Gassy/GI issues in young female

Cuy

Post   » Sun Mar 11, 2018 1:09 pm


Thanks so much for your prompt reply. I am so upset right now. It’s so confusing. I put her on a vibrating pad yesterday which she hated but I’m going to do it multiple times today. I will take her tray out completely. She always has the tendency to grab anything and test it for chewiness, so it’s not completely uncharacteristic of her to chew. If she is eating from her anus, you would assume that force-feeding is safe, right? I want to start stuffing her now but I also don’t want to if she’s got any type of block... but just saw her grab two poops a minute ago.

Cuy

Post   » Thu Mar 15, 2018 3:05 pm


After several days of CC feedings and Reglan, Nala is finally back to fairly regular poops in terms of amount, shape, and texture. Per her vet’s recommendations, we are slowly weaning down her CC feedings and will d/c the Reglan on Saturday if her poops stay as they are now. I went ahead and started feeding her Timothy and will just deal with my allergies and she seems to really like it though she is not back to her normal appetite for pellets.

I do have a question concerning her pee. I have been feeding her a little bit of dandelion greens, some red leaf lettuce, tomatoes, and small amounts of whatever fruits she wants to keep her appetite engaged and I have noticed on and off her pee has been a very brilliant bright orange this week. Not red, not pink, but very orange. I haven’t let it sit around long enough to see if it fades to normal yellow (I removed her litter pan and she’s on full fleece now). I read that dandelion could do it so I stopped the dandelion 2 days ago. Could this be the Reglan or residual dandelion or the lettuce? I have never seen orange pee and she’s had red leaf lettuce and dandelion before. Thanks!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Mar 15, 2018 7:35 pm


I wish I remembered what drugs/foods might do this! I would document the drugs she is taking, along with the foods she is eating, along with the color/intensity of the pee to see if you can determine the cause. The bright orange sounds brighter than the rust colored/orangish porphirins that can affect the color of the pee.

Do weigh daily right now (if you aren't already) to make sure she is still getting enough food (i.e. don't stop the CC too soon if she still needs it).

Cuy

Post   » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:17 pm


Thanks for the response. I was able to watch her actually urinate once today and the pee came out yellow and checking back over the course of about ten minutes, I was able to watch it turn to the orange color. I would describe it as being between a brick orange and a carrot orange. When I dip a paper towel in, it is carrot-colored. It has varied in intensity. I also forgot to mention, sometimes her pee is normal yellow and sometimes it is orange. There is no smell.

I did leave a message for the vet and her tech called back letting me know that she felt that it was probably related to diet (the dandelions and maybe the red leaf lettuce) and to keep an eye on it. I am wondering if she is a little dehydrated so am watering down her lettuce and also making her CC more watery. I just got confused since she has eaten every one of these foods before and I hadn’t noticed orange pee... however she also was using paper litter in a potty pan and I removed that due to her nibbling it last week so it’s hard to tell. I will try to get a picture of the pee and send it if she pees on a light colored fleece.

I’m weighing her twice a day so I’ll adjust her CC if she starts to change weight. She has varied by up to 25g at a time throughout this whole thing. I am picking up a refill of Reglan tomorrow in case we need more over the weekend since I’m almost out.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:29 pm


25 g is not much (falls within normal variation).
www.guinealynx.info/weigh.html

I am guessing dandelion is more likely than red leaf lettuce to be the cause.

Cuy

Post   » Fri Mar 16, 2018 11:57 pm


Ok her pee has started to change from the bright orange to rusty orange/tan. It’s still variable in intensity. I’m still confused as to why it is still colored when she hasn’t had dandelion since Tuesday but when I stopped by the vet to pick up her Reglan refill, they said it might still be working out. The colored pee seems to alternate with normal yellow or clear/colorless pee. Still no odor. Thoughts?

I was also wondering your thoughts on her weight, if I can run a series for the last few days by you:

3/13pm 1009g after 20cc watery CC (forgot to weigh before feeding)
3/14am 971g
3/14pm 1000g (after a bunch of lettuce- forgot to weigh before feeding salad)
3/15am 968g
3/15pm 962g
3/16am 948g 1pm 941g

Haven’t weighed tonight yet. I’m bumping CC back up. She is eating a decent amount of Timothy, eating salad, picking at pellets but not doing the usual feeding frenzy she used to. Her usual weight before all this was about 975-980g. The other thing is that I feel that if I don’t CC her, she maybe won’t eat enough to maintain. It’s hard to tell but I’m afraid to cut back too soon. She’s a very robust girl though. Thanks!

