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Lethargy 7 or 8 year old guinea pig eating and drinking, but puffed up in a corner and weak

FailedFoster

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I accepted a guinea pig a week ago from a family that was moving out after the kids got "bored of it." I took him to the vet and besides being underweight (which we're working on), the vet said he seemed healthy. This evening, his muscle tone isn't there when I pick him up and he's puffed up in a corner. He's not on any meds right now, and I've just started a regimen of Critical Care every two hours until I can get him into see the regular vet tomorrow (no exotics emergency vet within 5 hours one-way). He gobbled up the critical care from the spoon and tried to pull it out of my hand, but his lack of muscle tone and him being puffed up in a corner is terrifying.

Have any of you seen a guinea pig bounce back from this? I've only had him for a week but he's already the love of my life.
 

Artista

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I accepted a guinea pig a week ago from a family that was moving out after the kids got "bored of it." I took him to the vet and besides being underweight (which we're working on), the vet said he seemed healthy. This evening, his muscle tone isn't there when I pick him up and he's puffed up in a corner. He's not on any meds right now, and I've just started a regimen of Critical Care every two hours until I can get him into see the regular vet tomorrow (no exotics emergency vet within 5 hours one-way). He gobbled up the critical care from the spoon and tried to pull it out of my hand, but his lack of muscle tone and him being puffed up in a corner is terrifying.

Have any of you seen a guinea pig bounce back from this? I've only had him for a week but he's already the love of my life.

I wouldn't wait. I'd get him in to an exotic vet asap. They go down hill fast and rarely just bounce back on their own. Take the trip to an exotic vet. Regular ones don't know pigs well even if they say they do. The exotic vets have done additional school and training and are certified. They should have everything displayed just like docs do for us.
 

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Like I mentioned in my post, there is no emergency exotic vet within 5 hours of where I am and I'll be bringing him in tomorrow to the regular, which here in the Midwest means daytime, vet in my area. I also did mention specifically exotics vets in my post, which i thought indicated I knew not to bring him to one that does not have an exotics speciality. I apologize if that was unclear in my post. I would absolutely bring him in right now if I could. I know this is a serious situation. I am more than willing to take the trip, but 5 hours one-way would be more stressful than its worth for an elderly, sick guinea pig when I will be seeing an exotics vet tomorrow.

Also mentioned in my post was that I am force feeding critical care every two hours and will be bringing him in tomorrow to the exotics vet, so I am aware that they need help to bounce back. I am working extremely hard and diligently to help him.

As I also mentioned in my post, I was more wondering if you have seen a guinea pig bounce back from that?
 

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Hello! Op here. Just to be clear for y'all, I know to only bring him to an exotics vet, I know that he'll need a lot of help to bounce back, and I am more than willing to do what it takes (ie waking up every 2 hours to feed critical care). What I'm really looking for is for someone who has seen a guinea pig bounce back from the situation to say how long it took and what it took. Like I said, it's not a matter of me being unwilling to make the effort to help him, I just want to know if it's possible and what it would look like to see a guinea pig bounce back from this. Thanks!
 

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I have had a guinea pig bounce back from that condition, but it took identifying and treating the underlying cause for it to happen.

In the particular case of mine my boy had a gastric upset from unknown causes, he had a sudden and drastic weight drop, abnormally shaped poops that were full of air pockets, poops strung together, and had stopped eating entirely. I began force feeding him critical care through a syringe (he wouldn't eat off a dish/spoon but would chew and swallow what I put in his mouth with the syringe). I called the vet and booked an appointment for the next day as it was about 5pm at this point and there are no emergency exotic vets in my area. Overnight he went into full GI stasis, as the food I was putting in wasn't coming back out I had to stop force feeding and get him into the vets urgently very first thing the next morning, luckily the motility drugs the vet was able to give him got his guts moving again so I was able to start force feeding again.

He started recovering but he took another week of full force feeding and another week after that of supplementary force feeding (as he started eating on his own again, but not enough) until he no longer needed supplementary feeding. I had to slowly add his vegetables back in to his diet one at a time to make sure he didn't relapse, and let me tell you he wasn't happy getting taken out every night at vegetable time when his cage mate got vegetables while he didn't, but he got through that without any issues and was back to normal and snatching his friends vegetables by the end of the fourth week.

I have also had a failure to recover from that kind of condition, however in this case I was expecting it to happen as I already had a diagnosis from a previous vet visit due to her losing weight. She had an inoperable mass in her abdomen and i was told her prospects were not good, but as she was still active and happy I took her home until her time came. It was about a month from diagnosis until the day she was in a condition similar to what you describe, low muscle tone, puffed up in the corner and off her food. It was that day I made the call to take her in and have her put to sleep.
 

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Hi folks! He's doing a lot better! Turns out he had stasis, so the force feeding every 2 hours was exactly what he needed. We've got him on a motility aid (metoclopramide) and benebac, but the vet was already hearing good gut sounds. We also have him on meloxicam. He's perked up a lot and his poops are small but otherwise normal! He's still so skinny, the poor thing, but we're hoping that we can give him a good last couple months/ years now that he's out of that other home.
 
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