worried about chesney, advice please (piggy) *been to the vets*

firstly, a bit of his background - he was 2 years old approximately when we adopted him in march 2009. he had been neutered a short time before and his weight was 1025g (could have been his ideal weight or lower than it should be as he had been through alot) hhe is a very short pig in length. he has a big tum and bum and as he has got oolder his back seems bonier. he's over 4 years old now.

anyway, he turned into a huge piggy! always around the 1400g mark. we saw the vet in may 2010 who helped me with their feeding plan which i have done since then (hay, grass, leafy greens, dried herbs, natural foods, small amount of pellets)

ches has kept to a similar weight with the diet change although he is quite lazy.

the other day i noticed some soft poops when i cleaned their cage out. there was a few of them but i didn't know whether they were soft or just wet from having wee on them. although he did have a small bit of poop stuck to his bum we noticed so that would indicate he had softer than usual poops.

yesterday chesney seemed a bit quiet. nothing i could quite put my finger on though, just a bit quiet for him.

i weighed him and his weight is very low - 1160g. maisie has stayed the same approximately at 1200g and ches is usually much bigger.

i can't find their recorded weights from recently. i'm such an idiot but i can't find them at all. i have found the weight from jan-april time ish though.

ches -

1402g
1356g
1385g
1386g
1395g
1383g
1431g
1160g (22nd july)

1181g - 23rd july 8am
1182g - 23rd july 9pm
1178g - 24th july 9am
1179g - 24th july 8pm
1189g - 25th july 7pm

1158g - 26th july

1179g - 27th july

1182g - 28th july

1182g - 29th july

1169g - 30th july

1178g (am) 1173g (pm) - 31st july


then i can't find april to june i don't remember him losing alot though, i would have panicked if that had been the case. although i know one result was 1275g which we thought was good because we had been trying to get him exercising more.

this last month or so i haven't weighed them. i know i'm an idiot. there has been so much going on and now i feel awful.

his weight today is 1160g and that is really low for him.

his poops are fine now, he is weeing, he is eating and drinking normally, i can't hear anything in his chest or see anything obviously wrong with him.

the thing is that just after the soft poops the other day our fridge broke. it has been a bit tempremental for a while. i think maybe he could have eaten some veg that was not ideal because of the fridge, even though the veg looked ok. but that is a possibility.

he seems ok in himself, maybe a bit quieter than normal and a bit more tired. he has always been quiet and lazy though.

i just did their tea and he ran over as usual and stood up biting the bars to tell me to hurry up! he ate it all and didn't look to be struggling with eating it.

i rang the vets we use which is a top exotics vet but they aren't in until monday. there is another vets nearby which is open tomorrow that i will ring but i don't know if their exotics vet is working tomorrow. and all the other vets around here really don't have a clue and i wouldn't trust them to care for any pet of mine.

i'm not feeding any veg to them now from the fridge. the new fridge is coming next tuesday so in the mean time they have to have just herbs.

they have had some dried herbs recently, some barley grass mix from pampered piggies and some dried dandelion. i gave small amounts but could this have upset his tummy?

what else would cause that much of a weight loss? the loss must have been recently, the last month or so.

looking over at chesney now, he's burrowing in his hay as normal and he's moving around the cage, and rumbling at maisie as normal. he doesn't look ill as such, just slimmer.

does anyone have any ideas? i love this little piggy so much and i'm not sure what is wrong. they can't lose that much surely from more exercise in a month?

i've given them pellets now instead of their usual night time pellets aswell and given him cuddles etc.

also, ages ago they had dried grass and it upset both their tums. they have been having the barley grass mix recently although i did introduce it slowly.

any idea please? and which vets to go to - the not as good one tomorrow with maybe an exotics vet or maybe not, or our usual vets on monday?

Hi sorry only just seen the PM about this thread.

It could very well have been poops that he had sat on and peed on - Gypsey's poops always look softer and out of shape in her litter tray as she insists on peeing and pooping in one spot and sitting on it. You would definitely classify it as soft poops over diarear, right?

