Vet Back from the vet, got some info but really not impressed

[lost_lover]

We had our vet trip today and I honestly was not impressed by the doctor, I got the impression she treats rabbits a decent amount though because she kept comparing him to a rabbit…well pretty sure a 'him' she was not positive. I told her the issues we had and what I did to address them and the concerns I still had. They are that he is gaining weight very slowly, he still occasionally has diarrhea, the hardest thing he chews on is hay, he seems so have some sort of separation anxiety, and because I let his nails get so long his toes are splayed oddly. A lot of things I wanted to talk about, would have settled for a good answer on any one of them.

Gaining weight slowly: Feed him more! (thanks I never would have thought of that) Did learn he is 460g and needs to gain 100g-200g, he is also very small for his age and may never get much bigger.
Diarrhea: If he still poops normally and it is just sometimes diarrhea then don't worry about it!
Chewing: Guinea pigs don't actually need to chew and he is able to eat so it is all good! She did not even look at his teeth.
Separation anxiety (the squeaking so loud for attention when I am home from work that I can hear is from outside): Nothing to worry about, getting him a friend would just be extra work!
Toes: Most owners never trim the nails so it should be fine! Didn't look at his feet.

She basically asked me what I fed him, weighed him, told me he was small, and told me there was no good reason to get him a friend. Was told he his a guinea pig after all, and sometimes they just do not 'work out'.

He behaved great on the trip and during the visit, did not get to scared either. Because he is small I am now concerned about being able to find a suitable cage mate though.

 

[Princess_Piggie]

What a disgusting vet! I cannot believe that, it's appalling!

I believe you may want to supplement his diet with critical care, but I'm no vet. I just hear critical care can be excellent for helping pigs put weight on, but it might not be right for your pig in particular.

As for his nails - what's done is unfortunately done. I think all you can do is trim them regularly, and hope the toe situation doesn't affect his mobility.

 

[Traysea]

I have heard of other pigs that just stayed small. Do you have local rescues around you, look around for smaller/runty guys He may not have separation anxiety so much as just very vocal and lonely. Sounds like you need to find a different vet. She is not cavy savy. Have you ruled out if the loose poops are from too much veggies? Did you check for parasites? Are they mucus-y at all?

 

[lost_lover]

I looked into critical care but by the time I found out about it he really was not at a point he needed it anymore. He eats well and is slowly gaining weight, just everything you are supposed to feed guinea pigs is so healthy it seems to be taking forever. We are still playing about with the right amount and right type of veggies or him so for now I am going to go with that is the reason for the loose stool, because of the color I think that is reasonable…although she never asked me about that and actually talked me out of the stool test saying there was not real point. But there is no mucus.

I am only calling it separation anxiety because I am more used to having dogs and that is usually what it is referred to for them. He is just very vocal and loud when he wants attention.

I have been in contact with a rescue in my area, there is a good chance I am buying a cage from them (feel kinda bad though because I know getting the cage from them is the right thing to do but the kits on here seem to have more added support). I let them know I will likely be looking for a friend for Truffle once he is back to full health. Don't want my skinny little guy getting bullied.

 

[Traysea]

I wish my piggies were loud! They have the softest wheeks that is one of my favorite parts of having piggies LOL

 

[Owned by cavy]

WOW! Um, I'm gonna address some of these issues. I am NOT a vet. I am just an owner.

As for the slow weight gain: You didn't list the age. So I'm gonna say that they will slow down as far weight gain goes. I have 2 males. One was born here in my home, but I didn't have his mother in my house for very long. She was sorely underweight, kept in a tiny cage and given nearly no veggies. So it appears that he's just going to be small for his entire life. He's considerably smaller than the other male I have.

Diarrhea: It could be a dietary issue. Is he eating too many vegetables? I know that for other rodents, if they're getting too many vegetables, it can lead to some diarrhea, simply because of the amount of water in some veggies. I've never had this issue with my cavies, though, so hopefully someone else can come along and give you some further insight. For now, if there are no issues with diet, I would do a careful review of what you're feeding him and how much. You can take it down to just green peppers, and one kind of lettuce for a while. Then slowly add in variety. Keep a food diary for him, to track what you've fed him when you've seen the issue, it should help him. The biggest concerns with diarrhea are dehydration and weight loss. If he's gaining and getting plenty of water/food, then I wouldn't be too concerned. Keep an eye on him and if you get more worried, consider another vet!

