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Piggy weight loss

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Simpiggy

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Hi I have three piggies initially Brian and Eric were not getting on and Eric was top piggy now roles are reversed, but Eric has lost weight ernie and Brian are gaining well. Eric appeared subdued yesterday and I was shocked when i I weighed him. They are all young respective weights are
Brian 662 gm ernie 600 gm and Eric 508 gm he was 532.
I have brought him indoors and he is eating and drinking like a well pig he is pooing and peeing fine and his mood has lifted.
There are two sleeping area, two water bowls two food bowls etc in the hutch which is very large, could he be depressed. He did have a bite which is healed and they have all had spot on for mites.
I overnight he has gained 8 grams I am considering putting him back in the cage and separating him from the others (I have a two storey cage) then I can cinue to monitor what he eats. He does not seem I'll. Would appreciate any suggestions or advice, if he continues to gain weight I don't see a need to take him to the vet at this point. I am feeding him pig pellets fresh cut grass and greens (safe greens) and sliced carrots fresh hay and he has a hay tablet.
 
From the weights given I would assume the three boys are all around 3 months old? They are likely to be on the very start of the hormonal months and having three boys all going through it at the same time means the chances of them falling out is high. Being prevented from getting to the food bowl is one form of bullying, humping, nips to the ears, bite wounds on the rump, the next level would be open aggression and bites to the face and mouth.

The loss of weight could be down to a heavy mite load - pigs spend so much time and energy scratching that they don't eat enough to grow well. Hopefully being removed from the other two and being treated for mites will solve the problem. A vet trip is needed though if his weight doesn't impprove - piggies are normally piling the weight on at this stage, compare the weekly weight gains of all three so you have an idea of what the weight gain should be.

There are many threads on the forum that cover boys and their naughty teenage months - look in the Behavioural section as well as Health & Illness and piggy chat.

HTH

Suzy x
 
Simpiggy said:
Hi I have three piggies initially Brian and Eric were not getting on and Eric was top piggy now roles are reversed, but Eric has lost weight ernie and Brian are gaining well. Eric appeared subdued yesterday and I was shocked when i I weighed him. They are all young respective weights are
Brian 662 gm ernie 600 gm and Eric 508 gm he was 532.
I have brought him indoors and he is eating and drinking like a well pig he is pooing and peeing fine and his mood has lifted.
There are two sleeping area, two water bowls two food bowls etc in the hutch which is very large, could he be depressed. He did have a bite which is healed and they have all had spot on for mites.
I overnight he has gained 8 grams I am considering putting him back in the cage and separating him from the others (I have a two storey cage) then I can cinue to monitor what he eats. He does not seem I'll. Would appreciate any suggestions or advice, if he continues to gain weight I don't see a need to take him to the vet at this point. I am feeding him pig pellets fresh cut grass and greens (safe greens) and sliced carrots fresh hay and he has a hay tablet.
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Hi and welcome Simpiggie, Ernie, Brian and Eric :)
oh gosh...........so glad you came here, we've got some lovely people willing to advise, they're very experienced, but as always i hope you have an experiences savvy piggie vet to consult :)
Suzy has kindly responded and given you some great points to think about............please ask further questions :)
If it's a health question you might like to post in health and illness so you get more responses :)
you'll find up the top of each section some great threads/stickies one of which Suzy told you about
Hope all works out..........keep us posted!

Glynis, Velvet and Onyx x
 
Back in cage

I have put Eric back in the upper level of the cage and blocked access to the lower level that way I can monitor how much he is eating. I will see how his weight goes and if he continues to gain will re introduce him to the others after a few days to a week.
I am also going to put an extra hidy space in the lower hutch so brian and ernie have one each, oh wy can't they share?/
 
Piggies are like us..........they do like their own space at times :)

Have a look in the food section you'll see up the top (like in all sections) some great info regarding safe foods etc... :)

GOOD LUCK with little Eric XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX whee hope that Brian and Eric accepts him soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Simpiggy I just went through the same thing

Except there is a twist on what happened here.
My 2nd oldest daughter gave me a piggy that was dumped at a local mall.
Initailly I refused to take him and he lived in a box at her house for most of a week.
She then brought him here.
I had him by himself in a rubbermaid container and then introduced him to my young boars who was born the end of March. They got on famously and then I put them both back in with my other 2 boars, One who was born in March also and the other in Dec.
There was a huge fight between the tow oldest pigs and the new one ended up very cut up.
The fighting stopped but Misfit stopped eating and drinking and wouldn't move frm the top of the hidey hut.
He ended up losing alos 100 grams in less than a week.
I put him back in the Rubbermaid for a few days and as soon as he was by himself he sort of started living in the food bowl ( he was eating so much)
Yesterday I secured another cage and re-introduced him to the young piggy he had been in with orginally. They are getting along famously.
From asking on another forum I learned he was probably being bullied.
He is now back agining weight and doing well.
 
Glad it got better

You're story gave me a lot of relief as I was very worried I will post tomorrow and let everyone know if he has gained weight. I keep cutting fresh grass for him as he loves it. I also have fresh carrot from the allotment.
The bullying idea seems to fit and i am hopeful that it will resolve in time meanwhile they are separate. :...
 
Weight gain

Today he weighs 520gms so he is gaining again I have given him his morning hay and will give him some carrot and leaves later
drool
 
Weight gain

Today his weight is up to 558gms the piggies are in the garden run which I have divided so they can see each other but not get physical.drool
 
It looks like things are turning around.
I am glad things are going better.
My Boy is going wonderfully now to. He is back up over 800g. There are no more injuries on him and he is extremely happy and much less stressed.
 
It's a relief

I think that I will be able to reunite the hutch again soon, I have been putting them in the run with a divider and the seem to be talking and are much less aggressive. I will try them sharing the run over the next week under supervision of course. Wish me luck")
 
Simpiggy said:
I think that I will be able to reunite the hutch again soon, I have been putting them in the run with a divider and the seem to be talking and are much less aggressive. I will try them sharing the run over the next week under supervision of course. Wish me luck")
Click to expand...

GOOD LUCK ! xx>>>xx>>>
 
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