Not Eating Treating for abscess and stopped eating

[Kareen]

My guinea pig recently started receiving Baytril for an abscess that he has on his lower back. Three days into his treatment and he stopped eating and pooping. I called my vet this morning and he said to force feed him a pellet mash and syringe some water into him. He also said to discontinue the Baytril. The piggy savvy vet who I normally go to at this clinic is not in today so I dealt with another wonderful vet, but unfortunately, not one that knows too much about piggies.

My questions are;

-Should I discontinue the Baytril? Seems to me the abscess will only get worst and we'll have bigger issues to deal with down the road.

-I asked the vet about probiotics and he wasn't sure what kind or how much to give though he thought it was a good idea. What kind and how much should I give and when should I give it? Chester has already received his daily dose of Baytril about 2 hours ago (before I spoke to the vet). Can I go ahead and give him a probiotic later today?

-Should he be receiving metacam for pain relief from the abscess and the tummy upset?

Thanks!

 

[pinky]

He should be on a probiotic. I use Benebac. There's a powder and gel which you can get at most pet stores. Right now I'm giving mine the gel; a pea sized dose an hour before or after the antibiotic. The other thing you have to worry about is bloat. It's very serious if they stop pooping. You can tell if they have bloat if they appear to have a swollen, balloon like stomach. If you thump it, it will sound hollow like a balloon. Bloat can be treated with baby simethicone which is sold at pharmacies. You administer half the infant dose which is .15 ml. Gently massaging the belly helps. I gave mine a warm bath in about 2" of water and she started pooping a lot. I'm not sure if that's usual or just worked for her. Your vet doesn't sound very cavy experienced so you might want to consider finding one that specializes in exotics. Metacam works well to relieve pain. I had a guinea pig with an abscess but didn't treat him with Metacam in addition to the antibiotic and probiotic so I can't say if that would be recommended or not.

 

[Paula]

Was the abscess lanced and drained surgically? If not, it might need to be. That might make it easier to pull him off the oral baytril if he is having trouble on it.

Metacam for pain, possibly, yes. Stomach upset should be alleviated by a probiotic by itself, so simethicone may not be necessary.

 

[bpatters]

Ditto pinky about the probiotic.

I also don't know about whether the metacam would be recommended -- it's used for pain, but almost any pain medication slows down the digestive tract, and that may not be what you need here. Could you ask the vet who's there today to call someone and find out about a pain med? They usually have someone they can go to when they're not sure of the answers.

Do you know how to syringe feed, and how much to give? See www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html for more info.

 

[Kareen]

Our piggy savvy vet finally did call me back later in the day (turns out her shift started in the afternoon). I had already syringe fed water and pellets every three hours (3cc's of each, at every feeding). Our vet did think metacam would be a good idea (I always have some on-hand at home, just in case) so I gave him a dose. She didn't say anything about simethicone (Ovol) though, so he did not get any of that.

As for probiotics - her recommendation was to take 2 or 3 FRESH poops from our healthy piggies, mixing them with a bit of water and syringe feeding them to him with a bit of pellet mash (GROSS, I know, but he LOVES it - go figure).

Chester FINALLY pooped later that evening and has been eating and pooping like a good boy ever since. I have continued with his daily dose of antibiotics (vet said to resume as soon as he had some good, healthy poops) and I continue to feed him our "home grown probiotic" each day as well..

He's back to his healthy, happy self and his abscess is also looking great, (btw Paula, the abscess was indeed drained and we've been flushing it daily).

So thankfully we had a short lived emergency. I really feel the key was addressing his not eating/pooping immediately, rather than hoping he'd get better on his own.

Thank you all very much for your help !

 

[Paula]

Great news. And yes, "poop soup" is indeed the best probiotic you can offer, if you can stomach it.

 

[Hhbean]

So happy that he's on the up swing! Laughed when I read the part of taking the other piggies poop, because if I tried to take Roger's poop he would probably chase me down and there would be a tug-a-war!