About Jenny Atkins Expertise If your guinea pig has stopped eating, is having fits, looks puffed up or listless, is bleeding, has lost weight suddenly or is squeaking in pain then please, do not delay in taking him/her to a vet. Preferably a specialist small animal or exotic pet vet, but don't worry if you can't find one.
If you suspect your guinea pig is pregnant, has mites, is losing hair or you have a question about diet, cages, toys, exercise etc then look at my past answers before you ask your question, as it may save you time.
Otherwise, go ahead and ask me a question! My areas of expertise are in how to choose your guinea pigs, where to get them from and what you need before you bring your new pets home. I can also help with general care and dietary questions, with treating common illnesses (especially skin complaints), pregnancy and baby guinea pigs (though I do not approve of purposeful 'at home' breeding), and how to introduce two males.
I'd recommend The Really Useful Guinea Pig Guide by Myra Mahoney and Piggy Potions by Peter Gurney to all guinea pig owners - these books will tell you everything you need to know to ensure your guinea pigs have happy and healthy lives. I practically memorised these before I was allowed my first guinea pigs as a teenager!
Experience I absolutely love guinea pigs, and I think they make brilliant pets for the right owners. They are incredibly sociable animals and should always be kept in pairs, or a larger group (females only). If you spend lots of time with your guinea pigs, they will become very tame and friendly little creatures. I am very much a pet owner, and provide answers based on my personal experiences with my pet piggies, and what I've learned from books along the way. I'm not a breeder or a vet, so I can't answer questions about breeding, breeds or complicated illnesses. I have kept both boars and sows, and have had my share of unexpected newborns in the early days. I've had a total of 11 guinea pigs over the years - all adorable in their own way - including my current two boars (Almeida and Simba) whose cage has pride of place in my living room. When you have guinea pigs you learn something new about them every day!
Education/Credentials 2:1 Honours Degree in Creative Arts with English
Guinea Pigs - guinea pig passing blood and more EMERGENCY
Expert: Jenny Atkins - 6/5/2009
Question Okay, I've got a 2 month old female guinea pig, I've had her for about 3 weeks.
I went to check on her this morning, and noticed blood all over her cage, along with 3 big chunks of some sort of...internal thing, looks similar to liver...only its tubular shaped...with a texture of raw chicken. (sorry, thats the only thing i can compare it to)
They are all about the same size. about 1 1/2 inches long, and 1/2 inch wide.
I rolled her over slowly to see if she had been cut, and she has not...it's coming out of her butt, or her wee.
The area down there is very swollen, and looks like a tumor.
She was covered in blood at first, and couldn't tell much, so i easily washed her with a warm rag so i could see better.
I live in a really small town, and there is NO vets in the area that take small animals as patients. NONE.
She seems to be really calm, and not in any pain..but i know she must be after passing these through her wee.
She's breathing somewhat heavier than she usually does...and she's still bleeding a bit but not passed anymore of those things since this morning.
I posted this question on yahoo answers...but everyone said it could have been misscarried..but they do not look like fetal guinea pigs, i've seen pics of them...its not what it is.
Please help me if you can, any advice would be much appreciated.
Thank you!
-Kendall
Answer Hi Kendall,
Don’t worry about the detail. It has made me feel quite sick (especially as I’m a vegetarian) but a thorough description helps me to answer better.
Quite obviously, you need to get your girl to a vet ASAP. Even if it’s a drive away, or a vet that doesn’t usually take guinea pigs. Wherever you live, there should be an emergency 24/7 vet you can go to – expensive, but worth it for the health of your beloved pet.
She’s lost a lot of blood so probably needs to be put on a drip to restore her lost fluids, and some painkillers will help perk her up too. It does sound like a miscarriage, or it could be kidney or bladder stones. It will be hard for anyone other than a qualified vet to know for sure – and it’s important to rule out any internal bleeding or other nasty after-effects, which again, means it’s vet time.
In the meantime, make sure you keep her warm and comfortable, and force her to eat and drink – you may need to liquidise her food and syringe feed it if she is weak. You can give her some human painkillers too – check out Peter Gurney’s health pages online for dosage details. If she appears to rock back and forth at any time – act fast – guinea pigs do not cope well with pain, and tend to meditate themselves into forever-sleep when things get too much.
