My dayghter has a Silver Martin guinea pig that is one year old. He is incerdibly thin [wasnt always that way]. I can easily feel his spine and hips. He eats commercial fortified guinea pig food and fresh veggies and he has a very good appetite. He has clean water every day and is drinking well. His cage is kept clean and he does not have any diarrhea. He acts absolutely fine in every way. Can anyone shed some light on weather or not this is a problem and if so, what it may be? Thank you!
Carol2012-04-17T05:54:17Z
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Guinea pigs are prey animals and hide the fact they are ill until they are in the acute stage and can not hide it any longer. they will look like they are eating in front of you, they will play in front of you, they will appear to be completely normal and not until you have had guinea pigs for a number of years and had many of sick guinea pigs will you ever be able to see the sick ones before they are in the acute stage.
Your little guy is clearly very very ill and needs to have an exam by an exotic vet asap, that means this morning. When you call you need to tell them he is dehydrated and he is extremely skinny so they know how serious his problem is.Take two fingers and pull the skin up at his spine, I will bet it just sets there for a bit before going back down, that means he is dehydrated. Upper respiratory infections kill more guinea pigs than any other illness so that would be my first guess, then you go to bladder infections or stones for the two main illnesses that guinea pigs die from. Your little guy does not have many days left, he could be counting hours at this point if you do not get him started on proper medication.
I really think he is not eating as much as normal and has tried to keep you from seeing it as that is one of the first things that happen with guinea pigs, their chemical system gets so off they literally forget how to eat or that they are supposed to eat and in 3 to 4 days they will loose huge amounts of weight.
Please get him into the vet asap, even then we can have a battle on our hands once a guinea pig is ill, I am a sucker for sick guinea pigs and rescue them, I have spent many an night up with a sick guinea pig. They are just like humans when sick to they like their attention and pampering!!
Weight Loss is a big indication that something is wrong with your piggie. You need to get hin the a cavy savy vet asap. Please make sure they know about guinea pigs. Also, you didn't mention hay. Hay is a very important part of their diet.
are you feeding him the right amounts of veggies and every band of pellets contain are different amount of nutrients.For example even if you feed him lots carrots he may lack some other nutrients that arent found in carrots so check the nutrients in the pellets and try to feed him a variety of veggies everyday :)
or there might be something wrong with him and im no guinea pig specialist so go to the vets for a check up.
you dont mention hay but im assuming he has the to.
anyway, weightloss in gueinea pigs is usually the first indication that something is wrong, as prey animals the hide illness's. please get him to a cavy savy vet as soon as possible. better to be safe than sorry!
Take him to the vet for a check up. There are many reasons why a guinea pig might lose weight, so it is best that he has a check up. It could be diabetes, cancer, a not well-understood illness called "wasting disease". Check the guinea lynx website for a wealth of guinea pig information: www.guinealynx.info