Muscle Wasting On 6 Year Old Male

[Lynette09]

Hi everyone

This site has been great over the years for us and I am looking for a bit of insight/experience. This is quite a hard one for me to post : (

Our boy Oliver is 6 years old and noticing changes : ( He has put us through the mill at times but always came through like a warrior. However I think now his age is taking a toll.

He has arthritis in front paw (on daily metacam which helps a huge deal), has cataracts and sure he's losing some hearing. This was all ok as he is happy, eating etc

The last couple of weeks his spine is more prominent and back legs. I have had him at vets twice in last 2 weeks for check ups and told this is muscle wasting. He has gone from 1.5kg to just under 1.4kg (Oliver always maintained a 1.5kg over the years aside from his procedure last year on teeth but got it back up) and although he is eating, it's like he forgets his food is there but goes back to it. I got recovery feed, because he loves it mixed with celery or banana and takes it freely from syringe so if it replaces the little he's not eating. He's slowed down considerably.

After speaking to the vet we agreed it is quality of life for our boy now as I would not want to put him through any testing/procedures due to how he is now. This breaks my heart as my first instinct was to go down that route but I can see his age is catching up and he just likes to chill out.

I never want to think our boy is suffering (he seems ok for now) but know this will progress. I have been told if it happens at his rib cage it's the sign (he's still podgy there the now) or the others like weight plummeting, corner of cage, puffed up etc

It's the muscle wasting I am not too clued up about and looking for other people's knowledge of it in old age? My biggest fear is him suffering and as much as I would want to be selfish I know I would have to make that decision : (

Some pics of what our boy does best lately . . . Chilling : )

 

[Wiebke]

A gradual weight loss in older piggies is as normal as in older humans. You usually see the hips sticking out more first; later on the spine also becomes more noticeable and the whole figure becomes more saggy. Your boy is now in the middle of the average life expectancy (5-7 years), so this is not unusual. As he is on the pudgy side (if you can't feel the ribs), a good weight for his size age if you can just about feel the ribs and underweight if you can feel every single rib sticking out, he is going to lose the extra weight he is carrying more quickly at first in my personal experience with older piggies.
The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight

Older guinea pigs are also sleeping more, and more deeply. They should still be perky in the meantime, though. If they aren't then it is likely that one of their organs is slowing down and not working all that well anymore or that there is another underlying problem.
Early Signs Of Illness

Please don't get fixated on your boy's time starting to run out. Instead enjoy every day you have with him as a special gift. Love transcends time, and the precious memories you create now are the ones that stay and cannot be taken away from you.

 

[Redribbon]

He's gorgeous!

 

[Lynette09]

Thanks Redribbon I call him my handsome boy haha

Wiebke, thank you for relaying that information. It makes sense about the spine first now you've said that. He is sleeping a lot, but when he's awake he's his usual self, just a little slower whilst he sits there munching away as I type haha I had tried googling common changes in older guinea pigs but some stuff is a bit odd on some sites but here has always been a great place of people that care and have personal knowledge too

Him and his brother Keiko (who went to sleep last year) have certainly given us lots of precious memories and still building them with Oliver I am trying not to panic/worry but am on guard with him with the changes happening but your information makes me calmer knowing this could just be old age and not the decline. I am weighing him daily just to keep an eye on things. I just would never want him to suffer and panicked.

What I hadn't said was Oliver had a lump come up slightly behind his ear about a year ago. Vets checked it every time we went and thought a fatty lump as it's mobile, not a cyst and I can't remember the other word they used. This has got slightly bigger in the last month but again they don't seem concerned. I trust them as 2 vets are exotics and been tremendous over the last year and a half we have been with them. (Long story but previous vets were a disgrace when something more than a nail trim was needed).

He's always been a sturdy guy so feeling his spine and hips makes him seem more fragile. These little guys certainly get well into your heart

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks Redribbon I call him my handsome boy haha

Wiebke, thank you for relaying that information. It makes sense about the spine first now you've said that. He is sleeping a lot, but when he's awake he's his usual self, just a little slower whilst he sits there munching away as I type haha I had tried googling common changes in older guinea pigs but some stuff is a bit odd on some sites but here has always been a great place of people that care and have personal knowledge too

Him and his brother Keiko (who went to sleep last year) have certainly given us lots of precious memories and still building them with Oliver I am trying not to panic/worry but am on guard with him with the changes happening but your information makes me calmer knowing this could just be old age and not the decline. I am weighing him daily just to keep an eye on things. I just would never want him to suffer and panicked.

