Hey guys, just trying to calm myself down and am hoping you can reassure me. I have a male piggie who is around 4 years old we think. He reduced how much hay he was eating last week when I bought him one he hadn't had before. He is now eating more hay again since I bought him Timothy hay. He is still eating the veggies he likes and some pellets and still wheeks with excitement at meal times. I took him to the vet today as his poops havent yet gone back to normal after his reduced hay intake. The vet had a good check over of him, other than attempting to look at his molars. She said he had good gut sounds and his heart sounded healthy. She also said his condition looked good with no signs of pain and his incisors look fine. The only problem is his weight was 70g less than his last weigh in 2 months ago. Is that something I should be worrying about? I am going to monitor his weight but I am terrified his weight won't come up or will go down further. Please help
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70g weight loss
- Thread starter Jenz87
- Start date
Please ensure you weigh your piggies weekly as routine but daily when there are health concerns.
Weight loss is considered loss when it is 50g or more and at that point you should prepare to step in with support feeding so that he doesn’t lose any more weight
So, weigh him tomorrow morning and compare his weight to today and then again the next day and so forth. Is his weight is stable over the next few days then his appetite is back to normal.
If he continues to lose weight then you will need to syringe feed him a recovery feed to stop weight loss. You should return to the vet if weight loss continues.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Weight loss is considered loss when it is 50g or more and at that point you should prepare to step in with support feeding so that he doesn’t lose any more weight
So, weigh him tomorrow morning and compare his weight to today and then again the next day and so forth. Is his weight is stable over the next few days then his appetite is back to normal.
If he continues to lose weight then you will need to syringe feed him a recovery feed to stop weight loss. You should return to the vet if weight loss continues.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
In order to know if it is a good weight for him you need to check his heft which requires a hands on check
The weight management guide I linked in explains how to check his heft
And his belly is flush with the ground
Then he sounds do be an ideal size for himself.
Weight just tells you that he is eating enough. If he continues to lose weight then he isn’t eating properly and you need to syringe feed him to stop further weight loss and see the vet again find out what is wrong
Weight just tells you that he is eating enough. If he continues to lose weight then he isn’t eating properly and you need to syringe feed him to stop further weight loss and see the vet again find out what is wrong
In a way but it is unreliable - daily weight checks are the only safe guide (weekly checks routinely). You will not notice a small or gradual decrease in poop output and significantly there is a delay in poop output of up to two days vs food intake. So, by the time you see less/no poops your piggy already hasn’t been eating enough for a couple of days, so you won’t have been able to step in with syringe feeding quickly enough using poop alone thus making the lack do food even worse
I am just terrified that he won't put the weight back on. He is still happily eating his veggies, pellets and grazes away at the hay. I am going away next weekend for a short holiday and leaving him with a friend who has looked after him before. I just want to know he is ok before I go. The vet told me to weigh him after 2 weeks rather than more regularly than that. But I would prefer to do it regularly just now until I know he is back to normal. If he just remains round about the same weight as he is now, I'm assuming that is ok?
While he has lost a weight, it isn’t a huge amount. Unless he continues to lose more you don’t need to really worry - be alert, yes, but if he stabilizes then that is good and if he loses more then he needs proper syringe feeding and finding out what is wrong.
A swing of 30g is considered normal (daily fluctuations - full/empty bladder and tummy).
50g loss you go on alert, daily weight checks. If more weight is lost the next day, then you step in with syringe feeding and seeing a vet.
With a significant weight loss during a period of illness, which this currently isn’t, older piggies tend not to put the weight back on and instead find a new lower normal.
Don’t forget, hay is three quarters of their daily diet. Veg is pellets are mere snacks and supplementary.
You should be weighing once a week as routine, daily during health issues. Only weighing as per the vets advice of every two weeks means you run the risk of missing a significant drop in hay intake and not acting soon enough during a period of illness….when you consider a seriously unwell piggy can drop 100g in 24-48 hours that is an emergency!
Hi
Weighing shows you what is going on right now. For best day to day comparison you weigh first thing in the morning when it is lowest since the weight swings around 30-40g over the course of a day. Weighing at that time also allows you to plan any feeding support for the day at the appropriate level if needed - from full on round the clock to just a little top up.
The poo output shows you what happened yesterday - it takes about 1-2 days for what goes in at the mouth to come out at the other end and it can give you a bit of an insight into whether the gut microbiome is disturbed or not.
