Sick Chico and Amigo's med thread

[Guinea Pig Papa]

He could have something caught in his throat. Sly used to do that on a regular basis, and it used to make him hoot
As soon as he coughed and cleared whatever it was, he was fine.

That said, you may want to get him checked for congestive heart failure. There is also the possibility that he has the start of an URI.

 

[4boipigs]

Someone has bloody urine again. I blame Amigo.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Oh no! Hopefully you can get it addressed quickly.

 

[4boipigs]

I'm just so tired of piggy problems...I'm blaming Amigo because he had the UTI in Feb and was peeing blood. The vet (an exotics vet who could see us that day, not our regular vet) was a fool but the UTI went away and the ultrasound showed no stones. My availability is decent this week so a visit to our normal vet should be doable.

I did feed them some Oxbow young piggy pellets instead of the normal pellets and they had a bit of alfalfa hay but surely a few days of feeding couldn't have affected them.

I'm catching spots of blood, but ever since I got those new tunnels they don't sleep in their old houses anymore, so I'm not able to easily pinpoint who it is.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

I understand about the tunnels. Neither Simon nor Leo sleep anywhere BUT those dang tunnels any more.

I really hope you can get it figured out. Believe me, I know how exhausting piggy medical issues can be. Pooper fell ill May long weekend in 2016. He passed in October of 2016 and Sly's dental issues began a month later. We dealt with that until August of 2018 when I lost him, and had a quiet year until Scooter and Punkin became sick. Even after Punkin passed and subsequently Scooter, along came Simon with issues. Up until Christmas last year we dealt with medical issues for most of 4 full years.

 

[ItsaZoo]

Pet health issues are the worst - it’s so exhausting and it can seem like there’s no time to actually enjoy just being with your pet.

I hope you get to see your regular vet and figure this out quickly.

 

[4boipigs]

I understand about the tunnels. Neither Simon nor Leo sleep anywhere BUT those dang tunnels any more.

I really hope you can get it figured out. Believe me, I know how exhausting piggy medical issues can be. Pooper fell ill May long weekend in 2016. He passed in October of 2016 and Sly's dental issues began a month later. We dealt with that until August of 2018 when I lost him, and had a quiet year until Scooter and Punkin became sick. Even after Punkin passed and subsequently Scooter, along came Simon with issues. Up until Christmas last year we dealt with medical issues for most of 4 full years.

It seems like it is one thing after another with these guys. I don't know if it's even possible to have/buy/adopt a healthy guinea pig at this point (aside from Maple Leaf...ringworm isn't his fault). I've been telling my coworkers I would never recommend gpigs to anyone unless you have the time and the money for them. I've spent thousands on these guys ever since I made the choice to get Chico and Amigo, and then everyone else came into my life.

As for these two pigs, I'm trying to pin down who the culprit is before we go to the vet. No one is crying in pain or anything. I really don't want to pay for 2 vet visits and 2 urine tests because I'm not sure who it is. Of course if it were to get worse I would take them both.

Another thing I'm getting concerned about is Chico's teeth. His bottom front teeth are angled...they are slanted at the top is the best way to describe it. When I first got him, he had a fractured top tooth which the vet removed. It was fractured at the gumline I think, so the vet numbed his mouth and pulled it while he was conscious...no charge! We don't know if it was an injury or from him having scurvy at the time. He is not having any problems with eating/drinking. Idk how concerned to be about it.

 

[4boipigs]

Okay to update, we did NOT go to the vet. I saw blood here and there in their beds for a while after posting, but I haven't seen any since last week. There isn't any blood on their new fleece. So for now, I'm hoping everything is just fine.

 

[4boipigs]

Something seems not quite right w/ Chico...poops are small and he isn't eating a whole lot. He happily jerks food away from me when I give it to him, but he wouldn't eat a vitamin c cookie but he did eat a carrot. I've called lots of vets and of course w/ Easter it isn't very easy. At the most I could get scheduled at new job/regular vet on Monday.

Technically, the exotics only vet could see us, but their prices went up to just $205 for the exam! Their price used to be $105! I can't think of any other vet with a price that crazy.

I do have critical care, which he will eat. I have Benebac, but he flees in terror when he smells it.

 

[bpatters]

Can you disguise the benebac in something? Or mix the powdered kind into some Critical Care?

 

[4boipigs]

We got into a vet. We will have some meds to help his gut and he does have a little bit of bumblefoot. We did xrays just in case and he has two big (4 mm) bladder stones. Vet isn't too worried about them yet and wants to get everything else fixed. Stones explain the blood I see time to time. Apparently these are too big to cause a blockage. His teeth are also wearing unevenly but not a major problem yet.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Oh boy. Sounds like more trouble than you really want. Keep us updated please.

 

[4boipigs]

Oh boy. Sounds like more trouble than you really want. Keep us updated please.

I wrote that when I was at the vet. I was there forever! Longest vet visit of my life.

