Anaemia
There are two main causes of anaemia. One is dietary deficiency
caused through the type of food being provided or gut absorption
problems whereby the essential vitamins and minerals fail
to get into the system. This is why it is important that guinea
pigs should be regularly wormed, 'see Worming, to keep a healthy
balance of the gut flora.
The symptoms are lack lustre appearance, lethargy but not
always poor appetite. The way to confirm your diagnosis is
to look into the lower eyelidsand they will appear a very
pallid pink or white. If in doubt, compare with a healthy
guinea pig.
In acute cases the guinea pig will have the shakes and be
unsteady on it's feet.
I have found that one of the best treatments for this condition
is 0.4 daily of Vitabiotic's Feroglobin for a week. As this
is a a syrup, it is far easier to administer and the honey
and malt flavour make it more acceptable to guinea pigs than
the brewer's yeast tablets I used to use. It has the added
advantage of having a long shelf life. Attention, has of course
to be made to what feed is being provided
