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Conditions Sam is Squeaking while Pooping

Guinea Pig Papa

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Fingers crossed and my herd send wheeks of support to you and Sam hoping everything will be well!
 

miniver

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That looks like my last vet bill. Ouch. Try to explain to anyone without pets that it's worth it. My family thinks I'm nuts but I'd do it again.

I think the ultrasound is worth it. I hope they can give you some answers.

My sow had her belly shaved for the procedure. I tried not to laugh at her because I didn't want to hurt her feelings but she look hilarious.
 

frotoandsam

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Yeah, I feel bad about spending that much money on an animal but would feel worse to just let him suffer and die. Good to know we're not alone. They told us his belly would be shaved too. Hoping he isn't part of the 5% that react badly to anesthesia.
 

frotoandsam

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We brought Sam home and he is fine. We'll have results from the tests in 2-5 days.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Glad to hear he's doing well! Keep us posted on the results, I am so sorry that Sam is going through this but your sharing definitely helps others help their piggies!
 

frotoandsam

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Thank you, glad it is helping. I was worried we may be annoying people. I wish test results were faster. He lost another 10 grams yesterday (he is almost less than a kilogram now:()...hoping some of that was the hair they shaved off. Still giving him the medicine and critical care. He is not the biggest fan of critical care unfortunately. The vet said he already has arthritis. Didn't know guinea pigs are prone to that even at a young age. There was nothing abnormal in his ultrasound (no stones) but they couldn't see everything because of his gas but they said it was still a normal amount of gas for a guinea pig.

Glad to hear he's doing well! Keep us posted on the results, I am so sorry that Sam is going through this but your sharing definitely helps others help their piggies!
 
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Guinea Pig Papa

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Oxbow makes a Joint Support tablet that contains glucosamine and some other natural anti inflammatories to aid with arthritis. My oldest boar Sly has been getting them for almost a year now, and he will be 6 in November. He also gets a 1cc syringe with liquid glucosamine in it every morning. At almost 6 years old you can tell he is slowing down and getting older but no signs of arthritis, so it may be worth a shot for your pig.

See this thread for more information about my experience with aging piggies:
https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/115636-Experience-with-aging-piggies?highlight=

Don't worry about annoying anyone with your posts, if anything you experience and share helps even one other pig in the world then it's all worth it. Without this forum Sly would have passed away just after Christmas.
 

frotoandsam

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Thank you so much. I just ordered some for Sam. It is sad that he has it already at 1.5 years old :( Where did you get the liquid glucosamine?

I also bought the digestive and urinary tabs. I see that these supplements have molasses in them. What is the limit to give them? It seems that Sam may need the digestive and the joint tabs and even the urinary tabs. I'm assuming I should only pick one so that he doesn't consume too much sugar.

Oxbow makes a Joint Support tablet that contains glucosamine and some other natural anti inflammatories to aid with arthritis. My oldest boar Sly has been getting them for almost a year now, and he will be 6 in November. He also gets a 1cc syringe with liquid glucosamine in it every morning. At almost 6 years old you can tell he is slowing down and getting older but no signs of arthritis, so it may be worth a shot for your pig.

See this thread for more information about my experience with aging piggies:
https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/115636-Experience-with-aging-piggies?highlight=

Don't worry about annoying anyone with your posts, if anything you experience and share helps even one other pig in the world then it's all worth it. Without this forum Sly would have passed away just after Christmas.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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The liquid glucosamine that I use is from Costco. It's a 1 litre bottle. The bottle is white, and label is mostly blue and there is a red stripe around it at the top, and the brand name is Wellesse.

It is definitely sad at his young age. I also had arthritis at a young age ( I was 18 at diagnosis) but mine has been manageable throughout my life with moderate flares being very infrequent. I guess my point is that with early effective treatment hopefully it won't bother him much at all.

I honestly cannot comment on the urinary or digestive supplements, as I've never used them. When Sly get his "cookie" it's ground up into powder and mixed with a small amount of critical care because he wont eat them in their normal state come hell or high water.

