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Emcaiated looking guinea pig

PeggySueAnn

PeggySueAnn

New Born Pup
Joined
Jan 22, 2021
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Location
Mesa, Az.
Can someone please help me with my guinea pig. He looks emaciated and you can feel his skeleton when you hold him.

His sides are sunken in and his spine and his ribs are visible when he runs. Does nayone know what this could be?
 
Your piggy needs to go to a vet immediately as an emergency. If his weight is that low then it is life threatening.
 
thank you! Last time I took him to the vet she said he was within the weight perameters. But now he has gone down drastically.
 
If his weight has gone down then I would get him checked out.
 
How much does he weigh and when did you last weigh him? And when did he last see the vet? How old is he and what do you feed him?

Weigh him now and then let us know, as well as answering the questions above. But he needs to be seen by an experienced vet. I think you’re in the US so have a look at the vet locator below.
Guinea Lynx :: GL's Vet List
 
Hope you manage to get him seen by a vet quickly. Maybe you could try syringe feeding him until your appointment. So he doesn’t lose any more weight until you get a diagnosis.
 
Siikibam said:
How much does he weigh and when did you last weigh him? And when did he last see the vet? How old is he and what do you feed him?

Weigh him now and then let us know, as well as answering the questions above. But he needs to be seen by an experienced vet. I think you’re in the US so have a look at the vet locator below.
Guinea Lynx :: GL's Vet List
Click to expand...
I never weighed him myself. My vet says he was within the weight requirements for a senior guinea pig the ladst time I took him in for this same thing about a 2 months ago. He had diarhhea issues so we mainlky give him hay, and we are slowly adding back veggies because he would have explosive bowls when he ate them before. I have noticed bald patches over his body in different places and his ears are flaky all the time.
 
PeggySueAnn said:
I never weighed him myself. My vet says he was within the weight requirements for a senior guinea pig the ladst time I took him in for this same thing about a 2 months ago. He had diarhhea issues so we mainlky give him hay, and we are slowly adding back veggies because he would have explosive bowls when he ate them before. I have noticed bald patches over his body in different places and his ears are flaky all the time.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a nasty skin problem possibly mites (which you can’t see), scurvy and/or something fungal. often when it gets so bad to the point they are loosing patches of hair like yours has it is vey painful. Pain often leads to reduced appetite and you are left with a cycle of pain and not eating.
did your vet prescribe irvemectin? This could have been given by injection by the vet or you should be given the high strength spot on stuff.
we recommend a guinea pig savvy vet as taking pigs to one who doesn’t know what the are doing can lead to misdiagnosis and wasting money on pointless tests and scans and stress for both you and your pig. Weighing weekly at a minimum is recommended so that you can tell if something is wrong.
 
I would recommend finding a cavy savvy vet for a second opinion. There is no weight range for piggies because, like humans, they come in all shapes and sizes. We recommend monitoring weight weekly as weight loss is often the first sign of illness. In terms of checking healthy weight we recommend feeling the heft as that tells you much more than seeing a number. I will grab our weight guide for you.

Bald spots and flaking skin can be signs of mites, lice or fungal infections. They need different treatments though so it needs diagnosing correctly to be able to get on top of it.
 
You need to weigh him from now on. Do it once daily at the same time (morning perhaps) and also step in with syringe feeding. By the sounds of things he’s still losing weight. Heft is the best thing to check for rather than weight - there’s no ‘set weight’ that piggies should be because they come in all shapes and sizes. Have a read of the guide below.

But you really need to get him seen by a piggy savvy vet. There must be something else going on. Not eating veg isn’t enough to make him lose that much weight - simply because they’re more of a snack and not the main meals. I hope you get him booked in very soon.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
 
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