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Behavior Low energy guinea, but eating well and no weight loss

aden_al

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Hi,

I have two female babies: Oktavia the submissive and Altaria the dominant. After a few months, Oktavia and Altaria started getting along better, and now they sleep together and they tend to eat on the same side.

On Monday, I noticed that in the afternoon, after giving them food I put them outside for playground and while the dominant Altaria was eating parsley desperately, Oktavia the submissive ate only a little (she may have been full since they had had dinner an hour before) and then she slept in a cats bed and sleep for a lot of time while covered (I bought them a cat's bed so i can put them there and touch them while outside).

Then yesterday she was running around and eating like nothing had happened.

Today I came back and they both ate a lot as usual and weighted them. I notice that Oktavia was particularly docile, and she's normally not like that. I inspected their body and also with my cellphone light checked her nose. It doesn't look like her nose is bad, it is dry. I also checked Altaria and she was normal everything, she resisted a little the weighting process (as expected).

To see Oktavia's reaction, I gave them parsley and apple. Altaria the dominant seemed pretty active, running around and eating a lot, and Oktavia kind of ignored it. So I decided to give Oktavia water directly from the bottle (she normally doesn't drink much water but her vegetables are pretty wet). I decided to separate them so Oktavia can rest, since Altaria the dominant always wants to be with her and she may tire her.

Both guinea pigs are heavy (even when I got them at the shelter they were clearly bigger than the rest), they are eating well, and their weight fluctuations are normal. I had taken them before (like a month ago) to the vet because Oktavia wasn't feeling well (she looked sad and weak and didn't move much), but once they were there she had started eating again (she felt bad on Thursday night and i took them both the next day to the doctor) and was acting more normal. He checked them and said they didn't have anything, and that they look healthy. He was thorough, but i didn't want any additional procedures since it was already very stressful for me and for them.


Altaria is bothered that i put a division, but I want Oktavia to rest by herself.

Has this happened to you?

See weights below:

Weights are in grams. The first day is when the doctor weighted them (July 19). Aout means August.

Their cage is 2 by 6.

DateOktaviaPourcentageAltaria MonserratPourcentage
19 Juillet 201910651190
27 Juillet 201910983.10%12121.85%
29 Juillet 201911161.64%12140.17%
30 Juillet 201911260.90%1206-0.66%
31 Juillet 201911290.27%1196-0.83%
1 Aout 20191115-1.24%12000.33%
3 Aout 201911230.72%1199-0.08%
4 Aout 20191096-2.40%1192-0.58%
5 Aout 201911202.19%11930.08%
6 Aout 201911280.71%11980.42%
7 Aout 20191111-1.51%1187-0.92%
8 Aout 20191110-0.09%1180-0.59%
10 Aout 20191099-0.99%11910.93%
11 Aout 201911141.36%11940.25%
12 Aout 201911311.53%12040.84%
13 Aout 20191114-1.50%1194-0.83%
14 Aout 201911230.81%11980.34%
15 Aout 201911310.71%12211.92%
16 Aout 20191128-0.27%1198-1.88%
17 Aout 20191119-0.80%12222.00%
18 Aout 20191090-2.59%1199-1.88%
19 Aout 201911162.39%12181.58%
20 Aout 20191112-0.36%1210-0.66%
21 Aout 201911160.36%12130.25%
 

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aden_al

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Not sure how to erase unwanted posts. I had pasted the weights here but I realized I could paste them up.

Thank you.
 

bpatters

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First, they are NOT overweight. Every sow I've ever had hovered between 1200-1300 grams, and none of them were overweight. Many of the weights you find on the Internet recommended as "normal" are derived from lab animals, not pets.

Second, don't separate them for one of them to rest. If she is getting sick, she'll likely be more stressed by being alone than by being pestered by her cage mate.

I'd just keep an eye on her. Her weights are stable, and if she's eating and pooping normally, there's likely nothing to worry about.

How hot is it where you are? Are they haired or skinny pigs?
 

aden_al

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First, they are NOT overweight. Every sow I've ever had hovered between 1200-1300 grams, and none of them were overweight. Many of the weights you find on the Internet recommended as "normal" are derived from lab animals, not pets.

Second, don't separate them for one of them to rest. If she is getting sick, she'll likely be more stressed by being alone than by being pestered by her cage mate.

I'd just keep an eye on her. Her weights are stable, and if she's eating and pooping normally, there's likely nothing to worry about.

How hot is it where you are? Are they haired or skinny pigs?

It's only 2 of them. I just separated them for the night. This will also allow me to see how much poop she did during the rest of the night. They've been separated for like and hour and I only found a few poops, but I'm not sure if it belongs to her or if it was already there, so it may be that (I massaged her belly while checking their weight and she wasn't uncomfortable). I'll be able to tell tomorrow.

We are in Texas and the electricity company started sending us notice to use less energy (to everyone), my apartment is pretty comfortable. I saw that one girl saw a similar problem and that it was the heat. So I decreased the temperature to see if she starts acting normal. I was also worried they may develop a cold because two weeks ago they sneezed a little more.

They are short hair and I cut some of it to make them less fluffy.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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If you're worried about heat, my piggies have the Kaytee Chin-Chiller granite slabs. We make sure it's never warmer than 79° for them, but nevertheless they love to kick back and lay on them! They're only $6 on Amazon.
 

aden_al

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Thank you. Some of the comments were useful and it was the right decision to separate them because I was able to see that Oktavia did not poo during the night. During the morning i inspected her butt and I couldn’t find any obstructions, I also massaged her and she didn’t show any signs of discomfort . Hopefully there will be nothing wrong with her. I’m dropping her to the vet later this day.
 

aden_al

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Update: the vet said it was nothing and that she was pretty lively when she was there. She was certainly weaker because she didn't fight while being held. Once she was back home she started eating, she was hungry. I left her separated for a couple of hours and I finally saw she had poop. However, some of her poops looked a little irregular, which is bad, but maybe they are like that because she wasn't eating well. The point is that she's eating again and pooping again. The other one got really happy once I allowed them to be together again and started chasing her (or maybe tormenting here, not sure, haha).

The doctor gave me some critical care food which I will use tomorrow in case I see she's not eating as well.
 
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