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a slight concern about maisie

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biscandmatt

biscandmatt

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i say slight because she seems fine, but something is just not 100% right. hard to explain.

as some of you know, we lost ches on the 21st feb this year and maisie was quite sad and down. she lost 33g right after he passed and then another 54g aswell. when she was bonded with eddie she gained some weight back - she was 1262, down to 1229, then down to 1175 and back up to 1200g.

we took her to the vets because she didn't seem quite right and was making a snuffle sound. i have detailed this on my other thread.

anyway, she stopped making that slight snuffle and now she seems bright and happy but... she has dropped more weight.

do you think that she could still be grieving (she seems ok but only very recently has she seemed like she has moved on a bit with her grief) she is happier with eddie now and they get on great.

my other thought is that she has had to get used to a new way of eating because eddie eats alot more than ches did, and so maisie has alot less pellets than she used to have. she also plays more now and gets more exercise thanks to eddie being playful.

the only other thing i can think of is that it's her ovarian cysts. they are still small (regularly checked at vets) but with some weight loss being the only symptom she seems to have, could it be her cysts? she has no other cyst symptoms.

from the 1200g, she went to 1129g, back up to 1135g and today she is 1111g. she seems fine in herself, no other symptoms but obviously it's alot of weight loss since ches passed. before this she was a stable weight and has been since we got her at approx 10 months old. she is now approx 5 years old.

i will be taking her back to the vets but just wanted to see what other people thought.
 
No advice sorry, just a vets check what you are already planning to do. Putt did lose a bit of weight when she got older and never put it back on. But I would get Maisie checked over just to be on the safe side. Cuddles to your gorgeous girl x
 
sport_billy said:
No advice sorry, just a vets check what you are already planning to do. Putt did lose a bit of weight when she got older and never put it back on. But I would get Maisie checked over just to be on the safe side. Cuddles to your gorgeous girl x
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thanks. i remember ches losing weight when he got older aswell. so there is that, her cysts, her grief, new routine with eddie. it's all at once so i really don't know which it is that might be causing some issue. or whether there is no issue really and she is just adjusting.

i don't really know what else i can tell the vet that i didn't already last time we went, which wasn't long ago. i think maybe start by the vet just thoroughly checking her over again, teeth, weight, and cysts. and then see where he thinks we should go from there. it's just frustrating not knowing if something is going on or not.

i hope i am not tempting fate here but i don't feel like she's really poorly or anything. i hope i am right. i usually get a feeling when something is wrong so in that way, i don't feel really worried but even so, i might start weighing her every day for a while. :)
 
Probably a bit daft I know, but do they have 2 bowls for their pellets? Maybe worth putting extra food bowls in to see if she fattens up a bit as sometimes greedy piggies get more than their fair share :)
 
Poppy'sMum said:
Probably a bit daft I know, but do they have 2 bowls for their pellets? Maybe worth putting extra food bowls in to see if she fattens up a bit as sometimes greedy piggies get more than their fair share :)
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yes, they have one of those twin bowls so share that. with ches, he didn't eat many pellets so maisie had most of them but now eddie eats just as many so sometimes she gets to the bowl and he's eaten loads of them, so she's having less than she used to. this isn't a bad thing as we always wanted her to weight a bit less and eat less of them, but now she is less, i am worried rolleyes
 
I would advice a vet check up just to ensure everything is fine. I understand your concern but it may just be she is more active and eating less. Take comfort from the fact she is still a healthy weight. :)
 
piggyfan said:
I would advice a vet check up just to ensure everything is fine. I understand your concern but it may just be she is more active and eating less. Take comfort from the fact she is still a healthy weight. :)
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my o/h thinks i am right to monitor her but he thinks it is because she is moving around more and eating less than she used to aswell and it's only been a short time really since we lost ches and it might take her a while to adjust. even the vet said this could happen as she gets used to things. i am a worrier but if she does lose anymore this week then i am taking her back in because any lower than this weight and she won't look right for her frame. she used to be a good weight for her frame and then she gained quite alot when ches was ill on and off and her weight stayed up. so it does make sense that it would go down now he is gone. although i didn't think she would go down to this, even though we wanted her weight to be around 1100g to 1150g.

