Poor skinny Rowan

[Adelle]

I'm back looking for some advice !
My 3 year 5 month old Rowan was spayed 5th September, she had several small cysts on each ovary. For around 6/7 months previous, she became increasingly more hormonal, thirsty and thinner until I had to bite the bullet. Thankfully her surgery was smooth and she was neither up nor down with it and has held her post op weight herself.

My current worry is my girl is a shadow of her former self. Pre op, she was at a point of spending most of her time in her hay and eating very little pellets. She was very inactive bar rumbling at her cage mate, and now we are 8 days post op and she is still the same way. I've been changing her hay area twice a day as she began becoming stained with urine, howeber this hasn't stopped a sore forming on her back foot which I am tending to.

She's been on once daily metacam for around 1 month pre op which stopped her weight falling. She's been on twice daily metacam since the day of her op.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with this and how long it took for your pig to regain health? I'm worried there's something else underlying. She also has a fungal stripe on her nose which is a sign she's run down.

12 months ago Rowan was a hefty 1300g AFTER I cut down on her pellets as she was nearly 1400g and a little chunky. By the time her ovarian issue became apparant, she was around 1200g. The morning of her op she was 1110g, and when I got her home she was 1070g. She's been maintaining that weight for the past 8 days. But the difference in her appearance is horrendous, I feel she looks skeletal as she is a big girl normally.

These photos are 12 months ago and today





And more photos because she's beautiful !♥

 

[Sophie B]

She is gorgeous, and I’m sure we can all agree on that
Firstly, just to clear this up, I have never had a pig have surgery for anything so I may not be the most reliable for advice right now, but I’d like to try and help anyway

So you’re giving Metacam twice a day, yes?
Have you considered syringing mushy pellets, or poo soup (yucky, but apparently helpful)?
Try sitting her in your lap whilst giving her her favourite veggies
Just monitor what she’s eating, and make sure she’s definitely eating enough
Bear in mind that it isn’t necessarily an unhealthy weight she’s at (depending on size) but it may be worrying if it dropped any further

 

[Lady Kelly]

She is beautiful. I've not really experienced the change in behaviour and not regaining weight. She's still a good weight though so it sounds like she's not suffering too much on that side of things

 

[Wiebke]

I'm back looking for some advice !
My 3 year 5 month old Rowan was spayed 5th September, she had several small cysts on each ovary. For around 6/7 months previous, she became increasingly more hormonal, thirsty and thinner until I had to bite the bullet. Thankfully her surgery was smooth and she was neither up nor down with it and has held her post op weight herself.

My current worry is my girl is a shadow of her former self. Pre op, she was at a point of spending most of her time in her hay and eating very little pellets. She was very inactive bar rumbling at her cage mate, and now we are 8 days post op and she is still the same way. I've been changing her hay area twice a day as she began becoming stained with urine, howeber this hasn't stopped a sore forming on her back foot which I am tending to.

She's been on once daily metacam for around 1 month pre op which stopped her weight falling. She's been on twice daily metacam since the day of her op.

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with this and how long it took for your pig to regain health? I'm worried there's something else underlying. She also has a fungal stripe on her nose which is a sign she's run down.

12 months ago Rowan was a hefty 1300g AFTER I cut down on her pellets as she was nearly 1400g and a little chunky. By the time her ovarian issue became apparant, she was around 1200g. The morning of her op she was 1110g, and when I got her home she was 1070g. She's been maintaining that weight for the past 8 days. But the difference in her appearance is horrendous, I feel she looks skeletal as she is a big girl normally.

These photos are 12 months ago and today

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And more photos because she's beautiful !♥

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Hi and welcome

I am very sorry that your beautiful girl is not having a smooth recovery.

What painkiller and other medication is your girl on (including dosages)? Is she getting gut stimulants to help her appetite?

Please take the time to carefully read our detailed post-op care tips: Tips For Post-operative Care
Weigh daily and step in with syringe feeding support/top up as soon as you notice a weight loss. Continue with it for as long as necessary.

It can take several weeks or even several months until the weight is coming back, but she should be more active by now.
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Contact your vet clinic if your piggy is not picking up within 3-4 days of an operation. Normally she should have a post-op check-up within 5-7 days of the operation to make sure that she is healing well and bouncing back.

All the best!

 

[Adelle]

Hi and welcome

I am very sorry that your beautiful girl is not having a smooth recovery.

What painkiller and other medication is your girl on (including dosages)? Is she getting gut stimulants to help her appetite?

