bad poo now fur loss please help

[hannahtherascal]

Hi all,

First up thanks for even clicking to look at my post.

What a week I have have had.

I have two male nearly three year old guinea brothers that live together in two joined guinea pig habitats called Billy and Clive. Monday just gone I noticed Billy had a bit of dry poo on his bum, then looking round there home i noticed his poo isn't quite normal. more clumpy and squishy (please see pic) He was still totally fine in himself wheeking away and eating perfectly fine. So we went to our usual veterinary practice at the next available appointment. He had not had anything different to his usual diet/care/cage at all, same as always. The vet gave us critical care to give him and said to up his fibre intake with lots of veg and timothy hay. Temperature was fine, and so were teeth. So we did two days of critical care along with veggies as normal. I had it in my heart that that wasn't what I should be doing so I searched the island high and low for a vet with a bit more of exotic knowledge. We went to him on Friday and he checked teeth ect, and he said diet of just water/hay/nuggets, so we have been on that since Friday. Now being Sunday and their every other day full clean i found fur under their little wooden bridge and checked billy and he has lots of fur loss/agitated skin all on his back legs and bum (see photo) I'm hysterical and don't know what to do! No vets are open on a Sunday and I will get him to the vet as soon as I can tomorrow. Is this stress as he has had no fresh? Is it related to his not normal poo? If any one has any knowledge anything will help. I don't know how I am going to sleep knowing my little boy has all this fur missing

Thank you so much in advance if you are able to suggest anything/help.

Hannah x




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[Wiebke]

Hi all,

First up thanks for even clicking to look at my post.

What a week I have have had.

I have two male nearly three year old guinea brothers that live together in two joined guinea pig habitats called Billy and Clive. Monday just gone I noticed Billy had a bit of dry poo on his bum, then looking round there home i noticed his poo isn't quite normal. more clumpy and squishy (please see pic) He was still totally fine in himself wheeking away and eating perfectly fine. So we went to our usual veterinary practice at the next available appointment. He had not had anything different to his usual diet/care/cage at all, same as always. The vet gave us critical care to give him and said to up his fibre intake with lots of veg and timothy hay. Temperature was fine, and so were teeth. So we did two days of critical care along with veggies as normal. I had it in my heart that that wasn't what I should be doing so I searched the island high and low for a vet with a bit more of exotic knowledge. We went to him on Friday and he checked teeth ect, and he said diet of just water/hay/nuggets, so we have been on that since Friday. Now being Sunday and their every other day full clean i found fur under their little wooden bridge and checked billy and he has lots of fur loss/agitated skin all on his back legs and bum (see photo) I'm hysterical and don't know what to do! No vets are open on a Sunday and I will get him to the vet as soon as I can tomorrow. Is this stress as he has had no fresh? Is it related to his not normal poo? If any one has any knowledge anything will help. I don't know how I am going to sleep knowing my little boy has all this fur missing

Thank you so much in advance if you are able to suggest anything/help.

Hannah x


View attachment 117383View attachment 117384

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Hi and welcome!

Please have your boy vet checked. The hair loss looks like potential self-barbering (for a pain issue) or mange mites in a somewhat untypical location. We can only show up avenues to pursue with a vet but - like any online place - cannot replace a hands-on vet examination nor is any of us a qualified vet.

Also take your boys off any fresh food until the poos have solidified again for at least 24 hours. They can be the result of too much fresh grass/damp fresh grass in addition to a normal veg diet at this time of year, which can unbalance the fermentation process in the gut.
You may want add a pinch of probiotic to 1 ml of water and syringe it twice daily to additonally help rebalance the gut if you wish to.
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

 

[VickiA]

I agree that the leg looks like either barbering from pain or from irritation such as mange mites.
Whenever you get odd poos I stop all fresh green stuff and allow only hay water and pellets. You can feed vit c supplement in Pro C or other format so they aren’t Vit C deficient.
Don’t panic. This is not an emergency but do ask the vet to consider mites or pain.

