Sick Female piggy acting normal but not pooping

[boopy]

Hello everyone, Lucy is my 1 year old Texel piggy. I lost her sister recently due to a bad reaction to antibiotics back in the middle of October, so I'm extra paranoid. She is eating normal, and acting normal she just isn't pooping. I have seen her eating a cecal. She was pooping normal last night but I found only four poops this morning and after giving her breakfast (some red leaf lettuce, some sliced/de-seeded cherry tomato, a baby carrot and a small leaf of spinach as a treat) and watching her eat her hay, she still hasn't pooped. She isn't really hunched over or gritting her teeth, or doing anything that would suggest she is in pain, and she is not lethargic so I'm unsure of what it could be? I tried looking the symptoms up and most of what came up was for a male-specific issue. It's a holiday today (Thanksgiving) and the exotic vets office is closed, so I'm at a loss. Her poops were normal yesterday.

She was just at the vets yesterday for a checkup, as well, and everything was fine.

 

[bpatters]

She may be eating most of them for some reason. Pigs will occasionally do that. Just keep an eye on her.

FYI, you don't need to get rid of the seeds in the tomatoes. The kind of seeds you have to worry about are hard ones, not soft ones like tomatoes.

 

[boopy]

She may be eating most of them for some reason. Pigs will occasionally do that. Just keep an eye on her.

FYI, you don't need to get rid of the seeds in the tomatoes. The kind of seeds you have to worry about are hard ones, not soft ones like tomatoes.

Thanks! Yeah, I've seen her going under like she is eating a cecal several times, so that might be it. I'm going to give her some benebac later.

Thanks for the advice on the tomato, I didn't know that so that helps.

 

[boopy]

Just wanted to update and say that we got some poops! She insisted on floor time and after running around and exploring for a while, I laid down on the floor with her and blanket, and she climbed under the blanket and laid down next to me for a nap. An hour or later she left to go back in the cage for hay, and I got up and had several normal looking pooping fall out of the blanket.

 

[boopy]

Hi, this is for Lucy again but it's for a different issue. When I come into the room, my other girl wheeks normally but Lucy seems to be trying but only pushing out air. It sounds a little like a wheeze, but she isn't trying to take air in or breathe. Her breathing sounds normal to me, with no noises coming out of her nose or anything. She is acting normal, eating normal and doing her normal amount of activity (though drinking a little bit more than usual). Her nose, eyes, and ears look good. She has gained weight in the last few weeks, but she was underweight when we got her and is now at a normal weight. She is able to make other noises, just not wheeking.

I have heard this sound a few times in the last three days, but couldn't pinpoint it and thought it might be something else (not the piggies). Is this something I need to be worried about? She was just brought to the vet about two weeks ago for a check up and all was well. Could she have maybe gotten some hay in there?

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

My boar Sly used to be a little mouthpiece. He would wheek at the drop of a hat.

He's a senior now, and wheeks are VERY few and far between. When we do hear them, they are very rusty sounding. More often than not, it's more of a Pfffffft! than anything else. Punkin, who's just over a year old, occasionally does the same thing.

Monitor her for sure, but if all else seems normal it likely is.

 

[boopy]

My boar Sly used to be a little mouthpiece. He would wheek at the drop of a hat.

He's a senior now, and wheeks are VERY few and far between. When we do hear them, they are very rusty sounding. More often than not, it's more of a Pfffffft! than anything else. Punkin, who's just over a year old, occasionally does the same thing.

Monitor her for sure, but if all else seems normal it likely is.

Thanks, the air in the room is very dry and it seems I was using my humidifier incorrectly so I bought a new one (since I broke the other one due to my bad usage) and I hope maybe that will help a little. She's only a year old, so it's spooking me a bit, but I hope the humidifier will help a little with that.

