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Lack of appetite for Hay and bad poos

A

adavies2

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello all,

I would like some advice on an ongoing medical issue of my 1 year and 3 month old Sow.

She had a nasty URI that was treated with Baytril and Doxycycline and the course finished 12th Feb.

Since then, her weight has gradually declined from 960ish grams to 830 grams. Sunday, she started squealing when doing poos so we rushed to the vet.
No problems could be found, other than weight loss and lack of appetite (apart from for salad).

Metacam prescribed alongside Fibreplex.
Since the painful poos, they have smelt really bad. Shes no longer making painful sounds, but her poos smell awful and are sticky.

A faecal test showed no parasites, but nothing seems to be helping. I have reduced the amount of salad she has, but she just doesnt eat much hay. I have been giving recovery food every few hours, however much she will eat (roughly half a teaspoon every 2 hours).

Has anyone encountered this before and know what may be possibly wrong?
Its all started since Baytril :( I'm not looking for a diagnosis, just some advice from somebody who has experienced something similar.

Shes still moving around a lot, drinking lots, and seems happy. Its her lack of hay appetite and smelly poos, and the slow weight loss that is stressing me out.

Thanks again
 
adavies2 said:
I have been giving recovery food every few hours, however much she will eat (roughly half a teaspoon every 2 hours).
Click to expand...
I'm sorry! What a worry.
I'm not good with quantities at all. My question is: is this enough to keep her going? I don't know myself, but maybe somebody else does.
As far as I know, the smelly poos reflect what she was eating 24 hours ago? / 48 hours ago? Rather than what she is eating now.

From what I know on here, the weight loss would be most worrying.
I'll give you a link in a separate post, I know it won't show up right away tho, has to be OK'd by a moderator.
 
adavies2 said:
Hello all,

I would like some advice on an ongoing medical issue of my 1 year and 3 month old Sow.

She had a nasty URI that was treated with Baytril and Doxycycline and the course finished 12th Feb.

Since then, her weight has gradually declined from 960ish grams to 830 grams. Sunday, she started squealing when doing poos so we rushed to the vet.
No problems could be found, other than weight loss and lack of appetite (apart from for salad).

Metacam prescribed alongside Fibreplex.
Since the painful poos, they have smelt really bad. Shes no longer making painful sounds, but her poos smell awful and are sticky.

A faecal test showed no parasites, but nothing seems to be helping. I have reduced the amount of salad she has, but she just doesnt eat much hay. I have been giving recovery food every few hours, however much she will eat (roughly half a teaspoon every 2 hours).

Has anyone encountered this before and know what may be possibly wrong?
Its all started since Baytril :( I'm not looking for a diagnosis, just some advice from somebody who has experienced something similar.

Shes still moving around a lot, drinking lots, and seems happy. Its her lack of hay appetite and smelly poos, and the slow weight loss that is stressing me out.

Thanks again
Click to expand...

Hi

I am very sorry. Baytril and especially doxycycline can really wipe out the gut for quite a long time, as they also affect the 'good' digestive bacteria. :(

Please step in with feeding support asap. Hay is making over three quarters of the daily food intake but you cannot control that by eye. If she is not eating at all, you need to get ideally 60 ml into her over the course of 24 hours (plus offering added water). It takes about a day or two for any food to come out at the other end, so what you are currently seeing is likely still from when you have not been enough.

If you have other healthy piggies not antibiotics, you can additionally try live healthy microbiome transfer in addition to any probiotics.
Below is the link for how to. It is crucial that the poos are absolutely fresh (ideally feed the companion something outside the cage to trigger fresh poos, soak them shortly in a very little water so they are covered and then syringe 3 ml of the water to the ill piggy on stand by. Microbiome starts dying off as soon as leaves the body. This mimics natural behaviour in recovering pigges ('bum digging'). You can do it additionally 2-3 times a day. If done correctly, it can be more effective than probiotics.
Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe


Wishing you all the best in this anxious time.
 
Thank you all for your kind support.
I will check out the links from the first reply. Her weight went up a little today, and ive noticed shes munching on her own poos which is a positive change.

Shes drinking plenty, and I think shes been munching on more hay. Ive been putting fresh hay in frequently, as the bag excites them and they munch more.
I think the change in salad size has helped also.
We are continuing giving recovery food as a supplement, along with fibreplex for probiotics and fibre.
She hasn't been in pain for a couple of days, so I am really hoping she is gonna get through it ok.

Ill update in a few days! Thanks all <3
 

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She seems to be doing good today, eating hay and has gone back up to 847 grams. But she still sometimes makes painful sounding noises when she poops. Her poos are much more normal in shape, smell and consistency, so I am hoping her belly is getting back to normal slowly
 
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