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Weight Loss Worried about my baby not eating

Raine59

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I have had a little female Aby for about 4 weeks in the same cage with 2 adult females. She was about 2 months when I got her. I weighed her the day I got her and she was about 500 grams. She seemed to be very shy at first and didn't each much although she seemed to get along fairly well with the other two. I weighed her every day and she varied between 500 and 520 grams for almost 2 weeks but finally she seemed to come out of her shell and started eating a bit more, though not that much hay. During the 3rd week, she got up to 540 grams but still seemed very small. Finally last weekend she seemed to be eating even less than usual and was a bit lethargic. I weighed her and she was 450 grams. I took her to a vet who seemed to know a lot about GPs and said she had previously had some of her own. She tested her stool and said she had a lot of bad bacteria (Coccidia and gram negative) in her intestinal tract and put her on antibiotics and said no veggies for several days. She seems a lot perkier now but still has only gained back about 10 grams and is still way below what she weighed nearly a month ago. I don't know what else to do for her. Anyone ever experienced something like this?
 

PigPandemonium

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I had a problem at one time with Ro Dah not eating much because of the other pigs being there. She was shy, and just hid away a lot, she would try to come out and eat, however if another of the pigs came near she would run away and hide. What helped, was adding a TON of hay around the cage for her to chose from, that way she could eat where ever she went. I put a hay pile in the litter area, one pile on top of every pigloo, some going up to ramp to the loft which also had a hay pile in it, some in a litter pan, etc. She really had no choice but to eat the hay since it was EVERYWHERE. xD Also, what brand of hay do you have?

I also would take her out of the cage a lot to let her eat in peace, I'd give her a bowl of pellets, a pile of hay, and some veggies, in a 2x3 play pen, and let her eat until she wanted to go back.

After a while she became fine with eating on her own. Hope this helps! :D
 

Raine59

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She doesn't seem shy about eating with the other two around and they don't bully her. I often try to hand feed her when I give her lap time but the only thing she really likes is carrots. I use KMS hay and keep it in 2 racks in the litter box as I don't like it getting all over the fleece.
 

PigPandemonium

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Does she seem to know the hay racks are there and just doesn't eat from them? I've known a few pigs to not be able to figure out how to eat from a hay rack, maybe you could try a small hay pile in a litter pan (So as not to dirty your fleece) Just for a while and see if she eats that?
 

Raine59

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She does eat hay occasionally and she certainly knows how to get to it, she just doesn't seem to have much of an appetite for anything.
 
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