guinea pig-sick???

Question
Hi,
I have a 3 year old female guinea pig. She is not as active as usual. She is drinking water but I have not noticed her eating. She is not eating the grapes and apple that I offered her. She is purring when I pet her but did not run when I tried to pick her up. She did however come to me when I called her. I notice some very dark stool in her cage. I changed her bedding-all the bedding they had at the store was cedar-would that make her sick? I put a towel over the cedar bedding to see if that would block some of the odor until I could buy different bedding.

Answer
Hello Angela,

Yes, cedar can make her very sick and even kill her. Don't use it at all. She can be bedded on just plain towels without any other bedding and that is much safer than the cedar (and is actually prefered by some people). However, this sounds like an illness that isn't related to the cedar bedding. She should see a vet as soon as you can get her there. She is definantly displaying the early signs of illness and the faster she's taken care of the better her chances if the illness is life threatening. The darker stools could be blood or more likely they are from her not eating. It's too soon and the symptoms are still too vague to pinpoint an illness right now, but she is almost definantly ill. So a vet is truly your best option. If she is showing any other symptoms before your vet visit, it may be easier to figure out just what's going on. I wish you luck and I'll keep her in my prayers.

-kkat
http://www.geocities.com/abyssinianguineapigs