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Just a coincidence?

dannif_piggies

Adult Guinea Pig
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So to sum up, I recently posted about changing Honey and Willows bedding to paper based bedding, with the idea that this would make it easier for Honey not to stand all in her soft poops, as they wouldn't just sit on the top of the fleece. Before I tried something like carefresh, I thought i would test the practicality of it by using wood shavings. (Can I add I'm not a huge fan of these and didn't intend to keep them on this forever). I divided 2/3 shavings to 1/3 fleece, so the pigs had the option of where to go and sit. I did this change Wednesday evening, and since then Honeys poops have been continuing to improve one again after one of the worst bouts of soft poops she's had in a while (anyone that doesn't know, Honey has been battling with soft stools since her op in September)

Due to how well her stools have improved I decided to switch the ratios around today and have 2/3 fleece to 1/3 shavings, using the shaving area as hay eating space. So what I'm asking is, is this simply a crazy coinsidence or potentially could there be an effect of the fleece causing the soft stools? Maybe where she's sitting onto of the poops or something? As she is old I'm assuming her immune system is weaker. Could the soft stools be a bacteria? Or am I just overthinking the whole situation that is simply a coinsidence?

Side note/question, around the same time I ran out of their regular hay, and so my co-volunteer picked me up a bag she uses for her piggies, it it's still green, but not quite as much as my usually choice, could this play a roll in it? Is the green timothy hay now too rich for Honey and could this have been causing the blips in soft stools this whole time?

I'm sorry this is so long and a lot of questions but I feel a bit lost with what to do best for Honey 😅
 
I can't imagine the type of bedding would have any effect on poops but they hay certainly could. Maybe keep her on the new hay and see if the improvement continues.
Good luck.
 
I can't imagine the type of bedding would have any effect on poops but they hay certainly could. Maybe keep her on the new hay and see if the improvement continues.
Good luck.
I did think this about the bedding but I guess you just never know 😂 I'm still fairly new to fleece in the grand scheme of things so I just thought I'd check 🤣 (It sounds stupid I know 🤦🏻‍♀️) and I can't believe I just never thought of it possibly being the hay, I guess it's because she was on it before the op, but maybe after that and all the medications she just can't handle the richness of the greenness of it. I can't believe I've tried so many different things and it could've been as simple as a hay change 😱 Finger crossed it carries on this way, otherwise I'm back at square one once again 🤣
Thank you for your response!
 
I do hope Honey's improvement continues. Like you i would assume that the greener hay is richer and i also wonder if it contains more moisture the other hay.

I use paper bedding and fleece. I have fleece in the main part of the cage and Fitch paper bedding in the haylofts. I find this works really well as i can scoop out the damp areas of Fitch and replace it.
 
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