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underweight guinea pig

  • Thread starter Thread starter jom
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jom

hi,
I took in a guinea pig in dec. He was very underweight at 1lb 8oz hes been seen by my vet who couldnt find anything wrong with him and wanted me to get some weight on him before he would do any tests because the vet felt he was quite week and didnt want to put him under any stress and i couldnt really tell him what the pigs symptoms were because id only had him a day. I have also spoke to vedra at the cct and got some advice. When he first arrived he would sit in the corner of his cage balled up and rocking alot of the time his coat didnt look good and his nails were very weak they would split and bleed. He is now alot brighter and runs up to the cage to greet you when you walk in the room makes a racket for veg and will eat out of my hand his coat is looking good and his nails are alot stronger but I'm really struggling to get weight on him. Hes 1lb 12oz at the moment and has been for a week. Apart from being underweight he seems very healthy, he has no trouble eating and running around with his brother and he looks so much better to what he did a few weeks ago. Will it just take time for him to put weight on or could the fact hes eating but stopped putting weight on be a sign of illness?
thanks joe
 
Awwww well done for taking him in O0

What is 1lb 12 in grams as i dont no what that is :)

If hes getting plenty of fresh food and veg then I'm sure hell start putting on weight soon O0 Are his teeth ok ?
 
Vet couldnt see anything wrong with his teeth, its actually his brother who has a few spurs but both eat fine.
 
Oh right ? Thats strange then :P
Maybe its something to do with his digestive system but if hes gaining it slowly then I'm sure it may be just his metabolism is a little slow :)
 
any idea how old he is? that might help people judge the weight etc to get an idea of the piggy?

i would have thought it would take time for him to put the weight on. i got a new piggy a few weeks ago who was a bit on the thin side and hes not putting weight on fast but gradually. i think it will be a gradual thing for him to build his weight back up
 
jnenbnb said:
1lb 12oz is about 800g i think, maybe he's just slow to put on weight? x
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Oh right O0 800g is fine i think but depends on age 0:) - I have a piggie who is 770g and he wasnt eating or drinking as his cage mate was a bully ive separated them now and hes gaining weight already ;D
 
hes 3yrs old. Whan he came to us you could feel his breast bone and ribs and see his spine and hip bones :'( He still feels very thin. What concerns me is that hes had no weight gain in a week. I thought about his brother bullying him but iv kept them in my living room so i could keep a close eye on him and dont think thats happening. We were told by his previous owner that he had been ill 6mths ago lost alot of weight and hadnt regained as much as they would of liked.
 
It may be his age too and my 770g boar is 1 years old and hes young :-\ A week isnt long enough to judge his weight O0 Id give it a few weeks at least ;)
 
Iv had him a mth. for the first few weeks he put on weight very slowly but it was going on its only this week hes stayed the same.
 
jom said:
Iv had him a mth. for the first few weeks he put on weight very slowly but it was going on its only this week hes stayed the same.
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Oh right - But every week they dont gain weight :D
 
As Vikki says, I too would worm him. Try with a herbal wormer first then try with Ivermectin and Panacur or Valbazen instead of Panacur. Sometimes it can take more than one course to get the guinea right.

Read this article on worming guineas, its more about giving you the info with which to make a choice about worming, but should be useful :)

www.planetguinea.co.uk/Worming.pdf It could be a host of other things too but its good to eliminate this by worming.
 
Thanks for the link i treated him with four seasons a couple of days ago but no change in his weight yet. Its like hes stuck at this weight. Hes also been treated for mites and oral thrush. If theres no change in weight soon il take him back to the vets for a blood test to check his kidney function. is there Anything else i could be doing?
 
Piggies can losed weight very quickly when they are poorly or have a dental problem.It takes them longer to put it back on,and sometimes they never regain the whole weight they lost.The fact he has put on some weight while under your care is encouraging.They often stabalise,then put on a bit more.Some piggies are naturally smaller and lighter than others anyway,and are perfectly healthy.As long as he keeps the weight he has gained I would not worry too much at the moment.Yes it is a low weight,but he was badly malnourished when you took him in,it will take a while for his digestive system to get back to normal.

He is a lucky piggy finding you,he is now going to be looked after properly.
 
Thanks mary. His previous owners were emigrating and didnt have a home for their pigs so i offered to look after them untill i could find a home on here for them but once i picked them up and saw sage i knew rehoming wasnt an option until he is well.
 
Is there any chance you could keep him?,when you do intensive care on piggies you bond with them,and it miust be difficult to let them go.
 
