Is he still losing, or has he stabilized? If he's still losing, what amount over what period of time?
It's VERY hard to get an adult guinea pig to gain weight, and about the only way to do it is to push foods that also are incidentally high in calcium. I think it's better to concentrate on him maintaining his weight, and then hoping for small increases over a long period of time.
Male American Short Hair With Stones
Started the Renavive Tuesday.
I mixed 0.6 ml of unsweetened 100% cranberry juice with 6 drops of Chanca Piedra and 3 drops of lemon juice and mixed the powder from one capsule of Renavive. I've been giving 0.4 ml of this mixture to Moo twice a day for the past 2 days. Whenever I need to make more, I keep the ratio the same and serve the same dose for consistency.
Moo has finally taken an interest in the green-leaf lettuce, but he still won't touch the red-leaf. We've added cucumber to his diet to increase water intake which he seems to like overall. He's still drinking a lot and urinating, so nothing's blocked up. Still eating pleanty of hay. He eats his peppers on and off. Yesterday he cleaned his plate, but he left his pepper today.
He seems to go through ups and downs. For a couple hours after I give him the Renavive mixture, he seems perkier, more alert, moves around a lot more, stands up, popcorns, rumble struts, begs for food and attention, eats and drinks more, etc. But in between doses, he seems to slow down. I'm not sure if this is his usual post-breakfast/dinner naps or if it's because of pain. I'm hoping the former.
He definitely doesn't like the Renavive, but today he finally started to take the syringe on his own to get it over with faster.
He's eating more since I started the Renavive, but we'll see if this trend continues or not. He seems to be getting stronger overall at least, so I'm hopeful this is working. I guess we'll know for sure once he's back to eating all his meals like normal and we get more x-rays.
For now, I'm remaining cautiously optimistic.
I mixed 0.6 ml of unsweetened 100% cranberry juice with 6 drops of Chanca Piedra and 3 drops of lemon juice and mixed the powder from one capsule of Renavive. I've been giving 0.4 ml of this mixture to Moo twice a day for the past 2 days. Whenever I need to make more, I keep the ratio the same and serve the same dose for consistency.
Moo has finally taken an interest in the green-leaf lettuce, but he still won't touch the red-leaf. We've added cucumber to his diet to increase water intake which he seems to like overall. He's still drinking a lot and urinating, so nothing's blocked up. Still eating pleanty of hay. He eats his peppers on and off. Yesterday he cleaned his plate, but he left his pepper today.
He seems to go through ups and downs. For a couple hours after I give him the Renavive mixture, he seems perkier, more alert, moves around a lot more, stands up, popcorns, rumble struts, begs for food and attention, eats and drinks more, etc. But in between doses, he seems to slow down. I'm not sure if this is his usual post-breakfast/dinner naps or if it's because of pain. I'm hoping the former.
He definitely doesn't like the Renavive, but today he finally started to take the syringe on his own to get it over with faster.
He's eating more since I started the Renavive, but we'll see if this trend continues or not. He seems to be getting stronger overall at least, so I'm hopeful this is working. I guess we'll know for sure once he's back to eating all his meals like normal and we get more x-rays.
For now, I'm remaining cautiously optimistic.
I'm still keeping up with the Renavive mixture twice a day.
He's not losing a lot of weight thankfully. I'd just noticed he was feeling a little boney near his back legs, so it worried me.
But he ate a lot for breakfast today, all of his fresh veggies, and I've been giving him extra hay often throughout the day this week which makes him curious and prompts him to eat more. It's almost like he needs a little reminder to eat, but once he's thinking about it, he'll graze for a while. I'm hoping that means he's on the mend.
He's still drinking a lot on his own. I had to refill one of his bottles twice yesterday.
He's been up and down all week, but the fact that he's eating more food more often gives me hope. Once he's back to eating everything in sight and begging for more, then I'll feel more at ease and we'll get more x-rays.
So far at least he doesn't seem to be getting any worse. Small improvements here and there. I think it's just going to take time and patience for now.
Thanks all for your advice and help. 🙏🏻
He's not losing a lot of weight thankfully. I'd just noticed he was feeling a little boney near his back legs, so it worried me.
But he ate a lot for breakfast today, all of his fresh veggies, and I've been giving him extra hay often throughout the day this week which makes him curious and prompts him to eat more. It's almost like he needs a little reminder to eat, but once he's thinking about it, he'll graze for a while. I'm hoping that means he's on the mend.
He's still drinking a lot on his own. I had to refill one of his bottles twice yesterday.
