Calling All Guinea Pig Experts

[Katiean]

About a month ago we got 2 baby guinea pig girls. I thought they were small when we got them but about 2 weeks ago we got another baby and I was given his birthdate. These two girls were 1/2 his size and should have been at least 2 weeks older than he was. Anyway, they have diarea and are very uncordenated. I can not afford to take them to the vet. I just spent $300 on one that died as soon as we left the vets office. What I am doing for them;

1. I have replaced their water with Smart Water.

2. I hold them so they can drink several times a day.

3. I have them on a wash cloth so the shavings stay out of their faces.

4. I am keeping oat meal on the wash cloth in front of them along with some food pellets.

5. I am hand feeding them wet down (with Smart Water) oat meal and pellets.

They are eating when I hand feed them and drinking when I hold them up to the water bottle. What else can I do to try to help them? One of them is getting very thin. I hand feed and water them about every 45-90 min. remember, they have jerky movements. Any help would be very welcome.

***I have been hand feeding for the past few days. Angle is better and this morning Bubbles passed. I have to take Joey to find a new friend but, I think I am going to wait until next week.

 

[Fanch]

Im sorry, but I will start with say it sounds like your gps need to see the vet asap!!! But in the meen time I can give you a bit of a hand, Ive had guinea pigs for 7 years now and dealt with quite a few illnesses.

FIRST, I don't know what smart water is, but I know never to add anything to there water, it will usually just dissolve into the water and it can also put the guinea pigs off regular water.

2nd, when my pigs really weren't eating much, I had fresh veggies infront of them 24/7. Not only is this a good sorce of water, but its tasty and theremore likey to eat that.

3rd. Im not sure if you are giving your gps 24/7 hay, but itry giving them the icey leavy bits, even my sick pigs can't turn those down, and I've found the ones that need to see the vet usually turn their nose up at this oprtunity(unless their not use to hay)

4th, concerning feeding, there is this AMAZING product out there called Critical care. Its meant for gps that aren't eating and is ment as a recovery food. If you google it you can get to there webpage, either buy some from there or your vet might have it. OR, you can make some. a vet gave me this recipe a few years ago, its the same thing, but just requires you mix it instead of buying the CC in a premade bag:

-Softened pellets

add milupa baby food(fruit/cereal mix to enhance taste)

-add 1 acidophillis caspules

-dilute misture with warm water

-an extra would be to add 1 crushed 250mg vit C tablet

This is a VERY good vet site, read through this, it may give you other ideas and if you read through some of the disease, you may find some ideas.

http://www.guinealynx.info/

As said before, it sounds like they're have some problms inside and should see a vet, but keep food in them, once a gp's digestive tract stops moving, they will quickly fade and pass away. Just like our horses, they need constant movement of fibers in their gut to stay healthy!

Feel better little pigs!

 

[Watcheye]

Make a mash of pineapple juice and pellets and hand feed it to them. Do you have a tiny syringe? When my guinea pig was having trouble with digestion, my vet had me put him on a bit of yogart each day. Activia had the stuff that he needed. How old are these guinea pigs?

 

[Katiean]

We got them on Oct 10thI would hope that they were born before Sept 4th which is our other gp's birthday. I don't think they are that old. Why do people sell them at such a young age? Was the $5 we paid worth not giving them a good start? I know that Elmo was born on Sept 4th because I know his breeder. He is healthy and doesn't have this problem the girls have.

As to what Smart Water is. It is like Gater Aid only there is no flavor in it. I am using it so they do not dehyderate. There is nothing I mixed in the water. This water has no flavor and I use it myself. I will try these suggestions given. They both eat the softened food off of my finger when I hold them. Bubbles has gotten thin though. I will get them some veggies today.

 

[Watcheye]

Vitamin C is really important. It is in pineapple juice big time. Parsley and spinach are some favorites too. Babies can be weaned at 4 weeks old.

 

[Katiean]

By their size when we got them, I do not think they were 4 weeks old when we got them. I have added vitamin C to the pellet mash. I also added yogart. They seem to like Blue Berry. They are much more talkative today. Bubbles kind of shifts around when she sees me. It is going to be a long haul. I hope I can save them.

 

[Katiean]

Joey had to come over to burry Bubbles. We talked about it and he wants to get a new GP right now. I called the guy that I know that breeds them and he only has 1 boy. I put out a couple of other calls. We will find one. Just not right away. I think he should wait a bit. But, we have to look and get one when it is available. Angle is almost over what ever it was.

 

[Fanch]

Im so sorry to hear that bubbles passed on but glad to hear one is holding in there, Im curious as to what it was.

Now, sort of a side note, you called the breeder and they only had one boy, is there a reason you don't want another boy??? I've seen 10 males all houses together near pigs and besides the ocassional tiff they live quite well together. If its about the 2 males living together with the girl(which is definatly not a good idea) do you plan to breed them???

And for finding a new pig, how about checking out the rescues?? My youngest guinea pig I have is my 1st rescue pig and I love him to bits; hes beautiful and quite the character. Try checking out www.petfinder.com theres always lots of lovely guinea pigs looking for new homes!!!

 

[Katiean]

We got a new little girl. She was purchased for a little girl in July for her birthday. They said the girl was alergic so that was why they were getting rid of the guinea pig. I don't belive it because the girl was way too willing to handle the guinea pig. If it were my kid alergic I would get rid of it when I found out she couldn't be around the guinea pig. Not wait 5 months. I think the girl didn't take care of her so they got rid of her. The father said she was about 8 weeks old when they got her. So that would put her at about 7 months old. Not too bad. The reason we wanted to get another one from the breeder was so we would know her actual birthdate. This one is close enough. What really bugged me was this poor little guinea pig spent the night in the garage and it was 27 degrees last night. Well, she is here and in the house now. They are squeeking and purring and are so darn cute.