The Weight

[caiti]

So I know there have been many, many threads on people concerned about their chin's weight. I know chin's can flucuate but where is the line between healthy and unhealthy? My chin, Chloe, has been losing weight. She seems to be eating less since I recently switched her to the Purina Advantedge. I may just have to switch her again to something she'll eat more of (if so, Sandi--expect a pm from me!!), but she hasn't been fully switched over that long. Just a few days. Here are her weights (I weigh her every so often, nothing routine so the dates are random):

5/2- 603.2 (her highest ever)
5/3- 602.1
5/16- 588.6
5/17- 589
5/20- 592
6/1- 583
6/19- 579 (about a week after I began the PNAR switch)
6/21- 580
6/23- 583
6/27- 580
7/1- 566
7/2- 570
7/7- 560
7/8- 551.7

Her teeth were checked (no x-ray just superficial exam) and she was tested for giardia on 6/3 which was negative. It's been hot here and she has been in a warmer environment than usual (around 73-75F and 40-55% humidity during the day, cooler at night). But she doesn't seem like she's uncomfortable. No red ears, paws aren't too warm. Still sleeps curled up in her house or tube, not splayed out on a shelf. Still runs around like crazy and munches on chewies, drinks normally. She eats lots of hay, probably more than usual. She was 540 in mid-May so she hasn't reached her lowest, and I only put the weights from her highest onward. She also still has a little bit of soft poos but it gets slightly better everytime I check, it's just very slowly getting better (this is why I switched her from Mazuri to PNAR). She was on antibiotics for that but it still hasn't fully cleared up although it's very close but I notice everything--those poos can't fool me.

So, is this something that is possibly normal for chins to go through in the summer? I've heard a couple people say that chins lose some weight in the summer but how much is "some"? Where is the line drawn?

 

[ticklechin]

I have found chins with teeth issues drink less than normal if at all. If she is eating more hay than usual, drinking a normal amount, and is doing all her normal chin things, you see not abnormal behaviors other than not eating pellets, I would try some new brand of pellets before any other diagnostics.

 

[caiti]

I'm going to watch her close, remember to give her acidophilus everyday or so, change her food as often as I can to encourage her and give it a few more days if she doesn't lose any more weight. She hasn't so far, she's gained a gram or two. I'm weighing her everyday now to track it. Maybe she just needs to get used to the new food.

She's definitely not drinking less and she's chewing even more than normal, I think. She spent...I'm not even sure how long...a good half an hour eating her pine house last night at about 2 am. Non-stop munching hehe. Thanks for the reply, Dawn.

On a less serious note--nobody got my Band reference (the post title is a song title)?? So Pash/Ashton/PsychoAsh (whichever one you prefer, I'm not sure) makes an obscure Blink 182 reference and it gets noticed pretty fast but I make a reference to The Band and no one notices!?!? There's even a song about a girl named Bessy, FYI Pash (It's called "Up On Cripple Creek")

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

"Take a load off Annie"...

Must be a generational thing -- I'm a former Flower Child of the 60s...I didn't get the Blink 182 reference, although my friend's son probably would!!!

 

[ticklechin]

I am a Flower Childs child, I did not get it either!

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

The Weight or Blink 182???

Oh, Dawn, you remember -- "The Weight" was a song by The Band that started out, "I rolled into Nazareth" and the chorus was "Take a load off Annie" repeated several times and then ending with "You put the load right on me".

Now, will someone explain the Blink 182 to me???