Weight Problem

[Emmamarie123]

hello,

I have posted before on the first forum about my little Guinea pig Crumble. I have recently got her about 2 weeks ago and I had to take her to the vets 3 days after getting her as she had diarrhoea. Crumble weighed 245g at this point but went down to 220g. I gave her critical care every few hours and kept encouraging her to eat. Eventually she refused critical care but she went back to eating her food. Crumble was said to be 5 weeks old but due to her weight we believed her to be younger.
The vet suspected that the diarrhoea was a diet issue and as of the past couple of days her droppings are back to normal. I am feeding her small amounts of veggies outside of her cage as she is part of a herd of 3 girls. (When she had diarrhoea I quarantined her in case she had a contagious infection.
Currently she is back with the girls as she seems much happier with the group but as I have said I remove her for feeding as I don't want her eating too much and getting an upset tummy again.
Today she weighs 235g and is steadily gaining her weight back.
I am still very worried about her as I know her weight is very low. I feed her baby corn which is her favourite and some cucumber. I will be getting some special Guinea pig pellets from my vets tomorrow which will hopefully help with her weight gain.
I am just wondering whether I should be doing anything else to help her gain weight? She has access to fresh hay all day and muesli. (She will be going on to pellets tomorrow which I will add to her muesli).
The vet said she seems healthy in herself but she needs to gain more weight.

 

[Wiebke]

View attachment 70601 View attachment 70601 hello,

I have posted before on the first forum about my little Guinea pig Crumble. I have recently got her about 2 weeks ago and I had to take her to the vets 3 days after getting her as she had diarrhoea. Crumble weighed 245g at this point but went down to 220g. I gave her critical care every few hours and kept encouraging her to eat. Eventually she refused critical care but she went back to eating her food. Crumble was said to be 5 weeks old but due to her weight we believed her to be younger.
The vet suspected that the diarrhoea was a diet issue and as of the past couple of days her droppings are back to normal. I am feeding her small amounts of veggies outside of her cage as she is part of a herd of 3 girls. (When she had diarrhoea I quarantined her in case she had a contagious infection.
Currently she is back with the girls as she seems much happier with the group but as I have said I remove her for feeding as I don't want her eating too much and getting an upset tummy again.
Today she weighs 235g and is steadily gaining her weight back.
I am still very worried about her as I know her weight is very low. I feed her baby corn which is her favourite and some cucumber. I will be getting some special Guinea pig pellets from my vets tomorrow which will hopefully help with her weight gain.
I am just wondering whether I should be doing anything else to help her gain weight? She has access to fresh hay all day and muesli. (She will be going on to pellets tomorrow which I will add to her muesli).
The vet said she seems healthy in herself but she needs to gain more weight.

Hi!
You cannot rush a sustainable weight gain, but it would be good if you started to switch her to a better diet with more nutrients. Do not fill her up with empty calories like sweet corn and muesli (where piggies just eat the sugary parts).

Instead introduce slowly one by one more veg into her diet now that her digestion has stabilised; don't do it all at once to help her guts cope with new matter. Diarrhea in piggies that have been on a very limited no veg diet (and whose mums were the same) is not at all uncommon, as their guts have had no chance to learn how to cope with fresh food.

It may take a little while for the nutrients to filter through fully, but it is much more important to aim for overall fitness and good health (and incidentally longevity) by concentrating on the quality of the calories you are offering instead of the quantity. Your little girl has still got over a year to reach her own genetically determined optimal weight and size, you know. Let her get there without rushing her, but give her time to get used to a good diet first and she'll do the rest on her own.

If you want to help her digestion, either give her a pinch of probiotics (either on some veg or syringed with a little water) or some "poo soup", a bit of water in which you have soaked fresh healthy poos from a companion. Even the end product still contains enough of the "right stuff" to inoculate her guts if you do it once or twice, always just with fresh stuff.

Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet (including a sample diet)
The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight
Pellets Or Muesli / Dry Mix?

 

[Emmamarie123]

Hi thanks for replying. I received some new food from the vets today. It is burgess excel with mint. I will slowly introduce this into her diet. She seems healthy and happier since her stomach has settled so I will be careful that I add it slowly.