Losing a lot of weight... no other symptoms?

Phantomhorse

Post   » Mon Oct 16, 2017 2:27 pm


Sunny is a three year old female spayed piggy. I noticed that for the past week, when she eats she is dropping food. So into the vet we went. The vet noted that she had lost 250 grams in a month. She couldn't find anything, and Sunny showed no other symptoms, but she had lost a fourth of her weight, so we ran tests. We took an in house PCV and basic test and sent a chem panel to a lab, an x-ray of her lungs up, and did an anesthetized oral dental exam (she was already under) (her teeth were fine, but she trimmed them a little just in case). The chem panel is not back yet, but basic panel and PCV were completely normal, heart is normal (we checked lungs twice because she is a frequent flyer for pneumonia) and the lungs were fine, no skull issues, inner and outer ears were fine, teeth and roots of teeth were fine, no spurs, nothing was wrong. Any clue what the problem could be? I need help!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Oct 16, 2017 2:48 pm


It sounds like you did not do a dental xray. They can be very helpful diagnosing tooth problems (especially tooth root problems) that are missed.
www.guinealynx.info/malocclusion.html

Phantomhorse

Post   » Mon Oct 16, 2017 2:51 pm


Lynx, she got multiple view X-rays of her head. There was nothing there. I just don't know what to do. She has a great appetite, she shoulders aside the boy she lives with, but she is still losing weight. But you may be onto something...
Last edited by Phantomhorse on Mon Oct 16, 2017 2:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Phantomhorse

Post   » Mon Oct 16, 2017 2:56 pm


Does your guinea pig seem to work at chewing like he has something caught in his mouth that he or she is trying to unstick? No.
Is there exaggerated ear movement when he chews? Will observe her again when i get home in two hours (TBD)
Is there discharge from the eyes or nose (can indicate an abscess)? Nope
Does he seem to chew to one side? (TBD)
Are the front teeth even and lined up? Yes.
Does he eat at the same rate/speed the other pigs eat at? Yes
Can he rip and tear? TBD
Can he eat the peel as well as the apple from an apple slice? TBD
Does he chew (carrots in particular) and let little pieces drop out of his mouth? YES! PROBLEM!
Does he pick up a pellet in his mouth and let it drop out again? TBD?
Does he show great interest in food, yet not eat? She appears to be eating, but i will observe when i get home.
Is he steadily losing weight? YES! A LOT!
Is he drooling? No. None of her fur is wet and she doesn't drool when she eats, or when she isn't eating.

Phantomhorse

Post   » Mon Oct 16, 2017 4:51 pm


Lynx? I just gave her some pellets to observe first... she is eating very slowly... it takes her two minutes to chew one or two pellets, and she has multiple times started nodding her head when she chews...

Phantomhorse

Post   » Mon Oct 16, 2017 5:28 pm


Does your guinea pig seem to work at chewing like he has something caught in his mouth that he or she is trying to unstick? [No.]
Is there exaggerated ear movement when he chews? Will observe her again when i get home in two hours [I'm not sure what that looks like]
Is there discharge from the eyes or nose (can indicate an abscess)? [Nope]
Does he seem to chew to one side? [NO]
Are the front teeth even and lined up? [Yes.]
Does he eat at the same rate/speed the other pigs eat at? [Mostly, but when eating pellets she is beyond slow]
Can he rip and tear? [yes]
Can he eat the peel as well as the apple from an apple slice? [yes]
Does he chew (carrots in particular) and let little pieces drop out of his mouth? YES! PROBLEM!
Does he pick up a pellet in his mouth and let it drop out again? [no]
Does he show great interest in food, yet not eat? [she is eating a lot]
Is he steadily losing weight? YES! A LOT!
Is he drooling? No. None of her fur is wet and she doesn't drool when she eats, or when she isn't eating.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Oct 16, 2017 7:52 pm


Is she more tired than usual? Weight loss could contribute to tiredness but also heart issues might be considered.
www.guinealynx.info/heart.html

Phantomhorse

Post   » Tue Oct 17, 2017 7:29 am


Lynx, she has always been a bit of a sleepy pig. She spends the day sleeping in her pigloo, but as soon as I step into the room she jumps up and is squealing at the front of the cage. She is able to jump on to the ledge shelf thing I have for them easily. If you take her out of her cage she runs around the house happily! We took her to my vet four days ago, and her heart sounded fine... and she isn’t hooting... or making any abnormal sounds. Thoughts?

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:00 am


Have you tested for fungal issues? My Jon was losing weight, we sent away some poops for tests and it came back positive for fungal issues. It wasn't a very detailed test so it didn't give us an idea of what exactly the issue was.

But my vet decided to try the fungal route and prescribed Itrafungal for a month because that would be the first option she would have tried anyway. And if it had no effect we would go in for more detailed tests.

He stopped losing weight and gained back some of the lost amount.

I haven't followed it up with another poop test so it could possibly be a coincidence that it worked, or he recovered himself but it's an option to look into with your vet.

Phantomhorse

Post   » Tue Oct 17, 2017 11:53 am


Jaycey, did he show any other issues? An INTERNAL fungal issue... you have made me very curious. I am off to do some research!

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Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Wed Oct 18, 2017 10:01 am


We had a weird case that sounds somewhat similar. He would pick up but then drop food, and dental exam didn't reveal anything. This has been quite some time ago, but I seem to recall that we did a round of Prednisone and there was improvement. Not sure we ever got to the bottom of it, and this particular guinea pig ended up having multiple issues later on. Good luck -- I hope you can find some answers soon.

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Jaycey
Supporter in 2014

Post   » Wed Oct 18, 2017 3:22 pm


He does have quite a sensitive stomach. Certain veg really makes it rumble. And his poops are smaller than a normal boar (he's smaller himself) and they can be weird shaped when he has his stomach rumbles.

He's always been like this (he's 4) but it's only earlier this year that the weight loss started.

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