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Fifo

New Born Pup
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Worthing, West Sussex, ENGLAND
Hi, I’ve got a two (almost 3) year old female guinea pig called Poppy, who’s had a tough couple of weeks. Started with removing an inch long piece of hay/grass from her eye which resulted in a eye ulcer, but the emergency out of hour vets sorted that with pain relief and eye drops and her eye is all clear now.
On that night I noticed how much weight she has lost, currently down to 1055g but was a hefty 1280g a year and a half ago.
Can feel her back bone and hip bones a little too much for my liking.
That night I also noticed hair loss on both sides of her cheeks, under her ears, almost following her jaw line. Perfect scratching areas, it’s not full hair loss but is thinner and much shorter there. Her skin has been checked over and is fine with no signs of anything? The vet did mention something about lack of second hair? (Hair loss shown in picture attached)
She is running/hopping about as usual, eating everything put in front of her, her sister eats faster than her so thought it might be her not getting to the food quickly enough, so been giving her extra bits of pepper (her favourite) on her own. She loves pellets, and gets plenty of hay, dried grass and is out on the lawn on an given warm dry day.
She had her teeth looked at by a vet - not a guinea pig forum approved one mind you and I’m not entirely convinced the vet had a good enough look. Apparently they’re fine, was just told to keep an eye on her weight and if further weight loss to come back and they’ll do a back teeth check under GA, which I’m not entirely happy is right?
Tonight she has given us such a scare tho - will share the video we caught of her wheezing/chirping or struggling. She goes into a trance like state and makes a strange noise from her mouth (she seems to have lost her squeak a while back and make a raspy noise now instead) with the rest of her body pulsing sharply.
It’s happened three times tonight, sometimes it looks like she’s trying to dislodge something or struggling to breath. But then I pick her up and she stops? I cuddled her and checked her over, trying to look in her mouth - put her down and she hopped about, nibbling things and interacting with her sister, then laid down and after a little while, started doing it again.
It’s terrifying to watch as she looks like she’s going to stop breathing.
She’s normal now and hasn’t done it in over an hour? Terrified to put her to bed out of sight.
Reading different threads, different things come up such as guinea pig chirping - videos show a similar trance like state and a similar noise, if Poppy had her squeak.
Or more concerning - heart problems or URI. One thread mentioned a hooting noise, which I know Poppy has done in the past - I put it down to dust in the nose?
But with the weight loss as well I’m worried this is all signs of something more sinister?
To add to it all, Poppy and her sister are most evenings trying to hump one another or showing themselves to one another? Which had me concerned about ovarian cysts?
Any help or knowledge in any of these areas would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Fiona



 

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That sounds like chirping to me, nothing to worry about :)

I would definitely look for a more cavy savvy vet, have you looked at the recommendations on here? My vet never uses GA to check teeth. Have they treated for mites or given any meds?

I’d start to weigh them both every day and keep track of the weight loss, maybe start supplementing with critical care.

All the best to Poppy!
 
I don’t have much to add and I’m sure someone with more experience will help you out shortly. However, my recently deceased pig, Hoo, lost his hair too. I went through all the checks for mites, fungal, etc but he didn’t have anything. His hair began thinning at around age 2 and continued up until age 4, he used to be extremely fuzzy however in the end he wasn’t anymore. He still had fur, no bald spots but it wasn’t fuzzy anymore (he used to look like a Pom Pom!) and every time I’d stroke him hair would come off on to my hands. It caused him no pain, he never itched or was uncomfortable by it. The vets weren’t worried at all either.
With the weight, I’d be weighing him at least once a week just to note how much he’s losing. I don’t think it’s a case that the other eats faster - with Hoo he was constantly eating and very quickly too because of his liver problem (made him hungry all the time as he weighed 800grams) and the other pig never suffered for it, his weight didn’t drop despite Hoo eating up most of the food. With weight loss, I’d say it’s potentially something underlying, however the weight loss has been gradual over a year, so don’t be majorly concerned as of yet. Like I said, weigh at least once a week to note how much of a loss there is, if it’s significant (I’m not as well informed on this however I’d say at least 20 grams) then there’s something underlying going on, meaning an X-ray and a blood test by an exotic vet would be recommended.
That’s my take on it anyway, I’ve only experienced weight loss/hair thinning/liver disease once and so I’m not as educated on all things in this area however from what I’ve seen with Hoo, this is my take on it.
Edit: also, if your vet isn’t an exotic vet, I’d go to one soon just to confirm the presence, or lack of, mites/fungal.
 
That sounds like chirping to me, nothing to worry about :)

I would definitely look for a more cavy savvy vet, have you looked at the recommendations on here? My vet never uses GA to check teeth. Have they treated for mites or given any meds?

I’d start to weigh them both every day and keep track of the weight loss, maybe start supplementing with critical care.

All the best to Poppy!

Hi!

I second @Cavy Kung-Fu 's advice.

Please step in with syringe feeding and have her seen by another vet. The hair loss is likely caused by fungal/ringworm rather than mange mites if mainly the head is affected. Both are opportunistic problems that can pounce when the immune system is lowered by an underlying health issue.

You may find the information in these links here helpful:
Chirping
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
New piggy problems: URI - ringworm - skin parasites
 
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