Hazel's medical thread

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bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Apr 18, 2016 8:59 pm


I'd try the Flagyl, if it were me.

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Delaine
Supporter in '14

Post   » Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:11 pm


I am sorry Hazel is having such a hard time. I was wondering what the ingredients in her Vitamin C drops were.
Last edited by Delaine on Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:16 pm


How much vitamin C does she get? It can cause diarrhea.

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Delaine
Supporter in '14

Post   » Mon Apr 18, 2016 9:20 pm


I was also wondering about that bpatters. I was concerned about the sweetener used. Any number of artificial sweeteners are added to Vitamin C supplements, especially liquid and chewable vitamins. One deadly sweetener is Xylitol.

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Zaphy

Post   » Mon Apr 18, 2016 10:09 pm


She's not getting any veggies right now, so the C drops are her only source (plus what's in the pellets I guess, and a few blades of wheatgrass when she'll take it). To clarify, I only have been using the drops when she isn't getting veggies. I use them according to the package directions, 2-3 drops on her pellets daily.

The ingredients listed on the bottle (these are Oasis brand multivitamin Vita-Drops): Water, Sodium Ascorbate, Vitamin A Palmitate, d-a-Alpha Tocopherol Acetate, Niacinamide, Choline Chloride, dl-Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Potassium Sorbate (preservative), Sodium Benzoate (preservative), Riboflavin, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfate Complex (MSBC)

No sweeteners that I recognize... but may be a good idea to stop the drops?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Mon Apr 18, 2016 10:38 pm


Those are multivitamin drops, and they aren't recommended for guinea pigs except in a few situations.

Oasis also makes a plain vitamin C drop, which is probably what you should be using if you're going to use one at all.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Apr 18, 2016 11:36 pm


Yes, the multivitamins can cause problems due to the accumulation of fat soluble vitamins. Extra C is just urinated out of the system.

Have you tried Oxbow digestive health tabs? They seem to have helped some guinea pigs.

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daisymay
Supporter 2016-2021

Post   » Tue Apr 19, 2016 5:18 am


Hoping Hazel feels better soon. I hve never given my pigs any supplements. I don't think they are needed. Sending hugs and healing vibes.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Tue Apr 19, 2016 4:16 pm


We had one little girl like this. We don't know what initially messed her gut up, but she was like you describe most of the time she was with us.

Cold feet can be indicative of heart compromise. That said, sometimes their feet will feel cold on occasion. I'd not worry about it unless 1) it's that way ALL the time, not just occasionally and 2) she has other signs of heart weakness:

https://www.guinealynx.info/heart.html

Our Heather had a thyroid nodule, and other signs of hyperthyroidism. Do you see anything else (other than soft stool) in Hazel that would suggest that?

When the vet checked her feces, did they just do a float, or did they look at it under a microscope? A float shows the presence of certain parasites and no more. Making a slide will show microbial overgrowth, inappropriate bacteria, etc. I'd want them to do that if they haven't already -- or just try a course of Flagyl as bpatters mentions.

Heather had teardrop shaped/odd/soft feces the whole time we had her. We finally gave up and just kept her feet clean.

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Zaphy

Post   » Sat Apr 23, 2016 1:35 am


Definitely stopping the drops then. And I will check out those digestive tabs for sure! Thank you!

Her feet have been normal temperature the last few days, so I guess she just got chilly then. And she doesn't have any of the other signs on the heart page.

As far as signs of hyperthyroid, Hazel has just lost weight this month and hasn't put it back on, but she was also able to gain weight before that too... so it's less that she can't gain weight and more like she has trouble keeping it on maybe? She went from 570g to 620g, back down to 570g. So not a huge difference, but she does still feel pretty thin compared to my other pigs so I'm still worried. Possibly overly so.

That's the only thing that seems like it would indicate hyperthyroid. I can't feel any swelling or nodules from her sternum up to her jaw (not sure exactly where the thyroid is on a pig's neck as compared to on a person). She's not any more or less active than my other pigs, given her recent cold feet I'm guessing she doesn't overheat, it seems she sleeps just fine...

They called it a 'poop smear', but didn't give me any specific results, only that "it came back clean". I assume that they would have called it a float if it was a float, but it'll probably be safer to call and check.

As long as it's just a matter of me keeping her clean I don't mind so much, it's just when she has these episodes when the probiotics don't help and then she drops some weight that I get worried. Also I wish I could give her fresh veggies. She is my cutest pig (don't tell my other pigs) and her little begging face is tough to resist.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Sat Apr 23, 2016 8:10 pm


This doesn't sound like hyperthyroid to me. It sounds much more like her body isn't properly utilizing or processing all of her food.

We gave Heather normal amounts of greens. Within reason, they didn't affect her wonky output. Way too much would give her soft(er) stool, of course. But I'm not sure that eliminating all vegetables is going to help.

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Zaphy

Post   » Sun Apr 24, 2016 5:39 pm


Yeah, from what I've read and from her behavior, it seems that way. And I feel like if veggies were the problem we'd see more issues immediately when we reintroduce them to her diet.

Today her diarrhea's gotten almost to the liquid point. Her weight's still at about 560g though. Would that change in consistency be cause for alarm, do you think? Or still only if her weight drops more?

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