any vets here? i need some advice with my guinea pig!! (janetmichel3009)

I am not a vet,but have had guinea pigs many years and wanted to ask.....What does he eat?Do you wash any produce thoroughly to remove pesticides?What do you use for bedding?Are there any toys or dishes or cage paint that could contain lead?Have you fumigated your home or treated your lawn recently?If you can eliminate toxins,the next likely cause would be bacterial infection.

Tena

yes, i wash stuff, before i give it to him (i just assume it's "him";). he gets mosly hay (timothy hay, dry food, imported with some mixed in oat meal etc, since he seems to like that. and more or less random veggies. mostly carrots (favorite) or apple...

i dont have a lawn (live in an appartment) so the guinea pig actually never leaves the bathroom. i know they treat all grass here with pesticides so i dont let it out there, as sad as it is. i did spray and kill a cockroach in the bathroom the other day. but u took the guinea pig out for a few hours and turned on the ventilation. do you think that could be it? i'm trying to remember if that was before or after the guinea pig got sick...(he's called poopsy btw - dont ask, it was my sister's and her bf chose the name. you dont wanna know what he wanted to call him before that...)

i dont know about lead, but it has the same stuff in it's cage, since forever. the cage i bought new a few months ago. it's the type with a high plastic dish at the bottom... i doubt it's got anything to do with it. i cleaned and sterilized it thorowly before use...

no bedding, just newspaper. couldnt find the wood stuff for pets here, and i dont trust to just get something random, cause i'm afraid it might be treated with something...

what do you think??

In the US we use soy ink for news paper so if it's ingested it's ok.Not sure if that's the case there though.I know that while apples are good,the seeds should be removed as they contain arsenic.Your cage sounds ok.I would try a different room for awhile and yes,the roach spray could very well make your guinea pig sick.I wish I could be more help but If it's a toxin I'm not sure what could be done short of IV fluids from a vet.Even if the toys and chewies in the cage have always been in there,the effects of lead are cumulative.I would still inspect for "painted items".

Tena

no painted toys! i'm very careful about that. dont know about newspaper ink, but the last guinea pig we had, used newspaper as well, and lived to be 6-7 years old. (and when it died it had cold-like symptoms, so not like this at all...)

i guess i could try my bedroom for a while. need to make some space first though..

any ideas on what i could do to help in the meantime? i feel so helpless... the poor thing is clearly feeling miserable....

Fresh air[but not cold air],easy to chew foods and keep him hydrated with water from a eye dropper or plastic syringe.It may be possible for a vet to test a fecal sample for bacteria that may have been introduced by the cockroaches.

Tena

ok!  will do that then.

i even have an eyedropper at hand, and the weather is perfect to open up some windows, without chilling him...

thanks for all the help!!!! fingers crossed!

One more thing,guinea pigs are prone to vitamin c deficiency.Check your food label.Insufficient amounts of C could account for all those symptoms.Foods made for guinea pigs have lots of C but foods made for rabbits may not have any.

Tena 

 There is a great medical guide and forum at guinealynx.info. The people on the forum can be a little harsh- but mean well and have good information if you listen to them. It's really the best place on the internet to get guinea pig health and care info.

I hope he turns out ok.
 

ah ok! thanks, i will try that too! and dont worry, i know how forums can get ;)

about the vitamin c: you're right, i have been feeding a rabbit food for a while (had problems finding the guinea pig version of it). what can i give to assure sufficient vitamin c??

My GP got scurvy even though I free-fed grass, timothy hay, and table scrap veggies (along with a commercial food).  I got children's vitamin C, powdered up a little bit and mixed with with orange juice and syringe fed it to the GP.  She loved it and was feeling better in a few days. 

ETA:  It could be the rabbit food.  I haven't had a GP in years but I remember always being told that rabbit foods do not work for GPs.  I think they are alfalfa-based and that doesn't have the right vitamins for the GP?  The Timothy Hay is good though. 

yeah, i faintly remembered something about rabbit food not being ok for guineas...

you think i should NOT feed rabbit food instead? or just supplement with other stuff more?

i did start soaking some of the dry food so i can hand feed him in a little bit..

tomorrow i'll get some vitamin c at the pharmacy. will also make a call to the vet here that caters more to foreigners to see if maybe, maybe they do have someone on staff now that can help (they didnt before) or maybe he knows a vet that treats guinea pigs. i'm pretty sure i know the answer, but it's worth a shot.

this sucks. the guinea pig is my sister's. she went to germany for a year and left it with me in the mean time. gonna give her a call now...

Vitamin C deficiency was my first thought.

Getting C from veggies is best if possible.  Piggies need about a cup of veggies a day.  Dark green, leafy veggies and things like green peppers are best.  There is something in carrots (but I forget exactly what it is) that isn't good for them in too large amounts.  I limited our pig to one baby carrot a day at the most.

When we had a piggy, our vet (an exotics vet) recommended giving him 25 mg. of Vitamin C a day in addition to a cup of  high Vitamin C veggies.  I found 100 mg. Vitamin C tablets at GNC and gave him a fourth of one every day.  I threw it in with his veggies and he ate it like a treat.  He lived to be a very old pig, so I guess it worked.

yup... after researching a bit on that website (which, by the way, is awesome!! thank you!), i think that might be it too. i also discovered some discharge around the eyes...

i HOPE that is it, because that means, i can easily help, without having to see a vet. (not that i dont want to, but ya knw...)

janetmichel3009

ah ok! thanks, i will try that too! and dont worry, i know how forums can get ;)

about the vitamin c: you're right, i have been feeding a rabbit food for a while (had problems finding the guinea pig version of it). what can i give to assure sufficient vitamin c??

When I saw this thread my first thought was Vit C!

Carrots and oranges are a good source of vitamine C.  You can get away with feeding rabbit food if you give them oranges every day as well.  Feeding fresh sources of vitamin c is the best idea whether you feed rabbit food OR guinea pg food, because vitamins deteriorate in storage.  So, an old bag of guinea pig food is not really a good source of vitamin C.  It doesn't have to be past its use by date either - the vitamins start deteriorating from manufature.  The stuff at the back of the shelf in a pet shop is unlikely to be much good by the time it actually gets bought and opened!

Edit - I'm not a vet!