Sick Guinea Pig Isn't Chewing His Food Properly and Pooping Less

[dirah93]

Hi All,

This is my first time posting here so I hope I'm doing this right. I've adopted my 2 year old boar, Rocket over a month ago and things were going great! He was always an outgoing piggy from the start, eating from my hand and wheeking loudly the day after I brought him home. The thing that concerned me the first week was that he wasn't eating much hay, only his veggies (bell peppers, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, celery) and pellets. I have decided to cut out veggies from his diet and gave him vitamin C supplements temporarily, and soon enough he started eating his hay (Oxbow Timothy Hay).

After a week, I've adopted a 5 week old boar named Flash and they got along great, hardly any issues with them (of course I've quarantined the piggies for 2 weeks before introducing them).

Since Thursday, July 7, I noticed Rocket hasn't been chewing his food properly. He would take a few weak nibbles on his hay or veggies, and then he'll take forever to get through a small piece of bell pepper for example, when before, he would chow down 1/8 of a pepper in no time. I also noticed that he drops his food while attempting to chew on them. His poops have significantly decreased, although they still have the same shape and texture. He also looks very dull at times, and for a few minutes straight he'll just stay in one spot and not move. Lastly, he no longer wheeks when I bring them food, although he still looks eager and interested in eating. Immediately, I knew this was a cause of concern and took him to the vet first thing Monday morning. The reason why I didn't take him to the vet sooner was because I was out of town and there were no cavy savvy vets available where I was. I figured a bad/inexperienced vet is worse than no vet. Luckily, the vet near us is super cavy savvy and is THE best in our region.

The vet checked his heart, stomach, and front teeth, as well as his nose and eyes for any infections but hasn't found anything out of the ordinary. Rocket did however, lose 55 grams of weight in a week. At the end of his visit, she did give me some probiotic (bene bac) and critical care. I was told to come back so that the other vet who has much more experience with guinea pigs (she wasn't in the office on Monday) can put him on anesthesia and check his molars to see if there are any issues there that she missed.

From yesterday and today, I've fed him 25ml of critical care and he's been loving it so far. I give him a dose of his probiotic twice daily, morning and night.

This morning, I've made another appointment to see the vet later on in the evening. I'm hoping there's nothing seriously wrong with Rocket, he's such a sweetheart.

I'm just surprised, things were going so well for him, so to see him go from eagerly chowing down his food to struggling to even take a bite is so overwhelming and scary. This is my first time owning guinea pigs, so I'm hoping I'm doing everything right. I've also separated the two boars in case anything Rocket has might be contagious.

Any advice on other steps I can take are much appreciated.

 

[bpatters]

Are you sure this vet is cavy savvy? Because if I'd taken a pig in with those symptoms, I'd have wanted his mouth x-rayed, top and side views, and I'd have wanted him "whiffed under" with anesthesia so his molars could be checked. What you're describing is classic molar problems, up to and including the weight loss.

While he's having difficulty eating, hand-feed him Critical Care with a syringe. You may have to force him, and it's also called force-feeding for a reason. But pigs MUST have food moving through their gut at all times, or they'll die. If the stomach ulcers/perforations don't get them, the GI stasis/bloat will. See https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html for information on how to do it, and post back here if you have problems with is.

 

[dirah93]

Are you sure this vet is cavy savvy? Because if I'd taken a pig in with those symptoms, I'd have wanted his mouth x-rayed, top and side views, and I'd have wanted him "whiffed under" with anesthesia so his molars could be checked. What you're describing is classic molar problems, up to and including the weight loss.

While he's having difficulty eating, hand-feed him Critical Care with a syringe. You may have to force him, and it's also called force-feeding for a reason. But pigs MUST have food moving through their gut at all times, or they'll die. If the stomach ulcers/perforations don't get them, the GI stasis/bloat will. See https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html for information on how to do it, and post back here if you have problems with is.

I apologize, I think I should've clarified. I go to the Village Animal Clinic in Voorheesville, and they do have a few vets working there. Unfortunately, and I didn't know this during my visit yesterday, that the vet that's able to put Rocket under anesthesia and check his molars/have his mouth x-rayed would've been the vet that wasn't in the office then, and I believe her name is Kristen. The vet I saw yesterday told me to wait till today to see Kristen. But she also gave me some critical care in the meantime so that he'd at least have food in his system 24/7. She even counted the visit yesterday as a checkup so I wouldn't have to pay as much till I got to see the appropriate vet this afternoon.

As I'm typing I'm getting Rocket and I ready to see the vet in a few.

Every two hours I'm syringe feeding him the critical care. I even came home during my lunch break from work to feed him (thank god I only live 5 mins from work!!). Thankfully Rocket doesn't really put up much of a fight, rather I think he enjoys the apple and banana flavor.

 

[dirah93]

Also, on a positive note, when I came home from work this afternoon, I was happy to see Rocket pooping a heck of a lot more!! It's still not as much as usual, but at least it's several, and that's a lot better than seeing just one or two poops in the cage. I spoke to the vet, Kristen, over the phone earlier and she did say I may have to leave Rocket there overnight as she puts him under anesthesia.

Hopefully everything goes well and I'm really hoping his condition is not malocclusion...I was reading up on it for a while and it does sound like he has those symptoms, but again I'll just have to wait till I hear back from the vet.

 

[bpatters]

You should NOT have to leave him overnight just because she's anesthetizing him. Unless that clinic has someone who will feed him overnight, several times during the night, he's better off at home with you.

Assuming she's just checking his teeth, he should just get a whiff of gas, long enough for her to look. If she has to trim his molars, he'll need to be anesthetized longer. But in that case, I'd insist that the surgery be done early enough in the day that I could get him and bring him home.

 

[dirah93]

Ah okay, I'll make sure the vet understands that I'll be bringing Rocket home if she's just going to anesthetize him. I'm not sure how the procedure usually goes when the vet checks their molars as this is my first time owning guinea pigs, so I appreciate your advice and input. I'll keep those in mind when I reach the vet's office.

 

[bpatters]

Since you're a new GP owner, here's some reading material for you:

-- https://www.guinealynx.info/healthycavy.html
-- https://www.guinealynx.info/emergency.html
-- www.cavyspirit.com
-- the stickies at the tops of the main forums here
-- https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum...us-Plants-List for what you can feed and how often
-- https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum...ur-guinea-pigs!