Ok here we go! Apologies as it is going to be very long!
William and Keith were both 2lb 2oz back in January and then at the beginning of May Keith died, due to a URI and William's weight dropped to 1lb 14oz - we of course were worried and took him to the vets to make sure he DIDN'T have a URI and he didn't, he had a thorough check over and he was absolutely fine.
Kept him in quarantine for a a little over two weeks,his weight gradually was re-gained and he was a rotund 2lb 1oz. Then at the end of May we got him Alan & Clive from a rescue (they were just under 4 weeks). His weight crept back up again and he was 2lb 3oz.
He was happy and everything and they all settled in together.
About 4 almost 5 weeks ago we noticed William's weight was dropping again so we started to feed him seperately from the other two, which he happily tucked into and his weight went back to normal. Then a few days later his weight dropped dramatically.
So we took him to the vets where the vet gave him a thorough check and thought he may have an infection as his teeth, ears, eyes, bum and temperature were fine, so he put him on a cautionary 7 days of Baytril.
The course of Baytril helped keep him from losing anymore weight then he came off of it. He was off Baytril for 3-4 days and his weight KEPT dropping so we kept taking him out for feeds, from fresh greens, a little watered down oats every now and again to try and get his weight up. At the same time his eyes went a little crusty so we thought it may be a URI like Keith, so we took him back to the vet.
This time unfortunately as it was an emergency appointment our usual vet wasn't there. William was put on another course of Baytril and his weight crept back up a few ounces to 1lb 14oz but again once that had finished it either dropped back down or plateaued(sp) at around 1lb 12oz.
Which of course was not good. So we took him back to the vet who did a diabetes pin prick test from the scruff of his neck behind his ear area PLUS an ultrasound (check his organs and things). BOTH of these tests came back NEGATIVE.
He was put on Critical Care which he HATED.
So we kept syringe feeding and one morning about my little sister bought him inside and his chest was making a weird noise like a cooing pigeon noise so we rushed him into the vets (again) the vet was the usual cavvy savy vet. But by the time we got down there the noise had stopped and she had a listen to his heart, etc and said there was NOTHING there abnormal. The only conclusion for this weird noise was a possible bit of food swallowed down the wrong tube. But the vet was happy he was ok, but couldn’t pin point why the weight loss.
We kept on hand feeding and taking him out from the boys in case it was stress, but his weight kept dropping, so he went back to the vets and the vet again wasn't the usual vet and he thought it was an abcess in his intestine/stomach, which he gave us Baytril for (looking back now, it was stupid of us to think Baytril would touch an abcess, but we were desperate and so worried.)
So he was on Baytril...AGAIN for three weeks.
His weight gained again and he got back up to 1lb 12oz and then plateaued until the Thursday just gone (28th July) he dropped to 1lb 9oz. So we kept him on the course of Baytril but then on the Saturday just gone the 30th of July, we were so worried about him, so he went to the vets for an x-ray to see if there was anything on there, there was NOTHING.
The vet told us to continue with the Baytril until it ended (yesterday) so we could see our usual cavvy savy guy.
He said he would do a urine test for cushings disease which also came back negative, but came back with protein and blood in it, then he requested we took iIlliam back this morning for another x-ray, to double check they didn’t miss something.
So this morning I took him back down to the vets and got William back this afternoon and there was nothing on the x-ray again, bar some gassy areas.
We have now been given Septrin for him 0.8ml for 7 days. He is having another urine test on Friday - 48 hours after the Septrin has kicked in, to see if that is helping the blood & protein in his urine.
If it hasn’t he will be needing full bloods under a GA, which I’m not sure if he’ll survive as his weight is the lowest it’s ever been at 1lb 4oz
He’s back on Critical Care - which he is reluctantly taking via syringe.
During this WHOLE process he has been handfed mushed up pellets via a 1ml syringe - and as much as we could get into him, this fluctuated from 7mls to 33mls during the course of this process. He was fed three times a day.
He was also on Metatone, which started about 2 weeks ago, he also gets Bio-Lapis for his tummy.
We’ve watched how much he is weeing and pooping and it’s no more/less than usual. His drinking did increase though.
His poops have been a little smaller, but the vet said this could be due to him not eating as much as he has been.
He’s had no loss of coat/coat condition.
William is still full of beans though, very alert and is ALWAYS wanting food, just not putting the weight on. He have his lethargic and quiet moments, but I’m not surprised he’s poorly and we don’t know what’s wrong!
Sorry this is so long and I’m sorry this thread has been so confusing. I’m rubbish when it comes to poorly piggies and have been all over the place, trying to figure out what’s up with him!
Apologies I don’t have exact dates from the beginning of the year, they are all stored on a spreadsheet on my sisters computer, I only have the weigh-ins from the past 6 weeks sat in front of me on a written piece of paper, so some dates may be off by a day or so/some weights may be out by an ounce as I’m trying to remember.
Hope this now all makes sense and thanks for getting to the end!
>>> Think this is inhumane and would not allow anyone to do it to one of my piggies 8...
! He misses his mummy lots x'