Heart Issues Piggy diagnosed with a heart murmur today - still worried

[Snugglybutt]

I'm just wondering how much weightloss is cause for concern? When I brought Hippo to the vet in October he weighed around 980 grams. Two weeks later he weighed in at his heaviest, 1010 grams. I weighed him today after visiting my mom's for 10 days (I brought the pigs, they have a big cage there), and he is down to 920 grams! I accidentally left their pellets in my apartment so I didn't give any pellets during those 10 days, so I thought maybe that was the cause, but Michael hasn't lost any weight. Hippo seems healthy, he is eating his veggies and pellets fine, and does zoomies around the cage every morning. Should I be concerned about this 90 gram weightloss? If not, for future reference, how much weightloss should I be looking out for? And yes, I'm weighing him at the same time of day.

 

[bpatters]

Yes, that's a good bit of weight to lose.

I'd put him back on pellets and weigh him daily for several days. If he doesn't start to regain the weight, or continues to lose, then he needs to see a vet.

 

[Snugglybutt]

I'm totally freaking out! I just woke up from a 2 hour long nap and when I went to give the pigs their vegetables tonight, I noticed that there was a chewed ziploc bag in their cage!! I have no idea how it how it even got in there. Before my nap I refilled their water and I didn't see anything unusual in there. I swiftly threw the bag away, but Hippo and Michael already ate maybe 25% of the bag. I'm so worried, are they going to get sick or die from this ?

 

[Soecara]

They should be okay, it is a soft plastic so it is unlikely to cause issues. Just make sure they are still eating and pooping, and keep an eye on them for the next couple days. If all is still well in 48 hours you will be in the clear as it would have passed through their system.

Guinea pigs for some strange reason are drawn to soft plastics and will hunt them out and eat them if given the chance. This includes plastic bags, sticky tape, the blue plastic lining of puppy pads, etc. Obviously you should take steps to make sure they aren't able to get to and eat any of these things as much as possible, but accidents happen and ingesting these kinds of things as a once off doesn't typically cause issues.

 

[Snugglybutt]

Thanks a bunch! Both of the pigs seem to be fine this morning, they are munching on their hay and there is lots of poop in the cage