Danielle Smith
Teenage Guinea Pig
Skip to *bold* to read about my current issue. Here's some backstory in case it helps.
I have a 20 month old neutered boar, Flash. Until a couple of weeks ago he lived with his brother Quint. They were (and still are) the happiest and laziest pigs I have ever seen; literally no dominance behaviour, quite a lot of popcorning, but the vast majority of their time was spent snuggled under a hidey together sleeping.
Since Rolo passed away, we thought we'd try to bond his cagemate Blackjack with these two brothers. Our reason for this was because all the pigs were so incredibly chilled out; if any trio was going to work, this would be it.
The bonding went amazingly well, everyone was really happy with one another and there was minimal dominance behaviour when they went in their cage the first time. Quint seems to be the boss, which was always the case. Quint and Blackjack rumble at each other sometimes, but then popcorn like madmen. Blackjack never rumbles at Flash, though they will lie next to each other.
*Problem description starts here*
Over the last 3 weeks, Flash has lost about 150g in weight. He did have a touch of heavy breathing, but that was sorted with a short course of Baytril. He continues to slowly lose weight unless topped up with syringe feed once a day.
The vet could not find anything wrong with him on examination, so she recommended taking a blood sample. Both times we tried under anaesthetic we were unsuccessful.
Our cavy-savvy vet did get enough blood this time to do a PCB which apparently would let us know if there are any so-called grumbling illnesses in the background. Everything was fine in that regard.
She also did a full body X-Ray and that revealed nothing whatsoever his teeth are fine, his heart is not enlarged as far as she can see. He's a little bit gassy but not very much and no bladder stones. Since he was a little bit gassy she'd like to put him on ranitidine and see if that helps at all with the weight gain.
One thing she did note is that his blood pressure is generally very low no matter what anaesthesia she used his blood pressure was always low and that could be the reason for his inactivity in general. She did counsel me on the fact that we might have to change that grouping (i.e. remove Blackjack) if the weight loss continues.
My thought is that because there's low blood pressure if he's being forced to move around more just because there is another pig in cage (not fighting or anything, just all three of them can't fit in a single hidey so there's more chopping and changing) that might make you feel rubbish and not up to eating as much (though Flash seems as keen for his hay and pellets as ever, he just can't lightning speed munch now). The fact he's having to move a bit more and spend calories may be why he's losing weight too, though this is just conjecture.
Has anyone had experience with pigs with chronic low blood pressure before? I'd be sad to split up this grouping since it was working so well...
One other symptom I've seen is Flash shakes his head quite a lot more often now, and for a few second after he does there's a very obvious head tilt which sorts itself out after a moment. He definitely doesn't have an ear infection though, which would be my first thought. The vet doesn't have any suggestions for this symptom.
I have a 20 month old neutered boar, Flash. Until a couple of weeks ago he lived with his brother Quint. They were (and still are) the happiest and laziest pigs I have ever seen; literally no dominance behaviour, quite a lot of popcorning, but the vast majority of their time was spent snuggled under a hidey together sleeping.
Since Rolo passed away, we thought we'd try to bond his cagemate Blackjack with these two brothers. Our reason for this was because all the pigs were so incredibly chilled out; if any trio was going to work, this would be it.
The bonding went amazingly well, everyone was really happy with one another and there was minimal dominance behaviour when they went in their cage the first time. Quint seems to be the boss, which was always the case. Quint and Blackjack rumble at each other sometimes, but then popcorn like madmen. Blackjack never rumbles at Flash, though they will lie next to each other.
*Problem description starts here*
Over the last 3 weeks, Flash has lost about 150g in weight. He did have a touch of heavy breathing, but that was sorted with a short course of Baytril. He continues to slowly lose weight unless topped up with syringe feed once a day.
The vet could not find anything wrong with him on examination, so she recommended taking a blood sample. Both times we tried under anaesthetic we were unsuccessful.
Our cavy-savvy vet did get enough blood this time to do a PCB which apparently would let us know if there are any so-called grumbling illnesses in the background. Everything was fine in that regard.
She also did a full body X-Ray and that revealed nothing whatsoever his teeth are fine, his heart is not enlarged as far as she can see. He's a little bit gassy but not very much and no bladder stones. Since he was a little bit gassy she'd like to put him on ranitidine and see if that helps at all with the weight gain.
One thing she did note is that his blood pressure is generally very low no matter what anaesthesia she used his blood pressure was always low and that could be the reason for his inactivity in general. She did counsel me on the fact that we might have to change that grouping (i.e. remove Blackjack) if the weight loss continues.
My thought is that because there's low blood pressure if he's being forced to move around more just because there is another pig in cage (not fighting or anything, just all three of them can't fit in a single hidey so there's more chopping and changing) that might make you feel rubbish and not up to eating as much (though Flash seems as keen for his hay and pellets as ever, he just can't lightning speed munch now). The fact he's having to move a bit more and spend calories may be why he's losing weight too, though this is just conjecture.
Has anyone had experience with pigs with chronic low blood pressure before? I'd be sad to split up this grouping since it was working so well...
One other symptom I've seen is Flash shakes his head quite a lot more often now, and for a few second after he does there's a very obvious head tilt which sorts itself out after a moment. He definitely doesn't have an ear infection though, which would be my first thought. The vet doesn't have any suggestions for this symptom.
. Just wish we could figure out what's up!