His weight loss is rather dramatic, and it may indicate something is going on - which your exotics vet will be able to look into.

It's hard because it's all quite general symptoms, so could be related to a number of things, and even just *age* although I would expect a more gradual weight loss. If it were me I'd weigh him twice daily (morning pre any veg food and evening pre veg food), and keep an eye he isn't still losing. If he is not losing rapidly, he continues to eat, drink and look alert in himself, I would wait until Monday to see the better exotics vet, as they will be able to investigate much more throughly.

Prehaps stop the Barley grass for now and see if that makes a difference.

Also would check for impaction, it can make some males look a slightly odd shape (larger bottom). It is pretty rare for a neutered male to get it though, but worth checking, and knowing about with an ageing male: http://www.guinealynx.info/impaction.html

It *might* explain the soft poops coming out in a mass, if they all suddenly dislodged and came out - although usually the impaction, is just that and stops the softer cecal poops from coming out.

Char-x said:

Hi sorry only just seen the PM about this thread.

It could very well have been poops that he had sat on and peed on - Gypsey's poops always look softer and out of shape in her litter tray as she insists on peeing and pooping in one spot and sitting on it. You would definitely classify it as soft poops over diarear, right?

His weight loss is rather dramatic, and it may indicate something is going on - which your exotics vet will be able to look into.

It's hard because it's all quite general symptoms, so could be related to a number of things, and even just *age* although I would expect a more gradual weight loss. If it were me I'd weigh him twice daily (morning pre any veg food and evening pre veg food), and keep an eye he isn't still losing. If he is not losing rapidly, he continues to eat, drink and look alert in himself, I would wait until Monday to see the better exotics vet, as they will be able to investigate much more throughly.

Prehaps stop the Barley grass for now and see if that makes a difference.

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Char-x said:

Also would check for impaction, it can make some males look a slightly odd shape (larger bottom). It is pretty rare for a neutered male to get it though, but worth checking, and knowing about with an ageing male: http://www.guinealynx.info/impaction.html

It *might* explain the soft poops coming out in a mass, if they all suddenly dislodged and came out - although usually the impaction, is just that and stops the softer cecal poops from coming out.

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thanks so much for replying.

it was definitely soft poops rather than diarrhoea. they weren't stuck together but each one was softer than normal. they are back to normal now though as when i found them soft and him with a bit of a messy bum, i reduced the veg slightly and upped the hay to firm the poops up a bit. i did slightly part his bum to see if i could see any type of impaction but i couldn't see anything obvious.

i know his weight loss wasn't that dramatic because i would have panicked but i know one of the readings was 1275g which is low for him but like i said, we have been trying to up his exercise and he has been moving around alot more as i bought them new toys to play with. i have searched everywhere for the paper i wrote the weights on but could only find those i listed above. i'm so upset he's lost weight recently when i haven't weighed them and i normally weight them regularly.

i noticed earlier that when i put the pellets in he had some but he hasn't been a greedy guts and eaten loads which he normally would do. he even warns maisie off the food bowl sometimes and scoffs pellets for himself! :roll: so could this be related to his teeth maybe? he is definitely eating his veg (although they only have leafy greens which are soft) and he is definitely eating hay. he doesn't drink very much water anyway so that's the same.

he looked a bit tired yesterday and this morning but looks ok now. he even did a pop when i cleaned his cage yesterday. he isn't making as many noises as he usually does though. he isn't a loud pig anyway but usually romances maisie every chance he gets.

i thought maybe it could be age related but like you, i thought it wouldn't be that much of a weight loss.

i will do what you said and weight him in the morning and again in the evening tomorrow and see what the results are.

i know my usual vets will do a more thorough job which is why i wanted to go monday but obviously i would have tried the other vets tomorrow if he was really not himself.

his symptoms don't seem to point to anything in particular really. if he hadn't lost weight there wouldn't really be anything else i could pinpoint. :?

he's interested in food and coming over for his veg and burrowing in the hay as usual. i keep going over and switching the toys around to see if he's interested and he is, he comes over to explore.

i can't wait until monday though, i just want him checked over and any tests done that they think he needs.

thanks again for replying. x

It could be his teeth - your vet will be able to do a check without anesthetic to rule this out/confirm.