Well, the bumblefoot I knew was there already. His toes on that foot are curled funny and the nails aren't very easy to cut, so it's not surprising. I also suspected his teeth were too long. It's one side of his molars that's started to overgrow, but the vet doesn't think he needs any dental work yet.

Bladder stones, yes, that's concerning but there's no telling how long he's had those. Of course I've noticed someone having bloody pee for a while, and that all makes sense now. As for surgery, Little Bear did great and he was old/small. But it was an eye. A cystotomy is going to be something else entirely. But I'll worry about that later.

We also found a little bit of arthritis in his back legs in the xrays.

Then there's the age. The exotics only vet estimated 'middle age' back in 2020, whatever that means. I figure they are probably 4 yrs old at the very least. Plus, Chico had scuvy when I got him, so he obviously hasn't had the best health.

All that aside, I'm worried about him and his gut, right now. That's the main thing. He will eat veggies, but he can't have a bunch of that right now. I've been feeding him Critical Care, and while he did eat some off a plate before the vet, I set him down and syringe-fed him. He happily grabs the syringe and the veggies. He has nibbled on hay at home and at the vet, but not really enough to make a difference. The xrays didn't show a whole lot of gas build up. Could the stones be causing pain and making him not eat? His foot? We don't know, but I just want to get him eating again and back to normal.

He's been sitting kind of like a cat does when they 'loaf'. I don't know if that's considered a hunched position for pigs. That part I noticed yesterday, and is what made me think something wasn't really right. Then this morning he wouldn't eat all of his vitamin c cookie, which never happens.

But (un)lucky me, I injured my eye so I have to be home until Monday. I can freely syringe feed him if needed. He is also taking simethicone, metoclopramide and metacam. But I read on the UK gpig forum that simethicone can make the gas form into a single bubble and cause more trouble.

 

[4boipigs]

This morning I found some stringy poops. There was some yesterday, but it was just 2 poops. Now there is many poops. I'm so worried for him, but idk if there's anything else I can really do. I don't want him to die on me, obviously. He had some critical care, and he had a piece of carrot and spinach. He ate some hay. I test him with the bits of veggies just to see if he's still got an appetite basically. He doesn't get very much, but it shows he still wants to eat. Since I started giving critical care via syringe, he's not so interested in it anymore. I also like to post on the UK forum, to see if anyone has ideas there.

I'm just so worried that he'll die. Who wouldn't be? I don't want to leave Amigo alone, but I'm so tired of getting guinea pigs. I entertained the idea of setting up Amigo next to the other 3 boys so they can all bicker thru the bars. I'm sure Amigo will need his own thorough check up soon - I'll want to get him xray'd for stones and god knows what else once I get set up at my new job.

 

[bpatters]

Stop the veggies and up the critical care. Give him Benebac twice a day. Is he on anything for pain? That could help calm his gut down.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Right now I'd be worried about his gut too. But those stones scare me. "Too big to cause a blockage" doesn't sit right with me, especially after I saw firsthand how fast Scooter went downhill.

I agree with @bpatters wholeheartedly. The veggies will definitely cause more gut upset if he already has it, and the best thing he needs right now is fibre. He'll get that from the critical care and definitely use the benebac.

 

[4boipigs]

All right, I'll stop with the veggie bits. I went to the guinea pig rescue earlier to donate some items and buy hay, and amazingly I gave the boys some Oxbow botanical hay and Chico is happily eating it. I'll still be giving him Critical Care every few hours or so. I cleaned out his hide before I left for the rescue, and his poop locked better - not perfect, but it has gone back to formed, somewhat sticky pellets.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Glad to hear he's improving. And I'm not surprised, sometimes switching up their hay can generate some interest.

I meant to add earlier that you really need to watch those molars. It will not take long for them to worsen and you really don't want a molar planing to be an emergency. Keep a very close watch on his eating. Hopefully the new hay will help him even them out. If it's pain of some sort causing him to chew on one side you'll know pretty quickly.

 

[4boipigs]

Glad to hear he's improving. And I'm not surprised, sometimes switching up their hay can generate some interest.

I meant to add earlier that you really need to watch those molars. It will not take long for them to worsen and you really don't want a molar planing to be an emergency. Keep a very close watch on his eating. Hopefully the new hay will help him even them out. If it's pain of some sort causing him to chew on one side you'll know pretty quickly.

The problem w/ these guys is they won't really eat anything but timothy. I think I've read on this forum before that timothy isn't the best for teeth, but orchard hay is...but they don't like it. Trishula (the new pig) I think also has long teeth from his previous home. Gimbly was having that issue also but the doctor didn't think it was a huge concern at the time. Chico did have a fractured front top tooth when I got him in 2020. The vet removed that and it grew back fine. So, I feel like something here needs to change if ALL the boys end up w/ dental problems.

 

[ItsaZoo]

I hope things start to improve. You mentioned the simethicone earlier. The vet I go to recommends it for gas. When my previous pig had a gas bubble, the simethicone worked well to reduce the gas. I was trying gripe water, which was recommended on another forum, but it did nothing to help.