# all my guinea pigs are dieing...............



## giant snail (Oct 25, 2009)

iv lost almost 40 out of my 68 guinea pigs.
iv taken 8 of which to 3 differnt vets costing hundreds of pounds for tests for this that and the other and they cant find nothing wrong with them some have been sub cut with fluids and antibiotics........ others a differnt type of antibiotics....... nothing seems to make any difference......and they tell me its not linked to the shelties/ coronets that had the fungle infection. which all have died apart from the boar and 3/9 babies

they are loosing weight.
looking in poor dull condition
dribling
not eating nore drinking as much as they normaly do so been having to get each one out to encorage them

they always have vit c in thier waters several times a week but since the death of the 1st few they have had constant vit c the glucose doesnt make much if any difference either. often get cabage twice a week

recently when they where ' healthy' but lost a little weight iv been giving them all unlimited mix and putting them on the lawn ( very short anyway) for few hours every day.
been cleaning them out every 3 days
and they just dont smell right either
most the pigs are just over 1 years old apart from all the babies that have died from few days to a few weeks old.
the hare and few rabbits i have at home are 100% fine..... well for now:bash:

the pair of rex havnt looked great for the past 3 days, the swiss and alpaca x swiss i have arnt eating as much as they normally do which is also a sign........... its got to be a deisease??? but what even the :censor: useless vets dont know what it is after few hundred pounds later!!!

i just really dont know what is going on. everything seems to be agianst me recently! one thing after the other


----------



## marthaMoo (May 4, 2007)

Oh no : (

Can I ask where you keep them? near any fields that get sprayed? (thats the only thing I can think of)

How quickly from when you notice there ill do they go downhill and die?

And there not passing any odd fluild or blood?

Is there a Guinea forum you could possibly ask on?


----------



## Catherine896 (Jul 27, 2007)

I had about 40 pigs, they all died 1 by 1 with no symptoms what so ever. One morning they would be fine, by the evening when I went to check food and water etc, one would be dead. Then a few days later, another would be dead. A breeder local to me said there was a virus of some sorts going round as she knew of a few people losing pigs with no symptoms.

My Mum also works in a school, and children there were losing their pet pigs.

I hope the remaining pigs survive, sorry for the losses, its not nice to go through!


----------



## goldie1212 (Mar 5, 2010)

im a member of a guinea pig rescue forum, maybe join and ask there, there are a lot of knowledgable keepers there.

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/index.php

so sorry for your losses


----------



## giant snail (Oct 25, 2009)

marthaMoo said:


> Oh no : (
> 
> Can I ask where you keep them? near any fields that get sprayed? (thats the only thing I can think of)
> 
> ...



no these arnt as most of my other animals are but these are at my house.
yes passing odd looking fluid orange- yellow but very watery.

just been in the garden to feed some and my buff sow has died.... she was fine this morning others usaly 2-5 days......


----------



## martyb (Sep 5, 2007)

This is the forum i sometimes use Guinea Pigs - Rodents with Attitude Forums - Powered by vBulletin


----------



## samurai (Sep 9, 2009)

oh no. Have you had any post mortems done?


----------



## samurai (Sep 9, 2009)

Has there been any evidence of wild rats or mice? Maybe something like lepto?


----------



## jeweled lady (Aug 25, 2009)

I think you need to have blood tests done and a postmortem done asp to get to the bottom of this before you lose the whole lot. Could there be some contaminent in the food your give?


----------



## giant snail (Oct 25, 2009)

jeweled lady said:


> I think you need to have blood tests done and a postmortem done asp to get to the bottom of this before you lose the whole lot. Could there be some contaminent in the food your give?


iv spent a fortune at the vets for blood tests and various other tests........aparently nothing wrong with them........... 




iv been told by another breeder who has also lost alot of guinea pigs as well as 3 other breeders who also show aparently its an air virus.......
lost 2 more adults and 6 babies this morning........ 8 more dont look to good. im going to loose all of them by the looks of it its taken me ages to build up all these groups of piggies looks like it will take me several more years to do so if i bother to carry it on everything has gone down the pan in my life recently pointless even trying anything.


----------



## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

when you say they `dont smell right` what do you mean? how do they smell?

what antibiotics have you had them on? have you had them on probiotics at the same time~?

i`ve lost a couple this year, and my problem traces back to the hay....it smells fine and looks good, but i`ve been having small clumps of soil in it, the hay has been cut too close to the ground and its given some of my pigs the squits and i`ve lost them.
vet said probly clostridium infection from the manure the ground was fertilised with.

tbh you need a specialist rodent vet, not a general furry vet, i`d phone vedra at hte cambridge cavy trust for advice and she might be able to point you in the direction of a vet with extensive pig experience.


----------



## jeweled lady (Aug 25, 2009)

:Na_Na_Na_Na:


giant snail said:


> iv spent a fortune at the vets for blood tests and various other tests........aparently nothing wrong with them...........
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I am so sorry. It's absolutely devastating. I have had 100 or more cavies at one time, plus rabbits when I was breeding and showing. I never remember such a virus. Do you know others in the show business. Maybe they could tell you what can be done to stop the deaths. Have any of your breeder friends any idea where it comes from and have they lost any?


----------



## vonnie (Aug 20, 2007)

pigglywiggly said:


> when you say they `dont smell right` what do you mean? how do they smell?
> 
> what antibiotics have you had them on? have you had them on probiotics at the same time~?
> 
> ...