If it is anything to be concerned about, you have most likely caught it early anyway - a loss of weight is usually the first sign of anything.

I hope he continues to stay steady over the weekend and you get an answer on Monday, keep me posted

Char-x said:

It could be his teeth - your vet will be able to do a check without anesthetic to rule this out/confirm.

If it is anything to be concerned about, you have most likely caught it early anyway - a loss of weight is usually the first sign of anything.

I hope he continues to stay steady over the weekend and you get an answer on Monday, keep me posted

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i've just sat with him for ages and he picked up a pellet, dropped it, then picked up another and chewed it quite slowly. he ate some dried dandelion easily though. he had one more pellet and went off again. that is definitely not like him, he usually eats loads of them at once. so it could be his teeth. i've just looked at some poops he's done and they're not soft as such but one seems slightly wet. and it smells really strong, stronger than normal anyway so that could be his tummy maybe. i guess he can have a thorough check on monday.

thanks for the help and i will keep updating on how he is. x

well chesney is a happy little piggy today. he looks bright and alert. he teeth chattered at me when i said good morning! (normal, he likes his sleep! :lol then he ran over when i rustled the dried herbs bag. i gave them a dandelion leaf and he ate that ok.

i got him out and weighed him. he is 1181g this morning. up 21g but i know that's not really classed as much of a change. afterwards he really enjoyed cuddles and strokes. i checked him over again and again i can't notice anything obviously wrong. checked his bum again and there's not anything wrong that i can see, his penis area is clean, his fur is clear etc, i can't hear any wheezy noises or see anything in his eyes or nose.

when he went back in the cage he even came over waiting for another reward! :lol:

gave them their breakfast, coriander and basil which he ate no problem. then he did his usual dive into the fresh hay and ate a few strands.

he came over to the pellet bowl and again he picked one up and dropped it and then after that he kind of crushed it and ate a tiny bit. i picked one up and held it for him to eat and his eyes lit up (if you have piggies you'll know what i mean!) and he nibbled it but then snatched it off me and dropped it, attempted to pick it up but couldn't and left it. he's spending time at the pellet bowl but is having trouble eating them. between every bit he has some water. he's not a big drinker and he's always had trouble drinking properly because he doesn't lick the bottle spout, he never has - he puts his whole mouth over it and kind of nods his head up and down to make the water drip out. he's done this from when we got him though and the vet couldn't find any reason for it when i had him checked over for that. it's just a habit it seems.

if the weight loss wasn't so much i would be glad because he is such a short pig and if anything he looks much better at this lower weight. but obviously a sudden loss is not good news.

but he seems bright and happy so that's good. i guess i will just tell the vet anything we have noticed and get him completely checked over and see where we go from there.

i'll weigh him again this evening before his tea.

i've just read about malocclusion/elongated tooth roots on the guinea lynx site and it does sound like that.

ches does sometimes look like he chews in a strange way like he is trying to unstick something in his teeth, he picked up the pellets and dropped them again, he chews the cage bars at veg time so could have done some damage, and obviously he has lost alot of weight.

how quickly can malocclusion occur. is this something that could have been building up for a while? and how quickly does weight loss happen? could he have lost this much weight in a week, a few weeks, or would it have been over a month?

my vets are fantastic but can anyone give me a general idea of what they will do if he has dental problems please so i am prepared.

right - i've been sat watching them all day practically and noticed that chesney is not eating as much hay. he is eating some but choosing the shorter, thinner strands. i gave them unlimited pellets today and most are still left. there is no way he wouldn't have eaten them all if he could have. he is still dropping some of them when he picks them up.

i've fed him extra herb leaves and dried herbs through the day and he has eaten those fine. he's drinking aswell and passing normal poops.

i weighed him again before his tea this evening and he's 1182g. should he have gone up by more throughout the whole day? he was 1181g this morning.

another thing i noticed was that twice he kind of stretched his body and then it looked like he pushed his bum back. i've never noticed him do that before. and when i got him out to weigh him he had some wetness down one leg which he has never had, he's usually very very clean. i also noticed he walks ok but when he tried to move quicker he hopped his back legs. again, i've never noticed that before. :?

in himself he is fine. he seems happy, he's moving around alot and rumbling at maisie. he looks fine as in his eyes are bright and he looks alert.

anymore thoughts anyone?

