Odd Weight Loss

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ChinDaddyFL

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 7, 2010
Messages
46
Location
South Florida
Hi there, just (re?)registered here--used to be on CnQ.

We have rescued wilson white (or mosaic?) boy that was malnourished and full of ringworm when he got here. Since then he's turned into a very sweet, and very pudgy (low-mid 700s) chinnie. Or was, anyway...

Last year his wellness was clear; we were advised to try and put him on a diet. This wasn't really feasible since he bunks with a tiny male (450g), but we've been encouraging free runs as much as possible--though not as much as we'd like.

A few months ago we noticed he was a bit smaller, and was losing weight. Given that he could use some weight loss we weren't too concerned, but kept an eye on it. A month ago we were shocked to see that he's lost 150g off his heaviest weight, and took him into the vet.

A blood test, wellness, xray, and tooth check later he was pronounced as...not having anything identifiably wrong with him. Vet advised us to keep a close watch on his weight, and for the first week we weighed him daily. His weight remained almost perfectly level.

We just rechecked, and he's lost another 15g from that level. I'm not sure if this is a simple fluctuation or an additional notch on the downward slope; we're going to recheck later tonight.

My question is, what can cause weight loss that isn't a tooth issue, an illness (blood test was clean), or visible on an xray? His poo looks fairly normal, as well.

If he keeps losing, we'll go back for further tests...but I figured asking here for ideas on things to check couldn't hurt.

Thanks, and sorry for the wall of text!
 
Silent giardia can cause weight loss when the chin appears to be eating normally. Just a side note, diets for chins are not advised, if the chin is on a high quality diet of hay and pellets with the occasional treat the weight for that chin is normal. 700 grams is not "obese", your vet needs to learn a bit more about chins. And when you say "tooth check" was the chin put under to have a oral exam or did the vet just use a otoscope and look inside?
 
Well, he was closer to 750, and had actual fat rolls (not just the fur). I have another chin who's about 730ish and his weight fits his frame nicely, so I know the weight alone wasn't a big deal. The diet suggested was really just carefully measuring the amount of pellets offered per day (as opposed to just filling up and letting them completely free-feed)--but it was just a suggestion and the vet said he was OK, if on the high/heavy end for his body type.

Doc just looked with an otoscope initially, but needed to briefly gas him to get a good look--they also pulled blood and did an xray at the same time.
 
Ticklechin is right about the silent giardia (and about the weight, some chins weigh over 1000 grams, as long as they're on a good pellet and hay, they should not be obese.)

But when I brought Dodger home he was slowly dropping weight, which I attributed to stress of settling in, he was a nervous animal. When Raider (his biological son) came home, he had symptoms of giardia present 2 days after coming home. But they were seperate when he was sick (quarantine) so I didn't think about Dodger having it, and Dodger did not have visable signs of being sick. His poop was normal, he was eating, etc. A short while later, he was still slowly losing weight and I decided that he should not still be losing weight from adjusting to his new home. They did test for giardia, and that's what he had. No real visable symptoms, but he had silent giardia all along. After a round of panacur, he started gaining back weight. I would have the vet check for giardia if he has not already (if it were me).
 
Kline pellets, occasional raisins/papaya/raw spaghetti.

I'll have to read up on that 'silent giardia', though where he could have picked it up is a troubling question (we've had him for a few years and he's been pleasantly plump until recently).
 
OK, after reading up on this I'm now suitably freaked. :eek:

Hope it is the problem, and not, at the same time. Easily enough treated, but they live in a wood cage so that would be a royal PITA to replace.
 
Giardia can come from tap water. As I understand, only a certain type of Pur filter can filter out giardia (I could be wrong) but now I only used bottled water or the water from our fridge that has the special Pur filter.

As far as the wood cage, it may be possible to sanitize it, some other members may have input on the best method to do that. (Your chins would have to be in a temp cage or something while you do that, of course. But that might be more cost-effective than replacing the cage itself.
 
