Why is my guinea pig not moving
6 Common Guinea Pig Illnesses + How to Avoid them
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hey guys today's video are the six most
common guinea pig illnesses and how to
have liked them as guinea pigs are prey
animals they tend to hide their illness
the reason for that is that they need
the protection of the herd and a sick
guinea pig is left behind so they try to
pretend that everything's awesome
until the illness has progressed quite a
bit and sometimes unfortunately it's
simply too late so it's important to be
aware of the most common illnesses in
order to take your guinea pig to the vet
as soon as possible preferably before
they show the worst symptoms which are
not eating at all isolating themselves
and not moving so let's get into the
video number one teeth problems like
most rodents a guinea pigs teeth grow
continually and they are worn down by
the amount of hanging a guinea pig eats
they also eat 60 to 80 portions of food
a day so they really need their teeth
and teeth problems also including an
abscessed on the outside of their jaw
are one of the most common illnesses
teeth problems can be spotted early if
you watch your guinea pigs closely when
you feed them as soon as one of them has
trouble chewing is constantly tilting
their head while chewing has veggies
falling out of their mouths or spits out
most of the food check in with a pet the
only way to prevent teeth problems is to
feed good quality hay and to provide
unlimited access to hay many teeth
problems are genetic or simply an
accident so they are not preventable but
if you spot them early they can be
curable an example for an accident
would be something that is quite
harmless for example one of the front
teeth breaking off you can cut your
guinea pig's veggies into the strips and
your guinea pigs can eat just fine with
an accident with a very complicated
outcome would be what happened to my
guinea pig little one he bit on his
cheek and it caused not an infection but
it was very inflamed and it just hurt a
lot and he stopped eating and similar to
humans once you bite on your chin
you're just going to continue to bite on
it because it's swollen and so little
one just stopped eating and we had to
get his teeth shortened every six to
eight weeks so that his front teeth
didn't grow too long so that technically
he was able to eat but because of all of
that pain we had to give antibiotics
pain meds he was in surgery every six to
eight weeks and it took about six to
eight months for it to fully heal and
during that time we had to syringe feed
him every two hours also during the
night that is an example for an accident
that has quite the consequences for a
really long time and technically it
wasn't even a bad thing and the other
one was completely fine afterwards but
of course it was a lot of stress for
everyone involved mites or a fungal
infection mites can almost always be
found on a guinea pigs body and the same
goes for a fungus bacteria this doesn't
mean that a guinea pig is going to get
sick though at stress a compromised
immune system or bat cage hygiene to the
mix and your guinea pig might get sick
stress can be fighting within the group
and introduction of a new guinea pig
being taken out of the cage all the time
without feeling comfortable or receiving
weekly baths a lot of things can cause
stress for a guinea pig a fungal
infection is quite easy to spot yo
guinea pig scratches or revised itself
and there's at least one spot where fur
is missing and you see scratches on the
skin a fungal infection is annoying to
treat and your poor guinea pig is going
to look a bit disheveled for the coming
weeks
unless you're Frieda and you look like a
rock star but it's very treatable the
vet is going to give you medicine that
you apply to the itchy spot and you need
to constantly clean the cage to get rid
of the bacteria you also need to look
out for yourself and wash your hands
after touching your guinea pigs as a
fungal infection it can spread to humans
the same symptoms could also point to
mites so you definitely need to see a
vet so that they can determine what
exactly is crawling on your guinea pig
blood blood is one of the sneakiest and
deadliest illnesses it creeps up and
within hours it can already be too late
signs are that a guinea pig appears
slower than usual seems less interested
in food and sleeps more so really on
specific symptoms next up is a heart and
swollen stomach pretty soon this is
followed by not moving isolating
themselves complete refusal to eat
anything and if worse comes to worse a
refusal to swallow syringe pet food
nothing pretty follows thereafter easy
steps to prevent this is to not feed
massive amounts of new food introduce
everything slowly go easy on watery
veggies do not feed poisonous veggie
keep your guinea pig from eating plastic
be aware of cabbage
however blood can also happen after
surgeries after giving antibiotics and
it can be caused by other illnesses so
always be alert when your guinea pigs
behavior changes and if you suspect
blood see if that immediately while
packing everything for the vet visit
give your guinea pig an emergency
medication simethicone it's often sold
as timing relief drops for human babies
you can get it in any pharmacy and it
can save your guinea pigs life while
you're on your way to the vet
you are I an upper respiratory infection
needs immediate vet attention as well as
unique medication constant sneezing
coughing or a runny nose can be signs of
it to prevent this avoid cold drafts
near your piggies cage avoid stressing
them always key no cage so that they
don't sit on wet bedding or fleas don't
introduce sick guinea pigs into your
herd always feed a balanced diet and if
you're sick yourself and you're unsure
whether it's viral or bacterial be
careful around your guinea pigs
I think bacterial infections and not
viral infections can be spread from
humans to guinea pigs but if any of you
have a degree in biology maybe you can
comment on this diarrhea it just keeps
getting better guinea pigs have a very
sensitive stomach and best case scenario
we just don't mess with it unfortunately
though lots of things can mess with it
from giving antibiotics to introducing
new food quickly to not washing their
veggies the best tip to avoid this is to
always wash veggies always give
probiotics if you give antibiotics and
introduce new veggies slowly this also
includes feeding grass slowly introduce
it before you allow your guinea pigs to
spend hours in your garden if they
haven't had grass during the winter
months
Toomas in most cases tumors need to be
removed and surgery is required there is
no way to prevent this and you need to
see a vet immediately your vet is
probably going to do an x-ray to check
for tumors but sometimes unfortunately
the real flies of tomorrow only becomes
apparent during surgery these were a few
common guinea pig illnesses and I just
want to stress I know that guinea pig
vet visits can be super expensive and
you never know what's going to happen or
sometimes you don't even know how much
money it's going to cost so is really
difficult to estimate how much an
illness is going to cus but I cannot
stress enough please go to a vet if you
suspect that something might be wrong
with your guinea pig paying for ED
visits it's just part of being an owner
of a pet and doesn't matter if it's a
guinea pig a hamster or a dog it's just
part of life that someone can get sick
and your guinea pig is going to need all
the help they can get
if they might be sick so I know that
visits can be crazy expensive but please
keep in mind that your guinea pig
completely depends on you it cannot make
a vet appointment on its own it cannot
drive there on its own and it cannot pay
the bill on its own so the guinea pig
completely depends on you for everything
in their life so so please accept that
responsibility and see a vet I know that
most of you do that but sometimes I get
so many messages telling me my guinea
pig is not moving and it has stopped
eating two days ago what should I do
immediately go to a vet as soon as a
guinea pig shows any sign of illness go
to events it's the only person who can
help you and your guinea pig and perhaps
to give you a price estimate I have paid
anything from 20 euro to going up to
eight hundred nine euros 890 euro was
the last bet visit I paid for that and
it included a vet clinics day for the
guinea pig so making you pick one at the
vets I think two consecutive nights and
they cared for the guinea pig throughout
the night if so
that's where that amount of money comes
from also later tons of x-rays it's a
very hard to tell you beforehand how
much of that visit is going to cost but
if you can save some money every month
and put it aside in case you need this
emergency fund and you need to take your
guinea pig to the vet I hope you enjoyed
this video or at least found it
informative and see you guys next time
bye
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