I've never had any hand on experiance with teeth problems in guinea pigs, so probably know as much as you do upon reading up on it.

Has he seen the vet today?

Yes weight can change from morning to night, if its not rapid change - go back to weighing once a day (chose a time and keep with it).

It does sound like it could be one of many things and honestly think the best thing to do would be to get him checked over at the vets - as if its teeth, the wetness down his leg may not be related.

Char-x said:

I've never had any hand on experiance with teeth problems in guinea pigs, so probably know as much as you do upon reading up on it.

Has he seen the vet today?

Yes weight can change from morning to night, if its not rapid change - go back to weighing once a day (chose a time and keep with it).

It does sound like it could be one of many things and honestly think the best thing to do would be to get him checked over at the vets - as if its teeth, the wetness down his leg may not be related.

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i weighed him twice again anyway. 1178g and 1179g. down a little bit but not as much as the lowest weight on friday.

you worried me then, i thought it was monday and i'd not noticed! no, we have an appointment at the vets tomorrow.

today he has been completely fine in himself. you wouldn't know anything was wrong at all.

the only thing is when i checked him his legs are a little wet again and that is definitely not normal for him. in all the time i've had him he has never had any wetness on his bum or legs. it's not alot but it is there. he also has a tiny bit of poop on his bum aswell. again, that has never happened before either.

i haven't seen him push his bum back today, and his wee and poops are normal.

he ran over excited for his veg, he ate it all with no trouble. he is definitely eating hay and some pellets, but i still think he is eating the thinner strands of hay and nowhere near enough pellets as i would expect, especially as i am giving them pellets for all day and night.

he is also moving around fine, no hopping at all. i think that was just an odd one off hop yesterday.

other than that, he's acting normally. he's bright and alert and seems happy. he's not made any noises to indicate he's upset or in any discomfort. he's coming over for attention and just being himself really.

i will update after the vets tomorrow.

eta: he definitely just pushed his bum back and a poop came out. usually the poops just drop out so he's having to push to get them out. what could this be? :?

we went to the vets, ches and maisie were so good in the taxi and the waiting room.

chesney was 1189g when weighed so again, more than he has been since i weighed him at his lowest weight.

vet thinks that perhaps he did have a dodgy tummy which caused weight loss and now he is building his weight back up, but he said he is by no means underweight he thinks he is still overweight really at 1189g..

his back teeth are slightly too long, about 1-2mm but he doesn't think it would be enough to stop him eating enough.. but it's the most likely reason for the weight loss overall.

thirdly, it could be something going on inside that isn't obvious yet.

for the next week or so, we have to monitor chesney's weight and see if it starts to go back up as it has done the last few days. if it continues to go down then we have to go back next week where ches will have his teeth filed down and a blood test aswell.

he couldn't find anything obvious on chesney, he said he looks great apart from being a bit too overweight. and ches was so good, he just sat there no problems at all.

maisie had her eye checked. he put some dye into it and checked for any scratches etc but it was completely fine.

he said maisie is overweight aswell. she weighed 1207g.

whilst there i mentioned that maisie drinks alot of water and also she wee's alot and no matter how much i clean, she seems to be wet underneath. the vet thinks she may be diabetic, or have something going on urinary wise. he said he doesn't think pellets should be fed anyway but keep on the same as i am for now as we don't want chesney losing weight.. but when ches is sorted he wants to reduce the eggcup of pellets i feed them, reduce them gradually so they are having none at all and to see how that affects maisie's drinking and weeing.

maisie also had a check over and she's fine.


