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Bramble Not Eating Vegetables?

Eriathwen

Eriathwen

Senior Guinea Pig
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As the title says really... ive seen her eating hay, pellets etc. Shes been a little quiet but nothing unusual for her, she tires easily walking due to the wobble and effort she has to put into it.

Last night she got spring greens, carrot, tomato, yellow pepper. She ate her tomato..and stole Ebonys one, had a nibble of the green stalks left on top of one carrot top and then wandered off. Thats 2 nights now shes been iffy about it.

Ive got to nip out in a bit for new batteries for the scales, they've been going for a while now, she's been weighing 1030ish grams, shes gone up to 1050g last time I checked yesterday but I'm wondering if thats right or if it's an error due to low battery so i'll weight her again when we get home just to check.

Id of thought if health reasons itd be hay that would be the first to go? Ive checked her incisors and they look fine, usually when her appetite goes a bit, its from them being slanted.. i'll offer her a bowl of critical care and ive ordered some different types of veg online in case maybe she's just bored, ive kept her diet quite strict since the 2+ weeks of diarrhoea she had the other month but ive got some Brussels sprout leaves and rainbow chard coming to see if thatll tempt her.

So yeah, any ideas welcome..thankyou!
 
Eriathwen said:
As the title says really... ive seen her eating hay, pellets etc. Shes been a little quiet but nothing unusual for her, she tires easily walking due to the wobble and effort she has to put into it.

Last night she got spring greens, carrot, tomato, yellow pepper. She ate her tomato..and stole Ebonys one, had a nibble of the green stalks left on top of one carrot top and then wandered off. Thats 2 nights now shes been iffy about it.

Ive got to nip out in a bit for new batteries for the scales, they've been going for a while now, she's been weighing 1030ish grams, shes gone up to 1050g last time I checked yesterday but I'm wondering if thats right or if it's an error due to low battery so i'll weight her again when we get home just to check.

Id of thought if health reasons itd be hay that would be the first to go? Ive checked her incisors and they look fine, usually when her appetite goes a bit, its from them being slanted.. i'll offer her a bowl of critical care and ive ordered some different types of veg online in case maybe she's just bored, ive kept her diet quite strict since the 2+ weeks of diarrhoea she had the other month but ive got some Brussels sprout leaves and rainbow chard coming to see if thatll tempt her.

So yeah, any ideas welcome..thankyou!
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Check her for signs of bloating. As long as her weight is pretty stable (within about a band of 30-50g from one day to the next if you weigh at the same time in the feeding cycle, like always before breakfast or before dinner) I would not worry too much yet and just keep an eye on things.

it can be difficult for a very observant owner as you often notice things very early on before they can be pinned down by a vet. It may also simply resolve itself on its own if you are lucky.
I would recommend to see a vet as soon as there is a definite downward trend in weight and hopefully more of an indication what could be wrong. Pickier eating can indicate a developing pain issue somewhere in the body.
 
If she is ignoring the harder veg, but is still wanting to try softer/leafy stuff, she may have an incisor root abscess brewing. If she is feeling pain anywhere, she will be unwilling to bite down on anything and it could be that any discomfort carries through to the other veg, which needs more manipulation to get it into their mouths than hay or nuggets.
 
Cant offer anymore advice than above just wanted to send some love to Bramble
 
Just got home..its a nightmare trying to find latex free disposable gloves around here! But yeah, her tummy is nice and soft, poops are normal, ive weighed her again with the change of batteries and she is indeed 1052g.
I'm thinking at the moment it could be one of 2 things, boredom of the peppers and spring greens, shes never liked carrot so I dont really expect her to eat those usually. I was going to get her some beetroot to see if she would eat that but they were all out. Got her some bok choi too, she loves that..I swapped the bell peppers for the tiny sweet peppers a few weeks back but changed back when I couldnt find any so maybe shes sulking..

OR it could be because she's back on oral antifungals and shes feeling a bit 'meh', shes getting probiotic pellets etc 'just in case' due to her being prone to digestive issues but again, id of thought hay would be the first to be stopped but I'm sat here watching her eating hay as we speak? Shes even eaten a blackcurrent flavoured fibafirst style hay stick thing which is pretty hard so I'm hoping it's not dental, her mouth smells fine and she didnt react to me feeling along her jaw.

I'll keep an eye one her tonight and hope it's just one of her Brambleisms, worrying me for the sake of it! But if she's still a bit off tomorrow we'll see about getting her looked at.
 
Well, panic over for now. She's just destroyed some bok choi. I'm going to try her with some thick carrot spirals later, see how she takes to that. She only really eats them grated, peeled etc not chopped as I'm assuming they smell more appetising, I'm hoping spirals have the same effect but are still hard enough that dental issues would still show up.

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