 

[hannahtherascal]

Hi and welcome!

Please have your boy vet checked. The hair loss looks like potential self-barbering (for a pain issue) or mange mites in a somewhat untypical location. We can only show up avenues to pursue with a vet but - like any online place - cannot replace a hands-on vet examination nor is any of us a qualified vet.

Also take your boys off any fresh food until the poos have solidified again for at least 24 hours. They can be the result of too much fresh grass/damp fresh grass in addition to a normal veg diet at this time of year, which can unbalance the fermentation process in the gut.
You may want add a pinch of probiotic to 1 ml of water and syringe it twice daily to additonally help rebalance the gut if you wish to.
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

Hi Wiebke!

Thanks for your speedy reply. I will be on the phone to the vets at 8AM tomorrow morning

Is the probiotic a specialised guinea pig product?

Thank you!

 

[VickiA]

Hi Wiebke!

Thanks for your speedy reply. I will be on the phone to the vets at 8AM tomorrow morning

Is the probiotic a specialised guinea pig product?

Thank you!

ProC Probiotic 100g | Pets At Home

 

[Wiebke]

Hi Wiebke!

Thanks for your speedy reply. I will be on the phone to the vets at 8AM tomorrow morning

Is the probiotic a specialised guinea pig product?

Thank you!

No; you can get it easily at any pet shop - you can find a list of the common brands and information on suitable vitamin C by clicking on the green link in my previous post. it should be a herbivore small pet product though.

There is still vitamin C in the hay and the pellets (please do not feed any dry mix/muesli), so I would not worry about taking your piggies off any fresh food for a day or two.

 

[Merab]

Can’t add to the advice but offering support.
It’s worrying when a piggy is unwell.

 

[hannahtherascal]

Can’t add to the advice but offering support.
It’s worrying when a piggy is unwell.

Thank you for your message. What a lovely thing to say. So happy to have found a lovely community and welcome on this forum.

 

[hannahtherascal]

No; you can get it easily at any pet shop - you can find a list of the common brands and information on suitable vitamin C by clicking on the green link in my previous post. it should be a herbivore small pet product though.

There is still vitamin C in the hay and the pellets (please do not feed any dry mix/muesli), so I would not worry about taking your piggies off any fresh food for a day or two.

Vet has tried to get hold of some, as we only have a little Pets and Home and local pet shops have not have any, vet has been calling around.

The vet seems to think it is barbering - did you have any previous experience with this?

Vet has said to try and introduce dandelion and blackberry leaves to start off with?

Thank you so much for your advice. it was panic mode yesterday, found it hard to find Billy like that and i only blamed myself.

 

[hannahtherascal]

I agree that the leg looks like either barbering from pain or from irritation such as mange mites.
Whenever you get odd poos I stop all fresh green stuff and allow only hay water and pellets. You can feed vit c supplement in Pro C or other format so they aren’t Vit C deficient.
Don’t panic. This is not an emergency but do ask the vet to consider mites or pain.

Vet seems to think it is barbering done by Billy himself or brother Clivey. Did you have any experience in this?
Fully reacted badly yesterday myself, so hard not to blame yourself for biggie problems, still no poo improvement either x

 

[Wiebke]

Vet has tried to get hold of some, as we only have a little Pets and Home and local pet shops have not have any, vet has been calling around.

The vet seems to think it is barbering - did you have any previous experience with this?

Vet has said to try and introduce dandelion and blackberry leaves to start off with?

Thank you so much for your advice. it was panic mode yesterday, found it hard to find Billy like that and i only blamed myself.

Yes, I have experience with barbering in most of its forms. All the pictures and videos in the barbering guide are from my own piggies, as it is the text. As far as I know, it the most comprehensive and in-depth information on barbering available. Here is the link: Barbering ( Eating Hair)

The location suggests to me a pain issue in the leg area and self-barbering.

 

[VickiA]

Has your vet examined the area and/or xrayed or scanned to see if there is any arthritis or reason for pain that might explain self barbering?