My Guinea Pig Is Experiencing Significant Weight And Hair Loss, Please Help

[Ingrid54321]

Hi, over the past several months one of my 4 Guinea pigs has experienced significant weight loss and only over the past month or so has her hair started to thin out quite a lot. She has not had any trouble with appetite as she is always the first to eat all food given to her and today I had brought her into our house and given her half a cucumber, a carrot, and apple and a handful of hay which she devoured within an hour or two. There seems to be no problems with her teeth however are concidering she may have scurvy possibly saying they are kept in the garage which doesn't provide very much sunlight however all the others are very fat and bulky unlike fefe. To make matters worse this week her hind legs have jutted up almost making her look more like a rat almost and her normally very big and wide eyes are now small and narrow. If anyone could help with any suggestions at all I would really appreciate it.

 

[pigpaws]

Her hind legs jutting up may be leg stiffness, which along with rough hair loss and decreased appetite, are all symptoms of vitamin C deficiency (scurvy) as you said. Definitely recommend going to the vet, if it is scurvy, they may treat it with vitamin C injections or supplements. Do you feed your piggies leafy greens? They are a good source of vitamin C. Wishing the best for her!

 

[Dill&Pepper]

Agree with the scurvy suggestion. Otherwise maybe overactive thyroid? That would cause weight loss even though she eats as much if not more than your others, and could explain the coat change. Unless a vet can feel nodules on her thyroid would unfortunately need a blood test to confirm.

Is her hair thinning evenly, or are there patches?

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, over the past several months one of my 4 Guinea pigs has experienced significant weight loss and only over the past month or so has her hair started to thin out quite a lot. She has not had any trouble with appetite as she is always the first to eat all food given to her and today I had brought her into our house and given her half a cucumber, a carrot, and apple and a handful of hay which she devoured within an hour or two. There seems to be no problems with her teeth however are concidering she may have scurvy possibly saying they are kept in the garage which doesn't provide very much sunlight however all the others are very fat and bulky unlike fefe. To make matters worse this week her hind legs have jutted up almost making her look more like a rat almost and her normally very big and wide eyes are now small and narrow. If anyone could help with any suggestions at all I would really appreciate it.

Hi and welcome

Please have your guinea pig vet checked for:

- vitamin C deficiency (scurvy) because of an insufficient diet (vitamin D is the one that is produced by sunlight!).
Unlimited hay should make over 80% of the daily food intake with ca. 50g of veg mix (which should include high vitamin C foods like pepper and fresh herbs on a daily basis) with some good quality vitamin C pellets (1-2 tablespoons).
For more details see our diet guide: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diet

- ovarian cysts

- thyroid

- mites or a fungal skin infection in conjunction with a deficient diet (lowering of the immune system)

Keep your guinea pigs indoors and switch from a weekly weigh-in and health check to a daily one at the same time.

 

[Wheekallweek]

Definitely see a vet ASAP!
Bell peppers are also a very good source of vitamin C.
We had a piggy, Ruffles, surrendered to us with scurvy. His hair was very dry, small squinty eyes, stiff and painful back legs were some of the symptoms he had so it does sound like Scurvy to me too.

 

[Ingrid54321]

Her hind legs jutting up may be leg stiffness, which along with rough hair loss and decreased appetite, are all symptoms of vitamin C deficiency (scurvy) as you said. Definitely recommend going to the vet, if it is scurvy, they may treat it with vitamin C injections or supplements. Do you feed your piggies leafy greens? They are a good source of vitamin C. Wishing the best for her!

Thank you so much for the suggestion of the green leafy veg will start to feed her that and will be keeping check on her to take her to the vets thank you!

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

What kind of veggies do you normally feed? I hope you get to the bottom of it and she feels better soon!

 

[Ingrid54321]

Agree with the scurvy suggestion. Otherwise maybe overactive thyroid? That would cause weight loss even though she eats as much if not more than your others, and could explain the coat change. Unless a vet can feel nodules on her thyroid would unfortunately need a blood test to confirm.

Is her hair thinning evenly, or are there patches?

Agree with the scurvy suggestion. Otherwise maybe overactive thyroid? That would cause weight loss even though she eats as much if not more than your others, and could explain the coat change. Unless a vet can feel nodules on her thyroid would unfortunately need a blood test to confirm.

Is her hair thinning evenly, or are there patches?

Hi, yes her fur seems to be thinning out evenly especially around her nose which was a week ago very thickly covered with fur like most Guinea pigs blhowever it is now almost bald

 

[Ingrid54321]

Hi and welcome

Please have your guinea pig vet checked for:

- vitamin C deficiency (scurvy) because of an insufficient diet (vitamin D is the one that is produced by sunlight!).
Unlimited hay should make over 80% of the daily food intake with ca. 50g of veg mix (which should include high vitamin C foods like pepper and fresh herbs on a daily basis) with some good quality vitamin C pellets (1-2 tablespoons).
For more details see our diet guide: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diet

- ovarian cysts

- thyroid

- mites or a fungal skin infection in conjunction with a deficient diet (lowering of the immune system)

Keep your guinea pigs indoors and switch from a weekly weigh-in and health check to a daily one at the same time.

Thabk

Hi and welcome

Please have your guinea pig vet checked for:

- vitamin C deficiency (scurvy) because of an insufficient diet (vitamin D is the one that is produced by sunlight!).
Unlimited hay should make over 80% of the daily food intake with ca. 50g of veg mix (which should include high vitamin C foods like pepper and fresh herbs on a daily basis) with some good quality vitamin C pellets (1-2 tablespoons).
For more details see our diet guide: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diet

- ovarian cysts

- thyroid

- mites or a fungal skin infection in conjunction with a deficient diet (lowering of the immune system)

Keep your guinea pigs indoors and switch from a weekly weigh-in and health check to a daily one at the same time.

Thank you so much for the advice will take action on these and see if she improves with these and will be taking her to the vet over the next few days

 

[Ingrid54321]

What kind of veggies do you normally feed? I hope you get to the bottom of it and she feels better soon!

Peppers once a fortnight roughly and we vary between the occasional cabbage and regularly feed them carrots cucumber and apples

 

[LadyLilly]

I agree with everything that has been said here, I'd take her to the vets asap.

Do you also give her (red)pepper? They're a great source for vit. C

Edit; didnt see your last response, my bad!

 

[Cavy Kung-Fu]

Ah okay, it would be worth looking at the food guides on here as that may be why. What do you give daily? Each pig needs 1 cup of veg per day, usually looking to feed high vit C foods like coriander and sweet peppers. Fruits and root veg (like carrots) are occassional foods like once or twice a week.

 

[Merab]

Good advice already given.
Hope the vet can find the problem for you and she makes a full recovery.
Welcome to the forum

 

[Wheekallweek]

I’d feed bell peppers daily

 

[Wiebke]

Thabk

Thank you so much for the advice will take action on these and see if she improves with these and will be taking her to the vet over the next few days

Please have her seen as soon as you can during regular opening times.