Sick Sudden Sickness in one guinea pig not sure of the cause

[lattiee]

We only have on exotic vet in our town other claim that they are exotic vets but they know nothing. So the exotic vet will be in tomorrow that has exotic pet certification for them and I have an appointment with her tomorrow at 10 am. Poppy just suddenly got ill not for sure if it is the result of his startle leap off my lap from the couch that I was sitting that all of a sudden Poppy jumped off the lap landed on the floor. He was walking and looked like he was eating fine after the jump . Then we had a smoke alarm start screeching so loud due to it not working anymore then as we tried to remove it the noise went even louder. We finally got it removed . Poppy weight has been dropping very fast and he goes thru a mix of brown runny poos to yellow runny poos . He won't eat on his own even tho he tries to chew but seems like he can't chew. I have been giving him critical care and he's been getting much of it in but still no weight gain for him . Poppy still seems alert and does come out of his hidey hut .

He lives with his brother Boogies who is keeping his weight up and eating fine. As both of the piggies have had Oxbow Adult Pellets, Timothy Hay, Regular Amount of Variety of Greens.

So I'm wondering what you guys think Poppy could be having ? Also, they both have started wheeking at the same time even when I don't have any plastic bags in my hands. Both Boogies and Poppy are 2 1/2 yrs old there birthdays are in October .

 

[Soecara]

The most concerning thing you have described is the runny poops. That plus the lack of weight gain might indicate a digestive issues. At the very least if he were mine I would start him on a pro-biotic now.

If he were mine i would also want his teeth checked ideally with an x-ray, if it seems like he can't chew he may have injured his mouth/teeth in the fall.

For pro-biotic many people have had success using Bene-Bac gel (I know you can purchase this on amazon, but I am unsure what pet stores carry it). Alternatively you can use a fresh poop from a healthy guinea pigs (his cage mate) and dissolve that in water and syringe to him. A third option is to get a human acidophilus tablet (lactose free) either as a powder or in a gel capsule that you can break open to get the powder contents out, dissolve in water, and syringe to him.

 

[lattiee]

Poppy got to the vet got checked out still have the runs will be staying overnight the vet says teeth are fine and jaw is fine . All rest sound find so I'm wondering what's going on ? As I hate to have poppy to be on his own alone in a different cage without family and boogies never had to stay on his own before in his home . So what could the actual problem be if he wants to chew n can't and he's with the runs ? is it possible he ended up with a bad piece of lettuce that had a bad bacteria on it or a green with bad thing on it causing diarrhea with jaw paralysis as a possibility or could it be his cage mate was stopping him from eating and ended up with scurvy with possibly having stiff weak jaw joints ? What you think ?

 

[lattiee]

Turns out I misunderstood and Poppy does have overgrown back teeth so he's going to get them fixed tomorrow

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Turns out I misunderstood and Poppy does have overgrown back teeth so he's going to get them fixed tomorrow

That makes a lot of sense, now. Just know that this will likely be the first of many molar trims for Poppy. Sometimes you get lucky and only need one. My little man Sly had 11 of those surgeries over a roughly 18 months period. He's going to need a lot of help from you as well.

 

[lattiee]

That makes a lot of sense, now. Just know that this will likely be the first of many molar trims for Poppy. Sometimes you get lucky and only need one. My little man Sly had 11 of those surgeries over a roughly 18 months period. He's going to need a lot of help from you as well.

How did Sly handle his molar trims ? What was his signs showing that he needed molar trims ? What makes guinea pigs have overgrown molars is there a chance Boogies will get overgrown molars down the road since he's Poppy brother ?

What was Sly like afterwards and how old is Sly ?

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

It can happen to any pig, Certainly too many treats and veggies can cause it, as may have been Sly's case. Sly was 5 when his dental issues began, and we lost him last year a few months shy of his 7th birthday.

I will include a link to Sly's medical thread. I would urge you to read through it, as I tried to document as much of what he went through as possible in the hopes that someone else in your position could benefit from it.

https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/114592-Sly-s-Medical-Thread

 

[lattiee]

It can happen to any pig, Certainly too many treats and veggies can cause it, as may have been Sly's case. Sly was 5 when his dental issues began, and we lost him last year a few months shy of his 7th birthday.

I will include a link to Sly's medical thread. I would urge you to read through it, as I tried to document as much of what he went through as possible in the hopes that someone else in your position could benefit from it.

https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/114592-Sly-s-Medical-Thread

Thanks ever so much as did Sly live with his other cage mates after his teeth trimming how was he with them as he lives with his brother Boogies I'm wondering how gentle Boogies will be with his brother .

