• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Light Coloured Poops?

Eriathwen

Eriathwen

Senior Guinea Pig
Joined
Jan 11, 2016
Messages
5,214
Reaction score
26,209
Points
1,875
Location
West midlands
Ok Bramble is prone to the odd runny bum..usually they go after witholding veg for a few days. Anyway shes back to passing solid poops but theyre much lighter than normal..what is she missing still? Shes eating hay and pellets really well, we started her on veggies again yesterday but will have to stop again as theyre becoming paste like again. She gets a bowl of critical care each day that she eats without my help, fibreplex twice a day and bio lapis in one of their water bottles...

Is she still lacking fibre or is there some other reason for this? (Bottom poop is Ebonys for comparison)
20171031_125001-1.webp
 
someone else may be able to correct me here but don't guinea pigs produce two types of poo a dark one and a light one. One is waste and one is what they re-eat as it is nutrients they couldn't digest the first time. So it may be you have only selected one type of poop.
Like i say i'm not an expert but might put you on the right track, hope piggy is ok :D
 
Eriathwen said:
Ok Bramble is prone to the odd runny bum..usually they go after witholding veg for a few days. Anyway shes back to passing solid poops but theyre much lighter than normal..what is she missing still? Shes eating hay and pellets really well, we started her on veggies again yesterday but will have to stop again as theyre becoming paste like again. She gets a bowl of critical care each day that she eats without my help, fibreplex twice a day and bio lapis in one of their water bottles...

Is she still lacking fibre or is there some other reason for this? (Bottom poop is Ebonys for comparison)
View attachment 74088
Click to expand...

The poops should normalise within a couple of days of Bramble eating normally on her own again. They are a good size and consistency, so nothing to worry about. You are getting enough food into her!
 
Those look fine to me as poops that are well on way to returning to normal.
 
Thanks again for the reassurance, it looks like at long last we've got there! :xd: I bought some of these Protexin pellets from the same place ive been getting her bio lapis abd fibreplex, I'm hoping it will be enough to reduce or get rid of these random bouts of diarrhoea in the future but we will have to see.

20171102_120238-1.webp 20171102_114550.webp
 
All the best!

Have you considered trying grain-free pellets (and leaving our any sweetcorn if you haven't yet)? Some piggies with persistent milder digestive issues have had success with that.
 
Shes currently on Rosewoods meadow menu which I believe is grain free, and some pure hay and grass pellets which definitely are, although thats a switch we made only a couple of months ago and i'll admit she is far better than she has been, the 2 bouts she has had since switching have been from peas, the first was a mangetout pea and this time it was after giving them pea shoots..she was fine with the shoots before but it looks like she has developed some sort of pea intolerance? I will be reducing the amount of corn though, i'll admit thats a favorite of hers so I might have given too much at once a week?
 
Eriathwen said:
Shes currently on Rosewoods meadow menu which I believe is grain free, and some pure hay and grass pellets which definitely are, although thats a switch we made only a couple of months ago and i'll admit she is far better than she has been, the 2 bouts she has had since switching have been from peas, the first was a mangetout pea and this time it was after giving them pea shoots..she was fine with the shoots before but it looks like she has developed some sort of pea intolerance? I will be reducing the amount of corn though, i'll admit thats a favorite of hers so I might have given too much at once a week?
Click to expand...

Better stay off peas and see whether staying off sweet corn is also helping; sweet corn are very large grass seeds after all, very sugary and fattening (piggies are addicted to that as much as we humans! - the same goes for carrots... ).

It is often down to fine tuning what agrees and does not agree with your guinea pig individually.
 
Luckily she doesnt much like carrots as it is and peas are off the menu now. My issue seems to be that I feed such a wide variety of veg its been a bit of a pain to pinpoint exactly whats causing it each time so ive been setting out a much shorter list specifically for her of foods I know dont cause her issues.

Ive a feeling a much more restricted diet will be better for her than stripping her gut flora and having to rebuild it every few months!

So far peppers, celery, spring greens and kale dont cause her issues, ive not tried anything else after finding out peas most definitely do! But hopefully next week we can try some other bits and see how she gets on.

She loves the Protexin pellets so thats something at least! Itll make reintroducing veg much easier I think.
 
Eriathwen said:
Luckily she doesnt much like carrots as it is and peas are off the menu now. My issue seems to be that I feed such a wide variety of veg its been a bit of a pain to pinpoint exactly whats causing it each time so ive been setting out a much shorter list specifically for her of foods I know dont cause her issues.

Ive a feeling a much more restricted diet will be better for her than stripping her gut flora and having to rebuild it every few months!

So far peppers, celery, spring greens and kale dont cause her issues, ive not tried anything else after finding out peas most definitely do! But hopefully next week we can try some other bits and see how she gets on.

She loves the Protexin pellets so thats something at least! Itll make reintroducing veg much easier I think.
Click to expand...

Try our special diet tips below our sample diet in this guide here; the diabetic tips should hopefully also work for you. You will end up with a much more limited diet, but that will hopefully stabilise the issue. You can then still add more veg and herbs as long as they are tolerated. Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diet
 
Had a bit of a blip, not sure why...no changes were made to her diet yet! The only thing I can think of that was different is I had to make one sachet of the bio lapis last 36 hours instead of 24 until the new lot arrived which would line up with the loose poops the next day. I wasnt well yesterday so wasnt paying as much attention as I should of been..but noticed that her diarrhoea had returned in the afternoon so she was put back onto critical care syringe feeds, poops stopped altogether this morning although they're back now and shes been spending a lot of time sticking her head under to eat her caecotrophs, so I guess thats a good sign.

Ive been wondering if its maybe the local farm hay thats upset her? I figured meadow hay would be meadow hay, and seeing as Just for Pets was going to close down I swapped them to hay from a local farm shop. I went to Just for Pets today to get some of their old hay and putting them side by side, its much greener.....maybe shes not been eating as much as she should be, even though she is eating it. Either way, shes back on her old hay for now so we'll see where that goes.
The vet gave us an abundance of Ranitadine when we took Daisy with her upset stomach, we did mention Bramble at the time, but I'm reluctant to give her any in case it makes her worse, but I'm unsure the stress of a vet visit will outweigh the benefits when they will likely only give her Ranitadine and fibreplex anyway...both of which we already have here!

She's such a pickle :( shes still lively and eating.
 
Just see whether it sorts itself out. If not, step in with meds.

Hay is not just hay; like bread is not just bread...
 
Thanks, yeah I figured id give her another 24/48 hours and see how they go. Maybe wait until Monday in case the meds dont agree with her and I need to take her down the vets. They are open Sundays but usually pretty busy.
 
/sigh/
Panic over, poos have returned to normal again! No idea what all that was about...I'm sure shes trying to turn me greyer than I already am!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top