Not eating and losing weight

[jess_2745]

One of my females Maisy is losing weight rapidly. Since last saturday she has lost 74g and is losing about 10-15g a day.

She is currently at the vets who are looking for teeth problems. However, i'm not convinced thats the problem as its sudden weight loss, she's been eating up until yesterday. She isn't dribbling etc. She felt her abdomen and there doesn't seem to be any lumps as far as she can feel indicating a blockage/cancer etc.

She had a cyst lanced a few months ago on her rump. They said to me about removing it properly while she is under but i have said to only do it if it's her teeth that are the problem. I feel that if she is losing weight for another reason then it's unfair to have lumps chopped out of her when she isn't well anyway. Its not causing her any problems at all so if she makes it then i can arrange for it to be removed in the future. Do you think i'm wrong to do this?

I tried syringing her some mushed up pellets last night. She took only 1ml willing and i then had to force feed her but she was really distressed and did not want to eat anything at all.

Does anyone have any ideas what could possibly be wrong with her?

 

[Hanwombat]

Well a worm infestation can cause an animal to loose weight.

 

[Abi_nurse]

Unfortunatly are piggies are good at hiding when there sick until later stages. Weight loss is never much of a good sign. Sorry.

Have * watched her eating? I do see what * mean by sudden weight loss is less likely to be teeth but it could be a contributing factor. Does she chew ok? How is she in herself? still bouncing around? or v lethargic? I'm not much help to be honest, the best i can come up with is an infection/systemic disease of some sort. I really hope she starts feeling better soon...

Maybe try and get some Oxbow Critical care formula to syringe, this might be a bit tastier and tends to be great for convolesing piggies.

Hope she gets better. Me and the girls send her hugs and lots of piggie kisses.

x.

 

[jess_2745]

The vet looked at her teeth and said she had acouple of burs and that her bottom teeth were overgrown so they filed them down. I know think they are too short as she is showing interest in grass and dandelion leaves but can't seem to eat it. It took her ages to eat 1 blade of grass when normally its gone in seconds!

They also removed the cyst and she now has a big cut on her rump with 3/4 stitches in it.

I took her to the vets again the morning as she still isn't eating and i really do think there is something else going on. I've been told to give her 2 drops of metacam once a day as they think her mouth is now sore and she is quiet because of the anaethesia. Last time she was put under she came out of it much better than this.

I'm having to force recovery into her. She usually eats it willingly but she has no interest in eating. She will run around if you put her on the floor but then goesback to sitting in the corner, puffed up and floppy with eyes half closed.

My gut instinct is telling me she isn't well at all but i feel like i'm talking to a brick wall. I don't want her to starve to death and i feel awful force feeding her if she is on her way out.

 

[flips]

I'm sorry Maisy is poorly. I think you can use Daktarin oral gel to help ease a sore mouth after teeth work. It's very important that she eats but you already know that. Laura CCC4 can give you excellent advice on both aftercare and syringe feeding but she's not always on the forum. You can contact her through the guinea pig helpline though.
http://guineapighelpline.com/phone.html