Our girl Cherry has taken ill and has lost some of her appetite

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duskern

Post   » Sat Feb 08, 2020 9:04 am


Like the topic says she is ill, but I'm not entirely sure what the problem is. Here is a short run through of the whole thing.
  • Tuesday she started sitting still and staring into the wall, all puffed up. She would still eat on occasion, hay, pellets and some vegetables. Her eating was more difficult so we suspected something with her teeth. She couldn't eat carrots unless I chopped them into small sticks that she could eat kind of like spaghetti.
  • Wednesday we took her to the vet. They look at the teeth and couldn't find anything wrong with them. They suspected that she might have had a blow to her teeth or similar that caused her pain when eating. They proscribed something for the pain hoping that would make her eat normally.
  • Friday. Talked to the vet. She didn't seem like she was getting worse, but not really better either. She was still eating, so
  • Today is Saturday. The last couple of days her appetite has dropped a bit. She does still eat a bit of hay and some pellets, a bit of vegetables if I slice them thin. Most of the time she just sits still in hiding, but every now and then she comes out to eat a bit of hay or pellets. We are of course still giving her the pain meds and I have started giving her Fiberplex and Critical Care as a supplement. FP is currently 1ml/day and CC, which I just started today, is 1ml - 3ml every 4 hours.

Just had her out like an hour ago to weigh her and give her some snacks. She still takes snacks also. I found her to be a bit hotter than usual, but nothing I'm sure of. Could just be me having cold hands or the fact that she has been tugged into her nest when I took her out.

Any help is appreciated. I will surely contact the vet on Monday, but right now I just don't know what to do. We do have some antibiotics, but I don't know if it's a good idea to start giving her something like that without knowing what the problem is.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Feb 08, 2020 9:25 am


I would also look into other causes of not eating, like any bacterial/viral infection that would make her sick (and warm). Are there any signs of bloat? Teeth issues can sometimes be secondary to other issues. In other words, something is wrong, the guinea pig does not eat as much, teeth issues develop.

I am glad you are so observant and hope you can figure out what is wrong.

duskern

Post   » Sat Feb 08, 2020 9:57 am


Again, I'm not sure if she actually is warm. I don't really know how to check that. I don't have any experience with bloat, but as far as I can see, there's no sign of it. She does also come out to eat sometimes. Not sure if that is really a sign of no bloat, but I could imagine a pig suffering from bloat wouldn't want to eat anything at all.

Like I wrote, the vet looked at her teeth and they looked fine, both the front and the back molars. She seems to have problems biting hard with her front teeth. I've seen her try to eat carrot, and the like, where she clearly wants to eat it, but just can bite off anything. She keeps on trying for a while, and then give up.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sat Feb 08, 2020 10:04 am


That does sound teeth-related. I think I'd want dental x-rays as a next step. What is the pain med and how much are you giving her? Is it Metacam? If so, what is the concentration of it and what is her weight? Is she drinking water on her own?

duskern

Post   » Sat Feb 08, 2020 11:27 am


Maybe. I'm really scared of what it could be, since this problem just occurred out of nowhere. She is approximately 2 years old. We adopted her from the same breeder we have used the last 5 years or so. Since we lost Abigail, and our oldest pig Nellie became sick, we wanted to make sure that our girl Luna didn't end up in a situation where she was the last pig we had. We have only had Cherry for like 4 months or so, but the love is real <3

The meds are Loxicom (Meloxicam - 1.5mg/ml). She weighs around 1kg. I haven't seen her drinking today, but she has never been one to drink a lot from the bottle. I almost never see her do that. We are giving her some vegetables with lots of water, like cucumber and salat.

Bookfan
For the Love of Pigs

Post   » Sat Feb 08, 2020 1:04 pm


I don't think this would affect biting with the front teeth, but we had one pig that was losing weight - turns out she had some old, sloggy, rotting hay trapped between 2 of her back teeth.

duskern

Post   » Sun Feb 09, 2020 7:46 am


The current status is that she's not really eating that much. She does take a bit of hay sometimes and a bit of pellets and snacks. I also got her to eat some salad that I cut into long spaghetti like things.

I'm currently giving her Fiberplex 1ml every 8 hours and Critical care 3-5ml every 4 hours. The amount of CC depends on how well she has eaten. She is still on pain meds of course.

I talked to a emergency vet last night, and they didn't like the idea of giving antibiotics and I agree. They liked my approach with CC and FP.

Most of the times she is still just sitting still in hiding, or relaxing every now and then. Sometimes she comes out to eat a little bit. There are some good signs from her. When I gave them the salad a couple of hours ago, she came running to the cage gate when I called them, and she ate the whole thing as far as I can tell. She also still takes the time to wash her fur sometimes and she talks a lot when I have her out.

duskern

Post   » Mon Feb 10, 2020 8:31 am


Last night she suddenly started eating a bit more. She seems to be doing even better today. I'll take her to the vet tomorrow to do a check up. Actually wanted to go today, since she wasn't really eating yesterday, but now she seems alright. I'm still giving her a bit of CC and FP + pain meds. She is also more interested in hay today.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Feb 10, 2020 2:57 pm


That is encouraging. Let us know how the vet visit tomorrow goes.

duskern

Post   » Mon Feb 10, 2020 5:52 pm


I sure will guys. Like always, I'm super happy for your support and help.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Tue Feb 11, 2020 6:15 am


Keeping fingers crossed for both of you today!

duskern

Post   » Thu Feb 13, 2020 7:37 am


I've been really busy, so I didn't find the time to give you guys an update before now. The vet visit went ok and they couldn't find a thing wrong with her. Since then we have tried to stop the pain medication to check if she still wants to eat without it. She is doing ok as far as I can see, and is slowly getting back to her old self. I can see improvement every day and besides her having a bit of trouble eating different foods like carrots, there's nothing to put a finger on. I'm really happy for this and even more filled with love for our Cherry <3

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