Guinea pig - toxic liver

Question
Hi there, we have two male guinea pigs that we adopted about a year ago, roughly aged 3.  One of them has developed a repeated problem which is getting more frequent, as follows.  He very suddenly goes off his food, and in spite of being force fed Oxbow Critical care supplement goes rapidly downhill. After approx 12 hours he starts drooling extensively and shivering, no other symptoms.  We take him to our vet (who has a lot of experience with piggies) and she gives him a steroid injection which results in an almost immediate recovery - within half an hour he is back to eating normally.  The vet has said that he is developing a liver toxicity due to too much fat in the liver, which is triggered by just a slight change in eating habit.  We are to reduce the amount of dried food that he has and try to reduce his weight (he is a little over weight but we do feed them a very balanced diet, at least four different veg a day plus fresh grass, hay and dried food and they get plenty of exercise).  She also suggested adding a little glucose powder to the supplement that we force feed him when he starts this problem.  We will follow this advice of course, but if you have any additional information or suggestions I would be very grateful as we are very worried about the possibility of his condition worsening. Many thanks

Answer
Nicola,

Your vet is on the right track. Get his weight down and burn off some of the fat in the liver.

Try adding a few toys to his cage to keep him active, this will stop him from eating so much as he will be more active and burning off more fat. It'll keep him from getting to bored which can cause a Guinea Pig to eat more.

Let him play out on the floor with toys and such for a little over an hour, maybe an hour and half each day to provide him with a little extra exercise, so he'll drop the weight faster and burn yet again more fat off.

Cut back on the veggies, keep it the four different types just cut it to a little less. So he isn't getting as much fat from the veggies.

Other then that there is nothing else I can think of or find.

I hope this helps,
   Take care now,
          Jules