Solid gold guinea pig

[chicknmania]

My daughters left their guinea pigs outside Monday. They were in deep shade with a breeze, but temps were 95, more or less. My son and youngest daughter went to get them later, and found the older one unconcious! They looked up what to do on the internet and wrapped him in a cold towel to treat him for heat stroke. But then they laid him on the basement floor, and the A/C was on. A little too cool....then he got hypothermia!

We ended up taking him to the vet, and paid $215.00 for subcut fluids, the ER visit and overnight stay under a heat lamp. plus antibiotics and supplements. Just a warning for those who don't know...some piggies can't stand heat! (The other one was fine). Our GP is still not normal...very tired most of the time and just sleeps, although he is eating some, especially goodies, and drinking. And responds to petting. Has anyone else had any experiences with heat stroke in animals?

 

[chickbea]

Rabbits can have terrible problems in the heat and can die from heatstroke quite easily. It's especially a problem for overweight rabbits, which most hutched rabbits are. This can also lead to flystrike, which is a god-awful thing. I cringe when I see a bunny hutch out in the blazing sun on a summer day.
If a bunny gets overheated, you should bring it to a cool spot, and dampen the ears with cool water. Immersing it in water causes shock. I don't know if this technique works with GPs, as their ears are much tinier...did your vet mention what you are supposed to do?

 

[justusnak]

Wow, I hope the little critter is ok now. Sometimes we just have to bite the bullet, and pay the bill. It hurts....but for the love of an animal and your children....its hard.! Glad it made it through. Hope the vet gave you some instructions on how to handle this situation.....IF it happens again.

 

[chicknmania]

Toffee the GP is much better now; was re-united with his GP pal yesterday. I have heard from rabbit people that you can fill an empty two liter pop bottle with water and freeze it; provides a cheap cooling device for rabbits; so we will do that next time for our pigs. I was pleased to see that my kids attempted to do something in that kind of an emergency, and looked up the procedure, when no adult was available to consult. Their only mistake (besides leaving him out there in the first place) was that they cooled him down TOO quickly; laying him on the cold basement floor was a bit much, we think. The cold towel method was correct, and usually that works it the animal is not too far gone. It was touching to see my kids carefully nursing him back to health. A good lesson, even though it was an expensive one!