Diarrhea, Not Runny But Just Soft And Sometimes In A Bunch.

[Rinn]

Long story short: One of my female pigs is having diarrhea and i went to the vet yesterday, he told me that it might be an allergy to pesticides or that she is having some bacterial infection. So he prescribed vitamin c and antibiotics to her. He also told me to give her baby food only for one or two days along with the medicine.She has good appetite and eats her veggies, hay and pellets though. So i was searching online and some people recommended not to give just baby food, but give it together with mushed pellets or else her digestive system might not be able to handle other food later on. Is it okay to just give baby food for two days? I'm feeding carrot and sweet potato baby food which has no added sugar, and that was the only veggie-based one i could find.

Long story : One of my pigs, which is a female had diarrhea since more than a month ago. She was pregnant and gave birth to 3 pups 3 months ago. The male was seperated and kept with the dad. She still has appetite and is active just like before. She is about 1 years old. A month ago i was giving her timothy hay, alfafa-based pellets and about a cup of vegetables a day. There was romaine lettuce, corn husk,cucumbers, carrots,cherry tomato,green red yellow capsicum. I seperated her from her 2 female pups 3 weeks ago so I would give her more fibrous veggies.

Around here, we dont have vets who expertise in guinea pigs. I bought her to the vet a few weeks ago and they said to stop feeding cucumbers and to feed capsicum and pepper only, along with her alfafa based pellets(i cant seem to find timothy pellets around here) and timothy hay.The vet also gave some probiotics for her.
Yesterday I bought her to another vet which has more experience with exotic pets. He said that her stomach was a bit bloated and told me it might be a bacterial infection in the gut. He also said that she might be allergic to the pesticides on the vegetables. So he suggested that i feed her baby food for a day or two and observe her poop before i change her back to her normal diet. He presribed vitamin c and antibiotic to syringe feed her. I searched online and they suggested to feed baby food with mushed pellets because just baby food might cause the gut to not be able to handle harder food later on. So is it okay to just feed baby food for two days? I'm feeding carrot and sweet potato baby food which has no added sugar, and that was the only veggie-based one i could find.

 

[DM030819]

Pigs always always always need access to hay.

My pig had diarrhea a few days ago and I stopped feeding vegetables for 24 hours. I gave him hay and his pellet food only. To keep him topped up I offered the handfeeding food called Critical Care. But if that's not available you can get them their usual pellets mixed with a bit of hot water, left to cool and syringe fed in needed.

My boy is fine now and back on veg.

Diarrhea is caused by a digestive upset. Giving them things that they're not used to such as baby food is just going to make it worse.

Please stop the baby food, give her hay and pellets. If she's losing weight or needing more food please top her up with wet pellets or Critical Care.

Probiotics can help too as they try to stabilise the digestive system. My boy had them too for a few days.

 

[Rinn]

I se

Pigs always always always need access to hay.

My pig had diarrhea a few days ago and I stopped feeding vegetables for 24 hours. I gave him hay and his pellet food only. To keep him topped up I offered the handfeeding food called Critical Care. But if that's not available you can get them their usual pellets mixed with a bit of hot water, left to cool and syringe fed in needed.

My boy is fine now and back on veg.

Diarrhea is caused by a digestive upset. Giving them things that they're not used to such as baby food is just going to make it worse.

Please stop the baby food, give her hay and pellets. If she's losing weight or needing more food please top her up with wet pellets or Critical Care.

Probiotics can help too as they try to stabilise the digestive system. My boy had them too for a few days.

Okay, thank you very much. So currently I'll be providing her pellets ,hay ,water. I'll also be giving her probiotics 2 hours before antiobiotic and vitamin c too. If she's eating fine on her own and isnt losing weight, do i still need to feed her wet pellets? She drinks a lot of water too.

 

[DM030819]

I usually give probiotic 1.5-2 hours after antibiotics @Rinn.

If she's still eating okay then you don't need to offer the wet pellets. I just did that for my boy as I felt sorry for him not having access to veg. Plus the extra water doesn't harm.

 

[Swissgreys]

You have already had some great advice from @Jaycey and once everything settles back down, you might like to look at this thread for guidelines on a good diet for a healthy guinea pig.
Recommendations For A Balanced General Guinea Pig Diet

 

[Rinn]

@Jaycey Thank you very much! Thanks guys

 

[Wiebke]

If you are dealing with an upset digestion, but not outright diarrhea, and your guinea pig is still eating, then you take your piggy off any fresh food for a day or two until the poos normalise. In many cases, unlike they are severe, this does the trick.
Switch from weighing weekly to weighing daily at the same time. If the weight loss is over 30g within 24 hours, then you start topping up with syringe feed and water, as much as a piggy will take.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Around 80% or more of the daily food intake is hay. Guinea pig guts are basically laid out to function on that optimally. Any aim at rebalancing the guts must be therefore to take recourse to fibre, not processed starchy/sugary vegetables, which can make things worse.

It is also important to keep a guinea pig chewing on hay-based fibre as much as possible, as it is actually the silica in the hay and grass that keep the all important back teeth ground down. Because the silica is so abrasive, guinea pigs, who are grass/hay specialists, have the fastest growing teeth of all rodents to cope with that enormous wear and tear.
In order to break down the hay fibre, guinea pigs need to digest their food twice. That is why they eat their first run poos for a second break-down. The poos that you see lying around, is actually the result of the second run through.

In order to help rebalance the guts, you can additionally give a pinch of probiotics either 1 hour before (Current US recommendation) or 1 hour after (UK recommendation) after giving an antibiotic. Otherwise, you give a pinch 2-3 times daily, if necessary dissolved in a little water. Probiotics are available in most chain pet shops these days, as well as online.

Other options to help support the guts are:
- poo soup. Soak some healthy, moist and fresh poos from a companion in a little bit of water and syringe that. Getting hold of a companion's caecotroph (redigested poo) is near impossible, but even a normal poo will contain gut bacteria to help re-stock the affected guts. This is a bit gross, but it mimics natural behaviour.
- offering brown cardboard. Guinea pigs after an operation or a tummy upset often crave very rough, nutritionally poor fibre to rebalance their guts.

 

[Rinn]

@Wiebke I see. Thank you very much ! Ill try giving her some poo soup from the other piggies. I have already taken her off veggies for a day and her poops are starting to take shape, though they are still soft.