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Blackberry Has Diarrhoea..

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Eriathwen said:
I had to compromise on the trip to Northampton as Mums partner was having trouble with his heart, so she didnt want to be too far away, just in case...which is why I got my head bitten off for asking.

The good news however is I agreed to give our vets one last chance and if nothing came of it we would go to n'hampton. We saw a different vet this time who seemed to be far more cavy savvy, her teeth and jaw are fine, no abcesses or spurs, no blockages, no uti etc. What he did give us though was a lovely minty antacid as he said the reason for her diarhoea every time we try to increase veg could be the ceacum being too acidic..which i'll admit I was sceptical about. But we tried it and shes a different pig! No wimpering at all, no pain of discomfort, no teeth grinding.. instead of fighting to syringe feed her, I had to fight her to give the syringe back so I could refill it. Her poops were loose this morning but now theyre almost normal, unless you look closely you cant tell the difference between hers and Brambles :) I cant believe it was something so simple. I'm so relieved, hopefully it continues.
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That is great news, I hope she continues on the up x
 
Just done an evening feed, I didnt even need to wrap her in a towel or put the syringe in her mouth! Just offered her the syringe and she ate voluntarily :) was a bit of a struggle to refill it each time again, she wasnt giving it up..
Next step is getting her to understand the bowl of soaked pellets is the same flippin stuff as whats in the syringe and shes more than capable of eating it by herself like she does her small ration of vet approved veggies xD
 
We've made quite the breakthrough today :) her poos have been normal for some time now but I couldnt quite figure out what shes eating while I'm not looking. I had assumed she must have been, because the amount shes taking from the syringe and her cardboard box shouldnt be enough to produce the size and volume of end product xD anyway long story short I was cutting up some of the types of hay we've got to see if she would eat more of it if it wasnt long strands. Turns out, shes been eating the fluffy seed head parts from the timothy hay! Ive spent ages picking those out and putting them in a bowl for her. Shes shovelling them down. Shes also eating a little of the normal timothy blades too now.

Baby steps... slowly getting there :)
 
Well her diarhoea came back after the course of antacid ended so she has been given a longer dose. Ive been able to stop the syringe feeds this week as shes eating enough by herself to still gain weight, shes over 800g now. Hopefully her poos stay normal once this course of treatment ends... is it possible for this to be a lifelong issue?
 
Eriathwen said:
Well her diarhoea came back after the course of antacid ended so she has been given a longer dose. Ive been able to stop the syringe feeds this week as shes eating enough by herself to still gain weight, shes over 800g now. Hopefully her poos stay normal once this course of treatment ends... is it possible for this to be a lifelong issue?
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It can be, if the Cecum is overactive. However this can be due to a bacterial/parasitic gut issue so id suggest having her poo sent off for analysis to rule that out.

Crunchie was on Zantac for the best part of a year (it was the opposite problem for her, things where slow) but the Zantac didn't cause any issues and is a relatively safe drug to use long term x
 
Will do! The first vet did mention about worming 'just in case' but her stomach was so upset at the time she decided not to risk it. Now shes doing better, hopefully thats something we can look into. She was out on the lawn in the warmer weather and we do have lots of birds, mice, squirrels etc that could be carrying something.

Shes currently on a Ranitidine solution, is that safe long term? Shes always been quite a drinker but now I'm watching just incase too much of this makes her ill as both her and Bramble clearly werent the healthiest of pigs to start with :( although shes not emptying bottles like she used to.
 
Eriathwen said:
Will do! The first vet did mention about worming 'just in case' but her stomach was so upset at the time she decided not to risk it. Now shes doing better, hopefully thats something we can look into. She was out on the lawn in the warmer weather and we do have lots of birds, mice, squirrels etc that could be carrying something.

Shes currently on a Ranitidine solution, is that safe long term? Shes always been quite a drinker but now I'm watching just incase too much of this makes her ill as both her and Bramble clearly werent the healthiest of pigs to start with :( although shes not emptying bottles like she used to.
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Ranitidine is Zantac and I haven't known it to have any long term ill effects x
 
Oh good! Thats reassuring, its the only thing thats worked and she seems to love the stuff. x
 
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