When sage first arrived he refused to eat and for a week me and my bf syringe fed him and i caught my bf sat with him wrapped in a towel saying come on eat for daddy! His brother is also impacted so i think it would be hard to find goods homes for them both. Sage has come out of his shell so much around us now and settled in here and is one of my noisiest pigs. We have both built up a strong bond with sage. Iv got nine guinea pigs though so we have to think about them too and if keeping sage and his brother parsley is going to be too many. TBH i didnt want any more pigs and was happy with what i had just wanted to do someone a favour. If sage had of been well or recovered quickly we wouldnt of thought of keeping him but because of whats happened with him we are both undecided wether to rehome him or not when hes recovered.
 
Difficult decision indeed.It would be lovely if you could keep them,but as you say,if it is going to cause overcrowding,you have to consider the other pigs.I am sure the answer will come to you.

I am full up at the moment because we took in several unwanted sows before xmas so had to enlarge our sow pen.Then Roland who hasd been living happliy with Ricky,Mr.Bumble and Mr.Jumble for the past 18 months,suddenly decided he did not like Ricky any more!.Roland is a big boy(nearly 4lbs aand solid) and Ricky is a smaller built,lighter pig.Roland was bull.ying Ricky who started to refuse to come out of his house.We had no choice but to seperate them which meant putting up another pen for Roland.Flippin boars !
 
Yes! Yes! yes!
I dont know if it was the four seasons or not but sage is now 1lb 14oz. I'm soooo proud of him. ;D :smitten:
 
User the Four Seasons monthly and you may see more improvement. :) People do adopt needy pigs- you did :) Its just waiting for them :)
 
back down to 1lb 12oz. i couldnt of weighed him wrong i use digital scales. :'(
I cant help thinking I'm doing something wrong and letting him down.
 
jom said:
back down to 1lb 12oz. i couldnt of weighed him wrong i use digital scales. :'(
I cant help thinking I'm doing something wrong and letting him down.
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I think he'd be worse off without you! Just keep at it, did you weigh him at the same time of day? I wouldn't get too hung up on his weight, its good to monitor it but it does fluctuate- like Mary says. You don't know whats going on inside him, keep him fed and comfortable as you've been doing :)
 
its like us humans don't weigh too often once a week should be fine unless you see a dramatic drop in weight
Good for you in caring so much
Ron x
 
iloveanimals said:
It may be his age too and my 770g boar is 1 years old and hes young :-\ A week isnt long enough to judge his weight O0 Id give it a few weeks at least ;)
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At 3 years old it shouldn't be his age. 3 years is not old. I currently have two 3 year olds and a nearly 5 year old and neither of them routinely lose weight. I would, as other said, monitor his weight weekly (preferably in grams as it's a bit more accurate).
 
hoping sage and parsley get better soon. i have heard of wotrming guinea pigs, but was told by our vet it is not nescressary to worm them in australia. so we haven't, don't worm the bunny either. sending love, hugs and cuddles to you and your 11 piggies. and you're an angel for taking in sage and parsley. :) 0:) :smitten:
 
Thanks for the encouragment. :)
Il stop weighing him every day and just weight once a week like i do my others. At least hes happy and appears not to be in any pain so hopefully its just going to take time.
choloe said:
hoping sage and parsley get better soon. i have heard of wotrming guinea pigs, but was told by our vet it is not nescressary to worm them in australia. so we haven't, don't worm the bunny either. sending love, hugs and cuddles to you and your 11 piggies. and you're an angel for taking in sage and parsley. :) 0:) :smitten:
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I only took two in There is people on here who deserve medals for the work they do with piggies.
 
i wanted to let you know that sage went downhill really quickly yesterday. He dropped alot of weight and refused to eat or drink. he died during the night
 
So sorry to hear your sad news, sounds like you did everything you possibly could but sometimes they just don't pull through. Well done for making him as happy as possible while you had him.

x
 
Oh no i'm so so sorry :'( :'( :'(
RIP Sage 0:) 0:) 0:) run free at the bridge little guy there's lot of green grass and friendly piggies to play with :-* :-* :-*
((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))) and piggie kisses for you all :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
Oh love i know how you feel, it's difficult enough but when you've had to hand feed and do what you both have for this little guy it seems to hit a raw nerve even more :'( :'(
What wonderful people you were to bring him in, he at least had a lovely time with you and obviously knew he was loved and cared for :smitten: again i'm so sorry :'(
 
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