Your boy sounds healthy so I would not worry; the weight loss at his weight is not concerning. It is good to know his ideal weight because you can then interpret any weight loss or weight gain better and put it into perspective. 70g in a 1200g piggies is obviously a bit less concerning than in a 700g piggy where it means a 10% loss of body weight.
You may find chapter 3 about Poos vs Weight in this guide link here helpful, which deals with everything poo related: Wiebke's Guide to Poops
I would recommend that you keep weighing for another 2-3 days to check that the weight is stable or ideally going up again but there are no other measures needed right now.
I just suddenly thought, when he was last weighed at the vet he had eaten all or most of his evening veggies but this time he hadn't had them yet. Plus, this time he had done some poops and a pee before he was weighed. Could those variables be the cause of the 70g difference?
Also, he has been doing a variety of different poops recently, since last week. The vast majority are just normal ones but there are the odd ones that are half the size or smaller, some with little tails and some with indents in them. I have been desperately trying to get him eating more hay like he used to do, to help with the weight and the poops. He has multiple piles in his cage of meadow and Timothy which I sprinkle some fresh on top daily. Is there anything else I need to do?
He is very lazy during the daytime and spends the majority of his time just chilling or sleeping rather than eating. He is more active in the evening which is when he eats more hay.
Also, he has been doing a variety of different poops recently, since last week. The vast majority are just normal ones but there are the odd ones that are half the size or smaller, some with little tails and some with indents in them. I have been desperately trying to get him eating more hay like he used to do, to help with the weight and the poops. He has multiple piles in his cage of meadow and Timothy which I sprinkle some fresh on top daily. Is there anything else I need to do?
He is very lazy during the daytime and spends the majority of his time just chilling or sleeping rather than eating. He is more active in the evening which is when he eats more hay.
Hi
The daily weight swing can explain part of the weight loss but it is not the whole story because there is a minor disturbance in the gut. The difference between a full and and an empty tummy is 30-40g and the difference between a full and an empty bladder is ca. 10g. I hope that this helps to put things into a bit more of a perpective?
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Wiebke's Guide to Poops
However, what you explain is the region of a minor issue. If your boy is not very active and is not keen on the hay then you my want to see whether a little top up in the form of a bowl of mushed up pellets or recovery formula (or a mix thereof) will help to stabilise things. Also try some poo soup from a healthy companion not on major meds if you have one; otherwise mix a pinch of probiotics into the top up feed. It is likely in older piggies that a pain or metabolic issue could be behind it.
How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency
Here is some helpful information for looking after more stationary and older piggies: Looking After Guinea Pigs With Limited or No Mobility
Ok thanks. He is quite active in the evening and has been more active and eating hay every so often today since I left a radio on for him. He is still eating hay every day but I just assumed it was less than his normal volume due to the variable poops and reduced weight.
The vet weighed him after 6pm yesterday and told me to weigh him at the same time whenever I do it. So I was going to weigh him again this evening and see what it says.
He is behaving totally normally otherwise and still gets excited and climbs at the side of his cage when it is time for veggies.
The vet weighed him after 6pm yesterday and told me to weigh him at the same time whenever I do it. So I was going to weigh him again this evening and see what it says.
He is behaving totally normally otherwise and still gets excited and climbs at the side of his cage when it is time for veggies.
Yes, whatever it is, it sounds fairly minor. Just check whether the weight is stable; if is still going down a little he may need a bit of volunary top up feed.
Weighed him at around the same time as yesterday and he is down 23g. So does that mean I need to supplement feed him or could it just be because he hasn't eaten much this afternoon? He was just eating hay for a while just before I weighed him and he has been the best he has been in a while last night and today. He was eating hay regularly last night. What do the experts think?
Hi
Since the weight loss is ongoing and accumulative, please step in with feeding top up. The scales are telling you that he is still eating but he is not eating quite as much as he needs to hold his weight. Please switch to weighing first thing in the morning.
Hi
This depends on how much feed he takes in one session. With the kind of top up feeding you have to do, it is about 2-3 sessions a day. The scales will tell you whether you are feeding enough to stabilise the weight or not.
That is why weighing once daily is so important. If you do that in the morning, then it is much easier to plan out the day. Feeding support is a case by case and day by day affair; you use the scales for feedback. Something is clearly going on with your boy but it is not yet showing its hand.
Please take the time to read these very practical how-to links with all the relevant tips and tricks, pictures and videos:
Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures