Guinea Pig Diary

21st October 2007

Update on Sweetpea: Sorry it’s taken me a while to update my piggie’s diary. As many of our regular visitors know, Sweetpea was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and an enlarged heart. To read my other diary entries about Sweetpea please visit July to September 2007 diary entries.

I’m pleased to say that Sweetpea is stable , although there have been many ups and down over the last few weeks. Originally Sweetpea wasn’t affected by the medications she was taking, but once she had finished the Septrin antibiotic for her nose snuffle (that vanished after 10 days of antibiotic), her poops became mushy. There seem to be a set pattern and I worked it out that it was her thyroid meds causing her to have soft poops twice daily. Although I gave her regular syringes of probiotic and poop soup (made from Squeekie’s healthy poops) she still developed soft poops. I even tried reducing the amount of thyroid meds but it made no difference.

Sweetpea did become noticeably less hyper after taking the thyroid medicine and she even gained a little weight. Her appetite for her pellets did not increase so I continued to hand feed her to help keep her weight stable. However, I was concerned that she still tired easily even though she was given heart medication. My vet decided to check her blood pressure, which turned out to be worryingly low at 122 when it should be around 160. This could have been the cause of Sweetpeas’s tiredness or maybe the heart meds weren’t working fully yet. My vet wasn’t sure if it was the thyroid medicine or the heart medicine causing her to have low BP, although she suspected it was the heart meds. A few weeks later Sweetpea had a heart scan to double check that she did indeed have a heart problem and at least we’d defiantly know if she needed the heart meds. Sweetpea needed to visit another vets who are cardiac specialist. On Wednesday morning September 26th we visited Woodcroft Vets I had to leave Sweetpea for a few hours. I didn’t want Sweetpea to be sedated if they could avoid it. Thankfully Sweetpea stayed very still and they were able to do the scan without anaesthetic. Here is her scan results.

Scan Results: Sweetpea's heart is dilated as first thought with her x-ray results, plus the outward signs that I noticed. It’s also rounded in shape. One positive thing is that there was no fluid around the heart. Jane the vet said heart problems could happen with Sweetpea's thyroid condition.

My vet decided to give Sweetpea a trial without the thyroid meds, a process of elimination to see what may be causing the low BP. Heart meds can lower the BP, but with Sweetpea taking both meds, it was difficult to see which one could be causing the low BP. I wasn’t happy to withdraw either drug, but it was the only way to get a clearer picture of what was happening. During the trial period, Sweetpea did become more active and didn’t tire as easily so two scenarios were going on. It was either the heart meds that had started working or the thyroid meds causing low the BP. After 10 days of the thyroids being discontinued, her old symptoms came back. Sweetpea was becoming hyper again, she also lost a little weight. I then decided to put Sweetpea back on the thyroid medication, as she clearly needed it. Its hard making the decisions for my Sweetpea but as I know her better than anyone and can catch changes in her quickly, but its such a worry, wondering if I'm doing the right thing for her. On the day she went back on the thyroid meds, her poops were very soft for 24 hours. Sweetpea also developed another nose snuffle so she’s now on another course of Septrin antibiotic, which for a while, helped her poops stay more solid. After a few days she started to develop soft poops again. Now her poops are very up and down which always worries me. Her nose snuffle has now vanished.

Sweetpea has now been back on the thyroid meds for over two weeks and I’m pleased to say she is much calmer and she’s not getting as tired so hopefully her BP is alright or it could be that the heart meds are now doing their job. I’ve been hand feeding Sweetpea around the clock for over 3 months now and thankfully it is helping her weight to stay stable. Sweetpea and I are so used to the routine now and she’s so easy to feed, but lets me know when she’s had enough. Sweetpea does eat her hay and vegetables which of course is a relief as the hay especially helps to keep her teeth from overgrowing.

For anyone who is interested in Sweetpeas’s medications, here is a rundown of what Sweetpea has been taking since her diagnoses.

Diuretic: 0.1ml of Frusol twice daily reduced to once a day if no nose snuffle is present.

Thyroid treatment: 1 tablet of neomercazole 5, crushed and dissolved in 10ml of water and dosage is 1ml twice daily.

Heart medicine: Fortekor 5, 1 tablet dissolved in 10ml of water and dose is 0.3ml daily, now increased to 0.3ml every 18 hours (Fortekor 5 works out to be 0.5mg per 1ml.)

Anitibiotic: Septrin, 0.5ml twice daily, given for up to two weeks if she has developed a nose snuffle.