I'm just hoping I got it nick in time that Poppy will do well and start eating normally again.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Sly lost his brother a month or so before his issues started. He was living with his newly homed baby brothers when the problem came to light. He WAS separated from them four or five months later but it wasn't due to his dental problem.

Poppy should be fine with Boogies. Just as long as you make sure he's eating, after a few days he should bounce back with no trouble especially at such a young age. Make sure you get Critical Care from your vet in case he doesn't want to eat on his own..

 

[lattiee]

Turns out it wasn't the molars they did trim front teeth . When he came home from vet after overnighting he was so freaked out like frozen in fear he wasn't fearful the next day. The vet did give him some fluids before he left. He still not able to eat on his own it also seems now that he can barely hold his head up and his back legs seem like he's dragging them as if he can't stand on them . He had no bathroom going after sedation on tues and none on wednesday. Today his runs has returned. Also Poppy cheeks seem to have twitching to them and sometimes it looks like his stomach has spasms . Now he has started sneezing. He does seem like he's sighing a lot .Also he has been doing little squeaks. I do feel like his heart had been really racing for a couple days and now I think he's been having fast breathing. I been feeding him his cc ,giving fluids, his benebac came on Tues do I been giving him some of that . Also to add Poppy still has that jaw scraping noise in the back of his jaw. His weight is still dropping when he headed to vet it was 2.30 and now its 2.16 lbs

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

This is not good. The front teeth never need to be trimmed on their own, the problem is almost always the molars that cause issued with the front teeth. Is this an exotic vet that Poppy has been seeing? If not, I would urge you to to find one as quickly as possible and get Poppy in.

 

[lattiee]

This is not good. The front teeth never need to be trimmed on their own, the problem is almost always the molars that cause issued with the front teeth. Is this an exotic vet that Poppy has been seeing? If not, I would urge you to to find one as quickly as possible and get Poppy in.

Yep this is an exotic he has been seeing and one that was willing to do payment plans. The others claim their exotic but they are not as they are very above 850 dollars cost and they don't do payment plans. As I had experience with all the others in the past even the one's two n half years ago where they wouldn't even give fuzzy any fluids, do an xray to check on his lungs and heart . they just gave him baytril injection and a bag of cc . Now Poppy has gotten more look at than Fuzzy did which I did lose fuzzy almost 3 yrs ago.

Poppy had xrays and even blood work looked at that's how the vet knew he was dehyrdated and gave him fluids

 

[lattiee]

Also, to add they sent me home with a tube to get a fecal float of Poppy as he wasn't having the runs after the teeth trim so now he is. I don't know what is going on?

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

I think you need to get Poppy back in to the vet ASAP. There may be more going on here and he doesnt sound like theres any improvement.

 

[lattiee]

Poppy passed away

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

I'm so sorry. I know you did everything you could for him.

Rest in peace, Poppy.

 

[lattiee]

I'm so sorry. I know you did everything you could for him.

Rest in peace, Poppy.

As I now think of it as I do think Poppy did have some brain stroke because I took a picture of him June 3 and June 5 and he was still so big then . I even sent a video of him to Brendan on the 5th and he was moving his head around and everything. Then the sudden loss weight loss, couldn't chew anymore ,was like so quick by the time I got him to the vet in a short amount of time . Then when he got home from the vet he couldn't walk on his legs anymore.

I'm starting to ponder that as in the past he had these circling head movements and up and down head movements. I thought in the past maybe that was caused by mites or maybe a ear infection and it wasn't .

Is there anyways to diagnose a stroke if he had a stroke and any special treatments of strokes ? What are usual cause of stroke and I also did think Poppy was blind. As, when we would get him yums we would have to put it directly in front of him of his greens .

Poppy was always startled on so much stuff even when we first got him he was seriously frightened about everything while his brother Boogies was just laying there relaxing .

These boys were a family dump off with the mom, dad, 3 siblings which two of them are the one's I adopted as in Boogies & Poppy when they were just 3 months old. Even as Poppy got older he was still so nervous and everything.

So is there a chance that the smoke alarm triggered a stroke in him ? As this smoke alarm is hard wired in our apartments and it made me lose all of my hearing out of my left ear when it decided it wasn't going to work anymore as it was screeching so loud it even made my son who is almost 15 yrs old also lose some of his hearing also .