morumotto
Junior Guinea Pig
Hey everyone. I have concerns about my 4.5 - 5 year old girl piggie, Oreo, and I would love some insight or advice on what may be going on.
The main issue is that she has been gradually losing weight over the past four or so weeks, and I'm really unsure of what is causing it. She is prone to some pretty wild weight fluctuations, but this has been a pretty steady decline. In addition to this, she has other minor symptoms. One is that she has developed droopy-looking eyes over the past few months. The other is that, despite have very good-looking, healthy poops, about 5% - 10% of the poops in a day will look like they have air bubbles in them or look like they were squeezed out of a tube. The other 90% - 95% will look completely normal. She also has been previously diagnosed with interstitial cystitis and has recently passed some sludge accompanied by some minor bleeding.
A week ago I had her seen by her primary exotics vet for these newer symptoms. They seemed confused by the poops and ran a fecal test. The results came back normal. They attributed the droopy-looking eyes to old age (she does look pretty saggy all over). We had an x-ray done to check that she didn't have a stone (she has had a couple in the past). The vet concluded that her x-ray looked normal, no stones or residual sediment. The vet offered antibiotics, but said they didn't think it was really necessary since nothing came up on the x-ray. So at the time I declined. At a vet visit three months prior, she had blood work done and that came back normal as well.
However, she has continued to drop weight since that most-recent vet visit and has now lost 100g overall. I don't know if she's still feeling poorly or if other factors are at play. Some recent things that have happened include me going away for five days this past weekend, and one of her cagemates passing away last month.
Here's my record of her weekly weigh-ins for the past couple months (I weigh her at the same time every week, in the evening after I do the deep cage cleaning and body exams):
1,079
1,069
1,054 <-- cagemate passed away
1,105
1,114
1,080
1,064
1,050 <-- visited the vet the day after this weigh-in
1,015 <-- weighed after I came back from the 5-day trip
My current plan now is to start weighing her daily in the morning to monitor her weight more closely. I am suspicious that maybe she does have a UTI from the sludge/minor bleeding, and so I'm also thinking of calling the vet back and see if I can get that antibiotic. But I'm curious if anyone had other thoughts as to what may be going on here? I'm at a bit of a loss since she has just seen the vet a week ago and they couldn't find anything wrong.
Some extra info: She is bright, alert and active. Any time her cagemate is active, she usually is, too. She is on long-term medication: urinary tablets, low-dose painkiller and a glucosamine supplement for cystitis. I've never noticed any overt problems chewing food; she may drop a pellet here and there, but no drooling or anything like that. Her diet is mostly timothy hay with filtered water, pellets, and veggies (romaine lettuce, cucumber, cilantro and pepper). She has a very healthy appetite and is eager to eat.
The main issue is that she has been gradually losing weight over the past four or so weeks, and I'm really unsure of what is causing it. She is prone to some pretty wild weight fluctuations, but this has been a pretty steady decline. In addition to this, she has other minor symptoms. One is that she has developed droopy-looking eyes over the past few months. The other is that, despite have very good-looking, healthy poops, about 5% - 10% of the poops in a day will look like they have air bubbles in them or look like they were squeezed out of a tube. The other 90% - 95% will look completely normal. She also has been previously diagnosed with interstitial cystitis and has recently passed some sludge accompanied by some minor bleeding.
A week ago I had her seen by her primary exotics vet for these newer symptoms. They seemed confused by the poops and ran a fecal test. The results came back normal. They attributed the droopy-looking eyes to old age (she does look pretty saggy all over). We had an x-ray done to check that she didn't have a stone (she has had a couple in the past). The vet concluded that her x-ray looked normal, no stones or residual sediment. The vet offered antibiotics, but said they didn't think it was really necessary since nothing came up on the x-ray. So at the time I declined. At a vet visit three months prior, she had blood work done and that came back normal as well.
However, she has continued to drop weight since that most-recent vet visit and has now lost 100g overall. I don't know if she's still feeling poorly or if other factors are at play. Some recent things that have happened include me going away for five days this past weekend, and one of her cagemates passing away last month.
Here's my record of her weekly weigh-ins for the past couple months (I weigh her at the same time every week, in the evening after I do the deep cage cleaning and body exams):
1,079
1,069
1,054 <-- cagemate passed away
1,105
1,114
1,080
1,064
1,050 <-- visited the vet the day after this weigh-in
1,015 <-- weighed after I came back from the 5-day trip
My current plan now is to start weighing her daily in the morning to monitor her weight more closely. I am suspicious that maybe she does have a UTI from the sludge/minor bleeding, and so I'm also thinking of calling the vet back and see if I can get that antibiotic. But I'm curious if anyone had other thoughts as to what may be going on here? I'm at a bit of a loss since she has just seen the vet a week ago and they couldn't find anything wrong.
Some extra info: She is bright, alert and active. Any time her cagemate is active, she usually is, too. She is on long-term medication: urinary tablets, low-dose painkiller and a glucosamine supplement for cystitis. I've never noticed any overt problems chewing food; she may drop a pellet here and there, but no drooling or anything like that. Her diet is mostly timothy hay with filtered water, pellets, and veggies (romaine lettuce, cucumber, cilantro and pepper). She has a very healthy appetite and is eager to eat.
