When I went in with the Piggies supper last night I found Pimps with a collapsed back end dragging herself round on her front legs, head raised and what can only be described as soup falling out of her mouth and nose. It definitely wasn't mucous, I've already had that discussion with the Vet and Garry, who didn't believe me either!

Why do these things always happen when you are alone and without a car? I didn't even think about it and just called the Vet out, who came round listened to Pimps chest, jabbed her with Baytril, said Good Luck and left!

I've been up all night with her, mostly to get some food and fluid through her, but also to make sure she didn't flop over, as I wanted to make sure she remained as upright as possible.

By about 6ish this morning she was beginning to perk up and readily accept food, she's even bravely nibbled some Hay and Dill for me She was obviously feeling a bit better, so I took the opportunity to grab a quick nap, and when I came back about 40 minutes later, she had shifted position, which is the first time she has moved herself, and she was nibbling on some more Dill.

I'm dreading the Vets Bill this morning, however Pimps is still with us and right now that's all I care about. I'll pay the vets in buttons if I have to!

It could still go either way, but she's warm, eating and happy, so it's a question of and wait and see. If anyone does have any spare good vibes feel free to send them in Pimps direction please

for Pimps Sarah.

I think a similar thing may have happened to my piggy harry. He stopped eating and was taken in for tooth investigation; meanwhile he developed gut statis which is what he died from.

When he passed, all this runny stuff fell out of his nose and mouth, it was like a slightly greeny/yellowy colour?? I think it may be what he was actually suffering from, but the statis is what actually killed him

Be interested to see what your vet finds/.

sending only good vibes your way Pimps

Pimps

Try and get some rest Sarah

Sending and lots of good vibs for you and pimps here!

She's just had another fit and this time I thought we'd lost her but she's got some fight in her, how long it's going to last I honestly don't know. She's due her Baytril shortly.

I initially thought we were dealing with a URI, but it came on so fast, with no other symptoms so am wondering if she has managed to get something like a bit of hay stuck up her nose that has caused a serious irritation or blockage? The stuff that came out of her nose looked and smelt just like pellet mash, and I'm still trying to work out how she managed that. There was no mucous or blood.

The local Vets aren't very experienced with piggies and we don't use them except for emergencies.

I've been up all night making sure food is going through her is to try and get the jump on any gut stasis, that's also the reason she's currently got plenty of fresh Dill and Hay available. Hay which I've just removed any pokey bits from!

As I type she is munching more Dill. Considering what I've just seen I'm shocked, but happy that she feels like eating.

I really want to get her to our regular Vet but it's a bit of a hike for her considering how poorly she is, and now she's on a course of Baytril that will help fight any infection, however if there is a blockage that will need attending to. I'm waiting for our regular Vet to phone back, so providing Pimps keeps fighting and they are able to help, I might be able to find out whats going on

soon pimps hope you feel better xx

oh dear Sarah, pimps and you have had a rough night and morning! I do hope she is ok I guess she has never had any other fits to your knowledge? I can't offer any help as my piggies never experienced anything like this that I am aware of. But I hope your normal vets ring you back and shed some light on the situation.

It isn't looking good We've done everything we can, it's up to Pimps now and she's been through so much already I'm not sure she has enough left in her now but I won't give up whilst she's still fighting.

Hi,

I don't have much experience of piggies but from a human perspective it sounds as if her stomach contents are coming back up the way, is she pooing? This only happens with people when they have blocked intestines. The fit could easily be due to infection!

I hope she improves for you

that she comes out okay...It's nice that she has such a loving family

I'm so sorry Sarah. She is getting such good care, poor little thing - she is so lucky to have such a loving mommy! I am thinking about her. Pimps!

We've got through another night.

Her breathing is still very laboured and it's very difficult to hand feed. It takes anywhere between 5 and 10 minutes to get 1ml of fluid in her safely, 1 drop at a time. She is eating for herself, mostly hay and fresh herbage, but nowhere near enough to keep her going, especially considering she has such a nasty infection.

Fluid wise she is on dilute Vit C and celery and separately a manuka honey solution to help her throat, but it's hard slow going and despite my best efforts she is prone to get panicky, which can trigger another coughing and choking fit. She had 0.5ml of Fibreplex yesterday, off my thumb (her preference) and within minutes she was choking. Horrific. I usually rely on Fibreplex due to the pro and prebiotic and the fact it's high fibre, brilliant to help counteract Baytril Bum, however I'm not taking any chances and we've reverted to syringing AviPro water.

QUOTE

I guess she has never had any other fits to your knowledge? I can't offer any help as my piggies never experienced anything like this that I am aware of. But I hope your normal vets ring you back and shed some light on the situation.

I should have been a bit clearer in my first post - too tired! I was referring to choking fits, brought on according to the expensive-call-out-Vet-of-can't-prescribe-baytril-correctly-ness, by an Upper Respiratory Infection.

