# Sudden Weight Loss



## Nebular (Dec 28, 2010)

This is a little weird and has me somewhat worried. Norman's weight has dropped from 383 grams to 361 over two days.

His recent weighing history looks like this:
30-Jun-11	366g
10-Jul-11	398g
17-Jul-11	403g
25-Jul-11	430g
6-Aug-11	433g
13-Aug-11	423g
14-Aug-11	417g
15-Aug-11	417g
10-Sep-11	391g
17-Sep-11	383g
19-Sep-11	361g

He's 10 months old now (he turned 6 months on May). His weight between May and June slowly crept up from 340 to 366. A 22 gram reduction isn't unheard of for him as he had a few of those when he was still a growing baby, but those were over the span of about a week. And while 360 was his average weight when he hit his adult age, the drop over 2 days is really weird. (He also didn't want his good morning treat this morning - it's nothing more than his kibble offered by hand, but he's usually pretty keen on getting it.)

There has been no change in his diet. He still eats and drinks, and he's munching on his kibble without any problems. No apparent change to his running habits. No falls or bumps recently. He's warm as his home is at the same temperature it has always been at. He's still happy to wander around, climb over me, explore and cuddle as usual. So nothing *seems* to be out of the ordinary. He sort of plumped up in July/August, so is it possible that he's just correcting things and trimming down a bit? I've already booked a vet appointment for tomorrow to have him checked out just to make sure nothing is wrong, but I'm curious if anyone else has seen this or has any ideas as to what might cause this.


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## Guest (Sep 20, 2011)

This is going to sound silly but did he poop just prior to either day he was weighed where the drop was so much?

A hedgehog can drop 20 to 30 Gs in one poop, I'd weight day and night the next three nights to see how it goes and if nothing seems amiss and the weight seems fine from those then all good if anything comes up perhaps a vet visit would be needed


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## Nebular (Dec 28, 2010)

When I weight him, it's right after I get him up around the same time each day to keep things consistent, so he doesn't have a chance to poop or do anything else to mess with the numbers before the scheduled time.  Definitely going back to daily weighings to keep an eye on things. If nothing else, his vet visit tomorrow will at least be a routine check-up.


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

That weight change doesn't look like a big poop to me, it is a slow and steady decline. I've seen changes like that, most often they are illness based, but I have had a couple that it was nothing more than they were more active than they used to be. I believe one of my hedgehogs had a decline as he reached 1 year of age, however I cannot remember if it was that steep of a drop or not. I seem to remember his appetite dropped during that time though. If there have been no changes at all, then your visit to the vet today is a good idea. Take your weight chart with you. 

You may also want to give him a higher fat/calorie food to see if you can get him to level off. 

I always recommend daily weighing, just so you can see trends better.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Has anything changed in August that could have accounted for his declining weight? A new wheel, different food, larger cage, more out of cage time, or less out of cage time depending on how active he is when out. Does he seem to be more active now? 

I've had ones that were up and down in their weights and it was just them but a gradual loss of weight is often illness based or eating difficulties. Can he easily crunch his kibble? 

Like Kalandra has mentioned, if he is very active, he may not be able to keep his weight up and need a higher calorie food. 

Daily weighing right now is a good idea and I would go one step more and do morning and evening. Sometimes we can see trends with twice a day weighing that aren't obvious with once a day. You can also weigh him before he has pottied and then weigh again right after so you know what he tends to loss with a potty break.


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## Nebular (Dec 28, 2010)

The only change that has really taken place is that he slowly stopped eating one of his foods (Eagle Pack Kitten formula that the breeder started him on). I don't know exactly when that stopped. He's still eagerly eating his Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul which has a very small difference in fat content (34% in Eagle Pack vs. 31% in Chicken Soup). I haven't added the Eagle Pack stuff to his food for about 10 days now, though I'm wondering if I should add it back so he has something a little more fatty (but if he doesn't touch it, it doesn't really do any good). He's had the Chicken Soup stuff for about 6 months now so there have been now new additions to his food. He has no difficulty eating his kibble and is wandering over to eat on his own (and still wolfs down meal worms like they'll never be seen again), so he doesn't seem to have lost his appetite. Still drinking as well and no change to the water source.

Same wheel. Same out of cage times. No change in activity levels. He snuggles 'til 9:30 or so, gets up, explores the couch, climbs over me, goes back to snuggling during our couch time, and his nightly routine hasn't changed from what I can see - still runs his little butt off, shoves around the tube. Still seems to be his perfectly happy and content little self.

I did some number crunching last night and his average adult weight from May through now has been 355.6 grams, so he's still above that number. Did a quick weighing this morning (not his usual weighing time, but more just as a quick check-up) and he's back up to 364g. I'm wondering if he fattened up a little in July/August as a result of the heat and possible reduced activity because of it and is just settling back into a more comfortable weight. (all of the weight charts, graphs, variance numbers, and food information are all prepared to take with us)

Hopefully the vet tells me everything's fine and that he's just being a normal little nut. :roll:


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

If he stopped eating kitten that is very likely the cause. Kitten food will put weight on them unless they are marathon runners. Hopefully, that is all it is.


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Did he stop eating the kitten food on his own? If so, the food may be losing its flavor. Have you tried a new bag of it? I must agree, if he has slowly stopped eating it, it would at least explain the weight loss.


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## Nebular (Dec 28, 2010)

Yup, he stopped eating it on his own. I didn't attempt to wean him off of it or anything. He just started shoving it out of his bowl to get to the good stuff, so I eventually took the hint. It's a fairly new bag (maybe 1 - 1.5 months, the old one lasted for quite some time before that and he always ate it). I might just pick up a new bag of the stuff on the way back from the vet and try it out just in case.

Thanks for the info. Good to know it might just be the shift away from kitten food. Vet apointment is still 2.5 hrs from now, so it's helping ease my mind at least.


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## Nebular (Dec 28, 2010)

Well, the vet says he looks perfectly health. Bright eyes, moist nose, teeth are in great shape, alert, active, nothing unusual felt in his abdomen, isn't overweight and doesn't seem to be underweight. She agrees that it's probably a result of just going off of the kitten food and running his little butt off. So everything checks out good! Whew. Only recommendation was to keep weighing him and make sure he doesn't go below 325 or so which I planned on doing anyways.

Thanks guys.


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## Rainy (Jul 27, 2011)

Oh, that's great news. I always love a vet visit where it turns out to be something simple.  I bet your so relieved.


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