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Bonbon Update - Poo Issue

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BonBon2010

BonBon2010

Adult Guinea Pig
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I'm starting to see more normal droppings after 3/4 weeks. It's been a long time coming, but I can see a change in consistency and size, they're no longer half the size they should be. I'm still having to support her twice a day with the gripe water, i've tried to wean her down to once a day, but she can't seem to cope that well yet, so i'll give her another couple of weeks, and try again, once her droppings have settled down completely.
She is sometimes keeping a bit of food in her mouth, but she's not dribbling, or getting it on her coat anymore, which is a good sign. Sadly i've noticed she's skipping a bit with her left hind, but she did injure it 6 weeks ago, so I suspect she's got a bit of inflammation in her hip, think it needs an x-ray, although i'm reluctant about pain relief after her reaction to metacam (must find an alternative).
On looking back on the events over 17 moniths, she has reverted behaviour wise, back to the laid back, calm piggy she used to be, she's not going mad and popcorning like she used to, but she's enjoying lap time again, because at one point, she'd be wanting to go within five mins of being picked up, now anything up to 40 minutes.
 
That all seems good progress. Your vet should be able to go through alternative pain relief with you.
 
BonBon'a droppings have been of normal consistency for three days now. That's after 6-8 weeks of inconsistent pooping, soft then undersized and teardrop shape. Am I right in thinking another week or two then wean her off the fibreplex? I'm putting a sprinkle of avipro (sp?) probiotics on her food, and I'm hoping that she'll be able to support herself without the fibreplex.
She'll obviously be staying on the gripe water fairly long term, until i feel her digestive system has healed enough to support itself again. Droppings are more or less normal sized for her size, she was always a small piggy as a piglet.
Once I feel everything is under control for certain, i'm going to look for a more experienced guinea pig savy vet, to pin down the real cause to her digestive problems, right now, stabilising her health is just as important. She's starting to put muscle tone back on her shoulders and back, she looks so much better physically, and I guess the real test is how she fairs out over time.
 
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i think you'll have to use your own judgement on when is best to start weaning her off it. when any of my rabbits or piggies have had any kind of gut slowdown/stasis/gas etc, the vet has recommended continuing treatment for another week minimum after symptoms have gone, just to make sure. not sure what others do but maybe get to a week and then reassess how you think her droppings are?

it's great to hear that she is doing much better now. x
 
My ovarian cyst girl had very little droppings/ eating them straight from her bottom and after that it was small teardrop poops with air in them (felt like a balloon then pancaked when squeezed enough). This went on all in for around 2 weeks prior to her first hormone injection. 36 hours later and shes eating much better and poops are near enough normal, but I'm still continuing with fibreplex at half dose twice daily just to support her. I was concerned this was going to be a seperate problem but it looks like its been because of her cysts- the treatment for them
Is already working and I'm unbelievably relieved, and her poops are sorting themselves out. It may be that you wont get them fully sorted until the underlying cause is identified- maybe trying to find a pig savvy vet sooner might help things move forward. Sending healing vibes xx
 
Personally I'd wait until there's been a full week of healthy piggy poops before weaning off, especially if her tummy is so unstable.

Such a relief to see proper poo isn't it!?
 
Well i got up to only 3 poops this morning- all of which where teardropped! I jinxed myself clearly! Back up to full dose of fibreplex- clearly i halved it too soon so i would definately follow everyones advice and continue for at least a week with fibreplex, thats what I'm going to do now xx
 
BonBon2010 said:
BonBon'a droppings have been of normal consistency for three days now. That's after 6-8 weeks of inconsistent pooping, soft then undersized and teardrop shape. Am I right in thinking another week or two then wean her off the fibreplex? I'm putting a sprinkle of avipro (sp?) probiotics on her food, and I'm hoping that she'll be able to support herself without the fibreplex.
She'll obviously be staying on the gripe water fairly long term, until i feel her digestive system has healed enough to support itself again. Droppings are more or less normal sized for her size, she was always a small piggy as a piglet.
Once I feel everything is under control for certain, i'm going to look for a more experienced guinea pig savy vet, to pin down the real cause to her digestive problems, right now, stabilising her health is just as important. She's starting to put muscle tone back on her shoulders and back, she looks so much better physically, and I guess the real test is how she fairs out over time.
Click to expand...

It is great that her poos are normal again and that she is recovering physically as well. In your case, it is very much a case of see how it goes when you to shift her off her supportive foods onto a normal diet. There is no hard and fast rule. Be ready to step back in if it is too early. At least things are moving in the right direction. Serious gut issues can take a long time to come right, with a number of setbacks.

PS: I have merged your update threads, so we can keep the information together as much as possible. It helps to review things and adapt any advice to your specific case.

You can find a previous thread again by looking in your profile via the top bar. Click on profile and look under "threads started by you". ;) Our medical specialists will get alerts on any post on a threas in this section.
 
