Losing weight

[sarah4548]

Hi everyone,

I need your help, again… okay so the situation in the last 2 months: the neutered boar died 2 months ago from dental issues, a sow from the group died this Monday from a brain bleeding/tumor. So now this is the situation: my most social female piggie (Lux) is acting completely normal. She got to say goodbye Monday to her friend, and remains living with 4 other piggie friends. She’s still social, the first one to greet me, to start screaming for food, but I picked her up to day and she lost weight. She’s now 720 gram, and last time i weighed her she was 809 (a month ago). About 3 months ago she lost about 100 grams but then she had diarrhoea and it appeared she had eaten something wrong. But now she has no soft poops, no dirty coat, no energy loss, no pain (i felt her tummy), good teeth, good appetite. So I have no idea what could cause it besides grief. Do any of you have experience with this? What would you recommend, I’m feeding her some critical care right now.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear this and I’m sorry for your losses.

Please ensure you weigh her daily (it should be weekly during healthy times) so you can monitor her hay and critical care intake more closely. Feed enough critical care each day to stop any further weight loss.

Do get her seen by a vet to rule out any illness first and foremost. It is essential any illness or medical issue is ruled out first ie an owner cannot check the teeth properly so it is always worth having that check done.
However from what you have said (re lack of symptoms) it is possible grief is the reason behind this. She may have other friends but it doesn’t mean she will grieve the loss any less.

Otherwise, and assuming any illness is ruled out, all you can do is continue with daily weigh checks and syringe feeding. Perhaps providing different enrichment to try to keep her occupied in the meantime

 

[sarah4548]

Okay so after a bit of more inspection, she’s limping with her right front leg. I’m attaching a video, as you can see, she’s still very active but doesn’t want to but pressure on her right front leg. I have given her some painkillers and CBD and I’m heading to the vet tomorrow. Anyone an idea if it’s just bruised or broken?

She hasn’t fallen or anything. Maybe she jumped of one of her houses and landed wrong? Any tips or recommendations?

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m afraid it would be impossible for us to know.
All you can do is get her seen by the vet.
I hope she is ok

 

[sarah4548]

I couldn’t upload a video, so here are 2 photos. In the first one you can see she’s kinda putting some weight on it, but trying to put as little as she can. And in the second, where she’s standing still, you can see she holding her paw up. It’s her white paw.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Video has to be uploaded to YouTube and then a link posted to it here - we cannot host video directly on the forum.

 

[sarah4548]

Guinea pig limping