He only gets one tablet per day of the joint support.
 

bpatters

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Ten grams is not a significant weight. That's roughly two teaspoons of water, so if he'd just peed before you weighed him today, and hadn't peed yesterday, that could explain the difference.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Ten grams is not a significant weight. That's roughly two teaspoons of water, so if he'd just peed before you weighed him today, and hadn't peed yesterday, that could explain the difference.

That's definitely true, but if her scale is accurate then this little pig has lost just over 50 grams this week. Could that be significant in light of the other issues?
 

frotoandsam

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True, he has also been losing about 10-15 grams a day for a few weeks now. He is over 100 grams lighter than his cage mate, Frodo, and they used to be the same weight. He has lost over 100 grams since last Fall. We didn't start noticing a significant weight loss and major change in behavior (e.g. eating and playing) until this past month. He has strained and squeaked while pooping for almost a year now. Two different vets we went to said he is fine but then he has started to decline hence all the tests, medicine, and critical care.

That's definitely true, but if her scale is accurate then this little pig has lost just over 50 grams this week. Could that be significant in light of the other issues?
 

bpatters

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A downward trend is definitely worrying. I'm just saying that 10 grams is such a small amount you have no idea whether it's weight loss, or the pig had eaten or hadn't peed or pooped the day before when it was weighed.
 

frotoandsam

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Thank you for the added detail. Darn, I hope Sam likes eating the cookies but he probably won't. We may need to wait to give them to him daily until after we clear this digestive/urinary/whatever issue as he really isn't liking the forced feeding and medicine sessions. Good to know though so maybe he won't have to be on Metacam longterm. I tore the cartilage in my hip joint through over training and I read that supplements have not been shown to really improve or prevent further damage. Do you think it is working well for your pig? Sorry to hear you had to deal with arthritis from a young age.

The liquid glucosamine that I use is from Costco. It's a 1 litre bottle. The bottle is white, and label is mostly blue and there is a red stripe around it at the top, and the brand name is Wellesse.

It is definitely sad at his young age. I also had arthritis at a young age ( I was 18 at diagnosis) but mine has been manageable throughout my life with moderate flares being very infrequent. I guess my point is that with early effective treatment hopefully it won't bother him much at all.

I honestly cannot comment on the urinary or digestive supplements, as I've never used them. When Sly get his "cookie" it's ground up into powder and mixed with a small amount of critical care because he wont eat them in their normal state come hell or high water.

He only gets one tablet per day of the joint support.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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It's been almost 30 years since I was diagnosed. It's all good, just a part of daily life and most of the time it's nothing, really. I DO feel they've benefitted Sly, and since I take the liquid glucosamine myself I KNOW it's benefitted me as well. Everyone is different so everyone and every pig will have varying results, but in my opinion anything that can help keep a pig off of any type of medication is worth a shot in my book.

Hope everything went well with your hip recovery!
 

frotoandsam

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Ok i called the vet and Blood is normal and so is the outside urine test only a little bacteria just like the other vet found but no elevated white blood cells. Now im just waiting for the urine test culture that came straight from the bladder.

Now i asked the Dr what happens when this test comes out normal? He said they would start him on antibiotic (Bactrim) and see what happens. What do you think?
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Did you get the results from any of the other tests? How is his weight holding?
 

frotoandsam

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Yes they came out negative and hes continuing to lose weight. Hes at 994g even after feeding him 2-3 times a day with critical care. He still drinking water and eating hay and pellets but spends more time in the hidey than my other guinea pig.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Has he been on antibiotics already? I know you're already monitoring his weight and also supplementing with critical care and that will be even more important while he's on the Bactrim. Antibiotics are hard on piggies digestive systems. Also, a probiotic given an hour or so after the antibiotics will definitely help him. I do hope he improves on the Bactrim.
 

frotoandsam

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No he is not on any antibiotics. I just weighed him this morning and he is 972g.
 
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