Thanks :) She's now able to entertain nuggets without holding them in her mouth. I'm trying to get her onto Beapher Care + But she's stubborn, I won't give up though, as long term these are better for her than the others.
Can anyone suggest a cordial I can use to make gripe water taste nice? She can be quite a wriggler and opinionated at times about it.
She's increasingly active, which shows she's feeling much better, and creates a path of mischief in her wake :))
 
@Adelle , it's a constant up hill battle trying to get them well, but the little things like, when they start to associate us with feeling better, and lick our hands to death, as if saying thanks, makes it all worth it ;)
 
BonBon2010 said:
Thanks :) She's now able to entertain nuggets without holding them in her mouth. I'm trying to get her onto Beapher Care + But she's stubborn, I won't give up though, as long term these are better for her than the others.
Can anyone suggest a cordial I can use to make gripe water taste nice? She can be quite a wriggler and opinionated at times about it.
She's increasingly active, which shows she's feeling much better, and creates a path of mischief in her wake :))
Click to expand...

Ribena is usually what is best with bad tasting meds like baytril.
 
How many grams can a guinea pig eat in one sitting? Just wondering, as in the space of 6 hours, Bonbon consumed 80g of hay, veg and grass, I know because I weighed her. She went from 808g (I think this is her base weight, as i'd come home from work after a 12 hour shift, and weighed her again at 1am, and she weight 884g. When I weighed her at 837g, it was about the same time as the 884g weigh in which means she must have consumed 65g of food in 6 hours at that time. So she's consuming more now than two weeks ago. Does that sound like she's on the right track?


Her hair has grown back around her eyes, and is growing back on her belly where she'd previously gone bald. I'm off for 4 days now, so can monitor and adjust as needed. I've now added oats to her feed (as of yesterday) and giving her fresh grass twice a day, and she gets lettuce two times a day too, to help hydration and encourage her to keep topping up, keeping her guts busy. Her droppings are ok at the moment, fingers crossed she keeps this up. She's still on the fibreplex atm, and gripe water.
 
BonBon is doing well, i'm currently trying her on another form of probiotics from protexin, it's called Professional, and I can sprinkle 1g a day on her veg, which i've found mixing it with the chopped peppers has the best results, as that's one of the first veg to be consumed by them all. This obviously will result in all three getting this, but that just means they all benefit from this.
Having spoke to my animal communicator friend, my suspicions of bullying is one of the possible causes of BonBon's stress. It was obviously grief at first when she lost Treacle then Humbug, but as Truffles has grown up, she is now the problem it appears :( Being bigger and knows it, she always acts spoilt and sits on the freshly pulled grass, blocking the house exits in the process, stopping Tilly and BonBon from their share. I asked her to ask Truffles to quit the bullying, and oddly enough today, BonBon has just pushed her out of the way, and no negative reaction from Truffles, she just moved, and let BonBon get her grass. I really didn't realize just how much stress she was causing.
BonBon's weight is holding, she did have a bit of a dip last week, but has come out fighting as usual, each time her health issues seem to bother her less. She is now back to the classic guinea pig pear drop shape, i'd like to see he around the 900g mark, but she's still hovering just over the 800g, plus 40g after veg, she isn't a particularly large guinea pig anyway, when she was a baby, she could get under the bed, which is a major achievement considering it's only a couple of inches off the floor, no other young piggie has ever succeeded in getting under there.
I have to wash her front feet fairly often, and her chin, due to gripe water that missed her mouth during syringing, but she's starting to enjoy the feel of freshly washed feet, and sits there licking my hands whilst I do it.
I've now started to do floor time with her and Tilly out separate, then Tilly and Truffles, so she gets some peaceful floor time.
 
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Update: She's doing well. Her fur has almost grown back in all areas that went bald, her lower belly, chest and upper limbs. There are none left to see, which is a sign she's no longer over grooming (discomfort related?). She's almost stopped itching too, as she had been doing that to distraction at one point.
She's unfortunately still on the gripe twice a day, but i've now taken her off the fibreplex as I feel she no longer needs it, she is getting it in powder form on her veg anyway.
Her tummy feels nice, soft and relaxed, and she seems to be sleeping better too. I think she is telling me she's ready to come off the gripe, as she's now spitting a lot of it out, and it's taking longer to give it. Gone is the dirty coat, thank goodness!
I'm going to try and reduce doses, and increase time between as it stands, doses are given between 12-17 hours, depending on whether i'm working or not. She does seem to fair better when i'm off though. She's out and about more, eating all the time, mainly fresh grass, oxbow timothy hay and freeze dried grass, and her honey stick, also some nuggets (the new ones). She's had two slip ups, where there's been a little bit of a dribble around her mouth, but a week apart, but no excessive amounts of fluid/food in her mouth like before, so like I said little hiccups.
I think this is going to go on long term, but she is getting better, it's just time and patience, I hope to wean her off gripe by the end of September, depending on her weight and how she is in general, also if she doesn't have an episode for more than two-three weeks.
I think she'll be going on holiday again in October, as I don't want her to slip back whilst i'm away, last thing I want is a poorly piggy again!
 
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