Description

Guinea pigs are very popular pets within the UK and clients are becoming increasingly demanding expecting knowledge and exceptional quality care for their pets. Common conditions often seen in clinical practice include urolithiasis, dental disease, gastrointestinal and reproductive disorders, locomotor disease or skin issues. Being prey species, guinea pigs effectively disguise signs of disease. Therefore, they are frequently presented as an emergency with their acute illness being more often the result of chronic conditions. This lecture will review the clinical signs, diagnosis and treatment of some of the more common diseases affecting guinea pigs. The emphasis will be also on those predisposing factors that may culminate in an acute presentation, so that the clinician will be able to recognise them and be considerate of the underlying causes of the disease presentation before and during the emergency treatment. Hopefully, this will increase patient’s care and the chances of a positive outcome.
 
Learning objectives

Recognise the species-specific features that make guinea pigs challenging patients in clinical practice
How to recognise and deal with common clinical conditions seen in guinea pigs in clinical practice
Recognise how to provide adequate care for these patients
Recognise how to meet clients ‘expectations