He's been up and down all week, but the fact that he's eating more food more often gives me hope. Once he's back to eating everything in sight and begging for more, then I'll feel more at ease and we'll get more x-rays.
So far at least he doesn't seem to be getting any worse. Small improvements here and there. I think it's just going to take time and patience for now.
Thanks all for your advice and help. 🙏🏻
Yeah, it does seem a bit excessive, but he's always drunk a lot of water (which is part of why I think he's had stones or sludge since a baby and we just didn't know). The vets wanted him to drink more, so I'm glad he is in that regard to help flush the stones out. So far no negative effects that I can tell from the water itself.
As for pain, I do hear unusual squeaks a couple times a day, but when I get up to check on him, he's usually munching on hay and acts like everything is normal.
A few times this week I did see him puffed up (which he does if he's having difficulty pooping), but he relaxed as soon as I started petting him. He's always had some digestive issues and needs his sides massaged gently sometimes to help move things along.
I think the change in his diet has been the hardest on his system since his stool has been a bit more moist and longer than usual. Not watery, just moist. Even so, I think that's been giving him the most pain so far. Poor little guy can't catch a break. The Renavive mixture seems to help with pain to some extent thankfully, and I have plenty of pain meds from the vet still for when he needs it.
Overall he seems to be slowly improving though. It's good to see his apetite returning.
As for pain, I do hear unusual squeaks a couple times a day, but when I get up to check on him, he's usually munching on hay and acts like everything is normal.
A few times this week I did see him puffed up (which he does if he's having difficulty pooping), but he relaxed as soon as I started petting him. He's always had some digestive issues and needs his sides massaged gently sometimes to help move things along.
I think the change in his diet has been the hardest on his system since his stool has been a bit more moist and longer than usual. Not watery, just moist. Even so, I think that's been giving him the most pain so far. Poor little guy can't catch a break. The Renavive mixture seems to help with pain to some extent thankfully, and I have plenty of pain meds from the vet still for when he needs it.
Overall he seems to be slowly improving though. It's good to see his apetite returning.
Yes, I'm chronicling everything here.
It'll be 2 weeks from this Monday (May 1st) since we got his first x-rays. We're planning to get more after a month or so of treatment. We can't afford to get the x-rays often, so we're waiting until we see a marked improvement to get more. Once he's back to normal eating/drinking and no pain, we'll take him back for more x-rays.
Just today when I was giving him his Renavive, he urinated on the counter. He didn't make any noise of pain or anything that indicated he'd peed, so I didn't notice until I felt it. It was clear, not cloudy and no blood at least. I'm not sure if this happened because I took him out of the cage too quickly (normally I let him go to the bathroom before I get him out of the cage) or if he's losing control of certain bodily functions. I'm hoping it's the former since overall he's been doing better.
The only time he makes noises of pain now are sometimes when he poops, but it's not all the time. Maybe a handful of times a day. I'm worried the Renavive is messing with his GI tract too much along with his diet changes. I think I'm going to finish up this batch of the Renavive (he's got maybe 2-3 doses left), then switch back to the Chanca Piedra mix by itself to see if the painful pooping subsides after a few days since he didn't have that issue before we changed his diet and started the Renavive.
It'll be 2 weeks from this Monday (May 1st) since we got his first x-rays. We're planning to get more after a month or so of treatment. We can't afford to get the x-rays often, so we're waiting until we see a marked improvement to get more. Once he's back to normal eating/drinking and no pain, we'll take him back for more x-rays.
Just today when I was giving him his Renavive, he urinated on the counter. He didn't make any noise of pain or anything that indicated he'd peed, so I didn't notice until I felt it. It was clear, not cloudy and no blood at least. I'm not sure if this happened because I took him out of the cage too quickly (normally I let him go to the bathroom before I get him out of the cage) or if he's losing control of certain bodily functions. I'm hoping it's the former since overall he's been doing better.
The only time he makes noises of pain now are sometimes when he poops, but it's not all the time. Maybe a handful of times a day. I'm worried the Renavive is messing with his GI tract too much along with his diet changes. I think I'm going to finish up this batch of the Renavive (he's got maybe 2-3 doses left), then switch back to the Chanca Piedra mix by itself to see if the painful pooping subsides after a few days since he didn't have that issue before we changed his diet and started the Renavive.
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Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
Have you tried the shillintong? Some people have success with that.
It seems to me that cloudy pee happens frequently following eating something with a significant calcium content. We became suspicious of romaine because though it is not high in calcium, it frequently causes cloudy and powdery urine.
Of course, trying different treatments will mean you can't identify what worked the best.
If he is becoming incontinent, the wetness will likely cause an odor - which could indicate a bacterial infection ( uti.html).