I've treated piggies with URI's but never seen these exact syptoms before, and Pimps certainly isn't a piggy that has ever sounded clicky or chesty. But this came on so damn quick there has to be an underlying cause as the Piggies all get checked daily for any signs of illness and Pimps has shown no signs of deterioration. She did drop a bit of condition in December, but that was addressed quickly. Now I wish I'd had Xrays as I'm thinking that if she gets over the current batch of symptoms there is an underlying cause which may need further investigation.

She has been too poorly to get to our regular Vet but we have had a phone consultation, and sorted out the correct Baytril dose, which does seem to helped thus far

QUOTE

I don't have much experience of piggies but from a human perspective it sounds as if her stomach contents are coming back up the way, is she pooing? This only happens with people when they have blocked intestines. The fit could easily be due to infection!

She's pooing well, despite Baytril Bum! Piggies are similar to Chins in the fact that they can't burp or vomit, so the mess that was coming out of her nose was possibly related to undigested food that went the wrong way which I'm still not even sure is possible. The worry is that when she gets panicky and due to the fact her breathing is so laboured that anything that goes in her mouth might end up heading for her lungs instead of her tummy, so we are having to be so very careful.

I'm not a fan of Baytril and much prefer Septrin but in this case Baytril should be the most effective choice. Sadly the side effects of Baytril and the fact it tastes like Elephants toenails (confirmed!) really doesn't make it ideal. I really wish there was more money available into suitable effective medications for small furries *sigh* one day

Pimps is still a very poorly girl, but she still has some fight left in her, I just hope it lasts.

I'm sorry to hear that Pimps is ill, Sarah All the fingers and paws here are firmly crossed for her

Pimps!

still got all my fingers crossed here

here too!

Hope she's still fighting and improving for her mummy for pimps!

I am hoping the best for little Pimps.

for Pimps here too sounds like she is fighting it all the way Sarah! However I did have to read the elephants toenail bit twice thinking I had read it wrong Do I want to know the story behind that if there is one??

Still have fingers firmly here too. . .

She is still just about maintaining weight, snuffles have improved and providing she can keep going, tomorrow should show improvement when the Baytril has had chance to do something other than upset her tummy.

I was overjoyed when we had some normal healthy poos tonight!

I've actually got a bit of help tonight so I can hopefully get a couple of hours rest after the next round of baytril

Well done Pimps on those poos


I hope you have managed to get some sleep Sarah

Good on you Pimps! Keep pooing for your Mummy so that she can get some sleep

Well done pimps.

Well done Pimps! Yes please let your mom get some sleep!!

Very promising

She's a bit snuffly today but her chest sounds clear. She has a Vets appointment in the morning, and we'll probably be looking at steroids and gut stimulant for her as one of the biggest problem we are facing now are the secondary symptoms.

for a quiet night. Both she and I are doing all we can, it's just a question of her fight being able to fight off this nasty infection, and it's still very early days

for Pimps - love tunnel hogger and troll xx

Hope you got that rest Sarah, how did it go at the vets?

Couldn't get to see our usual Vet which means it was almost a wasted trip unfortunately. She's had a steroid booster and subcutaneous fluids today, and it's basically a question of hoping the Baytril will knock the infection, and hoping that she can continue to cope with syringe feeding

I was worried about her guts last night but a combination of bum stimulation (I am not too tired to realise how wrong that sounds but can't think how else to put it - too tired!), tummy massage and exercise and we hit Poop Payload at about 2am. It's amazing what an hour of Jonathon Ross can do for a poorly piggie!! Encouragingly, she is also nibbling hay again so am confident that her digestion has improved.

In the end we discovered that she wasn't having any of Garry's help so instead stressing her out, I continued overnight with her so still haven't managed to get much rest, but had an hour this morning whilst she was at the vets.

She is completely knackered after her trip to the Vets, not surprising given her condition So it's a case of letting her rest, me catching up on a bit of housework so that I'm able to find my kitchen, let lone use it, and hope for the best later

for continued improvement.

She's eating for herself .. not much ... not yet ... but she's getting there.

I cannot put into words how amazing it felt to watch leaves disappearing into her little mouth last night ... and anyone that has ever witnessed a Piggy munch through anything will know what I mean, but it was super amazing considering I thought I'd lost her last week.

I know it's still very early on and we still have no idea what brought this on, but I hope we have seen the worst of it off now

What has been so hard all week is that as I have been syringe feeding I've been watching as everything that is Pimple was slowly slipping away from us, and it was heartbreaking to think this usually bright, inquisitive, stubborn and stroppy Piggy had been so overtaken by something so quickly and so aggressively that it had stolen her from us

I'm hoping for some proper answers this afternoon as she is going to see the good Vet. I hope the journey doesn't take it out of her, but we are at the stage where we really need some answers so that I know what we are really dealing with and how best to treat it. The Local Vets try really hard but just haven't had the experience, and therefore aren't much use to Pimple at the moment.