i showed him a list of what i feed them and he said all the leafy greens i feed are fine, feed the 4-5 a day i am doing and rotate the variety and that's all fine. he said the side plate size twice a day is fine, but with leafy greens they can basically have whatever amount they want so if they wanted more then that would be fine.

the hay and grass and dried herbs are ok aswell although he said apple sticks and leaves he wouldn't feed alot of, which i don't anyway so that's ok.

he said they look good and are very well behaved. i was so proud :lol: and i have their diet pretty much perfect except the pellets!


ches and maisie were fantastic and not too phased at all. they were glad to get home though. they've been happy today, ches had been doing pops so he must be feeling ok.

eta: i asked for reasons for drinking alot and weeing alot etc and he talked about diabetic pigs as he see's a few of them. he wasn't necessarily saying maisie was diabetic, just listing some things that may cause those symptoms. he wouldn't pinpoint anything without testing of course.

ches is down at 1158g, the lowest so far so it looks like he may be having a dental next week.

he's happy in himself, eating, drinking, pooping, weeing etc, but i am so scared of him going through a dental. just scared of leaving them at the vets, scared he won't wake up, they'll find something else, and getting him eating again afterwards.

the vets is 40mins away and i don't know whether to drop them off and come home or stay nearby the vets just incase something happens and i can get there quickly to be with him. i know i panic but i have this fear of them being alone at the end. i couldn't bear that.

the vet said dentals for piggies are common and they do alot there. i trust the vet but i'm still scared. i've never been through something like this with the piggies.

do i take maisie aswell for company? i think i should do.

ches will be having a light anaesthetic the vet said. he could have said sedation, i can't remember. and he will have a blood test aswell.

sorry for panicking, i'm just so worried.

Your guinea pigs are not definitely overweight. Unless they physically feel very chunky, and you can look at them and think 'crikey, fat', then they may just be bigger pigs. Guinea pigs can get up to more than your pigs weight, and still be perfectly healthy and not classified as overweight.

Out of interest what do you feed them daily (per pig) veg wise?

What pellet do you use? Yes limiting pellets is recommended (sounds like you are doing that right), but eradicating them completely seems extreme. They are a safety net for balance and without it, you would need to ensure the veg diet was perfect in every sense, which even the top nutritional people on guinea pigs don't tend to do themselves.

Maisie may be diabetic - the only way he would be able to tell if a blood test.

It is up to you regards taking the other pig for company.

I am not experianced with dental issues in guinea pigs, I only know whats avaliable to read online. I would post on Guinea Lynx for further advice on the dental issues.

Re the weight: http://www.guinealynx.info/weigh.html
As it says, out of date guidelines may suggest your female is overweight but modern evidence suggests thats not necessarily the case. Bare in mind the chart says females should be 900grams - each time my female pigs hit that, they were in an unhealthy state (ovarian cysts). They were healthier when they were 1000grams (Gypsey - but she was a runt), and Tallulah 1200grams. Gypsey has never fully regained weight since the cysts and actually still looks thin and hits 890grams at most - 900 would still look too little. All pigs are different, but they aren't necessarily overweight, and that needs to be kept in mind.

Also if you are worried, feel free to PM me to nudge me in this threads direction as I honestly usually keep to General!

Char-x said:

Your guinea pigs are not definitely overweight. Unless they physically feel very chunky, and you can look at them and think 'crikey, fat', then they may just be bigger pigs. Guinea pigs can get up to more than your pigs weight, and still be perfectly healthy and not classified as overweight.

Out of interest what do you feed them daily (per pig) veg wise?

What pellet do you use? Yes limiting pellets is recommended (sounds like you are doing that right), but eradicating them completely seems extreme. They are a safety net for balance and without it, you would need to ensure the veg diet was perfect in every sense, which even the top nutritional people on guinea pigs don't tend to do themselves.

Maisie may be diabetic - the only way he would be able to tell if a blood test.

It is up to you regards taking the other pig for company.

