Reasons for weight loss?

[Pig & Pymble]

My lovely pig, Pig, has been loosing weight for a few months now following what we think is a case of bad sterile interstitial cystitis (more info on a previous recent thread here), despite us still syringe feeding 60ml/day, and him eating for himself (veg, hay, biscuits). He used to be 1450g, in May, and has steadily dropped down to 1086g (today’s weight). He was 1160g last Thursday but did that day have a general anaesthetic and blood test done.

We’ve had the all clear in X-rays, CT scans, ultrasounds, dental checks, blood tests, urine samples. Nothing is coming up other than low white blood cell count on the bloods so going to test that again in a few weeks, but we wonder if he’s fighting something. He had a weird parasite in his bladder recently but was on antibiotics that seem to have killed it as urine sample looked fine last week.

Any ideas on anything else we can test or check for? We’ve not had a poop sample tested but not sure if that’s a thing!

We can’t go on syringe feeding him every day for the rest of his life (he’s only 2) - it’s such an impact on our life, but are so scared he’s going to loose so much weight he won’t make it. We just want him to bounce back and start maintaining or gaining his weight - ideally!

 

[Wiebke]

My lovely pig, Pig, has been loosing weight for a few months now following what we think is a case of bad sterile interstitial cystitis (more info on a previous recent thread here), despite us still syringe feeding 60ml/day, and him eating for himself (veg, hay, biscuits). He used to be 1450g, in May, and has steadily dropped down to 1086g (today’s weight). He was 1160g last Thursday but did that day have a general anaesthetic and blood test done.

We’ve had the all clear in X-rays, CT scans, ultrasounds, dental checks, blood tests, urine samples. Nothing is coming up other than low white blood cell count on the bloods so going to test that again in a few weeks, but we wonder if he’s fighting something. He had a weird parasite in his bladder recently but was on antibiotics that seem to have killed it as urine sample looked fine last week.

Any ideas on anything else we can test or check for? We’ve not had a poop sample tested but not sure if that’s a thing!

We can’t go on syringe feeding him every day for the rest of his life (he’s only 2) - it’s such an impact on our life, but are so scared he’s going to loose so much weight he won’t make it. We just want him to bounce back and start maintaining or gaining his weight - ideally!

Hi and welcome

I am very sorry; mystery weight loss is my least favourite symptom because so many very different things can hide behind it. Very often there is either a mechanical issue (dental or a blockage issue) or a pain issue somewhere in the body that is impacting on the gut and/or the appetite.

It could be a gut parasite and yes, poos can be analysed for that in a lab. They are generally rare; especially in indoors piggies. Outdoors piggies are a little more prone to them. Worms are rare in guinea pigs but can happen; giardia would likely have caused digestive problems as well as fatigue. @PigglePuggle

Have your vets checked for potential hyperthyroidism, diabetes, Cushings (usually comes with irregular hair loss as well as weight loss; again it is very rare in guinea pig but can happen). All of these things are connected to weight loss; but I am sure that the list is not exhaustive since I am not a vet and only have got our forum experience to rely on.

The low count of white blood cells may be likely your best indicator as to what could be going on. There is very clearly something not right.

Could you please tell us whether your boy is an indoors or outdoors piggies, whether he is a single or has company or whether you have other pets and what species. This can help us rule in or out some possibilities.
Wishing you all the best!


However, your vets seem to have been very thorough in checking pretty much everything; it should have normally shown up. The bladder parasite sounds rather like a secondary than a primary complication.

 

[PigglePuggle]

I'd be very interested to hear more about this bladder parasite, as @Wiebke says internal parasites are rare in indoor piggies and if they were present would usually show up in the gut- often after contact with rats- or in the ears after contact with rabbits. I can only find reference in the scientific literature to 1 rodent bladder parasite- Trichosomoides, a parasitic worm that can infect rats, mice and other rodents and occurs in the bladder? Not heard of a clinical case in piggies, or in the UK though. Some sexually transmitted protozoa and bacteria may end up in the bladder, as may some gut protozoa that are causing diarrhoea.
Unfortunately this may just be a symptom of a poor immune response in a piggy that is unwell for other reasons yet to be determined, rather than the underlying cause. I hope you get some answers and your piggy gets well x

 

[Pig & Pymble]

@Wiebke Thank you so much for your swift and supportive reply - I really, really appreciate it. It is such a horrible thing to see him keep dropping weight when he seems to be eating normally and we can't find anything standing out as being 'wrong'. It may well be continued pain from cystitis but he has been so much less squeaky in recent weeks.

The vet has indeed just checked for diabetes, thyroid functioning (I assume), kidney/liver functioning in the blood tests. We're going to do another blood sample in a month to check the white blood cell count again, and whether they've gone up or remained low in which case can investigate further (but running out of options!).

He's an indoor piggy and lives with his brother. We don't have any other pets, however, did go back to stay with my partner's mum for a few weeks in July to de-stress after Pig had already been sick a while, and she has a dog. The dog was never in the room with them, I really tried to avoid any contamination and I was quite strict on people washing their hands before touching the guinea pigs! He had already been dropping weight before then though.

@PigglePuggle The parasite was sooo bizarre. I've just checked and it was a renal parasite. We took a urine sample in as I suspected he had something going on as his wee was really smelly and also drying really bright red/orange, more so than usual. It turns out it was Klossiella cobayae, the vet was quite surprised by this and they even mentioned potentially writing a paper on it depending on how the treatment went, as there isn't much out there on it. When we took a sample last week after a course of antibiotics, it appeared to be gone, so we have taken another today just to check again. Very strange situation!

 

[PigglePuggle]

Wow that is a super rare unusual finding- but from what I can see about this in the veterinary literature, it is rarely of clinical concern except in animals that are severely immunosuppressed for another reason then it may become an issue.
Hopefully if the antibiotics have helped whatever else was going on, he will have cleared the parasite by himself.
Sounds like your vet is excellent so paws crossed for a good recovery x