Painful Diarrhea/Misdiagnosed??

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Chan

Post   » Sat Mar 04, 2023 2:29 am


Hi,

One of my piggy's has had diarrhea for a week now. She has a regular vet I have taken her to and she has recommended critical care, benebac, vitamin c, and plenty of hay of course. This appears to be having no effect though and I'm becoming very worried. She had just finished a round of antibiotics for an ear infection, poops were completely normal, and was given half of a mini cucumber as a treat the next day and by that evening, (last Friday), she had developed diarrhea. Besides the soft poops, (if I had to describe the way they look, her poops have the look and consistency of soft serve), she also appears to be in pain when she poops. I have been giving her Meloxicam to help with that, but it appears to have little effect as well. I'm not sure if she is being misdiagnosed, but does diarrhea normally cause discomfort/pain in guinea pigs? Besides the painful diarrhea, she is acting completely normal...eating, drinking, etc. And what I mean by painful is she squeals when passing stools and also arches her back and her ears stand up a bit too at the same time. Any advice is very much appreciated.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sat Mar 04, 2023 2:05 pm


Squeaking while pooping is a classic sign of bladder stones. And yes, pain can cause diarrhea.

I'd want a vet to do a fecal smear to make sure she doesn't have any bugs in her digestive tract, and an x-ray for stones.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Mar 04, 2023 2:23 pm


Read also:
https://www.guinealynx.info/diarrhea.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/stones.html
https://www.guinealynx.info/antibiotic_advice.html

What antibiotic was she originally given for the ear infection? The antibiotic could still have had a negative effect on her poops. There are tips on the diarrhea page linked to above that may help.

Chan

Post   » Sun Mar 05, 2023 12:36 am


Hi Lynx,

She was prescribed 1.3ml every 12 hours of Enrofloxacin...which seemed to be pretty high in my opinion, for 2 weeks. As far as the tips on diarrhea, I have searched everywhere and have seen all of these tips and nothing appears to be working. 🥺 How long should it take Benebac to work? What about critical care? It's so weird but the critical care appeared to upset her tummy more and cause more poo and pain...should this happen? I came across a few videos from the go to guinea pig place here in California and they advised Activated Charcoal actual helps with diarrhea in guinea pigs. I've started her on that today along with the Benebac to see how that goes. I think I may need to get a second opinion from another vet; when I spoke with her the other day, she stated the pain may be IBS and sometimes yogurt helps with diarrhea in guinea pigs. I really don't think she has the best knowledge of them but she is the exotics vet who specializes in guinea pigs there so it's weird.

Chan

Post   » Sun Mar 05, 2023 12:47 am


Hi bpatters,

I honestly don't think it's stones? She was completely fine before...also I give her urinary tract tablets regularly. But it's not impossible, so I will take stones into account. It just really seems like the diarrhea is hurting her...because everytime poo comes out she squeals. I haven't heard her squealing while peeing...also, there is no blood anywhere. I checked her genitals and they don't appear to be swollen...and she doesn't seem to be in pain when I touch her belly. I feel like I've exhausted every solution for the diarrhea and am really worried...I don't know what happened. The vet prescribed 1.3ml of Enrofloxacin for her ear infection, which I thought was a lot, but followed orders because she was starting to develop a head tilt and she had 2 seizures. The vet also stated she now has Horner's Syndrome, because one of her eyes has become droopy and she can't close it. Over the past few weeks I have been doing my own type of physical therapy with her eye and closing it for her and she appears to have gained some ability to squint a little with it. But it doesn't appear to cause her any pain...the diarrhea is so concerning and I'm worried about losing her over it. Again, she is acting completely normal and still squeaks and runs around but when she has to poo, it is so heartbreaking to watch. 😭

Chan

Post   » Sun Mar 05, 2023 3:16 am


How much Benebac can you give in a day? Can they get too much of it? Does anyone know how many ML I can give her? The tube Benebac comes in is pretty horrible to work with and I have ml syringes that will work better.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Mar 05, 2023 8:20 am


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

Probiotics may help but should not hurt. Yogurt is not recommended (acidophilus capsules would be better). Your description of 1.3 cc Baytril does not tell me how much she is getting. You would need to know the concentration of Baytril in the solution as mg/ml along with the weight of your guinea pig and the dose info you provided to determine it.

A great page for understanding dosage:
https://www.guinealynx.info/calculate_dose.html

The activated charcoal may help. If you read the whole diarrhea page, you would note there is another product that can help too - Bio-Sponge (more info on the diarrhea page).

I have never heard of Horner's Syndrome.

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