I am hoping someone might have some ideas to help with the behaviour of one of my girls. Ethel (3.5 yrs) has recently taken over as herd leader after my elderly female Teasel died. As I expected, this has led to a lot of rumble strutting. However it has now been 6 weeks, and she is rumbling almost continuously. She is generally very excited with it, doing lots of leaping, and also wanting to suck everyone else's ears at every opportunity. She isn't showing any signs of aggression or dominance beyond this, and mostly just seems to be very happy. However, she will sometimes rumble strut while also complaining to herself. Pretty much everything will set her off - if I put any food in the hutch, being anywhere near her favourite baby pig etc... My concern now is that she has lost a lot of weight and hair. I am pretty sure that at least some of the hair loss is self barbering, but not sure if all of it is and wondered if there might be a hormonal cause. The areas of hair loss are her stomach and sides. She is extremely prone to UTIs and has recently had scans to check for any complications. Everything came back looking normal other than inflammation in her bladder lining. She finished a course of anti inflammatories and antibiotics a week ago and had a normal scan result but has just started a second course of anti inflammatories due to the presence of blood in her urine again. Does anyone have any thoughts?
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Hair Loss and Continuous Rumble Strutting in a Female
- Thread starter Sasco
- Start date
This behaviour and hair loss can also be due to ovarian cysts. I would ask your vet to look into whether this is a potential cause for her
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
How much weight has she lost ? Again, I have linked in a guide below on what to do about weight loss and how to syringe feed. 80% of their food intake is hay and you can’t judge how much they are eating by eye
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)
How much weight has she lost ? Again, I have linked in a guide below on what to do about weight loss and how to syringe feed. 80% of their food intake is hay and you can’t judge how much they are eating by eye
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Tigermoth
Adult Guinea Pig
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Sounds like a vet trip, hair loss and this behaviour can be ovarian cyst symptoms.
Thanks both of you - In terms of weight loss she's dropped from 1.3 kg to just over 1 kg, so a really significant drop. A lot of the weight loss happened a few months ago when she had GI stasis, which the vet thinks was a stress reaction to Teasel becoming so frail (Ethel adored Teasel), but she just hasn't regained it since then. She's already seen the vet and had X-ray and ultrasound, both of which were normal except for the bladder inflammation on the initial ultrasound, but this had cleared on the repeat scan. The vet couldn't feel any abnormalities on physical examination and asked a couple of her colleagues to also check her to confirm that they agreed. She's really happy in every other respect, leaping around the hutch, eating loads, alert etc.. If it wasn't for the hair loss and ridiculously frequent rumbling you definitely wouldn't pick her out as a pig that was unwell, but I don't want to miss anything.
I'm not sure exactly when the loss started as I was unfortunately in hospital during October, November and December, but I would say that she dropped from 1.2 kg down to under 1.1 kg over the couple of weeks where she was being treated for problems with her tummy. She's remained stable at her current weight for the last 6 weeks.
Siikibam
Forum Donator 2022/23
Okay. Please start weighing at the same time each day and get her an appointment. You say the vet found nothing abnormal on the X-ray. When was she last examined, and how long as the hair loss and rumbling been going on? The constant rumbling even when not in heat shouldn’t be necessary if she’s established that she’s now top pig.
Have a read through the links and make an appointment. What did they say the blood in urine could be due to?
Have a read through the links and make an appointment. What did they say the blood in urine could be due to?
Blood in the urine was from a UTI, she's on a course of medication and its cleared up. She has always been very prone to them. We saw the vet last week (Friday) and are due to speak to them again tomorrow to review how she is getting on. I weigh all the girls weekly whether they are poorly or not, and then am weighing Eth daily to monitor what's going on. Weight has been stable for weeks, but she isnt re gaining what she lost. She's always been a very excitable pig, was totally bonkers as a baby and has always been a rumbler but as you say, she shouldn't need to be asserting herself as the boss after so many weeks. A hormone issue is def something that I am concerned about, and will mention this to the vet again tomorrow.
I’d definitely be suspicious of a hormone issue. Has she been checked for ovarian cysts?
She's had and X-ray and 3 ultrasounds over the last month - ovaries normal in each - I have no idea how accurate either is in diagnosing ovarian cysts in a guinea pig though?
I've spent the morning watching Eth to try and work out exactly what sets off her rumbles and if her hair loss is barbering:
1) Being near her favourite baby pig - she rumbles if she is near Maggie and then gives her a thorough wash and sucks her ears.
2) Food - she rumbles if she is heading to the dried food or getting into the hay box, or if she thinks I am about to present her with any kind of edible treat. She also rumbles if I open the front door.
3) Nellie is in season at the moment and is rumbling herself - Eth rumbles back if Nellie rumbles at her.
Most bouts of rumbling include some running around and popcorning.
Hair wise - I think she's pulling it out herself, and thinking back, when Teasel was getting towards the end, Ethel started over grooming her, and barbering Nellie, who is a Sheltie. She has stopped barbering Nellie, so I wonder if she is now self barbering instead?
1) Being near her favourite baby pig - she rumbles if she is near Maggie and then gives her a thorough wash and sucks her ears.
2) Food - she rumbles if she is heading to the dried food or getting into the hay box, or if she thinks I am about to present her with any kind of edible treat. She also rumbles if I open the front door.
3) Nellie is in season at the moment and is rumbling herself - Eth rumbles back if Nellie rumbles at her.
Most bouts of rumbling include some running around and popcorning.
Hair wise - I think she's pulling it out herself, and thinking back, when Teasel was getting towards the end, Ethel started over grooming her, and barbering Nellie, who is a Sheltie. She has stopped barbering Nellie, so I wonder if she is now self barbering instead?
Self barbering can happen for many reasons - one of which can be due to pain. Could that be a possibility for her?
Potentially - she's on pain meds at the moment because of the UTI. She's a pig who tends to get very sad very quickly with illness. Even small things that the others would pretty much ignore, will send Ethel into a bout of depression, and I am not seeing that from her at all. She's popcorning all over the place, and into everything. Her weight is up by 40 g since the start of the week, so I will keep a close eye and speak to the vet again on Monday if things seem to be going in the wrong direction.