Hazel's medical thread
Do you think it might still work even though she's previously been on the Bene-Bac daily for two months straight? Not sure if I worded it right in my earlier response, or if I've misunderstood yours, but she was receiving the Bene-Bac every day from mid December to mid February (a couple weeks ago), and still having the same problems. I'm just uncertain of trying the same thing again when it failed to produce results the first time.
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- You can quote me
We had one pig like this. Turns out she was hyperthyroid.
It's entirely possible she was mill-bred, born to an underweight and ill-nourished mom, in dirty and overcrowded conditions. That could account for the nails and possibly mal-development of her GI tract.
I'd drop the bene-bac and do poop soup for at least a few weeks.
Is she on any pain medication?
Pigs with GI upset can actually benefit from eating paper and cardboard. Give her some toilet paper roll cores or paper towel roll cores (without residual adhesive), cut lengthwise so she doesn't get stuck in them, and snip off the sharp corners of the cut to protect her eyes. She may actually eat them and in my experience that's fine; it's insoluble, indigestible fiber that may actually help her GI.
For B supplementation we use these:
http://m.vitacost.com/products/superior ... ve-tablets
They dissolve easily in water and the pigs usually like them. The main thing is that they're NOT a huge megadose, where most B's for adults are, and most kids' vitamins have other vitamins in them that you don't need or want. Whole Foods-type places often have them.
It's entirely possible she was mill-bred, born to an underweight and ill-nourished mom, in dirty and overcrowded conditions. That could account for the nails and possibly mal-development of her GI tract.
I'd drop the bene-bac and do poop soup for at least a few weeks.
Is she on any pain medication?
Pigs with GI upset can actually benefit from eating paper and cardboard. Give her some toilet paper roll cores or paper towel roll cores (without residual adhesive), cut lengthwise so she doesn't get stuck in them, and snip off the sharp corners of the cut to protect her eyes. She may actually eat them and in my experience that's fine; it's insoluble, indigestible fiber that may actually help her GI.
For B supplementation we use these:
http://m.vitacost.com/products/superior ... ve-tablets
They dissolve easily in water and the pigs usually like them. The main thing is that they're NOT a huge megadose, where most B's for adults are, and most kids' vitamins have other vitamins in them that you don't need or want. Whole Foods-type places often have them.
Hm. Has anyone had any experience with probiotics seeming to lose effectiveness? I've been poop souping her every day (minus the first weekend as I was out of town) and it did seem to work better than the Bene-Bac for the first while... however, this weekend she's relapsed into diarrhea again despite still receiving poop soup daily. Now that I think about it, this is exactly what happened with the Bene-bac.
Mill-bred would make sense, as she was from a pet store (I now know this is a bad idea). I hope this isn't causing her pain. She seems to behave normally as well, and she hasn't lost any weight during this recent set of episodes (even seems to have possibly gained a little, as she's been weighing pretty consistently around 580g this week). I did give her some fresh veggies again starting the beginning of this week since she seemed to be doing so well, but only very small pieces- one, maybe two pieces of carrot or bell pepper a day each smaller than the size of my pinky fingernail (and I have an average sized pinky nail).
To answer your question Talishan, no she isn't on any pain medication currently- sorry I missed it when I read your response the first time!
I'm just kinda confused cause it did work... at first. I'm still doing the poop soup even though it seems like it stopped working, maybe this is just some random fluke.
(edit: I also haven't had the chance to pick up any B tablets yet but I think I'll give that a try this week, thank you for the information on it!)
(second edit: Also I did put in a paper towel roll cut up for her, I actually had stopped doing that cause she got stuck in one once but hadn't thought to just cut a slit down the middle! She's been chewing on it a little bit every day.)
Mill-bred would make sense, as she was from a pet store (I now know this is a bad idea). I hope this isn't causing her pain. She seems to behave normally as well, and she hasn't lost any weight during this recent set of episodes (even seems to have possibly gained a little, as she's been weighing pretty consistently around 580g this week). I did give her some fresh veggies again starting the beginning of this week since she seemed to be doing so well, but only very small pieces- one, maybe two pieces of carrot or bell pepper a day each smaller than the size of my pinky fingernail (and I have an average sized pinky nail).
To answer your question Talishan, no she isn't on any pain medication currently- sorry I missed it when I read your response the first time!
I'm just kinda confused cause it did work... at first. I'm still doing the poop soup even though it seems like it stopped working, maybe this is just some random fluke.
(edit: I also haven't had the chance to pick up any B tablets yet but I think I'll give that a try this week, thank you for the information on it!)
(second edit: Also I did put in a paper towel roll cut up for her, I actually had stopped doing that cause she got stuck in one once but hadn't thought to just cut a slit down the middle! She's been chewing on it a little bit every day.)
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- And got the T-shirt
Probiotics isn't an exact science. Nobody really knows what should in them for guinea pigs, or for humans, for that matter. Some vets don't think they work at all, others do.
So it's possible, at least in my mind, for them to work for a while and then stop. But, if I were you, I'd cut out all veggies until she has normal feces, and then add them back one at a time, 48 hours between each new one.
So it's possible, at least in my mind, for them to work for a while and then stop. But, if I were you, I'd cut out all veggies until she has normal feces, and then add them back one at a time, 48 hours between each new one.
To be clear, I did already do that in reintroducing the pepper and carrot before. There was a period of about a week after I had reintroduced these when her poops were actually looking pretty good(and she's not had veggies of any sort exceeding in total the size of a penny- this is including the thickness, mind you- in any given day in months- not sure if the amount matters here, but it's really a very very small amount). I've also done this several times before in her life. At this point would it make more sense to just cut out veggies entirely, forever?
Also I have been using vitamin C drops in her pellets ever since I cut out veggies for her the first time, I haven't been relying on the very small amount of veg she's gotten for that.
Also I have been using vitamin C drops in her pellets ever since I cut out veggies for her the first time, I haven't been relying on the very small amount of veg she's gotten for that.
Soft, malformed feces. At her worst it'll be soft serve consistency, sometimes with a small amount of liquid accompanying it which I'll only see leaking out of her bum when I check it. Soft enough to stick to her feet and bum and get tracked all over the fleece. She had a short time of regular oval poops after starting this current round of poop soup, but usually she's somewhere in the middle with mostly solid poops in all sorts of funky shapes and sizes.
I also know she's had gas accompanying it at least occasionally as she farted when I was checking her bum once. What a weird experience.
I also know she's had gas accompanying it at least occasionally as she farted when I was checking her bum once. What a weird experience.
Have you tried increasing her fiber intake to firm up her poop? Sorry, I haven't read the thread in its entirety, but it sounds like you're using a lot of different medications and perhaps that is only troubling her stomach more?
As for the guinea pig farting on you, my piggy just did that a couple hours ago as I gave her a bath lol
As for the guinea pig farting on you, my piggy just did that a couple hours ago as I gave her a bath lol
Have you tried increasing her fiber intake to firm up her poop? Sorry, I haven't read the thread in its entirety, but it sounds like you're using a lot of different medications and perhaps that is only troubling her stomach more?
As for the guinea pig farting on you, my piggy just did that a couple hours ago as I gave her a bath lol
As for the guinea pig farting on you, my piggy just did that a couple hours ago as I gave her a bath lol