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Not Eating Can Guinea Pigs Get Too Used To Critical Care?

ArtsySarah

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Hello everyone and happy holidays!

I would really love some advice for my 2 year old piggie.

He has not been interested in his hay lately - it's orchard hay and he normally loves it.

A few weeks ago, I took him to the vet, first time ever, because he was drooling, not eating, had loose stools, and was puffed up. The vet performed many tests on him like blood work, looked into his mouth, and he even went under anesthesia to get a deeper look in his mouth and the Vet told me that everything looked fine: even the full lab results showed nothing abnormal.

We went home with some antibiotics, pain meds, medicine to control gas build up and to help regulate stools, vitamin c liquids, and critical care.

Well, after several weeks of monitoring and giving regular vitamin c, he's much better than he was weeks ago but hes still not interested in his hay and I'm not sure what to think.

He only eats the critical care, pellets, and the veggies I give him .

It's possible he no longer likes the hay, so I've gone ahead and ordered another batch which should come this weekend. If that doesn't work, I will try Timothy hay.

I guess my question is: Can guinea pigs get too used to the critical care and should I keep feeding it to him and wait for him to gain back his appetite to the hay?

Has anyone else had similar cases like mine?

Thank you for your time and help!
 

bpatters

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You definitely should keep feeding it to him until he gets back on hay.

When a pig goes off hay and a vet has determined that it has no tooth problems, switching to another kind of hay is generally the first thing to do. Particular batches of hay can be unappetizing to a pig for some unknown reason, but hay's the most important thing in their diets. You can try another batch of the same hay, or a different kind of hay.
 

ArtsySarah

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You definitely should keep feeding it to him until he gets back on hay.

When a pig goes off hay and a vet has determined that it has no tooth problems, switching to another kind of hay is generally the first thing to do. Particular batches of hay can be unappetizing to a pig for some unknown reason, but hay's the most important thing in their diets. You can try another batch of the same hay, or a different kind of hay.

Thank you for your response! It's a relief to hear this as I was thinking the worst and was going to make another trip to the vet to get x-rays if nothing changed!
I am hoping that switching hay will help as it would be so nice to see my piggie back to his normal self! I will also keep giving the critical care according to the directions on the package! Once the new hay arrives, I will be sure to update this post :)
 

ArtsySarah

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Just wanted to give an update on this post - After a month of treating my guinea pig with medication and critical care, he has returned to his normal self. The hay arrived, but he didn't take interest in it until about a week later. One day last week, I noticed he was lying down - which by the way was something he wasn't doing, he just remained puffed up - and it surprised me. It wasn't long after that that he started to eat more hay and his stools returned to normal. As of today, he appears to be back to his usual self which is a big relief!

I still don't know what was wrong to begin with - but hopefully it doesn't happen again!
 

mila22

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Mine got sick a month ago and I got so scared. Keep a close eye on him!
 
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