 

[boopy]

Hi guys! Just wanted to let you know after using the humidifier correctly (well, the new one, it's just the same model) the last two days it seems to have gotten better, now I only hear a little bit of raspyness towards the end of a wheek instead no wheek at all! I am monitoring the moisture in the air in the room now just to be safe. I had another question though, Lucy is a texel piggy and has long, curly hair that I brush every day. She also has dry skin (vet has checked multiple times because I kept thinking it was mites, we even treated her just to be safe). Her itching has gotten better with the use of the humidifier but her fur is getting really frizzy (like frail, dry frizzy, towards the ends). I was given something to use by her past mama but I don't feel comfortable using it because it's apple scented. It's a kid's detangling conditioning spray. Is there something safe I can use to help her hair and skin?

 

[boopy]

Hi everyone, so I have a ringworm issue. I think I got it from a friend who had adopted a ferret with it and just spread it to my guinea pigs (only explanation I can think of) and while it's well managed in two of my girls, Lucy's seems to keep spreading. She had a spot on her side that looks better (and hair is currently regrowing), but it had spread to her ear and nose, which are now looking better as well, but now I just found it on the top of the ear that was previously affected and the underside of the other ear. I keep their cage clean as I can, cleaning it out every day with a major clean (using a watered down bleach solution right now to kill off the fungus) and dusting/vacuum cleaning/sanitizing the whole room once a week. I wash all their fleece at the recommended temperature for sanitizing and I have thrown out all wooden and hay based toys and furniture. Their cage is predominantly fleece with a small 2x2 (eh, 1 1/2 by 1 1/2) kitchen insert that has paper bedding and hay.

Could it be stress related? What should I ask my vet for when I see her next? I'm just wondering if anyone has advice on what my next step should be.

Background: they are currently getting a malaseb bath once a week and being treated with Miconhex+Triz wipes twice a day in the affected areas. I am also treating them all with trasaderm for their ears right now as two of them had an ear infection. Lucy it's not surprising because she is a texel, but Holly had it too, and I was told to treat them all as a precaution.

 

[bpatters]

Are you putting any sort of antifungal ointment on it?

 

[boopy]

As previously stated, she (and my other pigs) are receiving a malaseb bath once a week and being treated with Miconhex+Triz antifungal wipes on the affected areas three times a day. My vet was initially wary of giving then a cream because of their cleaning behaviors (she was worried, because is stays on the fur, they would ingest it when cleaning themselves or another pig would ingest it when cleaning the other). Lucy just has it the worst, and it's spreading.

 

[bpatters]

A cream is what's usually prescribed when there's hair loss. If you apply it with a q-tip and rub it in well, they're not likely to ingest enough of it to hurt them.

 

[boopy]

A cream is what's usually prescribed when there's hair loss. If you apply it with a q-tip and rub it in well, they're not likely to ingest enough of it to hurt them.

What sorts of creams are safe to use? I have Lamisil which is 1% Terbinifine Hydrochloride. I'm not sure if that is safe to use, I was using it on myself as I initially was the one with ringworm.

 

[bpatters]

The ones usually recommended are Lotrimin or Nystatin. I don't know whether the Lamisil is safe or not.

 

[boopy]

Thanks, I'll grab some lotrimin tomorrow while I am out and apply it as you recommended.

 

[ChubbyMonroe]

Could be early symptom of guinea pig in compaction.��

Edited by bpatters: Guinea pigs get IMpacted, not COMpacted, and it most occurs in older males. This pig has a skin condition.

 

[boopy]

I feel like this is just my sick piggy. A while back she started making these low hooting noises when eating followed by coughing, and then it would go away. It also happened almost exclusively in the morning (almost). My vet is very cavvy savvy and was thoroughly stumped because her lungs and heart looked good under xray, and sounded really good under the stethoscope. Normally these symptoms would indicate a lung or heart issue, but neither seem to be the case for Lucy. It concerns me a little bit, though it actually stopped happening as much and even stopped happening altogether for a while, but then she did it again today. I was wondering if it could be food related???

 

[bpatters]

Yep, could be.