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Eye

Llewellyn

Llewellyn

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone,
Has anyone seen this before in a guinea pig?
Tony has been loosing weight gradually for a few months but otherwise is fine in himself (eats, wees and poos normally and is still playing etc). Weve taken him to an exotic vet and he doesnt know what is causing him to lose weight and what the mark in his eye is! He has had xrays, teeth checked under anesthetic, wee checked at lab, poos checked for parasites etc, 3 blood tests where they did a full bloods screening, checked for diabetes, thyroid checked, kidneys and heart checked and everything comes back normal. Has had a course of 2 types of antibotics and metacam, tried on pain killers and none of it has made any difference as he is still loosing weight. No issues with cage mate (trialed separation following guidance on this forum), tried feeding separately and giving emeraid to try and help him to gain weight. The only thing that seems unusual is this marking on his eye which has apeared and got bigger over the last 6 months. Does anyone have any ideas as to what the mark is and why he could be losing weight?

He's 3 years old and has dropped from 1150g to 820g since April. We've been seeing the vet since May to try and find a cause for the weightloss. He was around 990g when we first took him to the vet.
 

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Poor piggie, that is serious weightloss! I had a boar who lost a similar amount, but all those tests etc you've had done should have ruled out what he had, which was a URI and gas-filled tummy.
I can't remember the name of it, but piggies can get a condition where bony deposits build up in the eye. I believe it results eventually in the affected eye going blind, but isn't normally painful. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than me will be along soon and able to tell you what it is exactly.
 
Llewellyn said:
Hi everyone,
Has anyone seen this before in a guinea pig?
Tony has been loosing weight gradually for a few months but otherwise is fine in himself (eats, wees and poos normally and is still playing etc). Weve taken him to an exotic vet and he doesnt know what is causing him to lose weight and what the mark in his eye is! He has had xrays, teeth checked under anesthetic, wee checked at lab, poos checked for parasites etc, 3 blood tests where they did a full bloods screening, checked for diabetes, thyroid checked, kidneys and heart checked and everything comes back normal. Has had a course of 2 types of antibotics and metacam, tried on pain killers and none of it has made any difference as he is still loosing weight. No issues with cage mate (trialed separation following guidance on this forum), tried feeding separately and giving emeraid to try and help him to gain weight. The only thing that seems unusual is this marking on his eye which has apeared and got bigger over the last 6 months. Does anyone have any ideas as to what the mark is and why he could be losing weight?

He's 3 years old and has dropped from 1150g to 820g since April. We've been seeing the vet since May to try and find a cause for the weightloss. He was around 990g when we first took him to the vet.
Click to expand...

Hi!

I am very sorry for your weight loss. Symptom-less 'mystery' weight loss is my least favourite diagnosis. Your vet has checked for all the usual things that come to my mind. :(

The eye condition is called osseous metaplasia, where soft tissue is replaced by bony tissue. There is nothing you can do; it is not painful or harmful and not all that uncommon especially in guinea pigs as they age.
Links - Eye Conditions - Guinea Lynx Records
 
Thanks everyone, that solves the mystery of the eye condition! The vet has suggested in passing that it could be worth an mri scan to check for a brain tumour although he is sure there'd be other symptoms if that were the case...
 
I agree with the above about the eye issue (osseous metaplasia), but suspect it would be separate from the weight loss and other vague symptoms. I hope the next vet can suggest something that hasn't been looked at. Vague symptoms are so frustrating! A lot of the things I would suggest (teeth, thyroid, blood glucose) seem to have already been ruled out. I would keep on checking the teeth and jaw, though. One of my pigs had weight loss symptoms from a jaw abscess long before anything was visible to the naked eye looking at her teeth or feeling her jaw for lumps. Teeth can grow out of alignment quickly if chewing isn't right, so I would have the vet look at the back molars again for uneven wear even if they looked fine last checkup.
 
Osseous metaplasia is the eye. And does not cause weight loss. I would be concerned about kidneys from the weight loss. Despite everything comeing back clear, they can often have no blood changes etc with it. Sadly if this is the case there is little you can do except support him. Many of these cases we cannot get a diagnosis on until afterwards. Sorry I cannot be of more help here. Sounds like you and your vet have done a great job with him. Only suggestion would be a CT scan (not an MRI) to check the full body just in case of other less easy to spot things like jaw abscesses, ear disease and internal things.

Abi
 
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