Chewing: She's correct about this one! The hay that he should be given an unlimited supply of will keep his teeth filed down and will eliminate the need to chew. If you have given him toys and chews and he's not using them, I wouldn't worry. Mine never chew on anything other than the food. They occasionally play with things, but they don't chew. Not like hamsters or rats will.

Separation anxiety: He's lonely. He needs a friend. Guinea pigs aren't solitary animals. They're herd animals. They get concerned when they're alone and they will squeak when they're trying to locate their herd. Which in this case, is you. I had babies in my house and they squeaked for their momma for a couple of weeks because they were scared and trying to find her. I would definitely get another. This will reduce stress for him. BUT!!! You NEED to know whether he's male or female. You definitely DON'T want babies. You run serious risks to the mother if you breed guinea pigs. I think the statistics are 1 in 5 die from pregnancy/birth. There are pictures on this website to help you identify whether it's male/female. If you post pictures of his privates, we might be able to help you figure it out.

Toes: Most owners definitely DO trim them. Wrap him in a towel and trim them down. You can use regular nail clippers, or you can buy guinea pig nail clippers from the store. Don't trim them down too far, just do a little bit every week. As long as his toes are just weird from the nails and not because his feet are screwed up, trimming them SHOULD fix the issues. My pigs have gotten some VERY long nails, not something I'm terribly proud of, but it did happen. I've done a much better job of keeping up on it since then. Just wrap him up like a little burrito and pull out one foot at a time. Trim down the nails and then put him back. If you do this once a week you'll get them trimmed down to a manageable length in no time. It's also an excellent time to weigh him. I'm assuming you're already doing that since you're concerned about his weight gain.

I don't believe that "sometimes they just don't work out". I believe that sometimes people decide that they'd really rather not go to all the trouble of having guinea pigs, because they are a lot of work! I hope this helps to put your mind at ease, because you're not wrong. And I hope that you find a different vet! As far as his health is concerned, I would be watchful, but I haven't read anything you wrote that makes me say, take him to the vet now! Just keep a close eye on him, keep a food diary for him, and look for another vet.

 

[Owned by cavy]

Oh! And about the friend! Like I said, my boys are quite different in size! They're both quite young. Space was the biggest issue for us. They are both aggressive enough that they need a LARGE cage to keep from fighting/rumblestrutting/humping each other to death. I figured out for us, that the minimum cage size is about 21 sq feet. It's a 4x5, give or take some doubled grids wrapped around the corners. I hear that sometimes age differences can make a huge difference in whether or not your guineas are compatible. Older guineas are doing to be more relaxed, and not quite as hyper aggressive as young males that are going through puberty. If you have a small young male, you might want to look into adopting an older male that's more secure to reduce the risk of fighting. And, like I said, we needed a huge cage. So I'd take that into consideration as well. Hope you get it all figured out and keep us posted!

 

[lost_lover]

I am trimming his nails now, but they are all black so I am worried about taking them to short…I did on one and he didn't even seem to notice but I would prefer not to do that again. My best estimate is that he is around 8-9 months old, so still pretty young, since I have not seen him interact with other guinea pigs I do not know how aggressive he is. From the way he acts though I just cannot imagine him being aggressive, I am more worried about the other piggy not letting him get to enough food.

I was pretty sure he is a male, and she agreed so I am feeling pretty confidant on the gender but I might try to get a photo. Not exactly the easiest angle to photograph though. He is currently in a pet store rabbit cage but my plan is to get a 2x4 C&C (possibly with a loft) in the next week or so, disassemble the current cage and return it. I should not have any issue getting it clean as new at this point.

 

[bpatters]

@lost_lover, take a look at www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm. At 8-9 months, he should have well-defined testicles, although a few pigs do have very small ones.

 

[piggielover200]

My girl only weighs 700g is that small

 

[Owned by cavy]

I am trimming his nails now, but they are all black so I am worried about taking them to short…I did on one and he didn't even seem to notice but I would prefer not to do that again. My best estimate is that he is around 8-9 months old, so still pretty young, since I have not seen him interact with other guinea pigs I do not know how aggressive he is. From the way he acts though I just cannot imagine him being aggressive, I am more worried about the other piggy not letting him get to enough food.

I was pretty sure he is a male, and she agreed so I am feeling pretty confidant on the gender but I might try to get a photo. Not exactly the easiest angle to photograph though. He is currently in a pet store rabbit cage but my plan is to get a 2x4 C&C (possibly with a loft) in the next week or so, disassemble the current cage and return it. I should not have any issue getting it clean as new at this point.

