Penny's Med Thread

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Annapox

Post   » Sat Dec 03, 2022 11:59 am


Thank you for the information! Penny isn't showing any of the listed symptoms of malocclusion. Her teeth were definitely examined on 12/1, both by using an otoscope and by feeling her jaws. I actually thought this was standard procedure, because I don't think I've ever seen an exam where the guinea pig's teeth weren't examined.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sat Dec 03, 2022 2:40 pm


That's not really an adequate dental exam, because it can't diagnose elongated roots. If you think she's having any trouble eating, you need skull x-rays, taken from both the side and the top, to diagnose the problem.

Annapox

Post   » Sat Dec 03, 2022 3:09 pm


She's able to eat veggies, hay, and her vitamin C biscuit without any noticeable difficulty. She takes longer to finish her pellets than usual, but her chewing looks normal to me when she does eat them. She had X-rays done on 11/14, but I didn't get to see them because the computer wouldn't load them, so I don't know what angle(s) they were taken from. I just know that that's how the vet initially found the excess gas in Penny's digestive system.

If Penny is eating all her other foods normally, does the fact that she's slowed down on pellets still point to a dental issue? I was thinking it was because she ate most of her 12/1 pellets in the evening and so she might not be as hungry earlier in the day, since most of her pellets seem to disappear in the evening.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Dec 03, 2022 8:16 pm


I can't answer that but if she ends up having problems maintaining weight, it certainly would still be a good avenue to explore.

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sat Dec 03, 2022 8:49 pm


Agree.

Annapox

Post   » Wed Dec 07, 2022 6:25 pm


Penny's weight has remained stable over the last few days. Some days she eats at least half of her pellets, and sometimes she barely touches them, but at least she isn't losing weight. The medication seems to be helping. Yesterday I got an email from the vet saying Penny's bloodwork came back normal. The vet wants her to go in for exams every three months going forward, obviously more often if her health starts to decline again.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Dec 07, 2022 8:50 pm


Sounds like a plan. You are very observant and are sure to catch any serious issues.

Annapox

Post   » Fri Dec 16, 2022 4:37 pm


So Penny's been losing a little bit of weight each day for about the last week. In total she's lost about 3% of her weight over the last week, which on its own isn't out of the ordinary, but it's been consistent weight loss instead of fluctuations. Penny is still eating and pooping; in fact, she's back to finishing all of her pellets before the morning is over. She's gotten into the habit of pulling at the fleece bedding until the edge is accessible so that she can chew on the edge, and she's never done that before, but I would think that if she had a dental problem she would be chewing on the bricks I keep under the water bottles to catch drips (bricks seem like they'd be more effective at wearing down teeth, and it's what one of my previous guinea pigs did when she had dental issues, even though the issue was with her molars). I've solved the fleece-chewing problem by safety-pinning the edges of the fleece to the quilted furniture pads underneath so that she can't pull them toward her (the safety pins are also out of her reach). I emailed the vet, and he said I should keep monitoring Penny's weight but that it might not be a bad idea to do more X-rays to see if anything has changed. I'm trying to decide whether I should wait on the X-rays and see how Penny's weight does over the next few days since she only lost 3% over the last week, or whether I should make the appointment sooner rather than later because she never gained weight over the last week.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Dec 16, 2022 8:35 pm


It sounds like you're not hand feeding at the moment. Do you have some Critical Care available? A few people have tried making small soft mushballs to put on a plate so their guinea pig can eat them if they care to. Might boost nutrition without the stress of hand feeding.

Annapox

Post   » Sat Dec 17, 2022 10:31 am


I have some Critical Care in the freezer from when Penny was spayed a year ago (she never needed it, so it's unopened). A couple weeks ago I tried making some of her pellets into mush for her to eat when she wasn't eating her pellets, but she ended up eating the pellets after all and ignoring the mush. I could try Critical Care, though. Does she need the extra nutrition even though she's eating all her food?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Dec 17, 2022 7:54 pm


Go by her weight. If you are seeing gradual, consistent weight loss and she is not overweight (guidelines on the weigh page), some sort of supplement is needed.
https://www.guinealynx.info/weigh.html

Annapox

Post   » Mon Dec 19, 2022 3:43 pm


Penny has actually gained weight for the last three days, so I guess she doesn't need the Critical Care just yet.

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