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Unwell or fussy…

Guineapoops2022

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi guys hope you and your pigs are all well.
I have a female piggy marshmallow around 7-8 maybe 9 months difficult to know from pets at home. I spoke on here recently about her weight having dropped and her back legs and back generally making her squirm and scream and was advised to take her to the vet. The vet said overall marsh was healthy looking but picked up on her attitude right away very sassy we’re her words maybe just her characteristic. She mentioned possible arthritis but said she was very young for that and she wouldn’t want to put her to sleep to look into it further at the moment. Since then around 2/3 weeks she has gained weight and then lost like on Thursday she had gained 5 then yesterday lost 5 so we are going to start weighing every second day or maybe everyday from now. She has been off her food for around 2 weeks seems to become bored and wanders off to have hay when everyone else is munching. She will eat only a tiny bit of pepper and this morning I tried to hand feed her cucumber and pepper she started getting really agitated trying to bite me then was biting any veg I offered and repeatedly would bite it and spit it out at me like almost aggressive. I then gave her some carrot and coriander which she was fine with but I’m not sure what to do.
 
I will continue to weigh her every evening before feeding (not sure does it matter when) and monitor it for a week or maybe 2 depending on results but can I feed her say 3/4 pieces of coriander and hopefully cucumber if she won’t eat her pepper and would I then skip the coriander at dinner which everyone else gets…
 
Hi,

It sounds like she may be a little fussy maybe...keep trying new veg and fruit with them all...she may just need a lot of variety to be content with it...and when you find things she likes make a note of it so when she looks like she's going off it then you can pick something to change it too...you could speak to the vet about a full work up...see if there's anything that maybe could flare up and put her off her food...similar to if a food makes a person sick sometimes it takes a while to eat it again...monitoring is the best thing you could do and keep in constant communication with the vet...my piggy is fussy and would only eat veg of she could pick a bit out herself...so washing it etc then letting her pick a bit seemed to help...but she would sometimes leave some of it...
 
Hi guys hope you and your pigs are all well.
I have a female piggy marshmallow around 7-8 maybe 9 months difficult to know from pets at home. I spoke on here recently about her weight having dropped and her back legs and back generally making her squirm and scream and was advised to take her to the vet. The vet said overall marsh was healthy looking but picked up on her attitude right away very sassy we’re her words maybe just her characteristic. She mentioned possible arthritis but said she was very young for that and she wouldn’t want to put her to sleep to look into it further at the moment. Since then around 2/3 weeks she has gained weight and then lost like on Thursday she had gained 5 then yesterday lost 5 so we are going to start weighing every second day or maybe everyday from now. She has been off her food for around 2 weeks seems to become bored and wanders off to have hay when everyone else is munching. She will eat only a tiny bit of pepper and this morning I tried to hand feed her cucumber and pepper she started getting really agitated trying to bite me then was biting any veg I offered and repeatedly would bite it and spit it out at me like almost aggressive. I then gave her some carrot and coriander which she was fine with but I’m not sure what to do.
Hi

Is Marshmallow an only piggy or does she have a companion? Single piggies tend to be a lot fussier than when they have a companion; they lack the 'I want what you have' stimulus and they will also transfer their own species social expectations, mood swings and attention seeking behaviours fully onto you.
She is currently a teenager, both in behaviour and a changed growth pattern. She is now at an age where the continuous weight gain has stopped and any further growth happens in spurts.

Please be aware that 10g are just the difference between a full and an empty bladder and 30-40g the difference between a full and an empty tummy. The weight swings in about a 30g band over the course of a day. That is hay we talk about weight only from 50g onward. For a better comparison, you have to always weigh at the same time in the feeding cycle; I prefer first thing in the morning when the daily weight swing is at its lowest point. Please also be aware that the more often you weigh, the more the weight will jump around.

A 5g weight swing counts as a stable weight; unless it is in the context of a longer term continual gradual weight loss over a at least a week of daily losses or a matter of several months, in which case you want to see a vet after 50-100g (depending on the speed of the weight loss) or when other more obvious symptoms of illness manifest.

Please take the time to read these guide links here. You may find them very helpful:
Weight - Monitoring and Management

Who is the Boss - Your Guinea Pig or You?
Single Guinea Pigs - Challenges and Responsibilities (including a chapter on how cavy social needs can manifest in their relationship with their owner)
Journey through a Lifetime: The Ages of Guinea Pigs
 
Just a thought did the vet check her teeth? I noticed my Pepper was only eating certain veg and then he lost weight. He had a tooth root abscess. The first signs were his fussy eating. Good luck I hope you find out the cause soon.
 
Thank you guys I will keep an eye on her and maybe try the pepper again in a wee while as she’s eaten one piece this morning but no more… she is very gurny won’t sit still on you head butts all the time she is not alone she’s in with 3 other females so I’m not sure what’s going on they are still rumbling and mounting each other every other week but I think this is standard behaviour… I’m not sure what I can replace the pepper with that makes up her vit c for the day… I have coriander but I’m unsure how much would be enough so she’s not missing out and I also give coriander at dinner so would I not give her some then? At the moment they have a piece of cucumber every morning with pepper then dinner time is lettuce green beans coriander and another slice of cucumber maybe some spring greens to change it up for the week I hope this is all sage staples then occasionally carrot apple baby corn a blueberry or a grape
 
Why not take a simple x-ray? Some piggies do need to be put under and while sedating a guinea pig is never a 100% safe thing to do, isoflurane is a fairly safe thing to give to a piggie to put them under very briefly for an xray.

I lost a guinea pig to general anesthesia due to what we thought was ileus and an operation was done, and we hesitated hard with isoflurane for an xray to see if a leg was fractured but the treatment plan needed information for us to figure out what to do so we went ahead with the isoflurane. It was a very brief "gas", followed by an xray, followed by him coming right back to life.

HTH
 
Thank you guys I’m very sorry you lost your piggy to that :( I will probably avoid it if I can in all honesty as she is running around ok I really hope she’s just a super sassy queen still trying to figure her out thanks again guys this forum is a brilliant place to be able to come for anything piggy related it’s really helped me since getting guineas
 
Thank you guys I will keep an eye on her and maybe try the pepper again in a wee while as she’s eaten one piece this morning but no more… she is very gurny won’t sit still on you head butts all the time she is not alone she’s in with 3 other females so I’m not sure what’s going on they are still rumbling and mounting each other every other week but I think this is standard behaviour… I’m not sure what I can replace the pepper with that makes up her vit c for the day… I have coriander but I’m unsure how much would be enough so she’s not missing out and I also give coriander at dinner so would I not give her some then? At the moment they have a piece of cucumber every morning with pepper then dinner time is lettuce green beans coriander and another slice of cucumber maybe some spring greens to change it up for the week I hope this is all sage staples then occasionally carrot apple baby corn a blueberry or a grape

Hi

Please read our guide about sow dominance settling in behaviours and sows in season - when they come together, it can get a bit wild. It tells you exactly what behaviours to look out for. We have also added a link to videos about sows experiencing a strong season.
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)

To learn more about individual behaviours or behaviour groups: A - Z of Guinea Pig Behaviours

PS: Some new piggies will take time to get accustomed to new foods they have not been taught by their family as 'safe to eat' while they were still babies.
 
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