Weight Loss Question- Please Help

[cassadyandpigs]

Hello there. I am seeking advice regarding my 3 year old Abyssinian Ophelia. Ophelia weighed around 953g in Sept 2021. I noticed she was losing some weight and so I bought a scale a month ago and she was around 860g. I immediately scheduled a vet appointment and by the time I got her into the vet she was staying around 830g. The vet said she overall looked very healthy, but found that her gut motility was a bit slower than it should be and thought that she could be dealing with an overgrowth of bad bacteria in her gut, so prescribed some antibiotics which I put her on for 14 days, she just ended them on Friday. Ophelia was steadily gaining weight the first week to around 880g, then dropped back to 850g for a few days, and most recently increased again to a high of 897g yesterday. Today, she is 818g (the lowest she has been). Throughout I've noticed huge fluctuations from day to day, sometimes increasing or losing 40-70g seemingly overnight. Throughout everything she has been acting very normal-- she is eating, excited about food, drinking, playing, and pooping and peeing. I've noticed her feces have been going between being normal to being larger and clumpier and crumblier to back to normal again. I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts or advice on these symptoms-- she is definitely still eating a relatively normal amount for her and her cagemate is not having any problems. As I said she is acting totally normal but her weight seems to be fluctuating a lot and I am concerned by the sudden weight loss given that yesterday she reached a high of 897 and today is 818. I have her on the books for an exotics vet in early March (the soonest appt I could get) and if she continues losing weight tomorrow I will get her in with my small animal vet again. Any advice or any known issues that could be causing this as it isn't related to how much she is eating?

 

[cassadyandpigs]

Hello there. I am seeking advice regarding my 3 year old Abyssinian Ophelia. Ophelia weighed around 953g in Sept 2021. I noticed she was losing some weight and so I bought a scale a month ago and she was around 860g. I immediately scheduled a vet appointment and by the time I got her into the vet she was staying around 830g. The vet said she overall looked very healthy, but found that her gut motility was a bit slower than it should be and thought that she could be dealing with an overgrowth of bad bacteria in her gut, so prescribed some antibiotics which I put her on for 14 days, she just ended them on Friday. Ophelia was steadily gaining weight the first week to around 880g, then dropped back to 850g for a few days, and most recently increased again to a high of 897g yesterday. Today, she is 818g (the lowest she has been). Throughout I've noticed huge fluctuations from day to day, sometimes increasing or losing 40-70g seemingly overnight. Throughout everything she has been acting very normal-- she is eating, excited about food, drinking, playing, and pooping and peeing. I've noticed her feces have been going between being normal to being larger and clumpier and crumblier to back to normal again. I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts or advice on these symptoms-- she is definitely still eating a relatively normal amount for her and her cagemate is not having any problems. As I said she is acting totally normal but her weight seems to be fluctuating a lot and I am concerned by the sudden weight loss given that yesterday she reached a high of 897 and today is 818. I have her on the books for an exotics vet in early March (the soonest appt I could get) and if she continues losing weight tomorrow I will get her in with my small animal vet again. Any advice or any known issues that could be causing this as it isn't related to how much she is eating?

For reference she has unlimited access to Timothy hay, fresh water, 1/8 cup Oxbow adult pellets every day, and about a cup of veggies everyday including Green Leaf Lettuce and a little bit of cucumber, carrot, red pepper, blueberry etc.

 

[Siikibam]

I’m sorry to hear she’s not doing well weight wise. Have you been weighing her once a day, at the same time? Or several times a day?

I would consider taking her back to the vet for more investigations. You will also need to step in and syringe feed her if there is a downwards trend. Weigh once daily (preferably morning) and adjust the amount you syringe feed accordingly. Not eating enough hay is the cause of the weight loss. It makes up the largest part of their diet. The difficulty is that you can’t judge hay intake by eye hence weighing.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear she is unwell.

Please ensure you weigh her daily and step in and syringe feed her. You will need to syringe as much as is necessary to stop her from losing weight. She is losing weight because she isn’t eating a consistent amount of hay. The reason behind that is the mystery and of course only a vet can get to the bottom of that. It’s so difficult when there is no obvious cause for the illness.

It may also be a good idea for you to give a probiotic or poop soup made from the poops of a healthy cage mate to help restore the gut bacteria.

I would also suggest you cut out the sugary items such as carrot and fruit. They can cause an overgrowth of the wrong bacteria in the gut.

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

 

[cassadyandpigs]

I’m sorry to hear she’s not doing well weight wise. Have you been weighing her once a day, at the same time? Or several times a day?

I would consider taking her back to the vet for more investigations. You will also need to step in and syringe feed her if there is a downwards trend. Weigh once daily (preferably morning) and adjust the amount you syringe feed accordingly. Not eating enough hay is the cause of the weight loss. It makes up the largest part of their diet. The difficulty is that you can’t judge hay intake by eye hence weighing.

I have been weighing her once a day in the middle of day and sometimes twice a day. I certainly will take her back to the vet if she continues to lose. The trouble is that I am very confused how she is having such large fluctuations within 24 hours. The times that she has lost some in the past few weeks and I've been concerned, the next few days her weight was up again.

 

[cassadyandpigs]

I’m sorry to hear she is unwell.

Please ensure you weigh her daily and step in and syringe feed her. You will need to syringe as much as is necessary to stop her from losing weight. She is losing weight because she isn’t eating a consistent amount of hay. The reason behind that is the mystery and of course only a vet can get to the bottom of that. It’s so difficult when there is no obvious cause for the illness.

