• 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

Weight Loss

Status
Not open for further replies.
Midge&Panda

Midge&Panda

Adult Guinea Pig
Joined
Jun 2, 2010
Messages
2,128
Reaction score
293
Points
620
Location
Plymouth, Whitleigh
Midge (5 1/2 yrs) has been losing weight over the last month about 100g in total. She's been to the vets and we were told just to keep an eye on her and to monitor her. They had a check over of her teeth and as much as they could see they were ok. She was given emeprid to help with her digestion and encourage eating. As well as this problem she also had a 'gunky' eye 2 weeks of fucathalmic and not much improvement but it didn't get worse either. On Wednesday (just gone) my daughter came home from school and noticed her eye was completely shut and in the corner there was a seed. Rushed her to the vets and his thought was that the seed had been lodged in the eye socket for all that time and that was the cause of the weight loss - the pain in the eye and pressure was making Midge reluctant to eat. She was given pain killing eye drops and the eye now looks 95% healed. During her sick time she has been given critical care and numerous forages as well as other treats to encourage eating and weight gain. Watching her today during floor time it occurred to me that I haven't been filling the food bowl up as much, She has gertie. Is it possible/probable that because she hasn't been eating the gertie that she is actually just reaching a more appropriate size/weight for her. Almost like us being on a diet and cutting out the junk food. If her weight doesn't stabilize this week she will be booked in for sedation and dental on Friday. Any thoughts.
 
Are her teeth a problem? Or is the vet just wanting to have a look at them if they're unsure?

Weight loss due to an eye problem could be the cause. Many of my lot have got grass seeds lodged in their eyes and it only takes a small amount of time for them to become so irritated their eyes close up. (literally seen them all and an hour later found someone with a grass seed lodged) That is unless your girl had it go around the back of the eye completely? Anyway, beside the point that's all being resolved now hopefully. I would keep an eye on her, when i run out of pellets from time to time i do see a weight drop in all of my piggies as a whole (usually around the 100g mark) so this may be a cause of weightloss too. I would be cautious also though due to her age, and if there is no dental problems and she continues to lose weight i would consider further diagnostics. (xrays/ultrasound/bloods) to find a cause. May just be a little blip though, so don't worry too much.

x.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top