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Losing weight or just fluctuations?

I

Izzy3Piggies

New Born Pup
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Hi all,

The past few weights for my eldest Jarvis (age 4) have been going down by 20g each week. For example his weight three weeks ago was 920g, then the next week was 900g, then this week today he is 880g. It has only been going down for these three weigh ins, should I take him to the vets or wait for the next weigh in to see if it could just be a fluctuation? Also he has always been quite small and he has just finished a course of precautionary antibiotics for a potential infection (vets advice).

Thank you all in advance :)
 
The antibiotics could well have caused the weight loss, and assuming he has recently seen the vet for the infection then perhaps waiting a couple of weeks to see if the weight goes back up is a good idea.
But those weights sound quite petite so if it dips much more then another vet check is in order- petite piggies dont have much spare weight to lose!
Have you given probiotics to help restore the healthy gut bacteria after the antibiotics?
 
Okay I will do this, thank you so much for your reply! Oh no I haven’t :( I don’t know too much about probiotics, where would I get this from?
 
You can buy probiotics online from Amazon or any other small pet supply retailer. Fibreplex is really good but piggies dont like the taste much, usually we mix Fibreplex with Science Selective recovery food for piggies with weight loss. You could mix Fibreplex with mushed up pellets or grated veggies too.
Pro-C is another commonly used probiotic, you mix up a cupful then just give a couple of mls in a syringe twice a day, I have found it isnt as good a Fibreplex but it is more palatable.
Not essential but usually recommended as a precaution to help a piggy with antibiotic related weight loss to grow back their healthy piggy gut bacteria :)
Just make sure whatever probiotic you choose is specific for piggies and bunnies, things formulated for humans or dogs and cats are no use at all for digesting hay!
 
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