Laying down all the time!

willybeans

New Born Pup
Joined
Jan 26, 2023
Messages
7
Reaction score
17
Points
140
Location
Uk
Wilson sadly passed away before Christmas and his surviving pal (Beans) was placed on a waiting list with a local rescue to be bonded.

In the time following Willy's passing, Beans became understandably forlorn; eating less, becoming much less vocal and excitable, and spending most of his time laying down in one bed. (They're free range downstairs so they'd usually run around between different spots throughout the day)

Beans had a successful bonding session with a baby piggy at the rescue. During the bonding "date", Beans was seemingly content as he was laying down a lot. Sprawling out and laying his head on the ground. It particularly surprised me how "relaxed" he was in a new environment, especially after a half an hour car ride to get there and having a baby thrust upon him. He is usually very reserved and skittish.

Since we've brought the baby home his behaviour has perked up; eating more, running around again between the rooms, finding his voice again, interacting with the baby...

But he is still very quick to lay down. Like, immediately after a little zoomy around he will beeline to a bed and snuggle in, or even just flop out on the floor where he's at. He looks very relaxed and is often yawning too.

This might sound normal but it's completely different behaviour to when Wilson was alive. Obviously they laid down in their beds, but it would usually take Beans quite a while to settle, and he would often just be sitting up in the bed rather than flopping out how he is now. Also, Beans and Wilson NEVER snuggled together, the closest they ever got was sitting in separate beds close to each other.

Beans has allowed the baby to snuggle in to him and is also sprawling out on the floor infront of baby immediately after sniffing his bum.

He has always been shy and skittish, but he seems to have had a complete personality overhaul since meeting this baby.

I was wondering if Beans could maybe be stressed, and this is a self-soothing behaviour? I know that yawning can sometimes be self-regulating behaviour in other animals.

Or, because Wilson was the dominant of the two, could it be that now Beans finally feels comfortable at home and all this time he was feeling on edge? They had never fought.

Sorry for long post!
 
Unfortunately when I came downstairs on Friday morning Beans was sitting hunched up in a corner and refused breakfast. I cleaned out the fleece and he did two fresh poops that were smaller than usual and nipped off at the end, marbled in colour light and dark. I syringe fed some nugget paste. He was seen by a GP specialist vet that morning who said his tummy, cecum and bowels felt completely empty. Otherwise he seemed okay (bladder, lungs etc), and he was diagnosed with stasis, likely caused by the stress of his visit to the rescue/bonding with the baby the prior weekend.

She gave him a jab (I can't remember the name but it was a gut stimulant) and he's on a course of metoclopramide and metacam (the type that's licensed for dogs as it's stronger).

When he came home from the vets he was really relaxed and laying around as usual. The vet suggested to try stronger smelling herbs like mint to increase his appetite, which picked up and he started taking food occasionally..

He is eating hay but it's hard to monitor how much as the baby is eating too. He will only eat lettuce and cucumber, with a few nibbles of pepper or apple, and one off nuggets.

I'm syringe feeding him nugget paste throughout the day (and during the first night). He is looking bright and running around, but now and again he does seem to be sitting up looking uncomfy, I assume when the painkillers are wearing off between doses.

I'm really worried about him, he's turning 5 this year.
 
I forgot to mention yesterday (Saturday) he was pooping fairly often, smaller than usual. And in the evening he passed some very dry deformed poop. Overnight his poops have been bigger, still nipped off at the end but more uniform in shape and not dry. I understand the poop can be delayed in terms of what's going on inside so I'm hoping this indicates an improvement.

He weighed 1.035kg at the vets (Friday),
1.025kg midday yesterday (Saturday)
and 1.005kg this morning at 6am (I plan to weigh him first thing in morning going forward).
 
I’m sorry to hear he is unwell.

Hay intake cannot be monitored by eye so it is very important that you switch from the routine weekly weight checks and instead with him each morning. This allows you to know wow is independent hay intake and syringe feed intake. You are looking for his weight to be stable each morning
 
Thank you.

He has lost around 30g since Friday but from what I've read on this forum that could be normal weight fluctuation? I will be weighing him first thing in the morning moving forward as I've seen advised here.

Is there an expected timeframe to see him bounce back if this is an isolated issue?

The vet said if he remains bright and is making improvements after the first 24hrs she believes it does not indicate an underlying issue and his prognosis is good.
 
That’s right - 30g is just normal fluctuation and not considered weight loss.

Re timeframe - it just depends on how his appetite and gut function picks up

The guide below will help further

 
He's weighing 967g this morning, down from 1035g on Friday morning - is this too much weight loss?

He appetite has picked up and he is eating some nuggets (not as enthusiastically as he used to), some veggies (being picky) and hay, and his poops have returned to almost normal now.

As he's eating independently now, I have only been syringe feeding 3* a day when he also gets his meds, but he really fights back after 2 syringes worth of paste so I've not been getting a lot in him.

Today is his last day of treatment. Unsure if I should get him back in to the vets today or monitor him for a couple of days post-meds and see what's going on.
 
That is 68g of loss so it means he hasn’t been eating quite enough - ideally the weight stays within the 30g fluctuation. (50g of loss is the point at which you get concerned).

The amount you feed depends upon independent hay intake which is gauged by weight loss.
You aim for at least 60ml of syringe feeding per day ( the less they take at each feed; the more feeds you need to do).
If weight continues to be lost despite syringe feeding, then they need to be fed more.

If his hay intake hasn’t picked up to normal amounts (nuggets and veg intake isn’t what you are really concerned about), then you need to continue with daily weight checks and plenty of syringe feeding, and return to the vet.
 
Beans hasn't been syringe fed for two days now.

Yesterday his weight was stable from the day before, and this morning he was 25g up, so it seems he's putting on weight by himself now.

He's still 30g below his starting weight but I'm fairly confident it will get there :)
 

Attachments

  • IMG-20250119-WA0007.webp
    IMG-20250119-WA0007.webp
    26.4 KB · Views: 1
Beans hasn't been syringe fed for two days now.

Yesterday his weight was stable from the day before, and this morning he was 25g up, so it seems he's putting on weight by himself now.

He's still 30g below his starting weight but I'm fairly confident it will get there :)
He's gorgeous :luv:
Don't worry your slave, Beans :no:
 
Back
Top