on the other hand, i don't want to stress her out more by going to and from the vets, tests, and then she will lose weight because she always does after the vets. :{
 
That is really tricky. I know how you feel as my bunny gets so stressed at the vets they actually said not to bring him there any more. It is a real worry for you. If she is well in herself you could always wait a bit and see how she goes?
 
piggyfan said:
That is really tricky. I know how you feel as my bunny gets so stressed at the vets they actually said not to bring him there any more. It is a real worry for you. If she is well in herself you could always wait a bit and see how she goes?
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it's been about 4/5 weeks since she was checked over. the vet couldn't find anything, well not anything obvious anyway. i know things can change in a short time but her cysts hadn't grown and everything else was fine. :{ he thought she had been through a tough time and needed time to adjust. so i have been monitoring her weight since and it's gone down, but everything else is ok with her. i know they can still drop weight over time after a loss so maybe it is 'just' that.

i just know he will say it's upto me if i want to go for testing to see if there is anything, but i know this will probably cause weight loss in itself because she is quite a nervy pig.

i think i will monitor her weight more regularly this week and then see where we are at. i hope i am just over-worrying and she just needs some time. :)
 
last night when maisie was having a drink, she was twitching her left ear. i've never seen her do that before. it kind of flapped. she ate some pellets and did it a few more times and now it's stopped again. i don't know if this is another symptom of whatever is going on but i'm going to check her over again today, weigh her and see if i can see anything in her ear. i wonder if she has mites? or is starting with an ear infection maybe? she doesn't seem to scratch the ear or bother about it but worth noting definitely because it's a new behaviour.
 
Have a look at her ears and see whether there is gunk in there. I wouldn't expect that to be connected.
 
I wouldn't worry about the ear flaps, my girl does that every once in a blue moon. It's just a tickle. (edit: or as Weibke says above!) As for the weight loss my last rescue lost some weight after coming to ours because he had alot of stiff competition for food. Leeland and Vincent weren't 'close' and often chased each other around and although they didnt fight.. he normally let her have a go at the veg first. If she wasnt there he would eat bits and then call her back and then eat her left overs (or whatever she got distracted from..)

You mentioned her new company eats quite alot more than maisie? Perhaps initially her weight loss was due to not having other pigs to stimulate hunger response (they are more hungry when they hear / see others eating) but then the new competition made another challenge to keeping her weight on.

At least now she is still over 900gms. I wouldnt worry about her losing 100gms here or there. But Id agree with the others to getting her ovarian cysts perhaps scanned. Is she at an age where the ovaries can be removed safely? If they become a problem for her later she may then be too old to intervene? Plus you wont ever have to think about them again.
 
right, i have checked maisie over and there is no gunk or wax in her ears but there are smallish white 'bumps' :{ there is no redness or swelling in her ears.

she is also quite 'dandruffy' aswell. not loads but enough to notice. the white flakes seem to be more on her rump and on her face.

i'm thinking mites maybe or fungal? (ches had fungal not long before he passed which maisie never caught and ches's cleared up)

it would make sense to me that it could be mites what with her immune system being lowered lately.

does anyone think this does sound like mites? if so, i have xeno450 here which i did actually buy after ches passed just incase maisie's immune system went down and the mites multiplied.

would you lot treat her for mites and then go to the vets if that doesn't help? or go to the vets before beginning treatment?

her weight today is stable (1111g yesterday to 1108g today)
 
Dusty_bugs said:
I wouldn't worry about the ear flaps, my girl does that every once in a blue moon. It's just a tickle. (edit: or as Weibke says above!) As for the weight loss my last rescue lost some weight after coming to ours because he had alot of stiff competition for food. Leeland and Vincent weren't 'close' and often chased each other around and although they didnt fight.. he normally let her have a go at the veg first. If she wasnt there he would eat bits and then call her back and then eat her left overs (or whatever she got distracted from..)

You mentioned her new company eats quite alot more than maisie? Perhaps initially her weight loss was due to not having other pigs to stimulate hunger response (they are more hungry when they hear / see others eating) but then the new competition made another challenge to keeping her weight on.

