Piggy eats but seems to not gain weight

[aurvandil]

Hi everybody, i made a post a while back on how my new pig was seemingly avoiding eating due to fear of her cage mates, that has mostly gone away, ive seen all three of them eating hay and nuggies sat next to eachother with no complaints, pippa (new pig) is eating just as much as the others if not more, i am disabled so i’m at home majority of the day, due to my concerns about her weight loss (she was 1.1kg when i adopted her, she’s now 820g) i watch the piggies for a good few hours a day and she does seem to eat just as much as the others, could this mean there’s another problem i’m not seeing? the vet says there doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with her, but she was a chunky girl when i adopted her and now she’s by far the smallest pig i have

i am aware that some pigs have naturally smaller bodies, like my yam who has always been a skinny pig- but pippa was not skinny when i adopted her, i could not feel her bones on her when i first held her, but now i can- all i really want to know is if other people think this is an issue with her body, like malabsorption or something- or if it’s because she doesn’t eat as much hay as the others (she sleeps inside the hay basket, and comes wheeking when i get the hay out) all her behaviour suggests to me she’s eating normally, but she’s still skinny

it just concerns me, i lost my coco pig a while back and i couldn’t save her due to how long it took me to notice her problems, I'm paranoid that pippa has a health condition i and the vets aren’t seeing and would like to hear any suggestions or concerns others have

i’ve added a picture of sweet pippa in her hay basket

 

[Piggies&buns]

How often are you weighing her?
Is she consistently losing weight at each check?
Have you checked her heft?
Do you know anything about her past?
Was she potentially overweight when you got her and has now just settled into a better diet so consequently lost excess weight?

There could of course be a medical reason behind it and that would obviously need your vet to find out

 

[Piggies&buns]

Also, how old is she?

 

[fluffysal]

No advice, just wanted to say she's a beautiful lady

 

[aurvandil]

i weight her daily, her weight over the past week has been 823 820 819 821 820 822 820, her heft, i can feel her ribs when i touch her chest- i can also feel her spine
she is staying at the same weight

the first few months i had her she dropped from a kg to around 750g, she seems to be very stable at 820, which makes me feel more confident




she came from the worst abuse you can imagine, she was in a cage with 33 other guinea pigs, 6inches deep of feces- her ears are torn up- but she’s the sweetest most friendly pig i have (somehow)

 

[aurvandil]

Also, how old is she?

no clue, she seems to be around 1 1/2- 2 years old

 

[Piggies&buns]

As she now seems to be staying consistent, previously you couldn’t feel any of her ribs and now you can plus your vet can’t find anything medically wrong, I would wonder whether she is now simply receiving good care, has lost excess weight and has found her natural and healthy weight and size for herself.

I would continue to weigh daily for another week or so, and if she remains stable during that time then I would start weighing less often.

 

[aurvandil]

thank u very much piggies&buns i get worried when there could possibly be a problem, i’ll continue her daily checks and give an update later down the line