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Guinea Pig digestive problems, please help!

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misssparkly

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Hello,

I'm new here! I got my guinea pig, Gladys, about a week and half ago and she is now just over 8 weeks old. I am hopefully collecting a little friend (another sow!) for her this week.

So far apart from being a little nervous she's been fine but this morning I noticed her bottom was a little dirty so I checked and found that last night she'd been doing really soft sticky poos which don't smell very nice. I haven't changed what I'm feeding her so I don't think it's a change in diet. I didn't give her any vegetables this evening but gave her extra hay and some grass to nibble on. Is that the right thing to do? I am worried though because since I've had her she doesn't seem to be drinking from her water bottle ( I think she was getting water from her vegetables as so far she has seemed fine). If I am not giving her vegetables because of her digestive troubles what is the best way to get her to drink? :...

She looks bright enough, her eyes are bright and she nibbles grass from my hand when I hold her and licks my hand. Should I be really worried? Is there anything more I can do for her regarding the very soft poos?

Any advice would be gratefully received! :)
 
Hiya,

Yep the right thing to do is to keep her on a dry diet at the moment so no veggies. I would syringe some water in to her or use a spoon if you have no syringes at the mo.

If no better by morn I would get her to the vet.

Hope she will be ok,

Louise
:)
 
Yeah syringing water is essential. I would leave the grass out because greens can sometimes upset the tummy. The dry diet (no fruit/veg) is the best thing.
 
I agree, withhold veg for a couple of days. Water is important too and you could pick up some bio lapis from your vet whch is a pro biotic you disolve in water. This can correct an imbalance in the gut flora.

She may just have eaten too much rich greens such as cabbage etc :)
 
Thanks for all the advice. She was still fairly bright and hungry today but still not herself and still doing strange poos so just to be safe I think I'll take her to the vets tomorrow to check she's alright !
 
What sort of water bottle have you got?

I thought one of my piggies was not drinking once, only to find out when I saw them later in the day that they could not use the bottle as it was one of those ones that was square with like a thin metal pole coming out the bottom (hard to explain).

On another occasion I has a standard bottle but one that was suppose to be silent and the tip with the metal ball was lined with plastic / rubber inside and no water was actually coming out.

Now I stick to the standard bottles with the red on them.

I know that probably sounds very weird, its hard to explain the bottles.

Anyway good luck at the vet.
 
Sometimes the plastic bottles with metal mouthpieces with a ball inside the mouthpiece can sometimes get stuck.
 
Thanks for all your help and suggestions. Her water bottle is ok, it seems to be working fine she just isn't very keen on it!
No real improvement so far so went to the vet today who was very helpful and told Gladys that she was beautiful! :)
Basically he said she seems in good health and bright enough but she might have eaten a few too many greens and/or too much 'new' green grass which could have been too rich for her. He has given her some carrot flavoured fibre gel to have for two days (which she loves!) and some probiotic powder to sprinkle on her food. If she doesn't get any better he said he'd take a sample of her poo and have it sent off for tests but seemed positive that what he's given her should help!
The good news is that I can collect her new friend on Friday afternoon so hopefully that will be good for her too! :)
 
Well today she has seemed better, poos are almost normal and she seems to be eating really well again! :))
I think she's going to miss the carrot-flavoured Fibreplex when she's finished with it, she practically eats the plastic applicator she likes the stuff so much!
 
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