Took Harold to the Vet Today

Pohtaytur

Pohtaytur

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I noticed that Harold had been losing weight over 5 weeks. It wasn't that noticeable at first, since it was only around 10 grams at a time. I took him to the vet today, and they checked him out, and the results were fine and he looks good, even checked his BCS and she said he was doing ok. Only weird thing was that the test for blood in the urinalysis turned black. The vet explained that it might be an error for the test. Looking it up, apparently vitamin C supplements can affect urinalysis test results, which I had given to him earlier today, but I'm not sure if a person's test is the same as a guinea pig's. Fortunately, everything else seemed to be ok, but the weight loss is definitely odd. Anyone else have something similar happen?
 
Pohtaytur said:
I noticed that Harold had been losing weight over 5 weeks. It wasn't that noticeable at first, since it was only around 10 grams at a time. I took him to the vet today, and they checked him out, and the results were fine and he looks good, even checked his BCS and she said he was doing ok. Only weird thing was that the test for blood in the urinalysis turned black. The vet explained that it might be an error for the test. Looking it up, apparently vitamin C supplements can affect urinalysis test results, which I had given to him earlier today, but I'm not sure if a person's test is the same as a guinea pig's. Fortunately, everything else seemed to be ok, but the weight loss is definitely odd. Anyone else have something similar happen?
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Hi, Unfortunately, I have no advice or experience with this but hopefully someone else on the forum might. Best wishes.
 
How much weight has he lost in total?
It would be advisable to switch to more regular (rather than weekly checks) weight checks now you have concerns.
Are you giving any supplementary feeding?


For information, the issue with long term use of vitamin c supplements in healthy piggies is that they in themselves can cause issues. It is not advisable or necessary to give a supplement to a healthy piggy on a good balanced diet - they get all their vit c needs from their diet. Their bodies get used to abnormally high amounts of vitamin c and if that level then drops from the high level they become used to, it can cause scurvy symptoms. Therefore if a piggy has been given vit c supplements for a long time, you cannot just stop and instead need to wean them off it very slowly so as to not cause health problems. Therefore, if it was the vit c causing the test to not work (it’s not something I’ve heard of because generally speaking most long term owners don’t tend to routinely supplement vit c to piggies in this country) you may need to do a slow wean off (with advice from your vet) before being able to conduct an accurate test.
It’s only advisable to give a short course (2 weeks) of additional vitamin c to boost the immune system if a piggy is unwell.
 
Piggies&buns said:
How much weight has he lost in total?
It would be advisable to switch to more regular (rather than weekly checks) weight checks now you have concerns.
Are you giving any supplementary feeding?


For information, the issue with long term use of vitamin c supplements in healthy piggies is that they in themselves can cause issues. It is not advisable or necessary to give a supplement to a healthy piggy on a good balanced diet - they get all their vit c needs from their diet. Their bodies get used to abnormally high amounts of vitamin c and if that level then drops from the high level they become used to, it can cause scurvy symptoms. Therefore if a piggy has been given vit c supplements for a long time, you cannot just stop and instead need to wean them off it very slowly so as to not cause health problems. Therefore, if it was the vit c causing the test to not work (it’s not something I’ve heard of because generally speaking most long term owners don’t tend to routinely supplement vit c to piggies in this country) you may need to do a slow wean off (with advice from your vet) before being able to conduct an accurate test.
It’s only advisable to give a short course (2 weeks) of additional vitamin c to boost the immune system if a piggy is unwell.
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He lost around 50g over 5 weeks, but before that he's also had normal weight fluctuations. We give them half a vitamin c tablet every other day, and 1tbs of pellets per day. People say to be careful with pellets as well since it's high in calcium but I'm even sure how to check their calcium levels, and the vet said that if they look ok then it's not necessary. The package says 1 tab per day for the vitamin C tablets. They do get peppers daily and different vegetables, but I'm not sure if that's enough vitamin c. I also can't tell if it's even a good balanced diet even with the feeding guide since it just varies.

It's hard to tell what's right or wrong and I feel like it's hard to just get a straight answer for things sometimes when it comes to guinea pigs. They're not good at communicating what's wrong so it just feels like it's a lot of guess work to me.
 
