skinny pig sick

Question
QUESTION: hey my male skinny pig (piggy) is acting strange, he pretty much won't eat or drink and his leg is hurt, he seems to be limping. I've been trying to let him rest but im getting worried he hasn't pooed at all either which he is always doing! he is around 4 years old and i understand he could just be getting old or even dieing but it all happened so sudden do you have any help??please and thanks

ANSWER: Hi Kyle,

From your description that your piggy won't poop, eat or drink and is limping I suspect that he may have bloat, or an internal blockage in his digestive system. Bloat is fatal, and you need to take him to a vet ASAP (a specialist small animal vet if you can find one) as it will not go away on its own. Nor will a blockage remove itself without a vet's intervention. Both are conditions that advance quickly so please rush him to see a vet - I lost one of my piggies to an illness like this last February, and it was heartbreaking.

Guinea pigs have fast metabolisms and it is vital that they eat and drink regularly. If they do not, they quickly become weak - and illness advance quickly too.

I do hope he makes it.

I hope this helps, but do let me know if you have any further questions.

Jenny.

PS - Please note for the future that skinny pigs are a highly unnatural breed and have a considerably shortened life expectancy than regular guinea pigs. It is also quite painful for them to not have any hair, as they have very sensitive skin. As such, regular piggies make better pets.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks for the help unfortunetly he died a few hours after i asked you that question.. is there any chance he just died of old age? and if so is it normal for his health to decline so fast because it was almost impossible to do anything about him.. i felt quite helpless. however i do think he died very peacefully

Answer
Hi Kyle,

Sorry for your loss - but he did sound as though he was in a very bad way. What happened could have been related to old age, but if this was the case you would have noticed the symptoms appear gradually. Or he could have had a condition called anal impaction that many older boars suffer from.

If it was in fact bloat or a blockage there would have been almost nothing you could do unless you happened to be near his cage when he first became poorly. Unfortunately these illnesses progress very quickly as guinea pigs have fast metabolisms. It is thought that some piggies are born with a predisposition to blockages, and sadly this is more common in purebred normal piggies as well as skinny pigs due to the selective nature of breeding.

I hope you feel better soon and that you are not put off keeping piggies in the future. If you were to get hairy, non-purebred piggies they would be less likely to have this sort of health complaint.

Jenny.