Ok, so around 8-9 months old, his weight gain should have slowed down. Prior to the 6 or 7 month mark, they put on weight fast! But once they get to adulthood, which is about that time, they'll slow way down. As long as he is gaining weight, I wouldn't be concerned about it being slow. Around a year (at least for mine), they'll really slow down or stop all together and then you'll just need to monitor it to make sure they're not losing weight.

I know that black nails can be a real pain. I have one like that too. That's part of the reason you should trim them once a week or once every two weeks. It will help promote nail health and just like with dogs, it will pull the quick back a little bit every time. You'll get them to a manageable length without drawing blood in no time!

Please do look at the pictures that bpatters recommended a link to. That's what helped me sex my boys/girl when they were born. It's actually pretty easy to tell if you read all the info in that article.

 

[Soecara]

At 8-9 months he should be nearly if not completely fully grown. Are you sure he is that old? If he is that old and he weighs 460g then he is extremely underweight, he should be weighing the approximate amount of an adult (between 700g-1500g) so if that is correct I would start critical care ASAP to help him put on weight faster and get him out of the danger zone.

 

[lost_lover]

He eats a lot, and is gaining weight it is just slow going. I got the impression critical care was more for if they were not eating enough, I am pretty sure he spends the majority of his day eating. The age is an estimate based off of I got him over 8 months ago but he was very tiny when I got him.

I was told the goal should be to get him to gain 100g-200g more. Guinea pigs don't eat anything fattening which is currently frustrating me. That would but him closer to the 700g mark. He is small in general, the tech asked if he was a 'teacup' guinea pig...pretty sure she made that up on the spot.

i am not sure what to photograph him near to make his overall size obvious. I guess I will just put a measuring tape near him. Right now I need to start getting ready for work but I will get a photo up tonight or tomorrow.

 

[lost_lover]

Actually had a little extra time this morning so here is a photo. He is not totally stretching himself out because I had to bribe him with a carrot to stay still where I wanted him so he is eating.

The second photo is the size he was when I brought him home, very small. I could not get that photo to upload at the correct rotation.

 

[Soecara]

Judging by that photo he was probably 3-4 weeks old when you got him as a rough estimate. However he does not look underweight in the first photo, he was weighed on the vets scales? If so the scales might have been wrong, I suggest you invest in your own set of scales to make sure the vet's was correct. It also would help you in the future to monitor his weight, the general first sign of a sick guinea pig is weight loss.

 

[Cavylover8]

I recently had a baby that didn't start growing until I was feeding by hand because he wouldn't nurse he was 3 oz les than his brother and 2 oz less than his sister but he would drink from the water bottle and eat the food in the cage. A friend in my cavy club said they got a pig one time that didn't get much bigger then when they bought him but he lived just as long as the rest of the regular sized ones they had

 

[lost_lover]

So it is kinda vet week at my house, holidays are over and I have time to catch up on everything, today I took the cats to their vet (kinda funny story but completely unrelated). Their vet does not see exotic pets but is 100% not for profit, the prices are pretty much the lowest in the whole state, but even if you make an appointment they triage like an emergency room so we had to wait a while because there were several emergencies but the care there is great.

While the vet tech did the quick check on my cats before the doctor I figured I would double check they do not see guinea pigs and while they do not she gave me a recommendation for one a few towns over. I have not spoken to the place she recommended yet but I am planning on it and hoping to have a much better experience with this vet. Compared to some of the animals at the vet today my cats were downright angels but I could tell from the way she treated even the crazy ones she really loves the animals so I figure a recommendation for an exotic vet from her holds some weight. I also got a recommendation from I friend who moved away but that vet is close to two hours away, which I would do for the right vet, but they have rats not guinea pigs so I am going to try this other, closer, one first.

I do not want to go running Truffle around to every vet in town until I find one I like, it would be really stressful for him and expensive for me. However, if anything appears to get worse;he stops gaining weight all together, more diarrhea, odd behavior; I am going to take him there. I know if it good to take them in for a well visit (that is what I did with the cats today) but I would prefer to have waited long enough I have information like how much he is gaining over a period of time to tell the new doctor since that would likely be helpful.

If someone could tell me how I would to add and review the first vet I saw on the guinea pig zone, nothing nasty just explaining how the visit went and that I personally would not recommend her.

 

[bpatters]

Just go to Guinea Pig Zone, register, and click on Veterinarians. There'll be a button that says something like "Add New Listing." If the vet already exists on that site, you can add a comment.