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Guinea not eating pellets - please help

  • Thread starter Thread starter Emille
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Emille

Hi, I'm getting quite worried about my piggie, Pumpkin, and was wondering if anyone has had a piggie with similar symptoms or can shed any light as to what's wrong with him.

It started about 2 weeks ago when I noticed he wasn't emptying his food bowl (which was very unlike him.) A few days after that he stopped eating his pellets altogether, yet was still eating grass, hay and veggies. I had him examined by a vet and they said he seemed quite healthy but it could be a problem with his teeth that was bothering him. He's had a dental examination and x-ray which didn't throw anything abnormal up but they filed a tooth which was a little sharp. Nearly a week on and there's no improvement and he still won't eat pellets and I can notice him losing weight. I'm taking him back to the vets again but figured there would be no harm in seeing if anyone might know what it could be.

Thanks in advance

x
 
A few questions!
How old is he?
What is his weight?
How much has he lost?
Which tooth was filed?
Does he live alone, indoors or outdoors?
What is the brand of pellets?
That's enough (for now).
 
Welcome to the forum Emille, I'm sorry you are having such concerns over Pumpkin.

Some piggies do go off their pellets for no apparent reason, not usually very suddenly (which would indicate illness) but gradually eating fewer and losing interest in them - just as humans lose a taste for something, they can get fed up with a food sometimes too. It may be worth trying a new brand of pellets to see if it sparks his interest in them once more.

The weight loss could be a result of simply not eating the pellets, which is the part of the diet that affects weight (eating too many results in weight gain, eating too few or none usually causes an initial weight loss but then the weight stabilises). If the weight loss is due to an underlying illness it will continue for a while and other symptoms would be found somewhere, and the loss could be fairly dramatic.
 
alcesterpigs said:
A few questions!
How old is he?
What is his weight?
How much has he lost?
Which tooth was filed?
Does he live alone, indoors or outdoors?
What is the brand of pellets?
That's enough (for now).
Click to expand...

He has just turned 2. He now weighs 900g, I'm not sure exactly how much he has lost but he was quite a chunky pig before. He had one of his back teeth filed. He lives outdoors 'next door' to my other male guinea (they share a hutch but I modified it as they started not getting on a year a go so they are separate but can still keep each other company.) He has Burgess Supa Excel pellets.
 
Laura-CCC4 said:
Welcome to the forum Emille, I'm sorry you are having such concerns over Pumpkin.

Some piggies do go off their pellets for no apparent reason, not usually very suddenly (which would indicate illness) but gradually eating fewer and losing interest in them - just as humans lose a taste for something, they can get fed up with a food sometimes too. It may be worth trying a new brand of pellets to see if it sparks his interest in them once more.

The weight loss could be a result of simply not eating the pellets, which is the part of the diet that affects weight (eating too many results in weight gain, eating too few or none usually causes an initial weight loss but then the weight stabilises). If the weight loss is due to an underlying illness it will continue for a while and other symptoms would be found somewhere, and the loss could be fairly dramatic.
Click to expand...

Yes, I wondered whether he had gone off his normal pellets and I tried tempting him with different pellets and I even gave him a treat stick but he didn't even nibble it, which is very unlike him. He is producing hardly any droppings now and the ones he does are really small.
 
Thanks for the extra info and answering APs questions. It sounds like something is amiss. The smaller and reduced amount of droppings are likely due to a lower food intake. Is he still eating hay and fresh fruits and vegetables? Drinking okay?

Sorry - more questions again, it is usually the best way to come up with ideas! Has he ever been "wormed" (treated orally with Ivomec and Panacur to deal with internal parasites)? Does he usually have access to grass/get put out on the grass?
 
900gm is quite a low weight for a 2 year old pig, unless he is a naturally small pig. I get the impression, from your comments that he has been quite a lot heavier.
I would be getting concerned about him at that weight. What other food does he eat besides the Excel?
 
I took him back to the vets yesterday, he now weighs 850g :( My vet had another look in his mouth and said she can see a tiny ulcer on his tongue near to where the sharp tooth was which could explain why he's still not eating pellets.(She said she couldn't see this last week when they had him under anaesthetic.) He is still tucking in to fruit/veg and nibbling hay and for the first time in several days yesterday he took a little food out of his bowl which I'm taking as a positive, so crossing everything and hoping he could be on the mend. Two vets have looked at him now and say they don't know where to go from here if it's not his mouth that is causing him to not eat which worries me a bit but will see how he is when i get home tonight.

Laura, you asked me if he's been wormed - I've never wormed him, he only has access to the grass when i put him in the run but to be honest I've been letting them run around in doors lately so he hasn't been on the grass for about 2mths.
 
Hand feed, hand feed, hand feed, hand feed.

An ulcer IS reason to make a guinea pig not want to eat, especially if it's pain in the mouth.

I'm not joking around with you, if he's losing so much weight he'll need to be hydrated with Sub_Q fluids (injected) force/hand fed, receive pain medication and veterinary treatment for the ulcer to make it go away. Is his tooth rubbing his mouth? Does he have a fungal infection?

How did your vet know there was an ulcer, was he anesthatised again? What treatment did she prescribe?

Guinea pigs who don't eat enough food slowly slow their digestive system and lose their appetite making it more difficult for you to encourage him to get back on track. If a guinea pig stops eating it's extremely difficult to recover them from this especially if you're not willing to put in the work required - HAND FEEDING - and will die. It's that serious. A guinea pig isn't like a cat or dog; their digestive tract is essential to their life. When it shuts down it won't start back up again.
 
Along with hand-feeding, Daktarin Oral Gel (sold for humans with oral infections) is an excellent product to soothe the mouth. The ulcer could well be causing him pain when eating, which is where the Daktarin usually proves to be very effective. The dose is 0.3ml-0.5ml twice daily.
 
I've started with the hand feeding. He is on Metacam for pain relief but they didn't give me anything for the ulcer/sore. Don't think this is a fungal infection because it's next to where the sharp tooth was, so would assume that was the cause? I will try the Daktarin Oral Gel. Poor thing has problems at the opposite end today, his back end was completely blocked up when I got home tonight. I think it's impaction. I have cleaned him up but I guess this is because he isn't getting the proper diet? Hoping the hand feeding will help.
 
It's likey that if he's not eating properly his digestive system will be all squ-wiff and giving him diarrohea/constipation which could be leading to the mess at his back end!

I just want to double stress the hand feeding and the oral gel. I recently had a pig with very similar problems, (his over grown teeth were much larger and caused more damage to his mouth, and sadly I lost him to complications not long after, but he was much older than your boy) I was having real trouble getting him to eat and the oral gel really helped to increase his inclination to eat by himself - literally within the hour! Just think how painful it is in your mouth when you get a mouth ulcer...your boy will be feeling the same way.

Good luck and I hope your boy gets better soon.
 
Pumpkin has been perkier this week, eating more hay and eats any veg/fruit I give him but still only picking at his pellets - he's still not eating enough (still worried about his weight loss.) He now weighs 805g. Droppings are looking much healthier and haven't had any more problems that end! Have been liquidising his pellets and syringe feeding him which he takes without much problem but can they get dependent on being hand fed? Also, after losing a lot of weight, can it take a while for them to put the weight back on?
 
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