 
Welcome to my Cavy Medicine page. I am not a vet so this page is only intended as a guide. If you are at all in any doubt you must seek professional advice, if possible from a rodent friendly vet or contact the Cambridge Cavy Trust.
Most of the problems listed are things that I have personally had experience of treating through my own piggies.
*** PLEASE SEE WARNING AT BOTTOM OF PAGE. ***
CAUSE - Too much calcium in the diet. SYMPTOMS - Blood in the urine, squeaking while urinating. TREATMENTS - Sometimes surgery is necessary for the removal of bladder stones if they can't be removed by other means. Surgery, however, is not recommended for elderly piggies. Instead you should try and make the piggy more comfortable....one way of doing this is to get some pearl barley and cook it until the barley has a sticky, slimy consistency. This can take quite a while. Once it's ready you can add it to a fave veggie and then liquidise the lot. Give the mixture regularly and it should help to coat any stones making them less painful and it also lessens any discomfort that the piggy may be experiencing. Cranberry juice is said to help break down stones so that would be worth a try too. Oh, and asparagus is said to help break down stones in humans so that might be worth trying as well.
SYMPTOMS - Lack of appetite, swelling of the belly TREATMENTS - Immediately give 2mls of baby gripe water and a Rennie Rapeze tablet. You repeat the gripe water every four hours and the Rapeze tablet every twelve hours. Try to keep the animal moving or gently massage it's sides.
SYMPTOMS - Hard or small stools, squeaking when passing stools TREATMENTS - You can give dandelion leaves if they are available but never give any that have been treated with chemicals or have come from roadsides. If that doesn't work then liquid paraffin at the rate of 0.5ml once. Never give any more than that as it will destroy the lining of the stomach.
SYMPTOMS - Wet underneath, high squeaks when urinating TREATMENTS - The first thing to try is barley water but you have to make this yourself by cooking barley. You use one part barley to ten parts water. It needs to be boiled for about twenty to thirty minutes. When it's cooled give to the piggy little and often along with 1ml honey morning and night. You can also give one Denes Denex pill morning and night. If there's no improvement after three to four days of these treatments you should go to your vet as it may require an antibiotic. Cranberry juice is another good remedy for cystitis, you can give this freely to the piggy as you can't overdose on it.
SYMPTOMS - Difficulty in eating, drooling TREATMENTS - If you suspect that your piggy has a dental problem then you should contact the CCT (Cambridge Cavy Trust - there's a link to their website on my Links page) to see if there is a rodentologist in your area who can carry out dental work without using an anaesthetic. Or see if you can find a vet who doesn't use anaesthetic as it is completely unnecessary and puts the animals life at risk.
SYMPTOMS - Loose stools TREATMENTS - Arrowroot powder is a good remedy for diarrhoea, you should mix it with a little water at the rate of half a teaspoon of arrowroot powder to at least 2mls of water. You should also give a probiotic to help replace the gut flora lost through diarrhoea, you can use natural yoghurt at the rate of 1ml daily or a probiotic powder such as Avipro. The dose for the Avipro is a pinch of powder in 1ml of water once a day for two to three days. Another effective treatment for diarrhoea are Diocalm tablets which you give at the rate of half a tablet every eight hours, along with the Diocalm you can should give one Buscopan tablet every twelve hours. If the stools are just a bit soft then the Buscopan is not necessary. During a bout of diarrhoea your piggy will be losing potassium so you should replace this by feeding banana. You should also give rehydration fluid such as Dioralyte. If there is no improvement within twenty four hours you must see your vet.
SYMPTOMS - Watering of the eye TREATMENTS - Use Optrex or boiled water that has been allowed to cool to flush out the eye, with the Optrex put a couple of drops onto the eye and gently massage just in front of the eye until the fluid drains away. Repeat this two or three times so that the tear duct is thoroughly flushed out.
SYMPTOMS - Rapid breathing, unable to move, shallow breathing TREATMENTS - This is life threatening so immediately soak a towel in cold water and wrap the piggy in it. As soon as the piggy is back on it's feet take the towel off or it could get chilled, then give plenty of fluids, small amounts to begin with, you can use a rehydration fluid such as Dioralyte.
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