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Loosing Weight? Should I Worry.

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A&T

A&T

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I'm not sure if this is anything to worry about because I know they can loose 30g without it being a health problem, but I needed to put my mind at rest.

Amber 4yrs old, has always been around 950-1020g. However, the last few weeks she seems to be loosing weight? Her weights over the last few weeks have been:
14.06.15 - 1021g
25.06.15 - 990g
02.07.15 - 967g

I wasn't worried when she dropped down to 990g but now she's dropped down again to 967g its made me feel uneasy. She's still eating normally, sits in the hay and noms away, seems to be eating veg and nuggets fine. A few major changes have happened recently to her life so I wonder if they could be related.
Firstly, she has a new friend willow, who has been putting about 50g on a week, so shes obviously eating well.
Secondly, I've changed Amber's nuggets from Vitakraft to Science Selective.

Now, what I think is probably happening is Amber isn't getting all of the veg, nuggets and hay before like she has been for the last year... but like I said up there I just want to put my mind at ease if this is the most likely reason for her loosing weight.

Any advice or reassurance would be great :)
 
Yeah its hot too, I don't wanna drag her to the vets if its totally unnecessary and I'm just over worrying haha.
 
My girls don't seem to be at the hay as much in this weather so it's likely that could also be a factor.
 
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I would check the nugget change first and also serve veg and nuggets in two spearate bowls in smaller portions but 2-3 times a day, so the girls will eat it up in one go to see whether it the change in circumstances.

The weight loss itself is big enough to have her vet checked, especially if the trend is continuing.
 
Wiebke said:
I would check the nugget change first and also serve veg and nuggets in two spearate bowls in smaller portions but 2-3 times a day, so the girls will eat it up in one go to see whether it the change in circumstances.

The weight loss itself is big enough to have her vet checked, especially if the trend is continuing.
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Yeah I thought the nugget change might be a factor combined with her sharing too.

Should I monitor her weight for a few days, with feeding separate food bowl of veg for a few days see if that makes a difference? If its still going down even after upping the veg and making sure they're getting equal amounts, i'll get her to the vet.
 
hmm... i think it seems likely because of the recent changes - new friend and therefore perhaps adjustments to her eating. and it has also been hot like you say. but the overall trend of weight is going down so it could well be that a problem is brewing...

if it were me, i think i would do as wiebke has advised regarding the veg and pellets and see how you go. because she has been 950g in the past as part of her usual weight range, and because she is still above that at the moment, i would monitor very closely for now but if her next weekly weigh in shows another drop then i would take her to the vets just to be on the safe side :)

hope it is just the changes though and her weight stabilizes. it's good that she has no other symptoms aswell for the moment pointing to a potential problem :)
 
biscandmatt said:
hmm... i think it seems likely because of the recent changes - new friend and therefore perhaps adjustments to her eating. and it has also been hot like you say. but the overall trend of weight is going down so it could well be that a problem is brewing...

if it were me, i think i would do as wiebke has advised regarding the veg and pellets and see how you go. because she has been 950g in the past as part of her usual weight range, and because she is still above that at the moment, i would monitor very closely for now but if her next weekly weigh in shows another drop then i would take her to the vets just to be on the safe side :)

hope it is just the changes though and her weight stabilizes. it's good that she has no other symptoms aswell for the moment pointing to a potential problem :)
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Yeah I think its more than likely, just worried because of her age too.

Thank you! She use to be 950g when she was with Trixie...so maybe she just looses weight when she has a friend? but yes, I will definitely do what wiebke said. I have two weeks till I go on holiday so I can get her there the week before I go on holiday or even next week, I'll weigh her every few days too so that I know beginning of next week if shes still loosing weight. If she is, then i'll get her to the vet next week.

Thank you :) and also thank you @Wiebke
 
Update, weighed amber again today. She's lost 25g and now weighs 942g

She's eating fine, I've only just increased the veg intake so maybe it hasn't had chance to have any effect yet?
I gave her a bit of brocoli so I could observe her eating and she's eating fine as much as I can see. She's eating hay normally too.
If anything she's stopped eating the pellets. She did this with the vitakraft. Ate it at first and loved it, then just stopped eating it.

