Sick piggy question

[jorgiemom]

We have a fairly new guinea pig we purchased from Petsmart a month ago. The first week we had her she threw up. I noticed her throwing up again today almost four weeks later. I know this can't be normal. Anyone have any advice?

 

[dagwellismypigy]

Take her to a vet ASAP!! Not just a cat or dog vet (i made that mistake) make sure its an exotic animal vet.

 

[Piglet]

Yes, take her to an exotic vet. Thats what you get when you purchase a pig

 

[mncavylover]

There is something very wrong here--take the poor thing to a vet asap! There could be any number of things wrong, and we don't have the time to waste discussing them all. Please do take it in quickly!

Other than that, please adopt a buddy for the cavy. See www.cavyspirit.com/sociallife.htm. Thanks, and good luck!

 

[Katie]

Cavies cannot throw up, it's physically impossible. Check her front and back teeth. They could be overgrown, causing her to chew her food, but spit it out.

Get her to an exotic vet ASAP. Also check www.guinealynx.info

 

[jorgiemom]

Thanks for the advice. I took Chocolate in right away to an exotic animal vet and they thought she had a mild respiratory ailment brought on by not giving her enough vitamin C. I learned that I need to change her water/vitamin C combo 2x daily. She's on a low dosage antibiotic formulated for guinea pigs. Thanks for your help!!

Take her to a vet ASAP!! Not just a cat or dog vet (i made that mistake) make sure its an exotic animal vet.

 

[DocDolittle]

Also, try not to buy a small animal from stores like Petsmart and Petco. I bought my first pig at Petsmart, where they guarenteed that they were all sows. Well, my Cocoa here started showing suggestive actions toward the new girl guinea pig we brought to be her, now his, companion, So, we returned the girl to our friends store, where we bought her, and had the owner sex Cocoa. Turns out Petsmart lied and we were stuck with a male pig other than a female pig. I accepted the fact, though at first I was a little disappointed because I had heard only females get along, but the moral of the story is that Petsmart doesn't know a thing about sexing guinea pigs.

 

[jorgiemom]

How do you tell what the sex of the gp is? I did buy my pet at Petsmart out of ignorance. She bit the vet's hand today, which he thought was a little unusual for a female.

Also, try not to buy a small animal from stores like Petsmart and Petco. I bought my first pig at Petsmart, where they guarenteed that they were all sows. Well, my Cocoa here started showing suggestive actions toward the new girl guinea pig we brought to be her, now his, companion, So, we returned the girl to our friends store, where we bought her, and had the owner sex Cocoa. Turns out Petsmart lied and we were stuck with a male pig other than a female pig. I accepted the fact, though at first I was a little disappointed because I had heard only females get along, but the moral of the story is that Petsmart doesn't know a thing about sexing guinea pigs.

 

[DocDolittle]

Very detailed intructions can be found at https://www.cavyspirit.com/sexing.htm.

 

[dagwellismypigy]

How do you tell what the sex of the gp is? I did buy my pet at Petsmart out of ignorance. She bit the vet's hand today, which he thought was a little unusual for a female.

Any guinea pig can bite whether its male or female its just the tempermant. You should see https://cavyspirit.com/biting.htm too.

 

[mncavylover]

Glad that everything's ok!

 

[CavyCrazyMom]

I'm glad that she's gonna be OK! And in the stores defence, they get them in already seperated into 'male' and 'female' cages. They take them and put them into the store's cages. SO again, the sexing problem lies with the breeder not the petstore. But now that you know, try to adopt a friend for your girl! (PS I bought two of my girls from a petstore and they are fine.)

 

[rabbitsncavyluv]

The pet store should know how to sex the animals they sell either way though. And am I reading right? You are putting vitamin c in the water? That's not a good way to supplement.

 

[mncavylover]

Oh, wow! I didn't notice that. Please do not use that as a supplement. If you need one, I have one that was recommended by a vet. In the water, it decomposes very rapidly. It also changes the water's taste and sometimes deters the cavies from drinking.

 

[critterlover]

Jorgiemom, what sort of things are you feeding your pig? Hay, pellets with vitamin C,
veggies etc?

 

[jorgiemom]

I am feeding her Kaytee Forti-diet pellets, timothy hay, fruit and veggies daily. If I take away the drops I'm worried she won't be getting enough vit. c.

 

[critterlover]

Sounds like you're feeding her really well. I asked about diet because
some people might not be feeding veggies etc. but obviously you've done all this.

There's good information about vitamin C supplementation here:
https://www.guinealynx.info/healthycavy.html#diet
They actually suggest other ways to give vitamin C rather than put it in the water.

 

[mncavylover]

Here is a supplement you can use also:

Crush one 250 mg tablet vitamin c only (no preservatives, colorings, other vitamins, etc.)
Mix with 8 cc water.
Feed 1 cc per piggy per day.

I put it on my piggies' veggies.

Kaytee may have ethyoxyquin, a harmful preservative, in it. Check out the food thread.

 

[DaCourt]

I'm glad that she's gonna be OK! And in the stores defence, they get them in already seperated into 'male' and 'female' cages. They take them and put them into the store's cages. SO again, the sexing problem lies with the breeder not the petstore. But now that you know, try to adopt a friend for your girl! (PS I bought two of my girls from a petstore and they are fine.)

I know this is a very old thread, but I just had to respond to this. You say teh sexing problem lies with the breeder and not the pet store. Pardon my French, but what a load of crap. The ultimate responsibility falls on the Pet Store. You better believe that when they receive shipments of other "merchandise" they are checking to make sure that they are getting what they are supposed to get. If they get an invoice for 100 bags of cat food, they would be pretty upset if it turned out to be rabbit food. So, if they are taking delivery of 10 male guinea pigs, they should be verifying that they are getting 10 male guine pigs.

This makes me so angry. I know that since you work in a pet store you feel compelled to defend them. But I'm sorry. It is BS. I was in a Petco this past weekend. Not by choice. I was coming out of the movies and heard htese girls talking about the poor animals in Petco. So I had to walk over. There were 10 pigs crammed into a small aquarium, very little bedding, brown water...YUCK! One of them was male and 3 were ready to give birth any day. I'm sure the other 6 females were pregnant too. THey had only been there 3 weeks. The manager was rude and wanted to know how I knew it was male. I told him because he had two huge testicals dragging on the ground. He said that he didn't care they were pregnant.

Breeders will be breeders. But the end responsibility lies with the Pet Store. The average person going there honestly believe that these people know something. After all, they work in a pet store, I can trust them to give me the right info. It's all BS!!!!

 

[weaseldropping]

I bought my Arnie from Petsmart cos I just couldn't leave him there - he was the ugliest pig you ever saw, but the best tempered and most outgoing I have ever known. I have had many pigs over the years - all the others from proper breeders -and I really can't remember ever taking any of the others to the vet at all. Arnie was a regular. In his six years he has two different skin conditions, repeated tooth problems, eye discharge, a paralysed tongue (don't even ask!) and what the vet described as "a nervous breakdown"... he was the only pet shop purchase. Was this a coincidence?