# Wilson is losing weight



## Sheryl (Sep 9, 2010)

Wilson is three months old. We've had him for about 2.5 weeks now. Although he seems to eat plenty, he is losing weight. Shouldn't he be gaining? Here is his weight record:
9/5, 283g
9/7, 279g
9/9, 291g
9/12, 291g
9/19, 281g
9/22, 277g

He's fed Royal Canin Baby Cat kibble (freely, we just keep his bowl half full) and he eats 5-6 mealworms a day. He runs a lot on his wheel. We put aN odometer on it a couple of days ago and he has logged 5-6 miles each of the last two nights. I bought some Royal Canin Baby Cat wet food tonight to see if that might put some weight on him. Is there something more I should be doing? He doesn't seem to be too thin, but I'm concerned that a youngster his age is losing weight.


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## Puffers315 (Apr 19, 2010)

I got two questions I know others will ask right off the bat..

1. What is he eating for his main diet?

2. Are you weighing him pre or post bathroom?

I could be wrong but I think its been said they can drop up to 30 grams of weight just from using the bathroom, and babies are pooping machines.


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## Sheryl (Sep 9, 2010)

He eats Royal Canin Baby Cat kibble (as much as he wants) and 5-6 mealworms a day. I've tried to introduce other treats but he has not been interested so far. Of course, he wasn't interested in the mealworms the first two times I offered them, so I'll keep trying. 

I have not actually kept track of whether I'm weighing pre- or post-poop. I do know tonight's weight was taken pre-poop, so that is disconcerting!


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## Puffers315 (Apr 19, 2010)

How is his activity levels and such? I can see where you might be concerned, but as said if they can drop up to 30 grams after the bathroom, the range you have in your recording chart is only a different of 20, and might just be the flux in amount of poo being produce. If it was me, I'd start doing the following...

1. Count kibble if you haven't started. For example, count out 100 pieces of kibble each night, and then the next morning count what is left. This gives you an idea of his average food intake, typically one of the first signs of sickness is eating less and drops in activity levels.

2. Weigh him post-bathroom, otherwise you're going to get a number that's going to go up or down depending on poop production and activity.