Pohtaytur said:
He lost around 50g over 5 weeks, but before that he's also had normal weight fluctuations. We give them half a vitamin c tablet every other day, and 1tbs of pellets per day. People say to be careful with pellets as well since it's high in calcium but I'm even sure how to check their calcium levels, and the vet said that if they look ok then it's not necessary. The package says 1 tab per day for the vitamin C tablets. They do get peppers daily and different vegetables, but I'm not sure if that's enough vitamin c. I also can't tell if it's even a good balanced diet even with the feeding guide since it just varies.

It's hard to tell what's right or wrong and I feel like it's hard to just get a straight answer for things sometimes when it comes to guinea pigs. They're not good at communicating what's wrong so it just feels like it's a lot of guess work to me.
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50g over 5 weeks is definitely worth monitoring - it’s not a huge amount of loss over that time frame but may be if it forms a downward trend. If it does continue going downward then step in with support feeding and see the vet again.
Mystery weight loss is a difficult thing to deal with where no specific symptoms of anything else present.
How old is he?

Yes pellets are high in calcium, even low calcium ones. The lowest calcium pellets is around 0.6, so that may help you when you check yours. However, provided it is kept at one tablespoon then that is all you can do.

Unlimited hay, a variety of daily veg including some fresh grass where possible, and one tablespoon of pellets absolutely does provide enough vit c without the need for supplementation. This is the balanced diet.
If you feed lettuce, bell pepper, coriander and cucumber daily then that covers a wide range nutrient, including vit c, needs. Pellets are fortified so providing a small amount will bridge any gaps.
We don’t see scurvy very often on here amongst long term owners. The diet is well balanced. If we do see scurvy cases if is usually in supplemented piggies whose levels have become unbalanced.
 
Daily peppers will give enough Vit C for a guinea pig without having to give Vit C supplements. I would wean him off them over the next few weeks. Harold can then have another urine test. In the Uk it’s pretty much unheard of to give Vit C supplements. As long as they get a balanced variety of veggies and plenty of hay in their diet, they should be fine.
Harold‘s weight loss is not dramatic but be vigilant and weigh him every week at the same time provided he is acting normal and eating well. If the weight loss continues then you do need to return to the vet for more tests.

Is Harold over 4/5 years old as piggies do tend to loose body condition and little weight from that time
 
Thanks for the advice, I'll slowly take them off the tablets. Both of my pigs are around 3.5 years old, though Harold's doesn't have an exact birthday on his record. I usually weigh him in the morning, but I did weigh him today in the afternoon and the weight increased a little from the last time I weighed him, which was the day before when I took him to the vet. I'm not sure if it's saying much though since weight does change throughout the day, and he's had his first veggie meal already this morning. I'll keep updates on it.

Thanks for the input Piggies&Buns and Bill & Ted, it's been hard to the the info I need, especially when I'm not really experienced with caring for pets.
 
So, I found a forum post on here with a similar issue, and there was a suggestion for increasing the amount of hay that was given, since they may be lacking hay or the nutritional amount in hay was degraded. I tried that out and I've been weighing Harold for the past few days after I got a new bag of hay and gave more than the usual. It's been good now, Harold's weight went back up after I did so pretty much the next day! I was honestly surprised. I guess that previous bag was lacking in nutrients? It's been about the same time I had that previous bag that he was losing weight, so maybe? At any rate, I'll still be weighing him daily until I'm sure he's stable, and I'm glad that he's not continuing to drop in weight.

I've also been slowly decreasing the vitamin c tablet amount. I sometimes feel like I'm a bad pet parent once I learn about these things, but I appreciate all the advice since it just means I can care for them better!
 
That’s great news. It’s always best to get the best quality hay you can as 80% of their diet should be hay. It keeps their teeth in check and their digestion runny smoothly. Provide unlimited hay and top up 2-3 times a day. There will always be wastage but that’s part of life. A tablespoon of pellets a day per piggie and a handful of veggies is all that’s needed

Here is a link that Will help you and there’s lots more in the Guinea Pig Guides section too

Diet Guides
 
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