There are two main causes of anaemia. One is dietary deficiency caused through the type of food being provided or gut absorption problems whereby the essential vitamins and minerals fail to get into the system. This is why it is important that guinea pigs should be regularly wormed, ‘see Worming, to keep a healthy balance of the gut flora.
The symptoms are lack lustre appearance, lethargy but not always poor appetite. The way to confirm your diagnosis is to look into the lower eyelidsand they will appear a very pallid pink or white. If in doubt, compare with a healthy guinea pig.
In acute cases the guinea pig will have the shakes and be unsteady on it’s feet.
I have found that one of the best treatments for this condition is 0.4 daily of Vitabiotic’s Feroglobin for a week. As this is a a syrup, it is far easier to administer and the honey and malt flavour make it more acceptable to guinea pigs than the brewer’s yeast tablets I used to use. It has the added advantage of having a long shelf life. Attention, has of course to be made to what feed is being provided
At Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital