oops

Question
hi, i have a female guinea named brownie.she has been acting strange(rather sluggish and sounding differently). i called a pet store,where i got her,and told them my problem.i also told about a rather large dropping and some bluish discharge.basically they said it might be something that she was eating.so i checked her new bag of food. it said hamster and gerbil food.upon this discovery,i tried her on some orange,for thought it might be vitamin c related.she starts having these seizure looking things.can you tell me,is this related to the mistake with the food?and if so, is there anything i can do to make it better,or is all hope gone?please reply ASAP,thanks.  

Answer
Hello Jiyamma,

I don't have quite enough information to know much for sure. The food needs to be changed ASAP though. Hamsters and gerbils eat seed diets and Guinea Pigs should have only pellet diets (as well as hay and veggies). Seeds make piggies sick and can kill them. Depending on the food you got, there may have been dyes in it. Some of the feeds I've gotten for my hammies before have blue and/or green dyes on some of the seeds. If your food has dyes, that could have caused the bluish discharge. The seizure I'm not too sure about. If she's malnourished (scurvy or another defiecency) that could cause a seizure, however I'm not sure if you've seen a piggy popcorn before. Piggies popcorn when they are happy (she was possibly excited about getting an orange). They jump and twist and flip and bounce. People who have never seen a piggy popcorn, often mistake popcorning for seizures. If it is related to her food, there is more than hope, just put her on good food (and keep giving her oranges in case she has begun to develop scurvy) and she should be fine in a few days. Don't give her anymore of that food though, if she chokes on the seeds (which they often do) you could lose her. Give her fruits, veggies, hay, and grass if you can't get her proper food today and get the good food tomorrow. If switching her food doesn't help or if she develops more symptoms let me know. It would also help if you tell me how long she was on this food, how long you've had her, how old she is (if you know), and what went on a few days before she started getting sick. The things you mentioned could all be food related so hopefully switching her will take care of the problem. Good luck. I hope your girl is back to normal soon.

-kkat
www.geocities.com/abyssinianguineapigs