Post by Orlaith on Jun 8, 2013 22:34:10 GMT
Hey everyone.
I noticed this morning that Mabel was really quiet and her eyes were sticky, so I took her out to have a look at her and thought she felt a bit bony, so I weighed her and discovered she had lost 140g in a week! I offered her a treat of fine beans (her favourite) and she acted really interested but wouldn't take it. I grated some cucumber, thinking it would be easy to chew but she still wasn't able to eat, so I brought her to the emergency vet.
They had a good look at her teeth and said they seemed fine and not overgrown or anything, and couldn't find anything obvious wrong with her (apart from the not eating and the gummy eyes), so she got an injection of gut stimulant and some baytril and steroids. I've to syringe feed her and if she hasn't pooped by tomorrow morning then I've to bring her back for some more gut stimulant.
She's had three syringe feeds so far and is getting noticeably stronger as the day goes on, though she's still very quiet. She's well able to wriggle and struggle when I'm holding her, though, whereas earlier she was hardly able to move.
She came running when her cage mates got their evening vegetables (I chopped some up really small for her) and it was really upsetting to see her get so excited about her food but not be able to eat. She kept picking things up and putting them down again. Poor girl. I know it's really good that she's showing an interest, though.
I'm not convinced it isn't her teeth, but we'll see how it goes. Unless she improves dramatically I'll be bringing her to our normal vet on Monday.
Fingers crossed for my little Mabelline!
I noticed this morning that Mabel was really quiet and her eyes were sticky, so I took her out to have a look at her and thought she felt a bit bony, so I weighed her and discovered she had lost 140g in a week! I offered her a treat of fine beans (her favourite) and she acted really interested but wouldn't take it. I grated some cucumber, thinking it would be easy to chew but she still wasn't able to eat, so I brought her to the emergency vet.
They had a good look at her teeth and said they seemed fine and not overgrown or anything, and couldn't find anything obvious wrong with her (apart from the not eating and the gummy eyes), so she got an injection of gut stimulant and some baytril and steroids. I've to syringe feed her and if she hasn't pooped by tomorrow morning then I've to bring her back for some more gut stimulant.
She's had three syringe feeds so far and is getting noticeably stronger as the day goes on, though she's still very quiet. She's well able to wriggle and struggle when I'm holding her, though, whereas earlier she was hardly able to move.
She came running when her cage mates got their evening vegetables (I chopped some up really small for her) and it was really upsetting to see her get so excited about her food but not be able to eat. She kept picking things up and putting them down again. Poor girl. I know it's really good that she's showing an interest, though.
I'm not convinced it isn't her teeth, but we'll see how it goes. Unless she improves dramatically I'll be bringing her to our normal vet on Monday.
Fingers crossed for my little Mabelline!
. I would be really interested to hear more of this as about 3-4 years ago I had the same kind of thing happen to 3 of my pigs one after the other...I went to all the vets close to me and even traveled to vets and no one knew anything as I didn't know of any specialist vets that dealt in cavies near me. Mine had sticky eyes, dropped their weight incredibly fast and also got boney. I found too that mine later started to dribble and have wet faces and also wanted to eat when I hand fed them but either tried and couldn't or just had given up...Sadly I had to watch then pass away before my eyes; and let me tell you losing one is bad and heart wrenching but losing one to starving itself is worse and later that 2 more would follow...(One of the reasons now that I explain to people that you have to be prepared sometimes to find a vet that has had a lot of experience with guinea pigs or only deals with small animals) As when I was young I really just had to become dependent on others a I had no other way to help my guineas as no one wanted to drive across the country...It was really heartbreaking. 
I've posted about her 
