Weight Loss Eevee’s thread

[Mamabug]

Eevee is the one guinea pig who has been the healthiest. She’s had two URI’s in her life and that was when she was a baby. She is now 2 and a half. She’s acting normal and if I didn’t pay attention she would have me fooled. She’s been sitting in the corner but facing out where we can see her face. She tends to do that. This evening, something seemed off about her. I got her out and weighed her and she has lost almost 100 grams. I weigh all three of them every Tuesday and her weight was normal then. So she’s lost about 90 grams within 5 days. Getting a closer look, I can tell she doesn’t feel good. I don’t know what is wrong. She doesn’t appear to have a URI but she’s fooled me before when she had one but showed no symptoms. Her cage mate Eri had one at the same time and I had the vet check all of them. Lo and behold Eevee had it too. So I’m not ruling out a URI.

She’s eating but not very enthusiastic about her treats. She’s eating hay and fresh veggies. She’s drinking water very well. I don’t know about her poop, whether it’s normal or small. She’s in with two other girls so it’s hard to tell. So I have no clue what is wrong with her. I will be calling the vet tomorrow morning.

This just goes to show that they hide their sickness very well because I literally have seen no symptoms whatsoever except for weight loss.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Glad you're calling the vet tomorrow. That kind of weight loss is definitely in emergency territory. Please let us know how she makes out.

 

[Mamabug]

My regular vet isn’t in on Monday so I’m at a different office. Hopefully they can help.

 

[Mamabug]

Do guinea pigs get constipated????

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

They can experience gut stasis, yes. It is treatable and can get serious quickly, even becoming fatal.

 

[Mamabug]

They can experience gut stasis, yes. It is treatable and can get serious quickly, even becoming fatal.

They don’t know what they’re doing I don’t think. She has a fever they say. I think she has an infection of some sort. They’re going to do bloodwork but will send it off. They don’t think she has a URI.

 

[Mamabug]

They did an X-ray and said her stomach was pretty empty but her intestines are full. She is going into gut stasis. I can do critical care but she needs a gut motility med, maybe an antibiotic and some pain medicine. That’s my opinion. They want to either keep her or have me separate her from the other two. I’m inclined to take her home and take care of her myself. The exotic vet isn’t here today. I’m just batting zeroes today.

 

[Mamabug]

Ok, finally got a minute to sit. I had them do bloodwork to rule out an infection. Her blood was normal, no high white blood count, so they ruled out any infection. Basically we don’t know why her gut is going into stasis. It could be anything. Bad hay, bad vegetables, etc. I know it’s not any of those because my other two are fine. I have to give her mylicon every two hours for the next two days, then every six hours after that until Saturday and Sunday when she gets it every twelve hours. She’s on reglan every eight hours, and lactulose every twelve hours. She’s getting pain meds today and tomorrow. She will be getting Critical Care starting today. They believe she should be getting better by next week.

I have experience with Critical Care due to Eri having problems, but they’re telling me to water it down to like one part Critical Care, five parts water. I’m afraid of making it too thin because I don’t want her to aspirate it and end up with an even worse problem. She is eating and drinking some on her own so I’m not sure if I need to go to that extreme, especially since she is getting meds to move her gut too. What do you guys think? I would have felt better if the board certified exotics vet had been there since my vet wasn’t in office.

It’s one thing after another here. Eri is finally starting to gain weight so now I guess it’s Eevee’s turn. I told Chai, my third piggie, she’d better not have a problem after Eevee gets better. I love these three little brats but boy are they expensive! And hard to give medicine to! My kids were never this hard! I think it was easier giving my cat a pill! Eevee is not fond of syringes.

I really do love them. They are worth every penny. It’s not easy though.

 

[4boipigs]

I would still give her Critical Care. Even if you see her eating, it may not be enough. Are you home all the time to monitor them or do you have a camera to watch them? I would feed them til they appear to be eating 100% on their own again. Adjust the amount and time you give Critical Care.

As for watering it down, see if she will eat it on her own. Make like a thick paste and offer it to her on a plate. Otherwise get a syringe (we used 1ml because it was easier to track) and cut off the tip. That way it doesn’t have to be watered down so much to get it thru the tip.

When my boy Walter got stasis from being sedated at the vet, it took almost a week for him to return to normal.

 

[Mamabug]

I will be giving her the Critical Care. I was just questioning the thickness of it. My concern is that it would be too watery and she could aspirate it. They gave me a big syringe to use too, which I probably won’t use. I’ll save it in case the cat needs it maybe. She normally loves the Critical Care. When I was feeding it to Eri, she and Chai would demand a little bit of it too. I am a stay at home mom so I’m here most of the time.

 

[ItsaZoo]

Warmth, tummy massages and getting her to move around might get her gut moving. I had one that was going into stasis from a reaction to Baytril. She stopped eating and no output. I ended up at an emergency vet who didn’t know anything about piggies, but the car ride and all the handling gave her digestive tract a little nudge.

I hope she starts improving.

 

[Mamabug]

Thank you. I discovered another problem yesterday after the vet visit. She is missing fur a little below her neck, like between her front legs. I missed it and I guess the vet missed it. I have no idea what it could be. We haven’t gotten any new piggies, and the other two are fine, no fur missing on them. Her skin looks fine. It’s almost like someone gave her a buzz cut there or something. I don’t think she could have done it herself. I can’t imagine she’d tolerate the other two doing it to her either. Any idea?

It doesn’t appear to be itching either.

 

[Mamabug]

Never mind on the post above. I found out why her hair is missing. The vet did it when they drew her blood. I feel dumb. They did it and didn’t tell me.