What I hadn't said was Oliver had a lump come up slightly behind his ear about a year ago. Vets checked it every time we went and thought a fatty lump as it's mobile, not a cyst and I can't remember the other word they used. This has got slightly bigger in the last month but again they don't seem concerned. I trust them as 2 vets are exotics and been tremendous over the last year and a half we have been with them. (Long story but previous vets were a disgrace when something more than a nail trim was needed).

He's always been a sturdy guy so feeling his spine and hips makes him seem more fragile. These little guys certainly get well into your heart

Oliver sounds like he has a sebaceous cyst. They can refill quite quickly, so vets often like to just leave them be unlss they get too big or there is a problem with them. They are harmless.

 

[Freela]

My pigs went through the same thing in their older years, losing the 'padding' of the muscles over their bones on top so you could feel their hips and shoulders and spine more clearly. This isn't unusual with age. It happens to many humans too in old age.

 

[Wiebke]

I currently have got seven piggies at 6-8 years of age and another one celebrating her 6th birthday before the year is over (exact age unknown), so I have got a lot of bony bodies here, too! At some point the body is just aging. It is more noticeable in guinea pigs as it happens so much faster than in humans.

 

[Lynette09]

Thank you so much Freela and wiekbe, I feel a lot calmer now 8 years is a fantastic age

We have had guinea pigs over the years but they didn't make it past 5 and so Oliver is our first experience of age related issues.

He's had a few health issues before with breathing but is doing well with that and only use the Bisolvon if required. He's podgy but bony and need to look upon that as the norm now. Just weighed him and he's above 1.4kg so weight maintaining but will carry on with it.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you so much Freela and wiekbe, I feel a lot calmer now 8 years is a fantastic age

We have had guinea pigs over the years but they didn't make it past 5 and so Oliver is our first experience of age related issues.

He's had a few health issues before with breathing but is doing well with that and only use the Bisolvon if required. He's podgy but bony and need to look upon that as the norm now. Just weighed him and he's above 1.4kg so weight maintaining but will carry on with it.

1400g is a VERY good weight - most guinea pigs never weigh as much, never mind at that age! I am happy that my own dainty 6 year old ladies are still above 700g - the same goes for 8 year old Calli, who is quite severely arthritic. In their best times they were a perfectly acceptable weight of around 900g.

Even my Hywel went down from 1500g (where he was admittedly overweight from pushing his up to 13 wives off the food plate to about 800g after a persistent jaw abscess in the last year of his life. He died only days before his 7th birthday.
I would judge that Oliver has got around another 400g disposable weight before he reaches the bottom line, so please don't panic over any weight loss. It is likely going to continue gradually. See a vet if Oliver loses a lot of weight in a matter of days or he is looking off, otherwise you have to take it as it happens.

 

[Lynette09]

Wiekbe, can I also ask about Callis arthritis? Is she on Metacam too? Oliver gets 0.2ml each morning and I often wonder if Metacam does last the 24 hours in their system. I have contemplated splitting the dose but then think he wouldn't feel effect as he's used to the 0.2ml of it.

Vet had said if his weight dropped dramatically or hit 1kg with no obvious signs to get him back in. Oliver is quite a sturdy boy like a big boned person I guess. His brother Keiko was more dainty The previous vets (clueless ones) used to tell me every time he had to go on a diet. Needless to say I did not listen to them Vets we are with now have never made an issue of his weight

Sorry to hear about Hywel Keiko lost a lot of weight at the end and it was heartbreaking how slim and bony he got so quickly. He had elongated roots that were pushing his eye socket and jaw bone. Previous vets had done X-ray and said all looked fine but filed his teeth down incase. Back and forward to them saying something isn't right and hundreds later I found our exotics vet who took one look at X-ray and showed me the roots. I felt so guilty that I had been force feeding him thinking recovery period and the pain he must have been in the final week. Needless to say that practice got a letter of complaint.

I can't thank you enough as I feel a lot more calmer now knowing this is normal for his age. It's each day as it comes and hope he gets to the great age of Calli