Sick Guinea Pigs!

[Jerica]

Here at my college we have some guinea pigs. We had one die for unknown reasons and now a mother and her baby are sick. They get orange pieces every day to give them vitamin C, but I believe they are fed rabbit food. They also get alfalfa hay. The first gp that died it happened and no one knew he was sick. This time with the mom and baby, the mother seems very skinny and has flaky skin. She doesn't seem to be producing any milk for her baby and the baby is only a week old. Right now we have them on warm packs and are giving more orange pieces to the mother. She is just laying there, normally is very skittish. I think some of it might have to do with feeding rabbit food, but I don't know if maybe this rabbit food is ok for them or what. What ingrediants should be in a guinea pig food? The male that died was the father to the baby, but was not in with the mother and baby any more. Does anyone know what this could be? We have a vet as one of our instuctors (im a vet tech major) but she doesn't really know whats going on either. (I don't like how the small animals and exotics are cared for here)

[Jerica]

Sadly the guinea pigs died. :( The rabbit food they've been feeding them is Tradition. Good or bad for piggies? There are still 3 guinea pigs left and they are doing well it seems, we just hope they don't die. :( Any help out there? The piggies had little seizures before dying.

[ABYLOVER]

I am sorry they died. I don't know anything about guinea pigs.

[peteybird]

I had a guinea pig that died over a year ago. We todk het to the vet and they said she had mites (her skin was flakey and she scratched a lot) they gave her a shampoo for it since she had just had a baby they didn't want her to pass on the anitbiotics to the baby. She was better for a while then got worse and finally died. It was really sad. Could the pigs have had mites? I don't think the mites were the cause of death but I know it had something to do with it. She also had something like a seizure before she died in my hands.

[Jerica]

I don't think the pigs could have had mites, otherwise all the other ones would have them too, they would have no way of getting them anyway. I don't know, apparently they are going to do a necropsy, I just don't know when. I'm still guessing its nutritional problems.

[jonesy zoo]

yep..sorry I havnt gotton back to this one...I have to agree does sound more nutritional...I have been researching this and they say they shouldnt eat a lot of citrus foods such as oranges, tomatoes...but heaps of green leafy vegies...very little iceberg lettuce...apple, carrots corn of the cob, brocolli. is what they are recommending...I also give my chaps a weetbix briken up in their grain mix they love it...also I found that guiena pigs hate being hot...they prefer to be cold and if their water gets to warm will not drink it...hope this help I did bring my guys back from the brink of death...and they are round and happy little bundles again...took about 2 weeks...

[Jerica]

They aren't supposed to get a lot of citrus fruits, huh? That could be part of the problem, they feed a piece of orange twice a day to each piggie. That is how they give them their vitamin C. Maybe I should tell them about this and tell them to either just give supplement another way or give the green veggies instead (which they probably won't do). I can still tell them though. Is rabbit food good for gps? I find different opinions online.Thanks.

[Pepsidoodle]

Hi Jerica. I am not sure about rabbit food. I always gave GP food and alfalfa/timothy hay. I also gave lots of romaine lettuce and clean nonpesticide grass. They love grass. Do they have a salt lick and a rock or something to sharpen their teeth on? They also like parsley-all leafies like Jonesy said. My Gpig,Petunia nipper, died of bowel impaction. It is not really common but happens with GP's. When I was about 10 I had Serdo (pork in spanish). I left her out in the yard too long in summer and she died of heat stroke. She did have convulsions/seizures at the very end. I sure hope you can find out what is wrong.

[Jerica]

They have pieces of wood to chew on. Their main diet is the rabbit food, alfalfa hay, and oranges. When I was on kennels (we are assigned times to take care of the animals) this is all we fed them, I don't think they feed anything else. I don't think they have a salt lick. I guess we'll just have to wait and see if they find anything in the necropsy.

[Cutepeach]

GPs should never be feed rabbit food cause it doesn't have the same nutritional value as GP food. Rabbit food alone can cause nutritional problems and in the end kill a GP. I have had a GP for many years and actually research them a lot. YOu should not feed a lot of citrus type foods. They need to have a mixture of fruits and vegetables to get Vit. C. Dark Green leafy vegs. like romanine, kale, spiniach in moderation, parsley and things of this nature. They also should have timothy hay at all times. Timothy hay has more nutritional value than the alfalfa which is more like a treat to them. GPs also need to be in a clean cage and not have a wire bottom cause that will cause problems with their feet. Water should also be changed daily in their water bottle as it grows bacteria in it constantly too. But gps need to have the clean cage cause they don't like to lay in their pee and poop.

It does sound like these gps aren't getting the proper care nutrition wise and overall suffering from that and other things too. They should probably be taken to a vet to see what they problem may be cause once a gp gets sick they go down hill very fast if not treated quickly. The signs of losing weight and not producing milk for the baby aren't good ones and I believe they need to get proper medical attention if they are going to live.

[Jerica]

I will try to talk to my instructor about the nutrition, but who knows if she'll listen. I won't be able to talk to her until probably next week (sadly her son has recently died in a car wreck).I like timothy hay better than alfalfa too, thats what i feed my chinnies and used to feed my bunny. They do have solid bottom cages and their cages are cleaned as often as needed. They have the water changed daily. The guinea pigs did die (we still have the 3 left) maybe you skipped that post? Anyway, my instructor is a vet, she didn't know what was wrong, they are not willing to take the animals here to any other vet. Thanks for the info, I would have got back sooner but my dad recently had a heart attack (he is ok now with his pacemaker, though his diabetes is bad now where he needs insulin shots and pills). This has been a bad week and other stuff has been going on too.

[Cutepeach]

Sorry to hear about your dad and your instructors son. Good luck trying to convince your teacher. Even though they are a vet obviously they aren't trained in small animal care otherwise they would have realized that feeding a gp rabbit food is totally in the wrong and that oranges as the only vit. c source isn't good either. I am sorry to say but I don't think your instructor has had much training in her vet practice of small animals or maybe not much in the area of nutrience at all. Hopefully by you talking with her she will realize that you are right. Just remember that just because someone is supposedly a vet doesn't mean that they have had all the proper training in caring for all animals.

[Jerica]

Thanks, my dad is doing ok now. Yeah I don't think I'll be able to convince her to switch to gp food or to give them different sources of Vit. C. I know she isn't trained well with small animals as this school seems a lot more towards the large animals (I'm considering dropping out after this year). She is a good vet but knows more about large animals than small animals.