Not much weight gain due to illness

[flinklater01]

Hello,
My two Guinea pigs are currently on baytril, doxycycline and metacam for a URI that was caused by streptococcus zooepidemicus. They have been on doxy and metacam since October and baytril over the past three weeks.

Throughout this, they have kept their ravenous appetite. They have endless supplies of fresh hay (Timothy and silky soft hay), a bowl kept full of selective grain free nuggets, a variety of 5 types of veg per day and I have been mixing them up some critical care with some probiotic to leave in a bowl in the cage-they both love this.

I will attach their weights below that I have been monitoring. They are both roughly 5-6 months old. I have been concerned as even though Drucilla is eating, her weight isn’t going up at the pace I would expect a young Guinea pigs too.

Does this look like cause for concern?
Is there any other way to boost calorie intake?

Thanks! X

 

[Piggies&buns]

She isn’t losing weight so to that end, I would not be concerned. They’ve been on a lot of meds for a long time so actually I’d say she is doing very well to stay stable - and that is what you are looking for during illness, stability rather than gain as that may not happen until they are better.
They are coming out of the very fast growth period time anyway where weight gain tends to tail off and some piggies are just naturally going to be smaller than others throughout life.

The best and most healthiest way for them to gain weight is slow and steady with high hay intake. There is no point in forcing weight gain with high calorie foods as it won’t be healthy and weight then tends to just fall off of them again when that particular feeding pattern is stopped.
You won’t want them overeating pellets (one tablespoon per pig per day only) as they aren’t a healthy way to gain weight, they also contribute a lot of calcium into the diet running the risk of bladder stones and sludge problems.
Critical care in amounts needed to keep weight stable is better than overfeeding pellets - cc has higher fibre than pellets when you’re looking at long term support feeding needs

 

[flinklater01]

She isn’t losing weight so to that end, I would not be concerned. They’ve been on a lot of meds for a long time so actually I’d say she is doing very well to stay stable - and that is what you are looking for during illness, stability rather than gain as that may not happen until they are better.
They are coming out of the very fast growth period time anyway where weight gain tends to tail off and some piggies are just naturally going to be smaller than others throughout life.

The best and most healthiest way for them to gain weight is slow and steady with high hay intake. There is no point in forcing weight gain with high calorie foods as it won’t be healthy and weight then tends to just fall off of them again when that particular feeding pattern is stopped.
You won’t want them overeating pellets (one tablespoon per pig per day only) as they aren’t a healthy way to gain weight, they also contribute a lot of calcium into the diet running the risk of bladder stones and sludge problems.
Critical care in amounts needed to keep weight stable is better than overfeeding pellets - cc has higher fibre than pellets when you’re looking at long term support feeding needs.

Hi, thanks for this.

We are in the process of deciding if Drucilla will need her lymph nodes removed/drained so wanted her to have all the reserves she needs but like you said, I guess she isn’t losing weight.

They don’t consume too many pellets, they are provided for them freely but make up a small part of their overall diet.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Reserves going into surgery is a good idea but unfortunately you can’t make them gain weight. If she feels underweight when you check her heft then seeing if she will take additional critical care is probably the best thing to try to help her.

As long as they aren’t getting more than one tablespoon of pellets each per day, thats when issues can start to creep in with reduced hay intake calcium issues etc