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Specialist Weight Loss

Gerties

Gerties

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
5
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3
Points
140
No dental issues
Eating normally
No Bloat
Behaving normally
Loosing weight on a continual basis

Neutered 6 weeks ago

Any ideas ?
 
Gerties said:
No dental issues
Eating normally
No Bloat
Behaving normally
Loosing weight on a continual basis

Neutered 6 weeks ago

Any ideas ?
Click to expand...

Hi!

If in any doubt, please see a vet for a hands-on examination. We can only guess as much as you, as we can only judge on the basis of your information.
Could you please tell us how much your boy has lost and for how long he has been losing weight?

Have you checked for any swelling in the groin area? Neutering op complications can happen weeks or even months after an operation if you are unlucky. You can find a list of them in our comprehensive neutering guide: Neutered / De-sexed Boars And Neutering Operations: Myths And Facts
 
He has seen a vet - and had X-ray to see if anything to see (nothing on X-Ray) . Trying to find something for us to explore as we are all at a loss.
He has been losing around 40g or more a week - so was once 1200g now 1070g. We are out of ideas - we are starting supplementary feeding now to try and get him steady while we work out what the problem is.
 
PS - no swelling or obvious post op complications but given timing can't help but think connected in some way
 
Gerties said:
He has seen a vet - and had X-ray to see if anything to see (nothing on X-Ray) . Trying to find something for us to explore as we are all at a loss.
He has been losing around 40g or more a week - so was once 1200g now 1070g. We are out of ideas - we are starting supplementary feeding now to try and get him steady while we work out what the problem is.
Click to expand...

Have you had a look through the complications list in the neutering guide? Some of the rarer ones are not necessarily easily visible or able to be picked up by an x-ray like a gut adhesion etc.

Good that you have started to supplement feed. Is your boy still on metacam in case it is a pain/discomfort issue somewhere, as many weight loss problems are.
 
Yes just read them all - but how would we know which ? any diagnostics we could sound out with vet? Sorry Wiebke should have said we are a rescue in North East so familiar with common stuff but this one has us really scratching our heads. I don't know if neuter red herring but timing and decline makes us think not.
 
Gerties said:
Yes just read them all - but how would we know which ? any diagnostics we could sound out with vet? Sorry Wiebke should have said we are a rescue in North East so familiar with common stuff but this one has us really scratching our heads. I don't know if neuter red herring but timing and decline makes us think not.
Click to expand...

I have personal experience with adopted neutered boars with the gut adhesion and the hernia, which have happened both a few weeks or even months after the op.
My instinct would be to think about problems at the back of the operated area, which are not visible at the surface, whether that is an abscess or a swelling etc. I agree that there is likely a link to his neutering op somewhere, and that it is rather something subtle and not easy to diagnose.

I have upgraded your thread and tagged our other experienced members for you to see whether they have further ideas as to what could be going on.
 
@Gerties Has he had a blood test to check his thyroid levels?

One of my boys had an issue like this. I could feed him 24/7 and he wouldn't gain weight. He has intestinal issues. His intestines were thickened and so he didn't absorb as many nutrients from his food as he needed. He wasn't born like it, it happened when he was around 2 years old.

His only physical signs were a very noisy stomach and his poops were misshapen.

Have you tried upping the amount of food for your boy and/or giving him more calorific foods like more nuggets, peaflakes, corn etc. For a short while it won't harm as then you can rule out digestive issues if he starts to gain weight.
 
One of our boars was steadily losing weight, over a period of time. On examination a nodule was felt in his neck (very deep) so suspecting hyperthyroidism, we started him on thyronorm. His weight stabilised and then very slowly increased. He's now back to his normal weight and has 0.2 ml of thyronorm each end of the day. Prior to starting the medication he seemed very on edge all the time and his body permanently quivered.
 
@Gerties Hope they can pinpoint a cause for you. It's very frustrating when it's not diagnosed. Guess work is hard!

Let us know how you get on!
 
Without knowing more weighloss could be anything to be truest honest. Some of the more common reasons for weight loss in piggies are:
- dental changes
- hyperthyroidism
- kidney disease and stones
- a bladder infection
- post operative pain from adhesions (pretty uncommon for a neuter to have this issue)
- respiratory infection

These would need to be ruled out by a vet. It would advise more diagnostics from your vet if he continues to lose weight. Is the supplemental feeding helping him put the weight on or not? May be worth trialling some pain relief to see if his weight goes up with this too.

x
 
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