Please take the time to carefully read our detailed post-op care tips: Tips For Post-operative Care
Weigh daily and step in with syringe feeding support/top up as soon as you notice a weight loss. Continue with it for as long as necessary.

It can take several weeks or even several months until the weight is coming back, but she should be more active by now.
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Contact your vet clinic if your piggy is not picking up within 3-4 days of an operation. Normally she should have a post-op check-up within 5-7 days of the operation to make sure that she is healing well and bouncing back.

All the best!

She's not losing weight, she was eating and moving around straight away post op. She has held her post op weight for the past 8 days. It's just she lost alot of weight before surgery and I was wondering how long it takes for hormones to settle so I know how long to give her before looking into further investigations. She's recovered fine from surgery, but her inactiveness and general lack of interest in life has continued after surgery as she was this way before too. She's being checked regularly by the vet, I just don't know how long to give her post op despite a stable weight as when healthy she was a good 200g heavier and she looks pitiful. Eats some veggies then goes back to her hay before getting more In a while but again, has done this months pre op.

She's on 0.4ml dog metacam every 12 hours. Ranitidine for 48 hours post op then discontinued as weight stable and guts moving fine.

 

[Adelle]

She is beautiful. I've not really experienced the change in behaviour and not regaining weight. She's still a good weight though so it sounds like she's not suffering too much on that side of things

It really isn't a bad weight but for her, it's low and she looks thin. Hips and spine are prominent. Hasn't eaten her science select grain free for a good while before her op so bought some cheeky Burgess today which she's shown some interest in. Eats plenty of hay because she's always in the hay pile! Think that's the only reason her weights been stable post op.

 

[Wiebke]

She's not losing weight, she was eating and moving around straight away post op. She has held her post op weight for the past 8 days. It's just she lost alot of weight before surgery and I was wondering how long it takes for hormones to settle so I know how long to give her before looking into further investigations. She's recovered fine from surgery, but her inactiveness and general lack of interest in life has continued after surgery as she was this way before too. She's being checked regularly by the vet, I just don't know how long to give her post op despite a stable weight as when healthy she was a good 200g heavier and she looks pitiful. Eats some veggies then goes back to her hay before getting more In a while but again, has done this months pre op.

She's on 0.4ml dog metacam every 12 hours. Ranitidine for 48 hours post op then discontinued as weight stable and guts moving fine.

Thank you for the extra information; your girl is obviously in good and experienced vet hands.

As stated above, it can take several weeks or even several months for the lost weight to come back; in older guinea pigs it is likely not to come back all, especially if some of it was overweight. At this early stage, a stable weight is exactly what you want to see and what you are aiming for. In the degree her body heals and settles down, her weight will gradually come back on its own in its own time.
Here is our weight guide; your girl is on the large side. If she was overweight, then this means that she is bound to lose a lot more weight very quickly. The guide will explain how you can use feeling for the 'heft' around the ribs whether Rowan is under weight or not for her individual size. Overweight means that there is a lot of bad yellow fat around the inner organs, which is also coming off very quickly when a piggy is not well. The weight guide has also tips for underweight piggies.
Weight - Monitoring and Management

As to her lethargic behaviour, that is in my experience not connected to ovarian cysts. High hormone levels usually manifest in more active sexual or grumpy/aggressive behaviour.
Sows: Behaviour and female health problems (including ovarian cysts)

There can be another underlying issue in play that has not shown their hand yet. On the other side, it is the age when adults can start to settle down more and become more sedentary - only time will tell on this.

 

[Adelle]

Just a little update.. were now 10 weeks post op and my girls weight has increased massively with no change in diet. It took a good 4 weeks for her hormones to settle then she gained her weight back and is a happy girl again !

 

[PigglePuggle]

That's lovely to hear, she certainly looks to have regained some healthy heft!

 

[Helen82]

Glad to hear she's on the mend. My sister is called Rowan - I'll have to tell her about her guinea pig counterpart as there aren't that many female Rowans!

 

[Bill & Ted]

Aw, so glad to see she’s put on weight again and looking lovely. My Ted has lost weight due to an ulcer caused from a spur on his molar. His chubby weight is usually around 1345 gms, he had dropped down to 1170gms. He is now eating well again and putting on a little weight. It does seem to take a while for them to put it back on again x

 

[Flutterby]

She's beautiful!

 

[Merab]

Glad to hear the positive news

 

[VickiA]

She is looking just scrumptious.