Nutrition Advice please on diet for young guinea pig

[gpigger]

Hi Forum users

Sorry to put up a sad thread but I just woke up to find one of my Guinea pigs had died. Please can I ask some advice to make sure my other Guinea pig will be ok. and if anyone can explain why he might have died is would be good to know.

They are young males 4 months.

The one who died Jean Paul was well until a week ago. I checked on him and he was looking terrible, slow, dull eyes, hunched up, hair sticking out on end.

I checked him over and he had a huge swelling on his genitals. I felt it and it was 'knobbly' and I could move the lumps around. He also had a really solid lump behind his anus.

I rang the vet they said to monitor him so I kept him on shavings and he was eating and drinking and urinating ok. He then started releasing very loose poo that was stuck in his anus and I had to pull out. I cleaned the area with salt water. The swelling went down but he was releasing lots of loos poo and then blood started to come out (small drips over the day). I then took him straight to the vet.

The vet gave him an antibiotic. I gave him this twice a day and I am worried I didn't give him an accurate amount as he needed 0.05 ml and the syringe was not small enough so I may have given him slightly too much.

He improved after two days on antibiotic and was eating and drinking. He was eating a lot. I gave him some apple as the nurse mentioned that he may have been constipated. He then died the evening I gave him apple. I looked at his anus just now and it looks like a small amount of puss has come out as well. So he may have had a nasty infection?

My questions are:

What could have caused the illness in the first place?
Did I give him too much antibiotic?
Did the apple possible kill him?

I think that I possibly havent given both Guinea Pigs enough apple/carrot food and have just been feeding them hay and dry food. Could this have caused him to be constipated and then developed an infection?

Sorry to put up such a graphic thread and I feel like a terrible pet owner as I am normally great with my pets health.

Thank you for any advice. :sad:

 

[Beth Pearson]

Apples should be occasional foods; NOT daily. Peppers and lettuce (romaine or leaf) should be daily though! As for your piggy dying; we rescued two 4 week old girls back in July. Two weeks ago one of them died out of no where. I am avid on weighing and playing with them daily and she showed NO signs of being ill. She just died. A few days later her sister showed signs of depression and stopped eating, took her to the vet twice and the last time we found she had a URI and after given the meds, she wasn't strong enough to fight it and too, dies.end. They would have been 4 months on the 18th of this month. Anyway, I have no advice but I am so sorry you lost your piggy also. I know how hard it is and hate seeing other go through it

 

[gpigger]

Apples should be occasional foods; NOT daily. Peppers and lettuce (romaine or leaf) should be daily though! As for your piggy dying; we rescued two 4 week old girls back in July. Two weeks ago one of them died out of no where. I am avid on weighing and playing with them daily and she showed NO signs of being ill. She just died. A few days later her sister showed signs of depression and stopped eating, took her to the vet twice and the last time we found she had a URI and after given the meds, she wasn't strong enough to fight it and too, dies.end. They would have been 4 months on the 18th of this month. Anyway, I have no advice but I am so sorry you lost your piggy also. I know how hard it is and hate seeing other go through it

Hi Thank you for the advice. I am sorry to hear of your Guinea pig troubles. Good luck in the future.

 

[Guineapigpro]

Hello, I'm so sorry for your loss! I'm not exactly sure what was wrong with your pig. I've never heard of something like this before. I did a tiny bit of research, and nothing showed. I think it was just most people getting confused about "pooping blood," when they were really urinating it. From what you described, he could have had some sort of intentional infection. Just a guess though!

But, I can tell you this: you probably did not kill your guinea pig. The odds are very slight that you did anything. As long as your sure that you gave him .05 mL, not .5, then I think your ok. I could have even seen a little smaller dosage given by the vet, but I do not know that it would kill your pig that quickly. Also, the apple could not have killed your guinea pig.