It may also be a good idea for you to give a probiotic or poop soup made from the poops of a healthy cage mate to help restore the gut bacteria.

I would also suggest you cut out the sugary items such as carrot and fruit. They can cause an overgrowth of the wrong bacteria in the gut.

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

I am weighing her daily. What should I be syringe feeding her? She has only had one blueberry recently. I had also heard that carrots were good for helping recovering pigs gain weight but I do try to limit it to once or twice a week

 

[cassadyandpigs]

I have been weighing her once a day in the middle of day and sometimes twice a day. I certainly will take her back to the vet if she continues to lose. The trouble is that I am very confused how she is having such large fluctuations within 24 hours. The times that she has lost some in the past few weeks and I've been concerned, the next few days her weight was up again.

I’m sorry to hear she’s not doing well weight wise. Have you been weighing her once a day, at the same time? Or several times a day?

I would consider taking her back to the vet for more investigations. You will also need to step in and syringe feed her if there is a downwards trend. Weigh once daily (preferably morning) and adjust the amount you syringe feed accordingly. Not eating enough hay is the cause of the weight loss. It makes up the largest part of their diet. The difficulty is that you can’t judge hay intake by eye hence weighing.

I haven't syringe fed them before, what should I syringe feed her?

 

[Siikibam]

You can use their pellets for now while you wait on probiotic. Soak them in hot water. Allow to cool and either give through a syringe (tip cut off), on a spoon or in a bowl. Have a look at the links above for details of which probiotics you can give her.

You should only weigh once daily at the same time and use that as your gauge. Carrots are high in sugar so not great to use long term for weight gain. You could feed a small amount of oats and grated…veg (can’t remember which one!). But you really want her eating more hay as that’s what keeps their weight.

 

[cassadyandpigs]

You can use their pellets for now while you wait on probiotic. Soak them in hot water. Allow to cool and either give through a syringe (tip cut off), on a spoon or in a bowl. Have a look at the links above for details of which probiotics you can give her.

You should only weigh once daily at the same time and use that as your gauge. Carrots are high in sugar so not great to use long term for weight gain. You could feed a small amount of oats and grated…veg (can’t remember which one!). But you really want her eating more hay as that’s what keeps their weight.

Thank you. She seems to be constantly eating hay, but it does seem like either it's not enough or she's not processing it nutritionally. However it keeps fluctuating up again so I'm not sure what to make of that. I'm hesitant to give her oats right now without vet approval. Any tips on how much ML I should be syringe feeding her?

 

[Piggies&buns]

A recovery feed such as Oxbow Critical Care is best as it’s higher in fibre but you can use her normal pellets and mush them up with water. You will need to cut the tapered end off of a 1ml syringe if using mushed pellets as the paste is thicker than a recovery feed.

BeneBac is the commonly used probiotic in the US. You can use that 1-2 hours before or after an antibiotic dose (if she is still on antibiotics) or at any time (giving it a couple of times a day) if she isn’t on antibiotics.

Carrot is too high in sugar and can promote the wrong bacteria in the gut.
Plain oats or grated raw sweet potato can be given in a bowl as they are high calorie and can help them maintain their weight but a fibre rich recovery feed and hay is still the most important part of what she needs to be eating.

It’s her daily weight checks which tell you how much to syringe feed. It can be as little as a few top up feeds if she is a reasonably good amount herself right up to and in excess of 60ml in a 24 hour period if hay intake drops. Its not an exact science and the only way to know is by the daily weight checks. A certain amount of daily fluctuation is normal buf she seems to be fluctuating quite a bit at time so you are going to need to play each 24 hour period as it comes

 

[cassadyandpigs]

A recovery feed such as Oxbow Critical Care is best as it’s higher in fibre but you can use her normal pellets and mush them up with water. You will need to cut the tapered end off of a 1ml syringe if using mushed pellets as the paste is thicker than a recovery feed.

BeneBac is the commonly used probiotic in the US. You can use that 1-2 hours before or after an antibiotic dose (if she is still on antibiotics) or at any time (giving it a couple of times a day) if she isn’t on antibiotics.

Carrot is too high in sugar and can promote the wrong bacteria in the gut.
Plain oats or grated raw sweet potato can be given in a bowl as they are high calorie and can help them maintain their weight but a fibre rich recovery feed and hay is still the most important part of what she needs to be eating.

It’s her daily weight checks which tell you how much to syringe feed. It can be as little as a few top up feeds if she is a reasonably good amount herself right up to and in excess of 60ml in a 24 hour period if hay intake drops. Its not an exact science and the only way to know is by the daily weight checks. A certain amount of daily fluctuation is normal buf she seems to be fluctuating quite a bit at time so you are going to need to play each 24 hour period as it comes

Thank you for the advice. I ordered some Oxbow Critical Care. She is not still on antibiotics. Should I use a probiotic like BeneBac in addition to Critical Care?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thank you for the advice. I ordered some Oxbow Critical Care. She is not still on antibiotics. Should I use a probiotic like BeneBac in addition to Critical Care?

Yes, BeneBac and Critical Care are two different things. Critical care is a high fibre recovery feed. Benebac is a probiotic which can help settle the gut.
You can use poop soup as well. Soak the just produced poops (within minutes of being produced) of her cage mate in water and then syringe the water to Ophelia. This can help replace the gut bacteria