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Small pets

Poorly pig

9 replies

elvislives2012 · 09/10/2016 12:27

We've got two females guinea pigs and have had them about a month. They're three years old
I've woken up today to find one of them out of sorts. Swollen tummy, stringy poo and squeaking if I pick her up.
I've done some googling and sounds like it could be her diet. There is no way I can get to a vet today but I can tomorrow. I've bought her in. Put her on sawdust and given her fresh food only and water which I've tried stringing in to her with varying success.
Anything else?? It's so upsetting!!!

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 09/10/2016 13:10

Poor girl , she could be constipated.
Keep her warm, a towel to cuddle into.

Mash up some of her pellets food with hot water to make a sloppy paste and get a Calpol syringe (go round NDN with small children if you don't have one. They might have a spare syringe)

Put the syringe just behind the front teeth and squeeze a bit, let her chew the syringe them she'll swallow it, if you squirt it too much it can go down the windpipe.

She sounds a bit dehydrated , the sloppy mix will give her water and fibre, but its time consuming and messy.
Once shes had some, give her hay and let her sit quietly.
She might let you massage her tummy, she might not.
She might like to sit in a bath of shallow warm water if you can keep her warm and get her dry. Depends on how she is, she might not want any handling.

Hopefully you'll get an improvement in output.

Look for anything plastic she might have chewed , might be a blockage?
Keep a check on her pooh.

Good Luck.
This is just an interim 'help' if she doesn't improve drastically then she'll need a vet but a sudden swelling is usually because the pooh ain't coming out.

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FernieB · 09/10/2016 16:03

Everything 70 says! Plus if you've brought her in, can you bring her friend in too? They really do like being together and may pine if alone. Don't take her off pellets completely, she'll need the fibre to get going.

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froglou · 09/10/2016 19:11

Poor thing :(
If you think it's diet; What food is she on, and does she always have hay, what veg do you give her and have you put her out on grass at all?

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elvislives2012 · 09/10/2016 20:16

She'd died when I got home :( so sad. All over so quickly. She'd had regular access to outside with hay, biscuits and grass. I wonder if she hadn't had access to that stuff when we got her about two months ago and then it upset her?
What shall I do about her sister? Shall I wait and see if she is ok? Do I get another one?
Booooo

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froglou · 09/10/2016 20:50

Possibly the grass.Grass should be introduced slowly if it wasn't or at some point she was able I have more grass than usual it can cause bloat which can be fatal. It should be introduced slowly over the course of a couple weeks. Or if the grass was treated with anything again that can cause problems.
I'm really sorry for your loss.

I'd keep an eye on your other for a week see if any other symptoms come up. Fully clean the cage anyway Incase there was anything on the grass or if it was a parasite.

If you want another as they do get lonely you need to keep them separated for a week (two cages or segregate your one), they need to be a similar size and age if you can, look at rescues or support adoption.

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elvislives2012 · 09/10/2016 21:37

Thank you. I feel quite sad. Like I let her down. If I'd gone to the vets they may have done something.
I'll definitely consider adoption. I'll wait to make sure the other one stays well first

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70isaLimitNotaTarget · 09/10/2016 22:17

Poor lamb but yes, it was quick.
You probably won't find out what it was.
Grass bloat a poosibility but ,at this time of year , mine struggle to find enough grass , they were out today while we cleaned the Pighouse.
Possibly something like buttercups but that wouldn't account for swelling.

I'm still thinking blockage but , you can't know unless you have a post mortem and who wants to go down that road.

Guineas are quite fragile little animals and they do the Well-To-Dead thing. What one guinea shakes off will see off its cagemate,

YY to getting a friend for your lone piggie, give the rescue a phone and they can PigDate.

Don't feel like you've failed her, we lost our boar last year even after two vet visits in 48 hours. He just exploded with the runs (TMI) but the sows were fine. Things happen. I don't know if your vet could've done anything for her , you might've just said "Enough" and called time.
She died quickly at home .

Just realised that three piggies on Super Furry Animals have died in the last week, there seems to be spates of them
The Rainbow Bridge welcomes another little set of paws.

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fortifiedwithtea · 10/10/2016 09:27

This is sad and if you are a believer in things come in 3's, hopefully this is the last piggy to cross the rainbow bridge for some time.

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hedgehogsarecoming · 10/10/2016 18:46

One of our guinea died a few years ago have kept Mario our remaining guinea on his own since seems happy