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Dramatic weight loss and blood in pee...

Celine298

Celine298

Junior Guinea Pig
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I was on here a while ago because my boar Sunny was spotting what appeared to be blood in his urine. I went to the vet and they said it could be anything from a UTI to an internal cyst, but because he should no outward symptoms of discomfort or changes in his behavior it was a mystery.

Fast forward to two weeks ago.

I came back from my holidays and noticed he felt a little lighter, I dismissed it and put it down to not having cuddled him in 12 days. My mother was minding him (she looked after my piggies many times before) and reported no change in his eating habits, behavior etc. A couple of days ago, I took him out to clip his nails and noticed he has definitely lost weight. I watched him that day and saw he wasn't eating as he should be, leaving most of his food behind. Upon weighing him, I discovered the horrible truth: he had dropped from 1800g to 800g. I am so upset and annoyed at myself for not noticing sooner! He's an Abyssinian so I couldn't tell by looking at him alone, but I still should have noticed.

I've been looking at all the info online and it seems to be pointing to renal problems, and the majority of the feedback online seems to be that there is nothing you can do except wait until it takes them.

Has anyone here dealt with this before?

I've cancelled my own doctors appointment tomorrow so I can bring him to the vet, I just want to prepare myself in case it's one of those cases where there is nothing that can be done, and if I should have him put to sleep?
 
Celine298 said:
I was on here a while ago because my boar Sunny was spotting what appeared to be blood in his urine. I went to the vet and they said it could be anything from a UTI to an internal cyst, but because he should no outward symptoms of discomfort or changes in his behavior it was a mystery.

Fast forward to two weeks ago.

I came back from my holidays and noticed he felt a little lighter, I dismissed it and put it down to not having cuddled him in 12 days. My mother was minding him (she looked after my piggies many times before) and reported no change in his eating habits, behavior etc. A couple of days ago, I took him out to clip his nails and noticed he has definitely lost weight. I watched him that day and saw he wasn't eating as he should be, leaving most of his food behind. Upon weighing him, I discovered the horrible truth: he had dropped from 1800g to 800g. I am so upset and annoyed at myself for not noticing sooner! He's an Abyssinian so I couldn't tell by looking at him alone, but I still should have noticed.

I've been looking at all the info online and it seems to be pointing to renal problems, and the majority of the feedback online seems to be that there is nothing you can do except wait until it takes them.

Has anyone here dealt with this before?

I've cancelled my own doctors appointment tomorrow so I can bring him to the vet, I just want to prepare myself in case it's one of those cases where there is nothing that can be done, and if I should have him put to sleep?
Click to expand...

Hi! Please take a deep breath. Whatever your vet is discovering, you will find the inner strength to make the right decision to the best of a beloved one. Hopefully, it won't come to that!

Step in with syringe support feeding ASAP (mushed up pellets will do as long as you cut off the syringe tip as shown in the guide). It is very easy for inexperienced people to grossly overestimate the food intake as they do not realise that over 80% of it is hay and that piggies can be chewing on crud and not fresh food.
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
 
Wiebke said:
Hi! Please take a deep breath. Whatever your vet is discovering, you will find the inner strength to make the right decision to the best of a beloved one. Hopefully, it won't come to that!

Step in with syringe support feeding ASAP (mushed up pellets will do as long as you cut off the syringe tip as shown in the guide). It is very easy for inexperienced people to grossly overestimate the food intake as they do not realise that over 80% of it is hay and that piggies can be chewing on crud and not fresh food.
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Click to expand...


I've been trying to hand-feed him a little every day, with mixed success. The only thing he seems to want to eat is fresh grass, so I'm giving him as much as possible. I also got a very leafy celery yesterday, he loves the leaves. Unfortunately there's very little nutrition in grass at this time of the year. I'll start him on syringe feeds tomorrow. He's pooping a positive amount so his is eating some hay, but not nearly enough to make me happy.

He was my first piggy <3
 
My boy dropped around 500 and it was because a bladder stone. Since he had his surgery and is all better we are trying to put more weight on him. I'm not very familiar with this but I hope your little guy gets better :)
 
Celine298 said:
I've been trying to hand-feed him a little every day, with mixed success. The only thing he seems to want to eat is fresh grass, so I'm giving him as much as possible. I also got a very leafy celery yesterday, he loves the leaves. Unfortunately there's very little nutrition in grass at this time of the year. I'll start him on syringe feeds tomorrow. He's pooping a positive amount so his is eating some hay, but not nearly enough to make me happy.

He was my first piggy <3
Click to expand...

Just keep monitoring the weight and try to stabilise it as much as you can with top-up feed. The scales are there to help you achieve that.
If there is pain involved, then a piggy can lose of lot of weight rather quickly, especially if it has been on the pudgy side. The same goes for overgrowing back teeth.

All the best with the vet trip so you can get to the bottom of the problem, so your boy can recover as quickly as possible!
 
He doesn't seem to be in any pain at all, he was even popcorning while I was snuggling him last night. We got some lettuce, a good bit of grass and some melon into him so far today. He's off to the vet today so fingers crossed it's only something like bladder stones!
 
Yeah I know, he never let's on if there's something wrong. Lola on the other hand screams blue murder if she has a hairy on her eyeball 😂
 
So far, Sunny is on antibiotics. My vet believes he more than likely has a little infection running. He's booked in for an ultrasound Tuesday as their specialist technician is on honeymoon until then. She tried to take bloods but couldn't get any today so they will try again Tuesday.

She also gave me the name of an exotic pet specialist in Bray (Ireland) if I wanted to contact her. That's 3 hours away from me and ive no car so I'm gonna see how he does over the weekend on the antibiotics before chatting to her!
 
Little update:

He's currently getting snuggles because he's a little chilly in himself, gonna put a heat pad in the pigloo for him tonight. He's still on his antibiotics but it still a struggle to get him eating. He only seems to want grass and I'm providing as much as possible.
 
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