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Worried about Pipkin.

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halfpenny

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Pipkin is our 4 year old sow, who has severe inbreeding in her history, as well as having the roan gene.
She is happy and fine within herself, but losing weight. I have booked her in for a check tomorrow, especially for a look at her teeth, but she seems to be eating fine. Could she look to be eating fine but still have dental problems. Anything else I should be concerned about, ask the vet to check?
 
Is she definitely eating as much as before? And has she lost a lot of weight or just a little bit? If it's just a little bit then it might just be a normal part of getting older, or possibly the time of the year or has she been more active recently?

I hope she'll be ok anyway, sorry I don't have any better advice
 
Ask about worming (build up of parasites and bacteria in the gut), diabetes (very sudden pronounced weight loss), check breathing and heart, have urine tested.
 
Sorry to hear you are worried about her. How much weight has she lost in what period of time?
 
If she is still eating relatively the same amount..then teeth should be Ok. So check heart and for ear/mange mites....


Then it's thyroid/cushings/diabetes etc

If she is not eating the same amount and is hunched or has stikcy up fur - she is in pain and kidneys/urethra\badder need to be checked for stones.

If in pain - give metacam...and find the cause

HTH
x
 
Thanks for answering. She hasn't lost much weight, it just seems to have redistributed, she is quite fat in the abdomen but you can feel her ribs. The vet couldn't feel any cysts and he couldn't see her teeth because her mouth was packed full of food.")
I was wondering if her mouth should be like that, or does it mean she is having problems chewing. The vet said to take her back in another day next week and I will just have to remove food for an hour beforehand so they can see inside.

She is quite bright, no hair loss, she's not showing signs of discomfort and peeing a lot. Her ears and skin are clear.

She came from a litter ( with the roan gene in it) where 2 were born with microthalmia ( one of whom died at 3 months), Pipkin has quite small eyes and one of them has a white film at the edge. Her mother mated with her brother, the litter and father were removed except for one female, who turned out to be male and he then mated with mum. So Pipkin's grandad was her uncle and her father was her half brother. We did not own these animals at the time, we fostered them until they were rehomed. We kept Pipkin because she jumped out on my hand one day and became paralysed on the back legs. She recovered but we decided it wouldn't be fair to rehome her.

Could this lead to heart problems, or point to anything else specific.
 
All my related pigs that have finally been diagnosed with heart problems (after we ruled out every infection in the book!) carry the roan gene- They're a bit more lethargic than my other piggies, drink more water and it took a while to get the diganosis because it's not about heart murmurs but about the size of the heart and presence of fluid around the lungs/heart seen on X rays
The abdomen getting fatter and more squidgy is possibly due to fluid accumulation, which also occurs around the lungs and they have respiratory sounds/issues from time to time...... and they are now tending to lose weight on the backbone and ribs.

Having said that, they're condition is kept under control with fortekor and furoseamide and they are still living very happy lives one year on...

Worth printing out the info on guina lynx and taking it to your vet - which is what I did - note that dental problems are also associated with symptoms of a heart condition although mine to date haven't had any.

http://www.guinealynx.info/heart.html


HTH
xx
 
Thank you for that, I will certainly mention it to my vet and keep an eye on her for any other symptoms- at the moment I would say she is thin in the thorax, the vet was sure it was fat in her abdomen and not fluid ( he did note that) and she is very quiet so it is definately worth considering. How did you find out about yours, obviously you want to avoid sedation, are ultrasounds any good for identification and what can be heard with a stethoscope ( ie can you tell if there is a problem with listening).
 
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