Weight loss

[claire8234]

Hi everyone

I posted yesterday about our boar carrot having to go to the vets as we found blood in his wee.

The vet suspected he has cystitis and is being treated with metacam for five days - no antibiotics given or urine sample taken.

I weighed Carrot this morning as he seemed a bit skinnier than normal and he is currently 1005g. I last weighed him three weeks ago (we were on holiday and he didn't get weighed when he was being looked after) and he was 1115g.

He is eating and pooping fine so do I need to be worried about this and do I need to do something about it.

Thank you

 

[Guinea pig slave]

100g loss approx over three weeks is something to keep an eye on - it's not a great amount but best to weigh him daily if possible.
He sounds healthy enough but we can never be too certain what's going on with them - one of my girls had lost weight and the vet gave her a thorough examination and nothing abnormal but advised to keep an eye on her weight.
She eats really well and has maintained her weight since but have Critical Care if needed and started giving her some Science Supreme nuggets alongside her usual Wagg pellets. Our scales also proved to be a bit 'out' as well mallethead
If your piggy is eating and behaving as normal, I wouldn't worry too much - a weight loss of 20-30g per day would need investigating quickly though.
If you weigh at the same time each day too i.e. after feeding and keep a record, it helps as I was weighing Sheila before food :x
Hope everything is ok and send hugs x>>

*Metacam can reduce appetite as I discovered - only just spotted that in your thread...

 

[claire8234]

Thank you

He isn't on antibiotics as the vet just suspected cystitis so I am hoping that the metacam will help and his weight will go back up again once he is feeling better

 

[Guinea pig slave]

Maybe try some unsweetened Cranberry juice in his water, it wards off nasty bugs in the bladder I have a bladder piggy who has this daily and *touch wood* almost a year since his cystitis/UTI and then his stone surgery, has never had a problem with his waterworks
Dandelion leaves are good too as they are a diuretic so try him with these.
His weight loss is probably down to feeling off colour - usually, a vet will try a course of antibiotics as a precautionary measure though and to kill off any bacteria :{

 

[claire8234]

thank you. I have tried putting cranberry juice in the water bottle (diluted) but they don't like it! I thought it was strange that the vet didn't prescribe antibiotics!

 

[Guinea pig slave]

Metacam is prescribed for pain relief and is also an anti inflammatory so may do the job in hand - Cystitis is inflammation of the bladder and commonly followed by a UTI.
How is little one doing today p

 

[claire8234]

Thanks guinea pig slave

He likes the metacam so getting that into him isnt as hard as I thought it would be as he just licks it off the syringe!

I have checked the litter tray and their cage liner and haven't seen any blood anywhere today so that seems to be a good sign.

They haven't eaten their pellets today but they have gone through a whole rack of hay (they have green oat hay as a treat) and I have hand fed carrot some salad leaves so I know he is eating.


Just hoping the metacam clears it up and he doesn't develop a UTI - he went to the vet as soon as we noticed the blood so fingers crossed we caught it early enough.