Hello all!
My 2 year old Guinea Pig Ruby recently lost one of her cage mates (she has another, Jade, who is younger but heavier than she is). She weighed 1120g when I took her to the vet, and now she weighs 1089g. Or, she weighed 2lb 7.1 ounces, yesterday she weighed 2lb 6.7 ounces and today she is 2lb 6.1 ounces. This is the lightest she has bee since August. I have been getting them out of the cage for more floor time and engaging with them more. I also got them some toys that encourage movement such as the oxbow stick chew bundles.
I took them for a well visit and the doctor said they checked out well. They had flaky skin but a healthy coat otherwise and he saw no mites so he said that giving them more vitamin C in their diet would help. Since then, I've been giving either parsley, cilantro, or both with their daily romaine and/or green pepper and the flakes have subsided. At this point, the itching seems to be a habit so we have ruled that out.
Today, I had a lab done on their fecal matter because I was determined to rule out anything parasitic since the vet did not order the lab himself. Everything came back clean on that.
The dynamic between her and her younger cage mate has changed. I woke up this morning to the younger one lunging at Ruby every time she went to eat hay so I've been supervising their eating since to make sure that they both have pellets, hay, water, and their breakfast and dinner.
She seems to be as lively as she has always been. They're both sleeping more, but with the temperature fluctuations outside and the fact that I am now home all of the time as opposed to in classes, I can't say if this is truly normal or not.
I'm sick with worry. I've called and left a message with my vet as I don't want to stress her out with yet another vet visit if it isn't absolutely necessary. I believe she was abused in her prior home and she hates being picked up regardless of how much she trusts someone so the vet visits are really hard on her plus the recent death.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Are these fluctuations okay? I hate to sit here and not do anything to improve their situation. I want to take action so badly but I don't seem to know what to do.
As a side note: I put some pellets in water and gave them to her roughly an hour ago. She took them well and also went immediately after to eat some solid pellets. I had to do this immediately after her sister passed as she wasn't interested in the pellets for a few days.
Any advice is appreciated.
My 2 year old Guinea Pig Ruby recently lost one of her cage mates (she has another, Jade, who is younger but heavier than she is). She weighed 1120g when I took her to the vet, and now she weighs 1089g. Or, she weighed 2lb 7.1 ounces, yesterday she weighed 2lb 6.7 ounces and today she is 2lb 6.1 ounces. This is the lightest she has bee since August. I have been getting them out of the cage for more floor time and engaging with them more. I also got them some toys that encourage movement such as the oxbow stick chew bundles.
I took them for a well visit and the doctor said they checked out well. They had flaky skin but a healthy coat otherwise and he saw no mites so he said that giving them more vitamin C in their diet would help. Since then, I've been giving either parsley, cilantro, or both with their daily romaine and/or green pepper and the flakes have subsided. At this point, the itching seems to be a habit so we have ruled that out.
Today, I had a lab done on their fecal matter because I was determined to rule out anything parasitic since the vet did not order the lab himself. Everything came back clean on that.
The dynamic between her and her younger cage mate has changed. I woke up this morning to the younger one lunging at Ruby every time she went to eat hay so I've been supervising their eating since to make sure that they both have pellets, hay, water, and their breakfast and dinner.
She seems to be as lively as she has always been. They're both sleeping more, but with the temperature fluctuations outside and the fact that I am now home all of the time as opposed to in classes, I can't say if this is truly normal or not.
I'm sick with worry. I've called and left a message with my vet as I don't want to stress her out with yet another vet visit if it isn't absolutely necessary. I believe she was abused in her prior home and she hates being picked up regardless of how much she trusts someone so the vet visits are really hard on her plus the recent death.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Are these fluctuations okay? I hate to sit here and not do anything to improve their situation. I want to take action so badly but I don't seem to know what to do.
As a side note: I put some pellets in water and gave them to her roughly an hour ago. She took them well and also went immediately after to eat some solid pellets. I had to do this immediately after her sister passed as she wasn't interested in the pellets for a few days.
Any advice is appreciated.