General question about ageing

LondonLady

LondonLady

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Biscuit is now somewhere between 5.5 and 6 years old (her cagemate Toffee is 4 and a bit.)

Over time she has lost quite a bit of weight, but as she seems otherwise healthy - confirmed by the vet - I assume this is down to getting older. (Although she is about 100-120g down on the weight she was when I first had her she is currently maintaining her weight and in fact gained about 30g at last week's weigh-in) I have also noticed recently that she has slowed down quite a lot. She seems happy and is always eager for her veggies but doesn't move around nearly as much as she used to and seems content to spend most of her time snoozing. I'm not sure if this is normal at her age or a sign that something might be wrong.

Biscuit and Toffee are my first ever guinea pigs, so although I've had them both for over three years now, I still think of myself as a 'newbie' where piggies are concerned. I suppose basically what I'm asking is: as she gets closer to the end of her life (though hopefully this will be a long time in the future) are there any special things I should be looking out for or doing to make sure she has the best life I can give her?
 
In my experience of oldies that all sounds normal. If your vet has passed her healthy and she still eats and drinks well I would try not to worry too much. My oldies have 6 monthly health checks to make sure all is as well as it can be. They both have health issues like arthritis that come with age but they are managed.
 
Thank you both. It's just that I keep looking at her these days and wondering how much longer I'll have her. I know I'm being silly but I'm just really anxious that I'll miss the signs if she does become ill...

Thank you for the links @Piggies&buns , I've skimmed through them in the past but I'll sit down and read them properly.
 
In my experience it sounds pretty normal. I usually start noticing that my pigs are slowing up around 5 years... they have less muscle mass and are bonier at the shoulder and hips, they are less active and sleep deeper more often.

I would just be alert to the normal things for illness... sitting hunched up or ruffled, weight loss compared to the new lower baseline, heavy breathing, stuff like that.

I always struggle when they seem to be getting older as I go through anticipatory grieving... most of my elderly pigs have been perfectly happy and then passed away pretty abruptly, which is hard for me but probably good for them, kwim?
 
That sounds pretty much the same as one of my pigs who is seven. She was around 1.1kg but went down to 1kg after an operation to remove cysts. Since then she has very slowly gone down to just over 800, and now remains between 840 and 880. She sleeps a lot now, doesn’t move when disturbed and seems to be going deaf. She also seems to prefer small regular meals, she won’t eat all of her pellets in one go. The most important thing is that they are happy and comfortable.
 
I agree, as others have said, weight loss and slowing down is normal for piggies as they age, especially once over five. I would add though that it is still important to have them vet checked if there are any sudden changes or loss of appetite, signs of discomfort, etc because they may still get treatable, non age related illnesses, or manageable age related conditions such as arthritis.
 
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