Cuy

Post   » Sat Mar 17, 2018 12:00 am


Well Nala is determined to make me look hysterical, I just weighed her and she is 985 right now. She hasn’t pooped since her afternoon feed so there you go. Typical guinea.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Mar 17, 2018 1:32 pm


For what it's worth, when you keep a diary, include times of foods/meds/pee quality. I suggest this because in my limited experience, what is eaten, will affect urine fairly soon. My example was noticing more calcium deposits shortly after having had romaine to eat. Others have noticed this. Since subsequent pees can be clearer, it seems fluids are processed fairly soon after ingestion.

Cuy

Post   » Sat Mar 17, 2018 1:57 pm


This is an excellent suggestion and I was starting to do that in a diary I have of her feeds amount (along with notes about poop quality and quantity) but I need to be more specific. I am going to toss all the red leaf lettuce I had been feeding her today and switch to green. I actually agree with romaine, I noticed that too about Ca smudges even in non-stone/sludge pigs. I will start a new diary specific to foods/pee. I d/c Reglan as of this morning but strangely, the poops she JUST had after missing just one dose were a little smaller (?!?) so may start again if poops continue to be smaller and will note.

Oddly, last night she peed several of her fleece pads which she normally doesn’t do including her ‘bed’. No smell though and she’s not tender, still grabs at the syringe during CC time, still wants hay and parsley. Just odd that she ‘peed the bed’ when she’s usually good at going to her potty area.

I just bought UTI dipsticks, thought I’d give those a test because why not just out of curiosity. I read on a thread here that people have tried drugstore UTI dipsticks to do a quick test for WBCs.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Mar 17, 2018 2:47 pm


Cuy writes:
Here are a few photos. The first one is from 9:30am PST today- I’m not sure how old the urine is, probably about at least a few minutes. Her pee has been coming out clear/yellow and then turning colored so I’m fairly confident it didn’t come out that color. This is on a cloth incontinence pad. The second is about 45 min later or so after it’s dried a while. I just came upstairs now (11:30am) and found the third. I’m not sure how old it is. I’m really worried about that spot in the center (there were no poops or anything she could’ve tracked in nearby). I’m going to put her in a plastic tub and do a UTI dipstick now. Thanks for posting these!









I'm thinking this is just porphyrins/normal. What do you all think?
p.s. it occurs to me that what you wash your laundry in might affect color. Porphyrins become rust colored with time.

Cuy

Post   » Sat Mar 17, 2018 3:00 pm


Dipstick was normal (color was in between but looked more on normal end). How does everyone do their fleece? I would love some tips. Sometimes mine takes a minute to wick. I have been doing hot water with non-scented detergent and a drop of Dawn and occasional bleach. I use the Piggy Bedspread type set-ups because I’m lazy and paid a bundle for the pre-made ones.

Cuy

Post   » Wed May 16, 2018 12:21 pm


I am hoping to get some feedback or suggestionsabout Nala’s condition before she has another vet apt this afternoon at 4pm PST. She is having a recurrence of her GI trouble from February.

On 5/6, I noticed slightly less stool output, then on 5/7 they started getting ‘pointy’. I restricted her diet to just Timothy and KMS pellets and gave her one of the new Oxbow Papaya Plus tablets (supposed to be good for digestion). She has had stool of various ‘pointiness’ since then. I thought I would give her a week to see if her she would balance out before dragging her to the vet since last time she has issues it was thought to be due to sensitivity to the hay I’d just started feeding her, and I was wondering maybe I gave her too big a variety of fresh veggies in the day or 2 before her tummy trouble started this time around. I also gave her one more of the Oxbow Papaya Plus on 5/14 so wondering if that was too much excitement for how sensitive she is.

Last night she started making a ‘squawking’ noise while trying to poop and her butt is really dirty. Her poops were smashed and soft- not quite diarrhea but not formed and stinky. She also had a cecal stuck in her anus but I got it out for her during a butt bath. She is pooping very soft but formed poops today. I gave her 20cc CC this morning and will continue throughout today. Forgot to mention, her weight has fluctuated since Feb but within an ounce and a half up and down and never suddenly either way. I’ve been putting her on my vibrating phone app.

In Feb when the squawking happened, they rx’d Mentronidazole but she went off her food after a day and a half, so I am hoping for any alternate suggestions. Thanks.

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