Healthy weight wise can kind of be determined by his shape.


```
Good Weight= || ( ) / \
Bad Weight = (---) ) (
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The main thing in your case is the ) ( which would be his sides looking caved in, if he looks like any of the good weight shapes, you're probably safe, just monitor and check kibble and weight nightly.


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## Sheryl (Sep 9, 2010)

His activity level has not decreased at all, from what I can tell. I will begin weighing out his kibble and I'll also pay more attention to be sure I'm weighing him after his potty time. Thanks so much for your advice and reassurance!


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

It makes absolutely no difference if you weigh him pre or post poop as long as you are consistent, or write down if he has done is business before weighing. 

I have always found the best time to weigh is as soon as they are gotten up before they potty. 

There are normal fluctuations depending on time of day and if they've pottie'd. Whenever there is a concern, it is best to weight morning and evening at the same time. That will show a pattern of normal ups and downs. If both the highs and the lows keep going down then you know they truly are loosing weight.

Has he recently been given a wheel? That could account for the weight loss. Did he go from a higher fat food to lower fat? 

Sometimes babies in a new home do loose a bit of weight but he should soon start to gain.


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## Sheryl (Sep 9, 2010)

Nancy said:


> Has he recently been given a wheel? That could account for the weight loss. Did he go from a higher fat food to lower fat?


His food has not changed at all. In fact, the breeder gave us a good portion of a bag of food when we bought him and he's still eating that. Regarding the wheel, I'm wondering if that is it. He wheels a *lot* (8.5 miles last night, according to his odometer) and I wonder if he had less access to a wheel before we got him. Maybe he shared with other babies? I don't know, but perhaps he is just getting more exercise. His shape is good - he looks like the third shape on Puffers "Good" line. Last night he ate some of the soft cat food but mostly just his kibble. I'm considering upping his mealworm intake. He looooves those things and gobbles them faster than we can pick them out. How many mealworms a day is too many, do you think?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

If you do up his mealworms, do it slowly so they don't upset his tummy. Do 5 for a couple of days, then 6, then 7... It depends on the size of the mealies and the hedgie how many they can have. I'd go for 7 or 8 per night and see if that helps.


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## Sheryl (Sep 9, 2010)

It has been another week and he is still losing weight. He's down to 266g (after potty weight). His wheeling distance is also still increasing. He wheeled 11 miles Sunday night and 13 miles on Monday night. 

I emailed his breeder last night and she suggested removing his wheel for part of the night so he can't run for more than a couple hours. The wheel is zip-tied to the cage, so removing it at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning each night when I'm only half-conscious would be something of a hassle. I remembered, though, that Wilson has wheeled considerably less on the nights that my daughter has left on her little nightlight (which is clear across the room and behind her bed, but still gives off enough of light to disturb him), so I left that on until about 1:30 this morning, then turned it off. Still, his total wheel time last night was just over three hours and he went for seven miles. It feels a little mean to limit his wheeling, but the breeder thinks he's wheeling so much that he's forgetting to eat. So, I also moved his food/water dishes next to the wheel. Maybe he'll be able to smell the food while wheeling and it'll whet his appetite?

I've also increased his meal worms to 8-10 per day (10 if they're very small), fed to him in the afternoon. I'm also thinking of slowly switching his food to something more high in fat, like the Chicken Soup kitten formula (22% fat). Any other suggestions from this group? It sure seems like he wouldn't starve himself and that he'd eat if he were hungry, but he's gone from 283g to 266g in 3.5 weeks, which is a 6% weight loss. At almost 4 months old, that seems to be the opposite of what should be happening. Am I worrying too much??


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

Are you sure it's miles & not kilometers? I made that mistake when I first got my odometer. Thougt my Cholla was running 13 miles, but it was kilometers. I changed the settings on the odometer & it's more like 5-7 miles a night. But he wheels for about 4-5 hours a night.
I don't think that I would be concerned at all about reducing the amount of time he wheels. I would let him do as much as he wants (with the one exception being if he had an injury).


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

I would not remove his wheel or limit his wheeling. My Xavier is a tiny fellow(266grams at 11 months old) and a marathon runner as well :lol: I have him up to 10-12 good sized mealies a night and he eats Royal Canin BabyCat 34.


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## Sheryl (Sep 9, 2010)

It really *is* miles! I couldn't believe it, either, and neither could my husband, who has checked and double-checked the odometer several times to make sure. He has these same odometers on the three bikes we have so he knows he's set them up right. He just shakes his head in amazement when he sees the numbers. The only thing that is not exactly correct is that, when we measured the wheel, we took the measurement from the outside of the wheel instead of the inside. The inside would be more accurate, but probably not a whole lot different.

Larry, I feed the exact same food. Maybe I'll up his mealies again by a couple. I really, really hate the thought of limiting his wheeling (and I see that neither you nor PJM think this is a good idea) but I'm not sure what else to do to stop the weight loss.


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## Sheryl (Sep 9, 2010)

One more question, Larry. How much kibble does Xavier eat each night? Wilson eats just 1-1.5 teaspoons. I give him 3 teaspoons in the hopes he'll want more, but 1.5 is the most he'll take. I've put some soft kitten food in as well, but he doesn't pay it much attention.


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

Sheryl said:


> One more question, Larry. How much kibble does Xavier eat each night? Wilson eats just 1-1.5 teaspoons. I give him 3 teaspoons in the hopes he'll want more, but 1.5 is the most he'll take. I've put some soft kitten food in as well, but he doesn't pay it much attention.


Xavier only eats 10-20 pieces of kibble a night and I always put some of my other hogs mix in as well and he never eats any of it. His mother died  while giving birth so he had a tough go of it from the start. He is the sweetest most outgoing hedgie I have ever seen  probably alot of that due to being handled from day one.


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## Sheryl (Sep 9, 2010)

Oh, how sad for poor Xavier and his mother!  You are amazing to be able to have helped him survive! It sounds like Wilson eats more than Xavier, but not a whole lot more. Surely Wilson won't continue running so much and eating so little that he's emaciated, right??


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

Sheryl said:


> Oh, how sad for poor Xavier and his mother!  You are amazing to be able to have helped him survive!


He came from SunshineQuills and Helen was the one who made sure he survived.


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## Sheryl (Sep 9, 2010)

As of this afternoon, Wilson is down to 247g. :? I'm starting to freak out a little bit. He has been eating a bit more but not much. He's eating 1.5-1.75 teaspoons of kibble a night and 10 mealworms a day. But the last two nights he's run over 15 miles each night on his wheel. I decided not to restrict his wheel time when I posted a couple of weeks back but I'm so concerned and don't know what else to try. I sure wish I could get him to eat more!


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## HedgeMom (Nov 7, 2008)

Try buying a fresh bag of kibble. It could be stale and just not tasting right.


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## Hedgiepets (Aug 21, 2008)

I would suggest you try giving Wilson some yogurt or Benebac. Getting some good bacteria into him may help him absorb nutrients better. How does his poo look?


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## Sheryl (Sep 9, 2010)

His poo looks very normal. I've tried to get him to eat things other than his kibble and his mealies, but he has so far been uninterested in: eggs, carrots, yams, cheese, and a number of other things I can't remember at the moment. I once managed to get him to eat the inards of a pea but that was only because I held it in the mealie tweezers and tricked him. He spit it back out. I will try yogurt, though. I also took some photos of him this evening and will post them in a moment to see if you all think he looks too skinny. I can feel his backbone and hips when I massage his back.


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## Sheryl (Sep 9, 2010)

Photos taken tonight of Wilson. Does he look unusually thin? In summary, he has gone from 283g when we brought him home from the breeder on 9/5, to 247g tonight. He is just over four months old and runs 13-15 miles a night on his wheel. Last night he ran for 6.5 hours, according to the odometer. I think he forgets to eat. He ate only about .5 teaspoon of food last night.


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## Hedgiepets (Aug 21, 2008)

What is the fat content of your food? He does not look to thin from the pic. But if you pick him up, are his side are sunken in?


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## krbshappy71 (Jul 17, 2009)

He is so pretty! Those are great pictures! I don't think he looks thin but I'm not a hedgie expert.


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## Sheryl (Sep 9, 2010)

Thanks, guys! His kibble is 75% RC Babycat 34, which is 24% fat; and 25% Before Grain Chicken, which is 18% fat. I began adding the BG food, since the RC has corn as two of the first six ingredients and my thought was that the corn was maybe making him feel full but not really providing much nutrition. So I wanted to switch him off of that so I began adding the BG food, which has no corn. Wilson's a picky eater, though, and mostly prefers his RC food. 

I will feel his sides to see if they are sunken. I know they don't protrude but I'm not certain if I've felt distinct sunkeness. I can definitely feel his spine and his hips.

Last night I left the nightlight on his room until about 1:00am. He'll only wheel in total darness so this cut his wheel time by about half. He wheeled for just over three hours and went only about 7 miles. I also put another food bowl in his cage - I put it right in his igloo with him. Although I didn't have time this morning to measure his food, it looked like he ate at least a teaspoon, maybe more.


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