I think I would also be looking at the hay as my first suspect. Presumably you buy it in bulk and they've all been on the same stuff?

What tests, exactly, have been done? Was anything prescribed? And what routine medication do you give for mites, worms etc?


----------



## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

the hay would be my first suspect too.....i can feed any old tat to my rabbits, but the pigs are very sensitive and i have to be ultra careful.

i washed their bottoms in hibiscrub to get rid of the nasty smell, gave avipro to help with the dehydration and and reduced rations to rolled oats and dried grass only for a while, it sorted mine out, and i`ve changed the hay supplier.
luckily i only lost 4 piggers.

i dont know of any virus that pigs are succeptable to either?


----------



## giant snail (Oct 25, 2009)

i should get my bill in a few weeks has a break down of everything. but off the top of my head
iv been using ivormec on all my small rodents.
they just smell like dieing guinea pigs. not nice at all lost 7 babies and an adult agian this morning.

two differnt types of blood tests coverting all thier organs etc and functions 
other was to see if they where lacking in anything that could cause this and to see if thier immune system was working corectly i think thats all the tests covered.
doxycylin or something like that 6mg per guinea pig once a day. cant say they liked it too much

been the same hay for 4 months now. coming to the end of the roll prob only last another 3 weeks.

ohh my rabbits are really fussy i have to buy them in different hay or they just wont eat it cost me 8.00 per small bale .:devil:

i had messaged a few breeders in kent and essex some of which i bought piggies from few months back and all practicly say the same and tell me that im not the only one loosing so many pigs with these symptoms aparently 4 other breeders some are exhibiters have lost alot of guinea pigs. and 2 tell me its an air borune virus that is going around.............


----------



## pigglywiggly (Jul 19, 2008)

i`d have thought baytril would have been the drug of chioce for a pig?

i`ve not heard of a virus that affects pigs, have any of the people/breeders/exhibitors who have lost large numbers of pigs had a post mortem? 
dont see how thy can blame a virus with no proof, from experience `off` hay or contaminated food would be my first port of call i think.


----------



## rattlets (Nov 26, 2010)

*...*

hey sorry for the loss are they indoors or can the been near carbon monoxide? i had 2 indoor guinea pigs that were perfectly healthy then all of a sudden went downhill and died and it was carbon monoxide poisioning  its a silent killer


----------



## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

so sorry for your losses... really hope you can get to the bottom of this... x x x


----------



## Lenor (Jul 24, 2009)

If you're losing that many it might be worth thinking about getting a few bodies sent to a veterinary pathologist lab. You'd have to get your vets to find out for you how much it would be to get a PM done at the lab but if anything's gonna get you answers then that would, and it would definitely be worth getting them sent to a pathologist rather than getting your vets to do a PM because it will be more thorough and unless your vet is also a pathologist they'll know much what what to look for. Otherwise as others have suggested it could be worth looking at your feeds, maybe chuck out everything you've got if it's the same stuff in case it's developed mould, and then just really strict hygiene and isolation - clean out and handle all non affected pigs first and sick ones last, use disposeable gloves when handling or cleaning out sick pigs and change them between each one, if possible get healthy pigs and sick pigs in different airspaces (ie if they're in sheds etc try and get a sick shed and a non-sick shed), don't share food bowls etc between animals.... although i'm sure this is stuff you've been doing anyway so probably not very helpful advice...

So sorry to hear about all your losses. I love guineas, must be heartbreaking to keep losing them....


----------



## vonnie (Aug 20, 2007)

giant snail said:


> i should get my bill in a few weeks has a break down of everything. but off the top of my head
> iv been using ivormec on all my small rodents.
> *they just smell like dieing guinea pigs*. not nice at all lost 7 babies and an adult agian this morning.
> 
> ...


When you say they smell like dying guinea pigs ... what does that mean?

What exactly are the symptoms? How quickly do they go downhill? Are they losing weight? Diarrhoea? 

Do you isolate sick pigs?

Honestly, I'm not being funny but you've lost this many and you're still feeding the same hay? How long since the first death?


----------



## madsmum (Jan 24, 2009)

gotta agree with vonnie... if any of mine died first thing i would do is bin everything i had for them esp food wise and replace the lot and f10 all the cages x


----------



## giant snail (Oct 25, 2009)

for a few weeks now everything is healthy and showing no signs of illness the vet as been round 3 times to take a look at them all. such a shame for all the poor piggies that couldnt be saved! but least the remaining ones are all fit and healthy and have been for a few weeks now :2thumb:


----------



## fluffs (Sep 21, 2011)

hi i had the same problem a few years ago and lost half of my herd. it turned out to be an air borne virus and tbh there wasnt much to do but wait it out. i found though that the piggies that kept eating and didnt lose much weight pulled through it. i found that offering banana and a warm bran mash every other day help tempt them to eat and if they needed more persuasion half a teaspoon of hunny mixed in  and just keep a close eye on how much they are drinking, if they seem to stop drinking i would syringe feed them some water at least 2-3 time a day. hope this helps 
get well soon guineas


----------



## giant snail (Oct 25, 2009)

yeah i was having to feed quite a few of them as they would just sit there and do nothing. but now everyone seems 100% fine so fingers x they will be able to be introduced with my other animals next year if still all clear.


----------

