Bad poops on and off

[fgcb]

Hi everyone,
I would like to ask for your opinion regarding the situation of my guinea pig, Bellini.

Lately, I have noticed an inconsistent pattern in his droppings. Sometimes the pellets are nicely formed and normal, but occasionally I also see smaller, somewhat misshapen, or softer pellets, and sometimes something that looks like soft/uneaten cecal pellets. So, it is a mixed picture.

Furthermore:

- His appetite is good (he wheeks and actively asks for food)

- He eats hay well

- He is active and behaves normally

- No diarrhea

- Not sluggish or listless

He completed a course of antibiotics about 3 months ago, and these problems started around that time. In the past, it sometimes took 2–3 weeks for his digestion to return to full normal, so I initially thought this fell within that recovery period.

What I also notice is that these episodes of softer droppings seem to return approximately every 2–3 weeks, but usually disappear again within a few hours. I am currently giving a probiotic as support, and while it was helping I think it doesn’t anymore.

I previously contacted the vet by phone to ask if I needed to come in. At that time, I was advised on one occasion to temporarily stop giving vegetables, and on another occasion to give some stool from my other guinea pig. Both times that seemed to help, but after 2–3 weeks a similar episode returned.

I plan to have him checked by the vet, tomorrow, but I wanted to see if anyone had experience with this and how it was managed.


Thanks in advance !

 

[Roselina]

I think it’s good you’re getting Bellini checked with the Vet
From my understanding poops are 2-3 days behind
It maybe that you need to stop all veggies for a week or so to make sure his digestion has settled then you can reintroduce veggies slowly
I’m sure one of the experienced forum members will be along to offer advice
Good luck at the Vets

 

[fgcb]

Thank you for your reply. It’s difficult because also one vet told me stop veggies and another said never to do that!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Is his weight stable?
How old is he?

Could it be that he is sensitive to a particular veg?

You should stop veg if poops are soft. This is because they need an increase in hay/fibre to help balance the gut.
You should stop it for as long as it takes for poops to normalise, then a further 24 hours without veg can also help. When reintroducing veg it needs to be done very slowly and it is recommended to start with one sprig of a herb as they are easier in the digestion and then build it up to two sprigs, then add in lettuce etc.

Piggies don’t produce caecotrophs so the soft poops you are seeing are simply soft poops, not cecal poops.

Wiebke's Guide to Poops

 

[fgcb]

Is his weight stable?
How old is he?

Could it be that he is sensitive to a particular veg?

You should stop veg if poops are soft. This is because they need an increase in hay/fibre to help balance the gut.
You should stop it for as long as it takes for poops to normalise, then a further 24 hours without veg can also help. When reintroducing veg it needs to be done very slowly and it is recommended to start with one sprig of a herb as they are easier in the digestion and then build it up to two sprigs, then add in lettuce etc.

Piggies don’t produce caecotrophs so the soft poops you are seeing are simply soft poops, not cecal poops.

Wiebke's Guide to Poops

He is 5 next week, and he is also a heart pig. He had a respiratory infection in November, so he was given antibiotics and metacam, which affected his gut and caused some weird poops, but he bounced back, albeit at a lower weight. He had another infection the month after, and the same thing happened, and ever since, he has stayed stable on that new lower weight.

I did what you mentioned about veggies about 2 months ago. I stopped giving him veggies for a day (as suggested by his vet), and he got better within a few hours. Then I was very hesitant, but I started introducing a bit of veggies bit by bit, and I also tried to give him some oat hay to see it he could gain weight. So far, we've had success with chicory, cucumber, celery, and parsley. I've been given a bit of each until I started eliminating again, and I ended up with just chicory, but perhaps I need to cut the amount or try again, or as you suggest, start with some herbs and then move on to leafy greens.

I thought what he had was actually a cecatrophe imbalance because he is currently producing a mix of ok pellets and mushy greener poops (which I think are overly wet cecetrophes). I've seen him eating directly from his butt, so he must be also making normal cecotropes.

I see what the vet also suggests tomorrow, but I find it is always good to be informed beforehand.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Guinea pigs don’t make caecotrophs - the latest research has changed what is known about piggies and it has shown that they do not produce caecotrophs. They simply eat normal waste poops (and will take them directly from their bottom) for a second run through the digestive system (this is called coprophagy). Rabbits are caecotrophic so produce caecotrophs but guinea pigs do not.
The guide I linked in on my previous reply explains this.
So what you are seeing are his normal poops but they are too soft indicating a gut imbalance

Keeping him off veg for just one day may not be long enough. It’s good he gets better after a few hours but I would keep him off veg for a minimum of two days to really give his gut change to settle.

It is very important that you do start with herbs first and not the celery or chicory when reintroducing veg. if you have been starting with other veg then it might be not giving his gut a chance to build up slowly.
Parsley is not suitable for daily feeding due to the calcium.
Coriander can be fed daily

Older piggies and their slowing systems can find it harder to manage veg, particularly if things have been upset by antibiotics.
It may be that his veg intake needs to be kept more limited permanently.
It can be harder to get older piggies to regain lost weight - they do tend to stay at a new lower weight and then maintain that.

I would give him poop soup made from the very fresh poops of his companion - this is microbiome transfer and can be more effective than commercial probiotics in helping balance the gut. You can give poop soup and commercial probiotics at the same time
Make sure to soak the poops and syringe the water they were soaked in to Bellini

Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

 

[Merab]

Just want to assure you of my support

 

[AnxiousPigOwner]

I have experienced something similar but not quite the same.

My piggies used to have quite the veggie feast, as they've gotten older I have had to reduce it significantly.

In my situation we had soft poops out of nowhere. Stopped veg for 3.5 days and gave a small piece of something (i cant remember what order I did it in), for dinner 1 evening and all was fine, gave the same for breakfast the next day, all fine, then gave a small piece of something else in the evening all good, I slowly introduced everything over a period of about 10 days. She ended up with all her normal veg but smaller portions, when she had been stable for a few days I then started slowly increasing the portions and thats when the soft poops would come back. So we stopped veg again, and started the process all over again but over longer periods of time and the same thing kept happening, the only way we eventually managed to eliminate it was to reduce the portion size.

I hope you get to the bottom of it x