@helen105281 any idea what could be going on? Could it just be a combination of, new friend, new pellets and the heat. She seems fine in herself. Bright ,active, alert.
 
I think you could be right in that it is a mixture of the 3. It was very hot yesterday and so she may not have wanted to eat that much, plus stopping eating pellets would have an effect. Have you tried her with anything like critical care out of a bowl? can you sniff her breath and see if there is a damp dishcloth type smell?
 
helen105281 said:
I think you could be right in that it is a mixture of the 3. It was very hot yesterday and so she may not have wanted to eat that much, plus stopping eating pellets would have an effect. Have you tried her with anything like critical care out of a bowl? can you sniff her breath and see if there is a damp dishcloth type smell?
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I've just broken the nuggets in half. I stopped doing it because I saw willow eating them whole, and originally only broke them down for her so stopped when I realised she didn't need them broken down anymore. I've just broken some up now and Ambers gone straight to the bowl and eating loads... This 3rd lot of weight loss coincides with me stopping the breaking of nuggets.Maybe she just prefers them small?

I did smell her breath and couldn't smell anything (then she started to nibble my nose) but yeah couldn't smell anything..
 
Glad there is no smell. Sounds like you could have cracked it then, brilliant, is it the Vitakraft?
 
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helen105281 said:
Glad there is no smell. Sounds like you could have cracked it then, brilliant, is it the Vitakraft?
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No it's the science selective, i changed from vitakraft (which she was barely eating anyway) as Willow definitely couldn't manage it. So I changed Willow from pets at home nuggets to science selective and Amber from vitakraft to science selective so they were both on the same food.
I may have! I'll keep an eye on her for another few days if cutting the nuggets makes a difference again.
It does seem this weight loss is related to the change in events, because if she was unwell, wouldn't there be some other signs? Like totally just not eating?
 
Hope your guinea is ok.

Maybe your right and it is the size of the pellets.

In regards to showing signs, Sheamus was losing weight, I could tell by looking at him, my son even told the vet he looked thinner and it was shrugged off, he was showing no signs of illness, but then around 3 weeks after the vets shrugging it off he did begin to show signs of being ill, it turns out he had bladder stones and as I think I've told we ended up losing him due to wrong diagnoses and being made to wait for 6 days to have the stones removed. I'm not saying this is what is wrong with your guinea, just that mine didn't show signs until he was quite ill and in pain.

Crossing my fingers for her!
 
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Keep a close eye on her, as that's exactly what has been happening to BonBon, perhaps at a much slower rate though. She was 3 and a half when it started :( P@H do a small nugget feed, which she usually loves, as being so small she can crunch them up whole (have watched her eating them). Mine prefer these to any other brands (trust me, i've tried them on everything!). Maybe sprinkle probiotics on her food might help too, I have noticed in the past, my elderly piggies seem to do remarkable better condition wise when it's added.
 
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Thank you guys, I am definitely going to keep a close eye on her, and keep her veg and hay and nuggets topped up and fresh! If she's lost more weight in another 3 days dispite me adding more veg and stuff then I'll get her to a vet before I go on holiday.

Thanks again for your replies :)
 
Just a quick update, Amber has not put weight back on, she went up to 960g, and now she's back at 997g, I saw her have a wee too so it wasn't a full bladder! Thank you for everyone's help.
I will continue to monitor her weight, and ask my friend to weigh her while I'm away, but I think upping the veg has done it really :)! And her and Willow seems really happy and close now!

Thanks again for everyone's help :)

@helen105281
 
That's great news, enjoy your holiday. You can always give your friend my number if she is worried at all.
 
helen105281 said:
That's great news, enjoy your holiday. You can always give your friend my number if she is worried at all.
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Thank you! That's a really good idea! Probably put her mind at rest too, thank you so much Helen :D!
 
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