Withdrawn medicines: After 3 days, Sweetpea developed a very bad reaction to Baytril antibiotic at 0.6ml twice daily, her poops became black, watery and had a very bad odour to them. Thankfully I managed to pull Sweetpea through this very difficult time. Septrin is now the preferred choice for Sweetpea.

Support for weight control and digestive system: Regular syringes of Critical Care every 3 to 4 hours via a 2ml syringe (end cut off). Regular 1ml syrings of poop soup and a sprinkle of Avipro plus probiotic in water given via a 1ml syringe. For more detailed information about hand feeding, please visit my Hand Feeding page

I’m now giving Sweetpea her heart medication every 18 hours and I have noticed another improvement in her activity levels. She is able to run-around at free-range time, completing a few laps before she needs a rest. Although for Sweetpea its like a rollercoaster ride, she has mainly been happy and contented throughout her illness, doing her familiar ‘chut chut’ sound when she’s walking around which always makes me smile.

Squeekie is in great health although he dose need to loose a little weight so he’s been having extra free-range time. He’s constantly producing lovely shaped poops and they are also aiding Sweetpeas digestive system. Poop soup may not sound nice to us, but I’m convinced it does help and Sweetpeas takes it just fine.

Both Thumper and Hammy are very well and I'll try and take some up to date pictures of them soon.

16th November 2007

Update on Sweetpea: Hello everyone. I'm pleased to say that Sweetpea is now doing very well. She did develop another nose snuffle but the Septrin antibiotic cleared her snuffle away. Because Septrin also helps to keep Sweetpeas's poops solid, after much thought, I've decided to keep her on a low dose of Septrin as she also eats more of her pellets and is generally happier. There is a possibility that there could be a resistant bacteria build up when using an antibiotic all the time for therapeutic reasons, but the risk of Sweetpea's tum either going into stasis or her developing severe diarrhoea, I feel is greater.

I have tried Sweetpea on Colloidal silver which is a natural antibiotic you can buy from a health food store, 0.2ml daily undiluted (recommended by my friend Karen from Kazzy Cavies) After one dose, Sweetpea stopped pooping for several hours and when she finally did, it was mushy and very little of it. After a 12-hour interval, I gave her Septrin, an hour later it seemed to have kick started her digestive system as she started producing solid poops. Now this could have happened because of the Colloidal Silver but equally it could have happened because Sweetpea missed a dose of Septrin. I have heard good reports about Colloidal Silver, but Septrin seems to suit Sweetpea.

I'm not totally sure if Sweetpea has a low grade infection/overload of some kind of bacteria in her tum, maybe the medicines are causing an in-balance. I suspect that neomercazole (thyroid medicine) is the culprit because she wasn't prone to develop mushy poops before taking it, but either way, Septrin does help to keep her tum stable. Septrin is a paediatric suspension and even human babies can have it.

I thought our visitors may be interested in seeing Sweetpea's x-rays that she had taken to help diagnose her suspected thyroid and heart problem. Awww aren't guinea pigs cute, even on the inside :)

Here is a picture of Sweetpea and Squeekie taken yesterday, as you can see, Sweetpea looks very happy, healthy looking and both piggies are already getting into the Christmas season :)

21st December 2007

I'm so very sad to say that my dear little Sweetpea passed away in the early hours of Sunday 16th December. The day before, I knew my little Sweetpea wasn’t her feisty self although she was eating her hay. During the afternoon she did beg for her veg but just didn’t want to eat them which just wasn’t like her because through all of Sweetpea's illness she never once refused her vegetables. I gave her pain relief in case she was in some discomfort. During the evening Sweetpea’s health declined further, I just knew she wasn’t going to pull through. Her illness was short and peaceful and I’m at least grateful for that but will miss her so much and Squeekie will. When I'm feeling up to it I will make Sweetpea a special rainbow bridge page.

Here is one of my favourite pictures of my little Sweetpea with a lovely picture of Sweetpea flowers that Linda from Wheekers Cavy Forum gave me, thank you so much Linda.

Here is also a lovely gift from my friend Ann, thank you so much Ann, its beautiful and means such alot to me.

In December, Sweetpea won an award at Wheekers for the most colourful guinea pig. I'm sure Sweetpea is telling all her friends at Rainbow Bridge and feeling very proud. Thank you to everyone who voted for my dear little Sweetpea.

23rd December 2007

We'd like to wish all our visitors and their pet family a very Merry Christmas!

Jackie, Squeekie, Thumper and Hammy