We have some metal cages that they can crash in for a bit. If I bleach scrub, sand down, and scrub again while they're living in the metal cage do you think that will be enough?

A bit preliminary, perhaps--but from what I've read so far it certainly sounds like a plausible cause. Guess I'll find out soon.
 
I'm not entirely sure on the bleach, I think it has to be watered down quite a bit. But because of the fact that chins chew on the wood, I'm not sure if bleach is safe. I pitched the wood stuff in my cage (just shelves and a hidey house) when I had it, but I've used a mix of vinegar and water to clean the shelves for normal purposes. I'd spray them down with the mix, scrub, then washed them really well and let them dry all the way through.

I might ask someone else about the best and safest way to sanitize the cage, I don't want to give you incorrect information!
 
Fair enough. First I'll need a positive test though--no sense worrying without cause! :)

If he keeps losing weight I should be able to get him in for testing by Thursday.
 
Oh of course! Though it might be a pain with the cleaning, at least it's an easily-treatable problem if that's what it is. For some reason, my chins loved the taste of the medicine (odd, I know!) so they thought it was a treat! Hopefully if that's what it is, yours baby will be just as agreeable! ;)

I hope your chinnie's issue is resolved soon so he can start plumping back up!
 
Update: he's still losing weight (down to 497g) and we've noticed loud gurgling noises coming from his abdomen; from searches it sounds like he might be going into stasis. We're picking up simethicone tonight and getting him to a vet tomorrow.
 
Well, its been an interesting week. We've been feeding him critical care and simethicone for a few days, to no real improvement (no worse off either, and he gained ~8 grams).

Today my wife took him into work, gassed him down and took an xray, which showed a belly full of...stuff. I then picked him up and took him to a specialist for further diagnosis and treatment.

Specialist confirmed stasis, and prescribed sub-q fluids, reglan, simethicone, and propulsid (cisapride) for the next few days, then call with a followup.

He took his meds great, and then we had a hard time giving him the fluids. Once we did though....boy went insane and started trying to rip apart his cage. I guess he got his second wind. :laugh2:

He's acting a lot more active now, and is generally miffed about the whole situation. He's pooping a little bit, but we know its going to be another few days at least before we can rest easy. Still, good signs that he's responding to treatment...hopefully he'll be back at 700g in no time.
 
Thing with Stasis is, that it is not usually The problem it is usually a secondary result of another bigger problem. It is abviously very important to treat immediatly but you still need to figure out what the original problem was and treat that. Hopefully the cisopride will clear him up but you really will need to be extra vigilant unless the Giardia screen was positive
 
I've read the thread,
When his treatment started Sparky was easy to get out of the cage or carrier. He felt so bad that he would lean into my hand for comfort and I could easily scoop him up. I’m happy to report that he is now pinging off the walls of his cage and is a pistol to catch. He has turned into quite a cheeky monkey.
Click to expand...

I know we're nowhere near the end of treatment, however he doesn't seem anywhere near as bad as sparky was. He was pretty lethargic before the fluids and meds, so I'm taking it as a hopeful sign that he's responding well. We're still keeping a very close eye on him and sticking stringently to the medication schedule.

I hope we can find out the root cause--we'll likely get the giardia snap next visit--but right now our immediate focus is getting his gut moving again. He is pooping very little that we can see, but at least there's some "movement" there.

Anyone have any tips for getting fluids into a very squirmy chin? I'd say burrito but that makes access difficult.
 
I sub-q fluids for stasis, no risk of aspiration. Have the vet show you how and get the items needed from them if you are OK with the idea.
 
Yes, the vet recommended sub-q and we have the equipment for it; just trying to figure out how to get him to calm down for the procedure. At the moment we're grasping the base of his tail while giving him something to nibble on and sticking his back; this has mixed results. Its also hard to get a patch of skin to pull up--though maybe this will be resolved after a few sessions/once he has a lot of fluid back in his system.
 
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