At least now she is still over 900gms. I wouldnt worry about her losing 100gms here or there. But Id agree with the others to getting her ovarian cysts perhaps scanned. Is she at an age where the ovaries can be removed safely? If they become a problem for her later she may then be too old to intervene? Plus you wont ever have to think about them again.
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i've never seen maisie flap her ear before! but eddie does it quite alot, especially when wheeking. :)

maisie used to eat more than ches, but now eddie is here, he eats the same as maisie does so she is getting less, although this is still her fair share. ches didn't really eat pellets so maisie had the pellet bowl mainly to herself but now eddie eats quite alot of them aswell so i assume she isn't getting anywhere as many.

like you say, the only good thing is that she is still a healthy weight. she didn't used to be much more than this before ches was always ill. she became massive when he was. she used to be around 1175g ish before he was getting ill. she was 1125g when she arrived though so has never been this low in weight before. when she arrived she was approx 10 months and was big then, at the 1125g approx.

she is 5 years old now so i think a spay would be a risk. the vet said there are other treatment options he would choose for maisie before a spay though and we could talk about it at the time if/when we needed to. :)
 
I'd get her skin checked out at the vets just to be sure there is nothing going on there.

Was it hormone injections the vet suggested for the cysts? Cuddles to beautiful Maisie x
 
Hormone injections or draining the cysts are less invasive options to a spay, which at her age is a major operation.

The white lumps could be ear mites? Best check with your vet.

A piggy can easily lose about 100g just from not eating as many pellets on a regular basis; mine have certainly lost some of their overweight after I have reduced the amount I feed! If you are worried, give the pellets in smaller portions twice or three times a day, so Eddie can't scoff it all. that is what I do to prevent the same piggies sweeping all the leftovers.
Older piggies are also much slower in recovering weight after an illness or operation. Some never do, yet they are perfectly healthy and happy in themselves. You see the same in old people, too.
 
it was hormone injections the vet mentioned for maisie if her cysts become a problem. she was diagnosed with them in january i think, and has had them checked twice since then but they haven't grown and are very small for now.

maisie is fairly bright today and has enjoyed playing outside. she is keeping a stable weight - 1111g again today. i have had another check over of her and i really do think she has mites so i have started treatment with xeno450. (i spoke to the vets about doing this after ches passed as i thought that maisie may become stressed and the mites could get out of control. the vet agreed it wouldn't do any harm.) on checking her over, i could see small bumps on some of her skin, the same as she had when her and ches had mites. strangely though, she isn't as dandruffy as yesterday. she had a few flakes on her face but not on her body. she does have some dark 'bits' on her body though, like pepper spots. today i did see her scratching and pulling at her side but she doesn't seem really agitated or anything like that.

i also have some gorgeous guineas shampoo here aswell so will probably bath her in a couple of days.

o/h has phoned the vets to see what days our vet is working and he is in all week luckily so we can get there if we need to. :) the slightest drop in weight or feeling that something more is going on and i will be straight to the vets.

i'm glad she seems brighter today :)
 
i've made a vets appointment for maisie on friday. she seems fairly bright but at night when she eats pellets and drinks, she is twitching her left ear and something about the way she ate pellets made me think that something is going on there. whether it is teeth issues or just slower eating for some other reason, i don't know, but we'll see on friday. she's eating everything else ok but worth checking. basically i am getting her thoroughly checked over.

i'll check and weigh her again today and tomorrow so i have more info to take with us.

her hair looks kind of greasy still so that's not normal for her either.

i will keep updating :)
 
why at the mention of the vets do they seem to cheer up! :)) i told maisie she was going to the vets soon and she is at this moment, burrowing under the fleece blanket with eddie being silly! then she did a pop turn! :))

she does seem fairly bright but she isn't getting away with the vets that easily! :))

eta: she is definitely scratching her left ear and around her left eye. i've noticed that a few times already today. it is still seeming like mites to me because of the random ear twitch. or maybe teeth? she ear twitches when eating pellets and drinking water, no other time. :{
 
quick update - maisie is still a stable weight (1114g today)

checked her over and her hair is not greasy anymore. i don't know how quickly xeno 450 works but since she had it, she has maybe 1-2 specks of dandruff, none around her face anymore, and i can't see anything in her ears now. :{

last night was the first night she didn't twitch her ear when eating and drinking aswell.

