Bereaved sow's weight

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Aga

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Hello,
A few days ago Lilly lost her friend Nelly. When I checked their weight before Nelly's death on Wed, Lilly was 1120 gram. Today I checked it again and it was 1040 gram. Lilly is eating everything that she gets in the morning and in the evening, maybe she eats a bit less hay but it is difficult to measure, but this can be a reason. Besides she was very dominant and frequently stole Nelly's food, especially when Nelly was eating much more slowly (because of tooth abscess as it turned out) - I don't even know for how many days. This also can be a reason because now Lilly gets only her portion and cannot steal food any more. Please advise what I should do.
 
Aga said:
Hello,
A few days ago Lilly lost her friend Nelly. When I checked their weight before Nelly's death on Wed, Lilly was 1120 gram. Today I checked it again and it was 1040 gram. Lilly is eating everything that she gets in the morning and in the evening, maybe she eats a bit less hay but it is difficult to measure, but this can be a reason. Besides she was very dominant and frequently stole Nelly's food, especially when Nelly was eating much more slowly (because of tooth abscess as it turned out) - I don't even know for how many days. This also can be a reason because now Lilly gets only her portion and cannot steal food any more. Please advise what I should do.
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Hi

I am very sorry for your loss.

Firstly, I would recommend to check whether she is overweight, the right weight for her size or underweight by feeling around the ribcage. That then gives you a better idea of where to place the weight loss. I am recommending this because it is likely that she has been somewhat overweight as a food snatcher; yellow fat can melt very quickly. However, if she is now bordering on underweight, then the weight loss is immediately more concerning.
You can find out about how to assess the BMI (or heft) of a piggy by feeling in chapter 3 of this guide to help you put the weight loss into a bit more of a context: Weight - Monitoring and Management

Secondly, please have her assessed by a vet next week, especially with an ongoing weight loss. The upset of a loss can weaken the immune system and allow underlying health issues come to the fore.

Switch to weighing daily first thing in the morning for best day-to-day comparison in order to eliminate the ca. 30g weight swing over the course of a day. The weight is usually lowest in early morning.

If the weight loss is ongoing, I would recommend that you step in with top up feeding. Until you can get hold of reocery foods, a small bowl with mushed up pellets (soaked in warm water) can help with the weight and also help you to assess her general appetite. Hay should make over three quarters of what a piggy eats in a day. Pellets are not a long term solution as they impact on the actual hay intake because they are more calorific but they work as an emergency measure.

Please take the time to read these two very practical and helpful guide links here, which contain all the how-to tips and information that we cannot repeat in full in every single post:
Looking After a Bereaved Guinea Pig
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

All the best! It is always very concerning when you are already dealing with a loss and everything seems to be going wrong all at once. :(
 
Thank you very much. I can feel her ribcage but I don't feel every single rib. I will weight her daily and also take her to vet. I will keep to her usual portion of veggies and pellets because that's something that she can eat without any limits. I will let you now next week about her. Have a nice evening.
 
Aga said:
Thank you very much. I can feel her ribcage but I don't feel every single rib. I will weight her daily and also take her to vet. I will keep to her usual portion of veggies and pellets because that's something that she can eat without any limits. I will let you now next week about her. Have a nice evening.
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All the best. At least you know that her current weight is still ok and can take it from there. I hope that it gives you a bit more peace of mind. :tu:

Please bookmark this thread so you can pick it up easily for as long as needed. This helps us to support you best in your individual situation. Unlike social media, we can run a monitored personalised support thread for as long as necessary. Having all the information together allows us to refresh our memory considering that we are jumping around between threats all the time and pick up again after a time lapse. Thank you.
 
Hello, we've been to vet and she has no health problems. She is behaves, jumps and squeaks as usual. I work in the same room with her so I observe her almost all the time, and she eats hay quite often, eats her morning and evening portion os veggies and pellets in about 15 minutes. The only thing that worries me is that she is still losing her weight. She weighted 1040 on Saturday and Sunday, 1030 on Monday, today morning 1022. I notice that more hay stays in the cage so she probably eats less hay. What can I do about this?
 
She gets about 5 gram of pellets and 10 grams of veggies twice a day, she probably ate much more because she always stole some food of her friend especially when she was ill (tooth problem). Should I increase these portions? She eats everything that I give her so she would eat more without any problems but I am afraid of overfeeding and that she would eat even less hay. Please advise.
 
The importance is that in losing weight a piggy is not eating enough hay. It is hay intake which needs to be increased to stop weight loss. A piggy who is not eating enough hay and continues to lose weight needs their hay intake replaced by a fibre rich recovery feed or mushed pellets.

Please re-read Wiebke’s post and the links she added in - they fully explain checking a piggy’s heft and how to syringe feed.

She should only have one tablespoon of pellets per day. (Except if pellets are being used as a syringe feed - it can be more then)
She can likely have more veg - 20g a day is a tiny portion. She can have one cup of veg per day. You can’t use weight to give the veg portion because of the differing densities of veggies makes it very inaccurate. (My piggies get a a bit more than a cup of veg per day - I have weighed it out of interest before and it comes to around 70-100g per day).
 
She eats Cavia Complete. Why do I have to mush it or syringe feed? I think that she can eat almost every amount that I will give her. Should I increase the about of it? Maybe I should change the pellets but can you suggest something? She eats about a tablespoon a day without any problems and certainly would eat more. The problem is in hay
 
Aga said:
She eats Cavia Complete. Why do I have to mush it or syringe feed? I think that she can eat almost every amount that I will give her. Should I increase the about of it? Maybe I should change the pellets but can you suggest something? She eats about a tablespoon a day without any problems and certainly would eat more. The problem is in hay
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Please read the guides and wiebkes reply where it is fully explained when and why a piggy who is not eating enough hay and continually losing weight needs to be top up fed a recovery feed or mushed pellets.
Absolutely yes the problem is in the hay intake but your aim while a piggy is not eating enough hay and losing weight is to replace the loss of hay intake with a recovery feed to stop further weight loss and keep their gut functioning normally.
 
Can I just increase the portion of pellets? How much? She can eat them herself, she doesn't need mushing or syringe feeding because she eats everything from her bowl in several minutes and certainly would eat more if I gave her.
 
Yesterday I noticed that she ate much more hay. She was very active and I also changed the way of giving her hay - I put much more in the cage and changed it when it stayed too long. Today her weight before feeding veggies and pellets was 1061 gram! That's very good news because on Sunday it was 1040 gram, on Mon 1030 gram, on Tue 1020 gram. I hope that she will keep eating hay again. Maybe that's because her mate died on Thursday evening and a few days had to pass...
 
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