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What is wrong with Lenticchia?

MartiDavi

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello guys,
Hope you all had a nice xmas and new year!
I am writing because we are a little concerned for Lenticchia. We booked a vet appointment for Thursday but I’d like to get some ideas prior to that. It has been a whilw now that she is been making some weird cry. She is a ting even better than usual. She is very active, playful and she is eating as normal but she lost a converning amount of weight. Any ideas?
 

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Hello guys,
Hope you all had a nice xmas and new year!
I am writing because we are a little concerned for Lenticchia. We booked a vet appointment for Thursday but I’d like to get some ideas prior to that. It has been a whilw now that she is been making some weird cry. She is a ting even better than usual. She is very active, playful and she is eating as normal but she lost a converning amount of weight. Any ideas?

Hi!

Good that you have booked her in for a vet check. Unfortunately your information is too vague to allow us to make any valid guesses. It is most likely connected with the bladder/urinary tract when piggies make sounds or screams of discomfort during peeing and pooing. As you are very observant owners you have likely caught it pretty early on before it can become very bad.

Please step in with syringe feed top up as soon as she has lost over 50g. Keep in mind that hay is making over 80% of the food intake and that you cannot control that by eye.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Administering Medications And Syringe Feed
 
Hi!

Good that you have booked her in for a vet check. Unfortunately your information is too vague to allow us to make any valid guesses. It is most likely connected with the bladder/urinary tract when piggies make sounds or screams of discomfort during peeing and pooing. As you are very observant owners you have likely caught it pretty early on before it can become very bad.

Please step in with syringe feed top up as soon as she has lost over 50g. Keep in mind that hay is making over 80% of the food intake and that you cannot control that by eye.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Administering Medications And Syringe Feed
Thank you for your message! Hope you and poggies are ok?

That is what we are thinking too. I tried to have a proper look at Lenticchia but I could not find anyrhing on her little body which would allarm me but I do think she is losing weight although she seems to be eating ok. I’ll start the hand feeding tonight then! And thanks! :)
 
Thank you for your message! Hope you and poggies are ok?

That is what we are thinking too. I tried to have a proper look at Lenticchia but I could not find anyrhing on her little body which would allarm me but I do think she is losing weight although she seems to be eating ok. I’ll start the hand feeding tonight then! And thanks! :)

Switch from weighing once weekly to weighing daily at the same time of the day (like before you feed breakfast or dinner to them), so you can eliminate ther daily weight swing of 30-40g between a full belly and bladder and an empty one as much as possible.

Old lady Hafren is sadly getting very frail now, but I am blessed that all my five surviving 7 year olds have made it to see the new year.
 
Hi Wiebke,
thanks for your reply, bladdery/urinary problem is what we suspected as well. She's been making strange, isolated squeaks for no apparent reason for a few months now, but they are usually very isolated (she would do one, than do another one a week later). These are usually when she's laying down. We thought she was communicating with Chicco, but yesterday we weighted her and noticed the significant weight loss (around 100g), and booked a vet appointment straight away. Other than this, she's behaving perfectly normal as far as we can see. Eating, active and playful. She does not show any sign of a piggie in pain. Is there any sign/behaviour we could look for, while we wait for the vet visit, if we're suspecting some urinary/bladder problem? Thanks
 
Hi Wiebke,
thanks for your reply, bladdery/urinary problem is what we suspected as well. She's been making strange, isolated squeaks for no apparent reason for a few months now, but they are usually very isolated (she would do one, than do another one a week later). These are usually when she's laying down. We thought she was communicating with Chicco, but yesterday we weighted her and noticed the significant weight loss (around 100g), and booked a vet appointment straight away. Other than this, she's behaving perfectly normal as far as we can see. Eating, active and playful. She does not show any sign of a piggie in pain. Is there any sign/behaviour we could look for, while we wait for the vet visit, if we're suspecting some urinary/bladder problem? Thanks

It doesn't sound like your classic UTI or cystitis, to be honest.

Please start topping her up with syringe feed; 100g weight loss means that she is not eating enough despite appearances. Keeping up her strength as much as possible is important.
 
It doesn't sound like your classic UTI or cystitis, to be honest.

Please start topping her up with syringe feed; 100g weight loss means that she is not eating enough despite appearances. Keeping up her strength as much as possible is important.
Thank you! Will make sure Lenticchia is kept under observation and hand fed until her visit on Thursday. Let’s hope the vet will know what is wrong.
 
Hope all goes well at the vets. Please let us know how she gets on.
 
Healing vibes for lovely Lenticcchia. Hope all goes well at the vets.
 
Thanks everyone for your replies. Yesterday Lenticchia did not make any unusual squeaks in the 4-5 hours we spent together. Overall she was active and playful. Weight is still quite low, she got down to 930g (she used to weight 1050, even 1100 on some occasions). Other than that, the only unusual things we could notice was that she got a bit slow at eating, but she still eats quite a lot, and with appetite. She really enjoyed the syringe food, on top of her veggies. Really looking forward to see the vet tomorrow.
 
Hi! We just got back from the vet. He checked Lenticchia very well and he wasn't really concerned, given how she looks and what we told him. We have to monitor her weight daily and make sure that there isn't a constant downward pattern, and bringing her back in 2 weeks, unless obviously she shows signs of illness or starts to lose weight. He was not convinced of a bladder/urinary tract problem, but he couldn't rule it out entirely as of now. We'll do an xray if she keeps losing weight. She didn't lose any weight from yesterday, which I guess is good. She's very alert and active. We'll keep up the syringe feeding for a few more days and see how it goes. I'll keep you posted, thanks everyone for the nice messages and all the advices!
 
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