Confused About Poops

[Lily & Rose]

A week ago I first started noticing a difference in Poppy's poos. They were very smelly and some were a bit soft. I realised it was probably the spring greens that I had been feeding her which might have caused it, so I immediately stopped giving her those. The smell soon went away, but throughout the week I noticed that she was looking uncomfortable when going to the toilet, when both pooping and urinating.

I took her to the vets on Friday and the vet thought she looked very healthy and thinks that her problems are stomach related. We have only had her for three weeks and her previous owners gave her a very poor diet. I tried to be very careful to only give her small amounts of veggies to begin with and she had lots of timothy hay and meadow hay. I also tried to slowly wean her off her pellets, which were the Wagg muesli type. I gave her one Vitakraft grain-free pellet mixed in with her old pellets, but I noticed that she was only interested in eating the Vitakraft pellet and not her other pellets which she was used to. A couple of days later, I realised that the Wagg pellets that her previous owners had given me, were six months out of date. Therefore, I stopped giving her those and gave her only one or two Vitakraft pellets each day, until she went to live with my other pig Lily, which was after a few days.

Anyway, since I started noticing her poop trouble I have been giving her Pro C Probiotic each day and limiting her veggies. A couple of days ago, I also stopped giving her Oxbow orchard grass, in case it was too rich for her.

I have a lot of things for stomach problems, but I have been hesitant to give her anything as I don't want to keep giving her new things. I have Fibreplex, Critical care, Gripe water, Emeprid and Infacol. The vet didn't recommend anything for her, as she was a lot better on Friday.

Last night she was very active but my boyfriend noticed that when she was sitting on his knee, that her stomach was vibrating a bit, he wasn't sure if it was rumbling or if she had a bit of wind. I haven't noticed her straining to go to the toilet today, and she didn't seem to do it much yesterday, but I have been rushing around a lot so haven't been able to watch her much.

I decided yesterday to stop giving her veggies for a couple of days. So far it has been since yesterday morning since she had a small piece of pepper and cucumber. A lot of her poos look fine, but some have patches of light brown on and look dry and crumbly. I just wondered if I should start introducing veggies again, maybe just a bit of pepper?

 

[Wiebke]

A week ago I first started noticing a difference in Poppy's poos. They were very smelly and some were a bit soft. I realised it was probably the spring greens that I had been feeding her which might have caused it, so I immediately stopped giving her those. The smell soon went away, but throughout the week I noticed that she was looking uncomfortable when going to the toilet, when both pooping and urinating.

I took her to the vets on Friday and the vet thought she looked very healthy and thinks that her problems are stomach related. We have only had her for three weeks and her previous owners gave her a very poor diet. I tried to be very careful to only give her small amounts of veggies to begin with and she had lots of timothy hay and meadow hay. I also tried to slowly wean her off her pellets, which were the Wagg muesli type. I gave her one Vitakraft grain-free pellet mixed in with her old pellets, but I noticed that she was only interested in eating the Vitakraft pellet and not her other pellets which she was used to. A couple of days later, I realised that the Wagg pellets that her previous owners had given me, were six months out of date. Therefore, I stopped giving her those and gave her only one or two Vitakraft pellets each day, until she went to live with my other pig Lily, which was after a few days.

Anyway, since I started noticing her poop trouble I have been giving her Pro C Probiotic each day and limiting her veggies. A couple of days ago, I also stopped giving her Oxbow orchard grass, in case it was too rich for her.

I have a lot of things for stomach problems, but I have been hesitant to give her anything as I don't want to keep giving her new things. I have Fibreplex, Critical care, Gripe water, Emeprid and Infacol. The vet didn't recommend anything for her, as she was a lot better on Friday.

Last night she was very active but my boyfriend noticed that when she was sitting on his knee, that her stomach was vibrating a bit, he wasn't sure if it was rumbling or if she had a bit of wind. I haven't noticed her straining to go to the toilet today, and she didn't seem to do it much yesterday, but I have been rushing around a lot so haven't been able to watch her much.

I decided yesterday to stop giving her veggies for a couple of days. So far it has been since yesterday morning since she had a small piece of pepper and cucumber. A lot of her poos look fine, but some have patches of light brown on and look dry and crumbly. I just wondered if I should start introducing veggies again, maybe just a bit of pepper?

Please do not feed any veg and stay on a dry food/hay based diet until the poos have normalised and have been healthy for a couple of days. The more hay she is eating, the better to help re-balance the guts. You can also offer a bit of rough nutritionally poor fibre in the form of brown cardboard; guinea pigs often crave it at a time like this.

Syringe water if necessary (as much as she is will to drink; do not force it down and never syringe more than 0.3-0.5 ml at once - that is about a mouthful for an adult guinea pig) to make sure that she is not dehydrating, and add a bit of probiotic to the water to help the guts. You can also syringe 1/8 of a vitamin C tablet dissolved in a little water during that time.

If you have other guinea pigs, soaking fresh healthy poos in a little water and then syringing water is also helping to stock up her guts with the "right" stuff; it is a bit gross, but mimics natural behaviour. Even the not redigestible poos contain bacteria and fibre that can do the trick.

 

[Lily & Rose]

Please do not feed any veg and stay on a dry food/hay based diet until the poos have normalised and have been healthy for a couple of days. The more hay she is eating, the better to help re-balance the guts. You can also offer a bit of rough nutritionally poor fibre in the form of brown cardboard; guinea pigs often crave it at a time like this.

Syringe water if necessary (as much as she is will to drink; do not force it down and never syringe more than 0.3-0.5 ml at once - that is about a mouthful for an adult guinea pig) to make sure that she is not dehydrating, and add a bit of probiotic to the water to help the guts. You can also syringe 1/8 of a vitamin C tablet dissolved in a little water during that time.

If you have other guinea pigs, soaking fresh healthy poos in a little water and then syringing water is also helping to stock up her guts with the "right" stuff; it is a bit gross, but mimics natural behaviour. Even the not redigestible poos contain bacteria and fibre that can do the trick.

Thank you. I have just checked some of her new poos and they look healthy, except a couple have a little point at the end. She is drinking a lot of Pro C Probiotic and I'm always seeing her eating a lot of her own poos.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you. I have just checked some of her new poos and they look healthy, except a couple have a little point at the end. She is drinking a lot of Pro C Probiotic and I'm always seeing her eating a lot of her own poos.

I would give her one more day and that will hopefully be it.

Start re-introducing veg carefully and slowly, one by one in small quantities at first, especially when you can't be sure that her guts are used to processing a wide variety of veg. I generally find starting with fresh herbs like coriander and parsley useful, but you might have to adapt to her favourites.

 

[Lily & Rose]

I would give her one more day and that will hopefully be it.

Start re-introducing veg carefully and slowly, one by one in small quantities at first, especially when you can't be sure that her guts are used to processing a wide variety of veg. I generally find starting with fresh herbs like coriander and parsley useful, but you might have to adapt to her favourites.

Thank you. Sometimes she seems like she is constipated. She strained a bit earlier, but all she did was urinate. Then she sat down for about fifteen minutes and when she got up there was twenty poos!