I am not experianced with dental issues in guinea pigs, I only know whats avaliable to read online. I would post on Guinea Lynx for further advice on the dental issues.

Re the weight: http://www.guinealynx.info/weigh.html
As it says, out of date guidelines may suggest your female is overweight but modern evidence suggests thats not necessarily the case. Bare in mind the chart says females should be 900grams - each time my female pigs hit that, they were in an unhealthy state (ovarian cysts). They were healthier when they were 1000grams (Gypsey - but she was a runt), and Tallulah 1200grams. Gypsey has never fully regained weight since the cysts and actually still looks thin and hits 890grams at most - 900 would still look too little. All pigs are different, but they aren't necessarily overweight, and that needs to be kept in mind.

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Char-x said:

Also if you are worried, feel free to PM me to nudge me in this threads direction as I honestly usually keep to General!

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he always says piggies should be around 1000g and because ches came to us as an adult, aged 2, and he was 1025g then, he thinks he might be a bit overweight now for his frame. ches is a very short bodied pig and he still doesn't look slim now at this lower weight. but he does have a big tum and bum so that could be why.

maisie is usually less than that so i think she might have been eating chesneys share of food as she's at her heaviest now - 1207g. usually she's anywhere from 1140g to 1185g. 1185g is the heaviest she has been before this higher weight so it does seem likely she is eating the food ches would normally have. compared to pics i've seen i would probably say she looks a bit chunky to be honest.

i do think that they could be leaner and have more exercise and we are extending their cage more soon aswell, and it will have a grid that folds down so they can have floor time and still beable to get back into their cage if they want to. so anytime we can, the option for floor time will be there for them aswell. now it's mainly their cage and then floor time every so often and time outside in their run in nice weather aswell. i do think they would trim down slightly with more room.

with their veg, they have a small plate of leafy greens between them twice a day (a side plate size) they have 4-5 different variety a day, two in the morning and two at night (or three at one of those times) and it's from this variety:

high

parsley
basil
savoy cabbage
tenderheart cabbage
spring greens
pak choi
curly kale
spinach
rocket
wild rocket

low

coriander
thyme
romaine lettuce
hearts of romaine lettuce
little gem lettuce
curly lettuce
trio leaf lettuce (lollo rosso, biondo, red oak leaf)
asda leafy rocket salad (rocket, virgil victoire, apollo, saigon)
asda tender leaf salad (baby coral lettuce, endive, chard)
watercress
red chard

i feed one high and one low range at each meal or one high and two low. (the calcium to phosphous thingy!)

the gassy veg and the very high calcium veg is fed less often. i try and rotate the variety as often as possible aswell so they have variety but in moderation.

i am allowed to feed them more leafy greens though if i want to. i didn't know how much to feed really so i might increase it gradually.

they also have dried herbs from hayexperts, auntysallys and galens garden, usually a sprinkling in their hay to forage for and every so often some natural things like dandelion leaves, apple sticks etc.

pellet wise they have oxbow cavy cuisine, about an eggcup full at night time. it may be slightly more than that, i haven't actually measured it out, it's part guess work. the vet said that sometimes eating pellets can cause them to drink more water so he wants to see how maisie's drinking is if there are less pellets or no pellets at all to see whether to test her for anything. he said the 100ml approx she drinks each day is alot but not excessive. i know he is very against pellets though but i kept on with the small amount for the reasons you mentioned which is incase the other part of the diet isn't spot on, and for the vitamic c aspect and also the vitamin d aspect because they are indoor piggies.

i'm wondering if he thinks they have unlimited grass aswell which they don't. they go outside when it's nice but don't have grass daily. i will need to mention that to him.

i have decided to take both ches and maisie to the vets because they don't like to be apart and if one is out of the cage, the other will look for them. i do worry about them being scared at the vets though and me not being there for them.

i was watching ches earlier and he was eating some hay for pets ings hay which is very stalky but he was chewing slowly compared to maisie. i am pretty sure it is his teeth. i'm so nervous it all.

thanks for your help and advice.

