owners needed:

Ash and Chief

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Hello,

Myself and my housemate bought a 3 year old guinea pig from an elderly lady who couldnt keep him anymore. We have had him for 1 year now, never any health problems, he was totally his usual self up until today, now he has no interest in celery (his fav) or musili and I have not seen him drink. And then he seemed to be drooling but it is almost like he is being sick, the drool seems to come after he heaves, almost like if you could imagine a person heaving. We went straight to the vet who looked in his mouth, no teeth problems seemed to be apparent, nothing stuck in his throat. he felt about his stomach/intestine area and said he could feel a mass which he could move from one side to the other, it seemed to be golf ball sized and just floating around in him. The vet said he would only know what it was if he opened him up but didnt seem to be promoting this as an option and said we could give him a pain killer tonight and take him home and if we didnt see an improvement then put him to sleep. It just seems very sudden as he was totally himself just yesterday! I'm wondering has anyone experienced such a quick decline?? The vet gave him an injection with morphine in it and we took him home.
 

HollyLeaf

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When a pig gets sick, it can go from 10 to dead overnight. Ive never experienced this with pigs myself as i havent had them very long, but ive seen that and heard it all over this site and from my vet. If something is off about the pig, it should be taken to the vet right away. And cavies are prone to hide their illness, as a sort of defense mechanism. Your pig could be sick and you wouldnt have a clue until the symptoms show badly. Anyway i hope the best for your little piggie.
 

bpatters

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Was this an exotic vet you saw? Small animal (dog and cat) vets know very little about guinea pigs, and seeing one is usually a waste of time and money, besides possibly endangering your pig. Morphine is not usually given to guinea pigs, as it slows down their digestive tracts, and can cause more problems than it solves.

Drooling is usually a sign of a problem with the molars, or possibly with the esophagus. Guinea pigs can't vomit, so it's not coming from his stomach.

To answer your question, yes, a guinea pig can go downhill that quickly, but not usually from a growth in the stomach -- usually, from a respiratory infection.

If it were my pig, I'd find a better vet and insist on an x-ray of the abdominal cavity. They may not be able to tell exactly what it IS from an x-ray, but they can tell by how much it displaces the stomach contents how large it is.
 

Ash and Chief

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Was this an exotic vet you saw? Small animal (dog and cat) vets know very little about guinea pigs, and seeing one is usually a waste of time and money, besides possibly endangering your pig. Morphine is not usually given to guinea pigs, as it slows down their digestive tracts, and can cause more problems than it solves.

Drooling is usually a sign of a problem with the molars, or possibly with the esophagus. Guinea pigs can't vomit, so it's not coming from his stomach.

To answer your question, yes, a guinea pig can go downhill that quickly, but not usually from a growth in the stomach -- usually, from a respiratory infection.

If it were my pig, I'd find a better vet and insist on an x-ray of the abdominal cavity. They may not be able to tell exactly what it IS from an x-ray, but they can tell by how much it displaces the stomach contents how large it is.
 

Ash and Chief

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No this was just an average vet, fairly sure he deals with dogs and cats mostly, didnt seem so familiar with guinea pigs and actually was quite dismissive, we were only in consultation for ten minutes if not less. He did look in his mouth as best he could and saw no teeth problems so we've ruled that out, he seems no worse but also no better, he is still wretching and he hasnt eaten or taken a drink :( thanks for your feed back guys, its really appreciated!! We are going to search for another vet. I just needed advice from people who may have seen such a quick decline or dealt with a sick pig before, is there anything I can do to make him more comfortable?
 
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bpatters

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Get him to a good vet is the only thing you can do. Where are you? (City/state, not actual address) We may be able to help you find a vet.
 

Ash and Chief

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Yeah I'm looking up vets in my town now, I am actually from Ireland! Thank you very much though!! We never owned a guinea pig before Chief so we didnt know what to expect! I didnt realise also that most vets were not so experienced with them, a forum like this is so useful :) very grateful!
 

bpatters

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If you're new to guinea pigs, see the main page at www.guinealynx.info. There are two links right in the middle of the page, one on raising a healthy cavy, the other on emergency/health care. They've both got a lot of good information.

If you google "exotic vets ireland" (without the quotes), you'll get a number of hits. I have no idea how close they'd be to you, but it's nothing to have to drive an hour or more to an exotic vet even in fairly large cities here in the U.S.
 

poop_patrol

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Based on what you've reported, don't dismiss a tooth issue. An inexperienced vet would be hard pressed to diagnose a tooth issue even with the proper tools for examination.
 
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