she very kindly (rolleyes) did a wee on my knee again and her urine is clear and smells normal. anything i can check is good :))

one thing i did see was the very edge of one ear feels a bit rough/gritty almost, so that looks like dry skin, or maybe the start of fungal?

i'm feeling more ok about her now, so hopefully the vet will also rule out any changes with her teeth and cysts aswell. and then maybe i will relax a bit!

it does seem like she needed time to adjust and her weight seems to be stabilizing now which is great. she looks good around this weight.
 
we have been to the vets and it is pretty much what we thought - prolonged grief/lowered immune system and very likely mites aswell.

since the mite treatment, maisie has gained weight everyday - she is 1120g today.

the vet said every pig is different with grief, and with maisie, she seems to have a case of prolonged grief. like i said, she is happy with eddie, but it's like she is still holding onto some grief still. but we really think she is starting to turn a corner with it now. ches and maisie were very very close so it has been a tough time for her.

she has been thoroughly checked over and there is nothing else going on it seems. so that's really good.

she will be having mite treatment again in 2 weeks, and then 2 weeks after that aswell, and hopefully she won't lose anymore weight, but if she does and there still seems to be something not quite right, then we will be going ahead with tests to try and find out why.

i really do feel like she ok though and she seems bright enough. she was so good for the vet and she looked sooooo cute. x)
 
Lots of love and cuddles to your beautiful girl, could we have a pigture to drool over please? x
 
Oh poor Masie. It is so sad she is still grieving. I am glad she has gained weight and is doing well.
 
sport_billy said:
Lots of love and cuddles to your beautiful girl, could we have a pigture to drool over please? x
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of course! here you go:

a583fce1-d12a-475d-a52f-c0ec1eafdc96_zps85b63bfe.jpg


she's so beautiful isn't she. my special girl. x)



piggyfan said:
Oh poor Masie. It is so sad she is still grieving. I am glad she has gained weight and is doing well.
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i know, i feel so sad for her that she has been holding onto the grief. i think she is the type of pig that could have gone downhill easily without a new friend, so thank goodness we have eddie. :) she's still bright today. i really feel like she is letting go of some more grief now. you can tell she remembers but her and eddie seem to get even closer over time, even though they got on well at the start anyway.

both times we have been to the vets, eddie has messed about with the blanket and i wondered what he was doing, and both times he has arranged it to cover maisie and then he sits by her, almost to guard her. he is such a good traveller and maisie was always ok but still a bit nervy, and it's like he knows and looks after her and this time she was much calmer in the taxi, and even at the vets aswell. x)
 
Grieving is a very gradual process - with humans as well as piggies. Maisie will come round in her own time. Eddie is doing a really great job!

My Llewelyn had lots of girls, but the one he really loved was his first one, Dizzy, who just adored her "toy boy". I am sure that they are together now.
 
Gorgeous Maisie x) she really is a beauty.

I hope that she recovers from her mites soon and that Eddie continues his great work in helping her.
 
here's a pic from yesterday's floor time. :)

20130511_160558_zps3864fd8b.jpg


maisie is 1120g and as you can see from the pic, she is a bigger frame so i wouldn't really want her to lose anymore. but she's doing well and she looks bright. she loves floor time :)
 
quick update - maisie is still maintaining her weight and she seems much happier. :) definitely seems to have been a combination of grief and then mites but she is sooooo much happier now. :) you wouldn't know anything was wrong now actually, and she is being so cheeky, learning new cheeky things to do from eddie. they have bonded so much more aswell now her mites are being taken care of, so that must have been why she didn't want to be touched by him or by us. feel a bit bad now that i didn't realise sooner.

now she is happier, eddie is even more happy and he follows her around, and she seems proud of him aswell. they play piggy train sooooo much, it's one of their shared loves!

eddie is also on mite treatment because he started scratching not long after maisie, and had some white flakes, although he doesn't seem down or agitated about it so we caught it early i think.

so happy all seems well here :)
 
Awww beautiful Maisie x) Lots of love to her x
 
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