just to update - chesney was struggling a bit eating pellets last night. he could manage a few but then went away from the bowl. so i made him some pellet mash and let it cool and at first he sniffed it and didn't seem bothered so i offered it warm with some dried dandelion in and he ate some and seemed to like it. he didn't eat loads but he's had some more this morning aswell.

he's eating leafy greens fine and i've left them a bit wetter than normal to get some more fluids into him as he isn't a big drinker. he had a drink today though and some of the water dribbled back out of his mouth so he re-adjusted and then none came out. but that has never happened before so i think that is another sign that it is his teeth causing issues.

he's also managing hay ok and even choosing the stalkier hay. he's so bright and happy aswell which is great.

i understand why the vet wanted to wait just incase it was his tummy as that could have been an issue and he didn't want to put ches through a dental unnecessarily but i think it's looking likely it's his teeth. i'm going to try and speak to the vet and say whats happening now and see if he wants to book ches in for a dental sooner. he's only in next monday and thursday and then off the week after so sooner might be better.

It does sound like Chesney's teeth to be honest with that added information. Of course, depending on the issue, some dental issues can be sorted without anesthetic - but I'd ask more about this on Guinea Lynx, as I am no expert in this area.

Have you got a recent picture of your pigs? Because I know my male was sometimes up to 1300grams and he was never overweight - he was a healthy chunky.

The high list needs to be cut back, one - two of those things daily is not overally ideal, it's pretty excessive. Things like Parsley and Spinach for example are high in both calcium and oxalates - which is the perfect recipe for creating stones/sludge issues. Low list is fine. I also feed Corriander because of its vitamin C content, and Round lettuce both daily as it's got a nearly perfect Cah ratio. Variety is good, but be careful of those highs being fed so much.

Char-x said:

It does sound like Chesney's teeth to be honest with that added information. Of course, depending on the issue, some dental issues can be sorted without anesthetic - but I'd ask more about this on Guinea Lynx, as I am no expert in this area.

Have you got a recent picture of your pigs? Because I know my male was sometimes up to 1300grams and he was never overweight - he was a healthy chunky.

The high list needs to be cut back, one - two of those things daily is not overally ideal, it's pretty excessive. Things like Parsley and Spinach for example are high in both calcium and oxalates - which is the perfect recipe for creating stones/sludge issues. Low list is fine. I also feed Corriander because of its vitamin C content, and Round lettuce both daily as it's got a nearly perfect Cah ratio. Variety is good, but be careful of those highs being fed so much.

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chesneys weight is up to 1179g today. he's confusing me to be honest. he's eaten more today and they've been outside and he's eaten grass and been popcorning around alot and he was soooo happy. he's had savoy cabbage and little gem lettuce this evening and ate it no problems, same rate as maisie and didn't drop any. he's also eating hay still and the odd few pellets. i'm wondering if the last few months he just doesn't want as many pellets so he's slimmed down :? i don't know. maybe that's why the vet wanted to give it a week to be sure and see how ches went on.

i actually got some pics of them today and i think they both look chunky but i'll upload them in a minute. i got some vid clips of them aswell.

there's so much conflicting advice with veg feeding, i get so confused! i'll reduce the high range foods and up the lower range instead. and i'll add round lettuce if that's a good all round food aswell.

i remember you piggy i think. he had his cage next to the girls huge cage didn't he? i love your piggy cage, it's massive!

i'll get those pics in a min...

eta: he did a perfect pose for you to see his body. he carries his weight on his tum and bum bless him.















what do you think? i think he still looks a bit chunky because he's so short. :? he's lovely though isn't he.


eta: here's some pics from when he arrived here, he was around 1025g in these pics.







he's always had the big bum but now he's 4-4.5 years old and his weight has dropped and his back now feels a bit boney but his tum and bum are still chunky.

ches has gone up to 1182g today he refused pellet mash last night and this morning and chose to eat normal pellets instead. :? also, all the pellets were all gone this morning aswell and he's eating hay and veg fine, and they've been outside again on the grass and he's very happy. i'm a bit confused. :? but i'm not complaining!