Well done Pimps hope the vets apointment went well

Well done Pimps. Keep on eating those leaves for your Mummy! the vets went ok!

for some answers from the good vet. . . and I hope Pimple keeps eating for you!!

Aww well done Pimple. I hope the vets were able to shed some light on the whole thing for you

Pimps has now been seen by the GoodVet, although we have been having phone consultations, I am so much happier now she has actually been seen.

First and foremost the PooVets notes were an incredibly interesting read ... not that we got to see them but just by what Chris said (and didn't say) we may as well have widdled in the wind for all the use the PooVet was!

The notes started with the emergency call out on Monday Evening, which stated "I was called out to a Guinea Pig that was a little low, and at the Clients request I gave a low dose of Baytril subcut."

A little low???

A LITTLE LOW????



The medication given to Pimps was as I thought not given at the right dosage, which will of course have been having little useful effect.

She is now on Septrin, an incredibly high dosage but to give her the best chance we need to try an aggressive treatment.

She has had a full examination, and her throat is clear of any suspicious lumps, and no sign of anything to worry about there at the moment. The lump I felt could have been an inflamed lymph thingy.

Chris favours the diagnosis that she aspirated some food and panic choked, leading to a stroke. There is definitely a weakness in her back end but this is improving day by day and. She is still eating Fresh food well and tonight we are going to offer a small amount of concentrate and see how it goes <fingers crossed>

In herself she is so much stronger, stronger than me in fact! I have discovered that my absolute limit without proper sleep is 9 days, because yesterday I was so weak I could barely move, despite my alarm informing me it was Septrin o'clock!

She has monitored floor time with her cage mate but this hasn't been going as well as it could due to the fact she gets so tired so quickly and of course T-Spoon doesn't understand why her buddy doesn't want to play. T-Spoon is getting a lot of fuss at the moment and is doing ok, and her brief visits with Pimps do seem to cheer them both up so I will continue and hope that Pimps becomes strong enough to go back with her full time.

On a more positive note Pimple had a good scratch this morning ... using her back leg as the scratching implement! She seemed very happy with herself but not as happy as me to see her back legs working!

Oh good for Pimps!! for continued improvement!!
That first vet does sound worse than useless. . . ugh. I'm glad the good vet could help and that Pimps is doing okay. I hope you get some sleep soon!

I'm so glad to hear she is doing so much better - what an ordeal!

Best wishes on a full, speedy recovery!

Glad Pimps is doing well with a proper diagnosis, now can you try putting yourself first and get some rest?

I'm glad to hear that Pimps is improving, and boo, hiss for the PooVet! Why do so many vets seem to think that rodents don't really count?

Glad to hear Pimps got to see the good vet now and is on her way to recovery Hopefully she will be reunited with T-spoon full time soon too!

I'm feeling a bit brighter this morning as I managed 4 hours unbroken sleep last night so am feeling a little bit more positive about things. (despite the water pouring out the bathroom ceiling STILL - can we cancel the rain please?)

Although Pimps lost some weight overnight, it wasn't enough to worry about so she had obviously been eating for herself and she was alert and looking for her Breakfast when I checked on her first thing

She's had a little run this morning and is much much stronger than she was, she even allowed me to snap a photo of her whilst she was munching down on her Brekkie:

QUOTE

Why do so many vets seem to think that rodents don't really count?

I always thought Vets were Vets cos they liked and respected animals and wanted to help them, regardless of size or whatever - however in my experience, there are two types of Vet - one that likes money and one that likes animals. That may sound harsh and I'm sure the majority of Vets start out quite liking animals, but over time seem to get jaded and/or lazy. We have 3 Practices in town but still prefer to drive to the opposite side of the County for treatment because the Vet there is much more experienced with the small furries, he is also always willing to discuss and explain treatments with us, which the majority of local Vets point blank refuse to do. For example "12 Drops of Metacam? Are you sure about that?" says I "Yes, I am sure." says she

The PooVet that came out on the Monday night actually whined about the fact her mobile call was costing her £1 a minute to phone me, but I have to say that I wasn't massively bothered by this as I paid her £150 for 3 minutes of her time, so I'm sure all things equal I'm the one that lost out financially and if her treatment and diagnosis of Pimps had been anywhere near useful I wouldn't begrudge a penny of that money, however due to her incompetence we nearly lost her

She looks good Sarah! and very happy with her cucumber slice glad you got some sleep too!

I can't believe that about the PooVet, Sarah. She's bloomin' lucky you didn't poke her in the eye for her impertinence!

Pimps is looking lovely: a slice of cucumber and a soft blankee - what more could a girl want? Hopefully you'll be able to get some more sleep now