Maude: Hand feeing, weight loss, and now diarrhea

BostonPigLover · Post » Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:42 am

My apologies in advance is this post is too long.

About a week ago I noticed that Maude wasn't as excited to eat during veggie time. Then I noticed that her droppings didn'y look normal. Last Monday night her droppings were really soft and mushy. My Husband brought her to our regular vet on Tuesday (10/6) afternoon. The vet gave her a full exam and found that She had a mild case of lice and we had to bring all 3 pigs back on Wednesday (10/7) for treatment.

Turns out Maude and her sister, Stella both had lice. I have no idea where they got it from, but assume it was from going outside a week prior. Abe, who does not live with them (he's not fixed) was not infected but we had them treat him anyway since his cage is in the same room.

This vet couldn't tell what was going on with Maude, but wanted us to hand feed her Critical Care since She was on the thin side (at 920 grams).

By Friday I was still concerned about Maude's lack of eating on her own and Her stools had become really small and hard.

We took her to Angell Animal Hospital in Boston over the weekend. At this point She was down to 828 grams. They did a full exam, teeth, blood work, x-rays, etc. They found that She has a bacterial imbalance in her digestive tract. They told us to increase the Critical Care to 40 cc's a day and prescribed Simethicone and Bactrim for her stomach issues. Both medications are for .5ml every 12 hours.

Yesterday morning She weighed in at 851 grams. I was excited that She seemed to be gaining weight, however She had developed really bad diarrhea. I called Angell and they told me that it's not uncommon when a pigs diet is consisting of mainly Critical Care since there's a lot of water in the mixture.

Well this morning Maude is down to 794 grams and She still has diarrhea. I'm so depressed, and am at work right now just thinking of my poor little girl at home all alone and ill.

What should I do? Am I doing anything wrong? Any advice?

zazzified · Post » Tue Oct 13, 2009 10:56 am

Diarrhea is an emergency. Is this a cavy savvy vet? Bactrim is generally well tolerated but perhaps she is intolerant to it. Hopefully other users with experience dealing with guinea pig diarrhea will come provide some advice.

BostonPigLover · Post » Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:01 am

They have a staff of Avian and Exotic specialists at Angell. I just think it's odd and there must be something wrong if Maude is having diarrhea.

BostonPigLover · Post » Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:22 am

I just called them and was able to get an appointment for her this evening.

mmeadow · Post » Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:31 am

Good luck with her, BPL. It's a little strange that someone told you that. My Scooby got about 80% of her nutrition from handfed Critical Care for months, and she never had diarrhea.

I'm sending you a message through the mailer.

egustavson · Post » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:33 pm

I agree with mmeadow. I have been feeding Sylvester Critical Care since Sept. 5 and she has not had diarrhea; it is also at least 80% if her diet. Is she eating on her own at all? If not, 40cc of Critical Care is not enough. I know--I've been there. I hope you find out what is causing the diarrhea quickly.

BostonPigLover · Post » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:38 pm

mmeadow, if you sent a message I haven't received it yet.

I've had a couple pigs on Critical Care before too and never encountered this problem. I'm thinking it's the medication since the diarrhea started after the medication was administered.

I'll see what they say this evening. I'm extremely worried and can't concentrate at work!

Edited to add: Maude had been eating small amounts of lettuce and finely chopped veggies on her own all weekend. She did not touch any thing I offered her last night.

mmeadow · Post » Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:03 pm

I used the GL mailer, but maybe GL doesn't know your current email? I just tried another address.

I was offering to go over to your place this afternoon and hand-feed Maude, if you think that will help.

BostonPigLover · Post » Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:35 pm

Weird, it's the same email address but looks like I only got the direct email you sent.

Thanks, I replied to your email.

BostonPigLover · Post » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:08 pm

Update: I left work early to come home and hand feed Maude. She's at Angell right now and they're giving her fluids because She's dehydrated.

They still aren't sure what's going on with her. Her liver is slightly enlarged but all of her blood work came back okay. They've taken her off of both the previous meds just in case that's what was causing the diarrhea.

I'll give another update in the morning.

Post » Tue Oct 13, 2009 9:12 pm

Did you read the diarrhea page? www.guinealynx.info/.html

The Bio-Sponge Paste might help some. I am so sorry she's doing poorly.

mmeadow · Post » Wed Oct 14, 2009 12:28 am

Hope they figure out what's going on quickly. (I'd also like to know just who over there said that Critical Care could cause diarrhea, WTF?)