Weight loss - from 750 to 679 grams

[4boipigs]

My oldest boar (6 yrs) Little Bear had to see the doctor today due to reoccurring eye issues. His normal weight is around 750 grams, but when at the vet today he was 679! He eats well and poops a lot, and everything seems normal. He does have eyelid paralysis on his right side, so he can't blink that eye and is requiring daily eye drops. He also has a URI. His brother (2 - 3 yrs old) is a bit food aggressive and will chase him from food, however I am confident Little Bear is getting enough to eat because his poop output hasn't changed. Also the boys do eat side by side and the food chasing isn't constant. Otherwise, him and his brother get along extremely well and at the most there is a little rumblestrutting. (His brother is also twice his size.)

I've only had Little Bear since October, and his weight has been around 750 the whole time. Should this weight loss worry me? The vet advised I could begin feeding him critical care (I have Emeraid) in addition to his normal food intake. Luckily he LOVES! Emeraid, and his brother has no interest. The doctor said that if we can get his weight up (and clear the URI), he will be a better candidate for eye removal.

 

[piggieminder]

Sending Bear lots of healing vibes.
The health and illness people here in the UK will be in bed now but I am sure someone will be along in the morning to answer your questions. I sitting up with an ill piggy, just waiting to do the last meds and syringe feed before I go to bed.

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

Have you weighed Little Bear yourself since he was weighed at the vets? It's possible the vet's scales are calibrated more accurately than yours, so you need to compare what he is now ,at home , with your previous readings, making sure they are both done at the same point in the feeding cycle.
Older piggies do sometimes lose weight and muscle mass, but 700g seems light to me. I don't have a lot of experience with older piggies though, so hopefully one of the health specialists will be able to advise you properly in due course.
Sending Little Bear lots of healing vibes! xx

 

[Wiebke]

My oldest boar (6 yrs) Little Bear had to see the doctor today due to reoccurring eye issues. His normal weight is around 750 grams, but when at the vet today he was 679! He eats well and poops a lot, and everything seems normal. He does have eyelid paralysis on his right side, so he can't blink that eye and is requiring daily eye drops. He also has a URI. His brother (2 - 3 yrs old) is a bit food aggressive and will chase him from food, however I am confident Little Bear is getting enough to eat because his poop output hasn't changed. Also the boys do eat side by side and the food chasing isn't constant. Otherwise, him and his brother get along extremely well and at the most there is a little rumblestrutting. (His brother is also twice his size.)

I've only had Little Bear since October, and his weight has been around 750 the whole time. Should this weight loss worry me? The vet advised I could begin feeding him critical care (I have Emeraid) in addition to his normal food intake. Luckily he LOVES! Emeraid, and his brother has no interest. The doctor said that if we can get his weight up (and clear the URI), he will be a better candidate for eye removal.

Hi!

Please weigh your piggies once weekly when you give them their weekly body health check; this as life-long health monitoring.
You switch to weighing daily at the same time in the feeding cycle whenever you have concerns. We talk about weight loss from 50g onward as the normal weight swing in 24 hours is about 30-40g. Your kitchen scales are perfectly alright to catch the relative weight changes.
The scales your vet has are very accurate because your vets needs to have an exact weight for computing medical doses. The weight between your home scales and your vet's scales can differ; with my own scales it is usually around 30-50g less at the vet's.

Please also be aware that the need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat; in addition to that antibiotics can also affect the gut microbiome and cause loss of appetite; weight loss with a URI is therefore not uncommon.

Each piggy has their individual weight range, which can also vary massively between siblings; as I know from pairs and trios I have adopted. That doesn't necessarily say anything about their individual longevity, by the way. You can feel around the ribs whether a piggy of any size or age is a good weight, over- or underweight; in very old age (6 years onward), piggies become more bony and kind of shrink - the same as the very old humans. Our weight guide will talk you through working out the heft/BMI as well as weight changes etc.
Here is the link. You may find it hopefully helpful as well as interesting: Weight - Monitoring and Management

Good that you are support feeding. You may want to add some probiotic or make poo soup (i.e. live cavy microbiome transfer) from his healthy brother's poo to support the gut. You can find information and tips for gut support in this link here, including our 'recipe' for poos soup: Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

All the best! Right now, nothing is anywhere near critical, so hang on in there!

 

[4boipigs]

We have lots of probiotics from my other sick pigs, so we'll be good on that part. I am having to give antibiotics again for the URI.

I think 750 to 800 grams is a good size for Little Bear. He is very very small in size, and at first a lot of people thought he was under a year old! He's just a tiny guy.

 

[Wiebke]

We have lots of probiotics from my other sick pigs, so we'll be good on that part. I am having to give antibiotics again for the URI.

I think 750 to 800 grams is a good size for Little Bear. He is very very small in size, and at first a lot of people thought he was under a year old! He's just a tiny guy.

800g is about the lower end of a normal adult weight span; I've had quite a few small piggies over the years of both genders.

As piggies get older, the weight will gradually go down and won't be made up in full after an illness. It is important that during this phase you monitor whether there may be an underlying issue rather than a normal ageing process. Guinea pigs have a very fast metabolism; age does unfortunately happen on fast forward compared to humans. Especially when it is your first pet, it can be upsetting.

All the best!

 

[4boipigs]

I weighed L Bear last nite and his weight hasn't changed. However, I noticed blood in the cage and at first suspected one of the boys has a UTI. When I was feeding L Bear his Emeraid, there was bits of blood in his food! I can't see if he's bleeding from his mouth or nose. There's wounds that I noticed either.

 

[4boipigs]

I weighed L Bear last nite and his weight hasn't changed. However, I noticed blood in the cage and at first suspected one of the boys has a UTI. When I was feeding L Bear his Emeraid, there was bits of blood in his food! I can't see if he's bleeding from his mouth or nose. There's wounds that I noticed either.

I mean NO wounds! He has no wounds.