• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Skinny But Eating Like Crazy.....

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Meggan

New Born Pup
Joined
Apr 27, 2014
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
0
My Katie pig is almost five years old and for the last for months she has steadily lost weight. She has a mass under her chin, and is basically skin and bones....except she eats like crazy and is very very active. She steals food from the other guinea pig ( who is fat and healthy), runs circles around her in fact! The only other thing is she can't squeak very well. We took her to the ver, and she said that other than the lump and being skinny she was healthy. :( I was going to have her put down because I was worried about her being in pain, but she has so much energy, doesn't squeak in pain when we pick her up and is eating and drinking. Has anybody else ever experienced this or is it just old age? Thank you so much!
 
Does the vet have any idea what the mass under her chin is? I would try to figure that out if possible. With the weight loss I would wonder that it is somehow interfering with her eating, even though you see her eating, one of my pigs had a facial abscess and although she never stopped eating altogether, and actually ate soft food ravenously, she stopped eating pellets and hay and other food that was hard for her to chew and lost a dramatic amount of weight. She regained it when the abscess was drained and she could chew harder foods again. If it turned out not be an abscess or cyst, I would worry about potential malignancy because of the weight loss, but I would try to rule out the treatable issues first. It seems like her quality of life is still good, which is great. I hope you can get it figured out!
 
I hear guinea pigs, when they get older will become lighter than they are in their prime age and its nothing to worry about.

Of course I don't want to give you false hope as guinea pigs are extremely good at hiding problems, so she may also be losing weight from something thats wrong with her.

My best advice is to weigh her weekly (or daily) and see if her weight is dropping in vast amounts. If it is she's got an illness and if she isn't, then its just her older age.
 
I would tend to worry with the lump in neck and weight loss combination. My 2.5 year sow had a neck absess which was hidden as she is a sheltie/silkie. She steadily lost weight over a period of months (still eating) and went from around 1.1/1.2 kg to around 900. I took her to vets twice to be told she was healthy.

I eventually took her to an exotics specialist who did some tests and discovered the absess. It had effected her back teeth which were overgrown hence the problem with weightloss / eating.

I would be tempted if you are in uk to find a specialist vet for a second opinion. There is a vet locator at top which shows the approved vets by forum members.
 
I would really advise using the vet locator to find a specialist piggy vet near you.

Weight loss combined with a lump could be any number of things from dental problems to cancer to a thyroid issue.

Considering her age it may not be advisable to undergo surgery to remove the lump but I think you really do need to try find the cause of it. There could be a multitude of things you could do to treat her and get her better.

In the meantime try feeding her lots of high calorie foods like baby corn, dry porridge oats and a bit of banana to try keep her weight up.
 
After a reread I've noticed you mention she has lots of energy too - this could also point to a thyroid issue. Have a look at my thread on Cash and @jenniferanneharris thread on Haven to see if any other symptoms match up to Katie's.
 
Tbag said:
After a reread I've noticed you mention she has lots of energy too - this could also point to a thyroid issue. Have a look at my thread on Cash and @jenniferanneharris thread on Haven to see if any other symptoms match up to Katie's.
Click to expand...
I agree with this, it does sound like it could be that to me too.
 
My Bea is skinny now for her size, just a touch underweight but eats like crazy too. Unfortunately she has been checked over to rule out so many other things and she is losing protein in her urine. We've ruled out diabetes as well which leaves renal disease. She's 5/6 years old now and there's nothing I can do other than keep her comfortable now until she is suffering. Hope you can find some answers
 
Lady Kelly said:
My Bea is skinny now for her size, just a touch underweight but eats like crazy too. Unfortunately she has been checked over to rule out so many other things and she is losing protein in her urine. We've ruled out diabetes as well which leaves renal disease. She's 5/6 years old now and there's nothing I can do other than keep her comfortable now until she is suffering. Hope you can find some answers
Click to expand...
I agree renal disease is a possibility. from my experience over the years it is not uncommon in older piggies.

Tbag said:
After a reread I've noticed you mention she has lots of energy too - this could also point to a thyroid issue. Have a look at my thread on Cash and @jenniferanneharris thread on Haven to see if any other symptoms match up to Katie's.
Click to expand...

I dont have experience of thyroid issues in piggies but it is a very common age related condition in cats and agree the symptoms sound typical of hypothyroidism.
Briony_S said:
I would tend to worry with the lump in neck and weight loss combination. My 2.5 year sow had a neck absess which was hidden as she is a sheltie/silkie. She steadily lost weight over a period of months (still eating) and went from around 1.1/1.2 kg to around 900. I took her to vets twice to be told she was healthy.

I eventually took her to an exotics specialist who did some tests and discovered the absess. It had effected her back teeth which were overgrown hence the problem with weightloss / eating.

I would be tempted if you are in uk to find a specialist vet for a second opinion. There is a vet locator at top which shows the approved vets by forum members.
Click to expand...

I agree the first thing to do is rule out, or in, any connection between the mass and the weight loss
 
Thank you everyone e so much! I will definitely check out the thyroid and teeth to see if that is causing the problem. She seems fine and fill of energy except for the lump and being skinny! I really appreciate your help!
 
Don't be surprised if the vet needs to do a bit of research on the thyroid issue as even exotic vets haven't had that much experience with thyroid problems in guinea pigs but it certainly sounds like a possibility so make sure you mention it.
My thyroid goes over-active and I sometimes get a fair sized lump when it's in overdrive as well having an insatiable appetite.
I know piggies can have thyroid problems because Yoshi had an under-active thyroid - bless him, he hardly ate a thing and he was HUGE.
Hope you get to the bottom of it. x
 
The only snag here might be that to really diagnose a thyroid issue you'll have to have a blood test - which is a bit of a risky business and requires anaesthetic which at Katie's age may not be the best idea.
I think the best way forward for you would be to try and rule out every other possible condition first using all other diagnostic methods available, then perhaps if you still haven't got a diagnosis you could cautiously try treating for a thyroid problem.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top