He may have been constipated due to dehydration, intestinal blockage, or lack of veggies in a diet. Yet, I would have to know a little more info about his diet and how long he was on it to know if that made him constipated. But even with this said, it was probably a combination of the problem in his intestine and constipation that killed him. How long was he constipated for? ( also, I don't think constipation could bring up an infection )

As for the diet, how old are your pigs? If they are past the baby age ( first 8 or so weeks ) then this is a diet your should follow:
-Timothy based due-free pellets. Oxbow is a trustable brand for this. (without little 'treaties' in it, is better for them)
-Timothy hay and/or Orchard grass hay.
-Fruit can only be served in a small portion about once every one or two weeks.
-Veggies:

Veggies are selected based on their nutritional value. Also, some veggies have a high nutritional value, but minerals such as too much calcium that can cause stones. Refer to this link, it will explain a LOT. https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...vy-Nutrition-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List

As for a sample diet, refer to this:
https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/24770-Sample-Veggie-Menus

 

[gpigger]

Hello, I'm so sorry for your loss! I'm not exactly sure what was wrong with your pig. I've never heard of something like this before. I did a tiny bit of research, and nothing showed. I think it was just most people getting confused about "pooping blood," when they were really urinating it. From what you described, he could have had some sort of intentional infection. Just a guess though!

But, I can tell you this: you probably did not kill your guinea pig. The odds are very slight that you did anything. As long as your sure that you gave him .05 mL, not .5, then I think your ok. I could have even seen a little smaller dosage given by the vet, but I do not know that it would kill your pig that quickly. Also, the apple could not have killed your guinea pig.

He may have been constipated due to dehydration, intestinal blockage, or lack of veggies in a diet. Yet, I would have to know a little more info about his diet and how long he was on it to know if that made him constipated. But even with this said, it was probably a combination of the problem in his intestine and constipation that killed him. How long was he constipated for? ( also, I don't think constipation could bring up an infection )

As for the diet, how old are your pigs? If they are past the baby age ( first 8 or so weeks ) then this is a diet your should follow:
-Timothy based due-free pellets. Oxbow is a trustable brand for this. (without little 'treaties' in it, is better for them)
-Timothy hay and/or Orchard grass hay.
-Fruit can only be served in a small portion about once every one or two weeks.
-Veggies:

Veggies are selected based on their nutritional value. Also, some veggies have a high nutritional value, but minerals such as too much calcium that can cause stones. Refer to this link, it will explain a LOT. https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...vy-Nutrition-Charts-amp-Poisonous-Plants-List

As for a sample diet, refer to this:
https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/24770-Sample-Veggie-Menus

Thank you so much for all the help.

The Guinea pigs are 4 months old. Their diet is hay and dry food. We did give them small amounts of chard a few weeks ago.
I am not sure if he was constipated but he did have a blockage and swelling in the genital area. He started releasing the loose poo within a day or so of me realising he was not well. The vet said it looked like it was diet related and prescribed the antibiotic.

I will look at the diet link thank you. Do you have any advice on changing a Guinea Pigs diet. Should you introduce things slowly?

Thank you

 

[Guineapigpro]

Actually, I heard when changing pellets, change them cold turkey. They should get the jist. You can do the same for veggies, as long as they will eat them! Come on the forum if you have any problems with our piggerts not wanting to eat their veggies. Best of luck to you!

 

[Aleks]

Actually, I heard when changing pellets, change them cold turkey. They should get the jist. You can do the same for veggies, as long as they will eat them! Come on the forum if you have any problems with our piggerts not wanting to eat their veggies. Best of luck to you!

I used to think that you could switch them cold turkey as well, but really you are supposed to gradually change them like you would with your dogs' food.

 

[Guineapigpro]

I used to think that you could switch them cold turkey as well, but really you are supposed to gradually change them like you would with your dogs' food.

At one point I had @lissie and @Agrimony both say this was the way to do it on this thread: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/92950-What-pellet-to-give-and-how-much?highlight=
Were they wrong?

 

[Aleks]

At one point I had @lissie and @Agrimony both say this was the way to do it. Were they wrong?

I wouldn't say that they were wrong, but I have read and been told by others that it's best to gradually switch the food because it can upset their digestive system.
With that being said though, both of my pigs' pellets have been switched cold turkey and I didn't notice anything wrong with either of them, but upon posting that once I was told that I basically just got lucky.
Of course everyone has their own opinions, but I would say that it's probably best to err on the side of caution and gradually change the pellets.