Long term poo problems

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Brownie+Splodgy

Post   » Sat Dec 25, 2021 4:41 pm


My three year old girl, Princess, has had poo problems for around three months now. Have seen an exotics vet.

Firstly, poos were too soft. Withheld veggies and gave probiotics for a couple of days. That helped but surely isn’t a long term solution as she needs the nutrients? Vet said I hadn’t been consistent enough with it and to withhold veggies for a week and give probiotics for a fortnight. However, as we were moving house, she suggested waiting to do this til we’d settled in for a week or two, when Princess was used to her new environment.

Vet did fecal float - came back ok. Said that she seems perfectly healthy. Weight is stable, eating heaps, no dental problems.

Now she does a combination of tiny, broken poos (but soft, not dry) and — a new thing over the past couple of day - some really dry ones.

Pellets - they both went off Burgess ones a few months ago and I’ve tried four brands and can’t get them to eat more than a few but they gets hay and a wide variety of veg.

Something is wrong but the vet didn’t seem to think it was anything to worry about.
I’m at my wit’s end.

She gets unlimited, high quality hay, a balanced diet of veggies, probiotics and have been slowly introducing more and more grass, as we’ve moved somewhere with a garden. She’s bright and alert, eating well - it’s only the poos that are a problem.

Our other girl is absolutely fine so, if it was a diet problem, I think it would show up in both.

How can I get her digestive system back on track? What could be wrong with her?

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Sat Dec 25, 2021 6:34 pm


You should be giving your pigs an unlimited supply of hay. They should only get about a cup of veggies per day. Some give them a cup once a day and others split it into half cups given twice a day. Veggies are great, but they don't supply all of the fiber they need and should not be the staple of their diet. Hay has a few benefits they need. Fiber, vitamins, roughage and chewing it keeps their teeth healthy. I would suggest cutting back on the veggies and making sure there is always plenty of hay available. As for pellets, if given should be about an eighth of a cup a day.

This page should help:

https://www.guinealynx.info/diet.html

Brownie+Splodgy

Post   » Sat Dec 25, 2021 8:05 pm


Hi, thank you for your reply. That’s exactly what they get - except they’re being difficult and won’t eat their pellets!

I’m reluctant to give little to no veggies long term, as they need nutrients from them.

What I don’t understand is how her some of her poo can be a bit too soft, yet tear drop shaped at one end and broken at the other, as that shape usually is a sign of dehydration.

It’s stinking hot at the moment, even though I leave the air con on for them, so that’s another reason I’m reluctant to take away her veggies.

The vet didn’t think it was massively serious, just need to get her gut back on track, but that doesn’t seem to be happening.

Anyone got any ideas that I haven’t tried?

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Sat Dec 25, 2021 8:29 pm


You don't have to take away her veggies altogether. Maybe cut them down to about a cup per day and make sure she eats her hay. Pellets are not a big deal if she doesn't get them. The most important thing to give her is plenty of the Timothy Hay. Make sure you weigh her every day (right Lynx?). Daily weighing will make sure you get on top of things if she starts losing weight. If that happens, you know you have a serious problem. If she's eating, drinking and maintaining weight and producing urine and droppings, wouldn't worry a whole lot about what shape they are. Especially if you had her checked out by a qualified exotic vet. You can also get another opinion from a different exotic vet.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Dec 25, 2021 8:47 pm


It sounds like you are doing reasonable things, Brownie+Splodgy.

You are correct about the teardrop shaped poops generally being a sign of dehydration. And the dry poops.

Consider soaking a handful of good quality tasty hay and offering it on a plate. Maybe in a couple hours or so, remove what is uneaten (wet hay can begin to mold - I do not know the longest safe cutoff but smaller soaked amounts may be eaten more quickly). This should help rehydrate and is often really enjoyed by guinea pigs.

If you see soft poos again, consider an elimination diet to see if there is an individual vegetable (or fruit) that is causing it. To do this, you would stop vegs then offer a single veg for a week (along with hay) and see if there are any problems. If not, add in another vegetable. Sounds like you are in England? I wish you had access to the pellets we have in the states. There are several reputable kinds that might be better than Burgess.

Can you tell us what vegetables (and how much, how frequently) you are feeding right now?

Brownie+Splodgy

Post   » Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:05 am


Hi, sorry it’s taken me a while to reply. Princess’s poos are a much better/pretty perfect consistency - not too hard, not too soft. They’re still tear drop shaped and small but she seems perfectly healthy in every other regard. There’s the occasional big one. She’s lost about 30g in the past two months but that’s not a worrying amount.

I’m in Australia, not the UK. I’ve tried Burgess (two flavours), Oxbow and Cavy Origins pellets but both my girls stopped eating them a few months ago. I keep trying but they don’t want them.

Princess gets slightly less than a cup of veggies and a huge variety - a little bit of five or six different veggies every day, such as kale, capsicum, coriander, parsley, cucumber, pak choi, radicchio, lettuce, tomato, carrot, endive, occasionally broccoli, pumpkin, beetroot.

They get daily grass and Oxbow vitamin c biscuits.

I just want her poo to go back to how it was a few months ago. Or should I just accept that this is what’s normal for her now? As I said, she seems perfectly healthy, saw a vet a couple of months ago and, if there was something wrong, I’d probably know by now as this has been going on for a few months now.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Jan 24, 2022 9:31 am


Capsicum (pepper) is an excellent food but a very few guinea pigs seem to have problems with it. You might withhold it if you see soft poops again.

The broccoli reportedly can cause gas, parsley is high in calcium (an issue if your guinea pig is prone to stones). It can be difficult to find the perfect vegs. That you are varying things is good but if a particular vegetable is causing problems, harder to identify it.

You might want to read over:
https://www.guinealynx.info/fave.html

Bookfan
For the Love of Pigs

Post   » Mon Jan 24, 2022 10:38 am


One of our vets said all a guinea pig really needs is hay, vitamin c supplement and water. So experimenting with an elimination diet shouldn't hurt her.

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