It seems to me that cloudy pee happens frequently following eating something with a significant calcium content. We became suspicious of romaine because though it is not high in calcium, it frequently causes cloudy and powdery urine.
Of course, trying different treatments will mean you can't identify what worked the best.
If he is becoming incontinent, the wetness will likely cause an odor - which could indicate a bacterial infection ( uti.html).
This is also a sign of possible stones.
There was no odor nor color. For all I could tell, it was water. I don't think he has a UTI. My old sow, Oreo, got them regularly because her uterus was enlarged and pressed on her bladder, so I'm pretty familiar with UTIs. It was my first thought when Moo was a baby and urinated all the time, but the urinary treats with cranberry helped with that issue for over a year and a half.
I think the stones are likely moving now. Today he's been squeeking contantly when he poops, and I see a few white spots on his fleece (he just had his cage cleaned last night).
I started him on the pain meds today (Metacam) in the hopes it will help. For some reason I thought they'd given us a narcotic which is why I held off giving it to him until now for fear he'd stop eating. But I'm familiar with Metacam since I take it myself (Meloxicam), so I know it won't suppress his appetite or make him sleepy since it's an anti-inflammatory. The down side is it tends to take a fews days to really build up in the system to reduce swelling. He took it by himself at least, no fuss, so I can definitely keep up with the Metacam (0.1 ml, once a day).
He won't touch the Renavive anymore. Takes me 20 mins to try to get 0.4 ml in him, and it just stresses him out, so I'm going back to using just the Chanca Piedra extract (which is the main ingredient in the Renavive anyway) with the lemon and cranberry juices. I've been giving him the Chanca Piedra/lemon/cranberry juice mixture since the begining. It's what I mixed the Renavive powder in, so that has been steady at least.
Last night I increased the dose of the Chanca Piedra to 3 drops, 1 drop lemon juice and .02 ml cranberry juice, 2 times a day still. He likes this mixture now and will drink it willingly, so I may increase the frequency to 3 times a day if he stabalizes on this.
I haven't tried the Shilintong yet. I wanted to see how he did with the Renavive first. I'm only changing/trying one thing at a time to see how he reacts before adding anythig else. Before I try the Shilintong, I want to give the new addition of the Metacam a chance to ease his pain and see how he reacts to it.
I'm aware changing things up will make it harder to pinpoint what helped the most, but I'm more concerned with keeping him comfortable and healthy as much as I can under these circumstances. If something isn't working and he gets worse, then I will switch to something else as needed.
He's still eating and drinking plenty of water. His weight seems to have stabalized. I think it was the changes to his diet that upset his GI tract. He weighs 2.2 lb.
I think the stones are likely moving now. Today he's been squeeking contantly when he poops, and I see a few white spots on his fleece (he just had his cage cleaned last night).
I started him on the pain meds today (Metacam) in the hopes it will help. For some reason I thought they'd given us a narcotic which is why I held off giving it to him until now for fear he'd stop eating. But I'm familiar with Metacam since I take it myself (Meloxicam), so I know it won't suppress his appetite or make him sleepy since it's an anti-inflammatory. The down side is it tends to take a fews days to really build up in the system to reduce swelling. He took it by himself at least, no fuss, so I can definitely keep up with the Metacam (0.1 ml, once a day).
He won't touch the Renavive anymore. Takes me 20 mins to try to get 0.4 ml in him, and it just stresses him out, so I'm going back to using just the Chanca Piedra extract (which is the main ingredient in the Renavive anyway) with the lemon and cranberry juices. I've been giving him the Chanca Piedra/lemon/cranberry juice mixture since the begining. It's what I mixed the Renavive powder in, so that has been steady at least.
Last night I increased the dose of the Chanca Piedra to 3 drops, 1 drop lemon juice and .02 ml cranberry juice, 2 times a day still. He likes this mixture now and will drink it willingly, so I may increase the frequency to 3 times a day if he stabalizes on this.
I haven't tried the Shilintong yet. I wanted to see how he did with the Renavive first. I'm only changing/trying one thing at a time to see how he reacts before adding anythig else. Before I try the Shilintong, I want to give the new addition of the Metacam a chance to ease his pain and see how he reacts to it.
I'm aware changing things up will make it harder to pinpoint what helped the most, but I'm more concerned with keeping him comfortable and healthy as much as I can under these circumstances. If something isn't working and he gets worse, then I will switch to something else as needed.
He's still eating and drinking plenty of water. His weight seems to have stabalized. I think it was the changes to his diet that upset his GI tract. He weighs 2.2 lb.
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