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Tara Is Loosing Weight

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piggyme234

piggyme234

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Tara has been loosing weight for a while now. She had a very small amount of blood in her urine but not visible just enough to show up on a test stick. She also had very slightly overgrown back teeth but no spurs. She has had baytril, loxicom for a uti and when that failed to make much difference she had her teeth filed. She did eat pellets when she first got sick and for two days after having her teeth filed but isn't eating them again now. She is eating hay, grass and veggies but not pellets. I have tried her with four different types and she just isn't bothered. She is currently staying with my sister as we have gone away for the week and she has continued to loose weight. She has had a full sachet of recovery food every day and plenty of veg, hay and grass. She lives with a neutered boy and three other girls, two of which are youngsters that we got a few weeks ago just before she got sick. My sister is taking her back to the vet tomorrow, is there anything else that anyone can suggest that we try?
 
The fact she is heating hay, grass and veggies doesn't give me the impression she has a dental issue. These are all the things that are good for wearing their teeth.

How much weight has she lost? Often when piggies have been poorly, nuggets are the last thing they eat, and prefer to eat grass and veggies.

The fact she lives with four other piggies could be part of the problem. If she has been feeling a bit unwell and hasn't been eating as quickly as the others, she could easily be missing out and not getting her fair share.
 
The trouble is that she has no interest in pellets. I put them in and she walks away. I didn't think it sounds like her teeth are the main problem. I just don't know what to do. My sister is feeding her separately so she gets her share. Hopefully the vet will be able to do something. She has lost nearly 200g over 3 weeks. She is usually only 900g anyway now she is only 700g.
 
I hope you get some answers at the vets. My first thought would be to check for signs of oral thrush. It would also be a good idea to check her breathing as if she has laboured breathing she will eat whatever is easiest, as they choose to breathe rather than eat.

It may also be that she has a mild UTI if she has blood in her wee, though it would be wise to get her xrayed to check for stones.
 
It turned out that she had a cyst in her bladder. She has had it removed and also the vet found cysts on her uterus and has spayed her at the same time. She has made it through the surgery and is happily eating recovery food. We are still away, with limited signal and wifi, so she will be going back to my sister tomorrow who has been doing a great job of keeping her weight stable. Hopefully now we can start getting her weight to go back up again.
 
At least you now know what it was, keeping everything crossed for a good recovery.
 
Sending your girl lots of healing vibes and love x
 
The only people that will be able to tell you exactly what's wrong is a guinea pig trained vet:blink:
 
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