female piggy whining

Question
Hi there, My piggy Lucy is about 15 months old. She seems very happy & mostly healthy but every now & then she has the odd day when she whines when she's having a poo. She's eating & drinking well. She loves her cranberry juice. I've got another piggy, Peppa, & they were both showing some of the symptoms of cystitis recently so I treated them with PG's barley water & honey. They both love both things including the barley so I had no trouble getting them to take it & they both seemed ok after about 4 days. She seems fine in every other way. Her poo is as it should be, not hard & small so I don't think it's constipation. I would be really grateful if you could help because she hates going to the vets! Thanks
Dot.  

Answer
Hi Dot,

Hmmm ... I was going to suggest cystitis or constipation but you seem to have ruled out both of them already! It could be that she has a blockage in her digestive system, in which case she will need to see a vet - if this was the case though she'd probably be in a very bad way. I had this happen to a guinea pig once and he died within hours, there were no symptoms until it was too late.

Are you sure she's whining in pain, and not just chatting?

The best thing to do if you don't want to take her to a vet is to call the Cambridge Cavy Trust and ask to be put in touch with your local rodentologist. He or she will be able to advise you over the phone and in person - rodentologists are guinea pig experts trained to care for their health at the Cambridge Cavy Hospital.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Good luck and if you have any other questions, just ask!

Jenny.