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Change in foods they are choosing to eat

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Popps&Dais

Junior Guinea Pig
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Please can I ask for some advice about our lovely boar. He's approximately 5-6 years old.

Recently he's stopped wanting to eat pepper and romaine lettuce. He eats other things - carrot, apple, celery, kale, parsley, broccoli, foraged leaves and of course lots of hay. He's slowed down eating his nuggets and sometimes doesn't get through all of his grass. He has grass delivered year round to his indoor space, but I've been careful with the spring grass. I wondered if something had happened in the production of the pepper and lettuce, but our girls are eating it. Sometimes he does nibble it a bit.

He is maintaining his weight and we went to see the vet last week to get him a health check - joints, tummy, heart, lungs, etc. All seems fine. Because I'd seen him a tiny bit fluffed up, the vet has had him on a low dose of Metacam for the past week to see if that helps. He does seem brighter. Some of his poos are about half their normal size, but he was checked for impaction and is all good.

There was also a buttercup flower that I found in his hay last Monday, but I hadn't given to him. I've stopped using that hay bag just in case.

Please any advice on other things to check or offer to eat would be much appreciated. Also reassurance that tastes sometimes change.
 
So long as he is eating lots of hay and his other veggies, I wouldn’t worry too much. Like with us humans, animals can ‘go off’ certain types of food.

I’d keep an eye on him and keep an eye on his weight and poo output which is running 1-2 days behind so his poo output will be from what he has eaten 1-2 days ago. He could have just been having an off day.

If he is losing weight, you may need to step in with syringe feeding and have him seen by the vet again but make sure you only weight him once a day and at the same time as their weight fluctuates as much as around 30-40g throughout the day and 20g can be the difference between a full bladder and empty bladder. I always used to weigh my piggies first thing in the morning before breakfast veggies to get an accurate reading x
 
As he is maintaining his weight then it means he is eating enough hay, and that is the priority.

Sometimes they do go off some items. Perhaps try a different type of lettuce (anything except iceberg) to different colour pepper to see if he prefers it.
Do keep in mind that all of the other items you list as things he is eating are all things which should not be fed oven - carrot and apple are occasional treats and kale and parsley is too high in calcium to form a daily staple (once a week only).

When you say his poops are half the normal size, do you mean they are shorter than normal?
Short poops can suggest pain elsewhere in the body and high affects poop formation something like arthritis around on the back end for example.

Wiebke's Guide to Poops
 
Claire W said:
So long as he is eating lots of hay and his other veggies, I wouldn’t worry too much. Like with us humans, animals can ‘go off’ certain types of food.

I’d keep an eye on him and keep an eye on his weight and poo output which is running 1-2 days behind so his poo output will be from what he has eaten 1-2 days ago. He could have just been having an off day.

If he is losing weight, you may need to step in with syringe feeding and have him seen by the vet again but make sure you only weight him once a day and at the same time as their weight fluctuates as much as around 30-40g throughout the day and 20g can be the difference between a full bladder and empty bladder. I always used to weigh my piggies first thing in the morning before breakfast veggies to get an accurate reading x
Click to expand...
Thank you so much. That's helpful to know that things run a day or two behind. Will start weighing more frequently.
 
Piggies&buns said:
As he is maintaining his weight then it means he is eating enough hay, and that is the priority.

Sometimes they do go off some items. Perhaps try a different type of lettuce (anything except iceberg) to different colour pepper to see if he prefers it.
Do keep in mind that all of the other items you list as things he is eating are all things which should not be fed oven - carrot and apple are occasional treats and kale and parsley is too high in calcium to form a daily staple (once a week only).

When you say his poops are half the normal size, do you mean they are shorter than normal?
Short poops can suggest pain elsewhere in the body and high affects poop formation something like arthritis around on the back end for example.

Wiebke's Guide to Poops
Click to expand...
Thank you, that's really helpful.

Yes, half their normal length. That's helpful to know it could be due to pain. He takes his Metacam so well, so maybe there is something to that. The vet is happy for me to keep him on Metacam longterm if it's helping, but maybe I need to ask them about a slightly higher dose - he's on the very lowest cat metacam.

Thank you, yes he's not getting any of those foods on a daily basis. They're just what he's had once each over the past week - trying to tempt him.

Will go check the guide now. Who knew I'd become so interested in guinea pig poo, but it tells me so much about how they're doing :)
 
Yes monitor him and see what happens.
You can weigh him once a day (in the morning), if he keeps remaining stable then you can spread it back out to once a week.
At his age it is possible to older age aches and pains are creeping in so you can certainly speak to your vet about his dosing if needed

Yes poop is a weird thing to get interested in but it’s a club every one of us on here is in!
 
Yes, guineas sometimes go off a certain food or become suddenly interested in a new food.

As a matter of interest, I checked the toxicity of dried buttercups and found on a reputable German website and an English language one that the poisonous compound breaks down on drying and so buttercups in properly dried hay are not a problem. I do understand if them being in the hay in any form freaks you out such that you don't want to use that hay though.
 
Mrs Tiggy Winkle said:
Yes, guineas sometimes go off a certain food or become suddenly interested in a new food.

As a matter of interest, I checked the toxicity of dried buttercups and found on a reputable German website and an English language one that the poisonous compound breaks down on drying and so buttercups in properly dried hay are not a problem. I do understand if them being in the hay in any form freaks you out such that you don't want to use that hay though.
Click to expand...
Thank you, that is so good to know. I feel much better about any potential dried buttercup that may have made it to him.
 
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