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Specialist Long term soft stools

Pinki

Pinki

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
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I'm wondering if anyone has some advice. I have a guinea whose stools just wont firm up. It's not diarreha and I've spoken to lots of people and visited the vets and spoken to experts about it. So it's not life threatening at all, but messy and smelly!
So the usual advice of taking her off fresh food for a few days seems to work sometimes, but less and so as time goes on. When she was little (she's now 4) she would eat all the usual greens, tomatoes, cucumber etc but these days they just disagree with her.

We can't seem to find any particular food that she's allergic to. I'm wondering if its the dry food? (Wagg)

Anyone else had a guinea with just a poor digestive system? I was using Profibre which I've used successfully in the past but now it has little effect.

Thanks
 
@Katiedid has experienced something similar with one of her piggies. So tagging her in for you.

We had a piggy that reacted to certain veg, we had to keep a food diary and find out what veg caused it and what was okay.

tagging in @Wiebke @helen105281 @Jaycey @furryfriends (TEAS) @Abi_nurse @Freela

Hopefully there may be others along with some advice also
 
Pinki said:
I'm wondering if anyone has some advice. I have a guinea whose stools just wont firm up. It's not diarreha and I've spoken to lots of people and visited the vets and spoken to experts about it. So it's not life threatening at all, but messy and smelly!
So the usual advice of taking her off fresh food for a few days seems to work sometimes, but less and so as time goes on. When she was little (she's now 4) she would eat all the usual greens, tomatoes, cucumber etc but these days they just disagree with her.

We can't seem to find any particular food that she's allergic to. I'm wondering if its the dry food? (Wagg)

Anyone else had a guinea with just a poor digestive system? I was using Profibre which I've used successfully in the past but now it has little effect.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Hi!

Have you had any lab tests done and ever discussed a course of worming with your vets? Has she had x-ray/scans to check for any bloating issues or underlying problems that could influence food absorption?

I have got a 5 year old piggy that has been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) after a thorough check by a piggy savvy vet and that is on permanent gut meds and metacam. She also needed a couple of courses of fibreplex (which is a bit more than just a probiotic) to help stabilise her guts additionally after she suddenly developed a full-blown GI stasis over the course of a weekend.

I am linking in more experienced forum members for you.
@Jaycey @helen105281 @furryfriends (TEAS) @Abi_nurse @Freela
 
Have you tried giving her fibreplex? That may help to sort her digestive system.

It’s just a probiotic that comes in a tube. You can buy it from your vets or online as it isn’t a prescription medication. I used to buy it from vet UK.

Of course check with your vet first before giving it her
 
I second the Fibreplex recommendation, it has helped my pigs in the past. I currently have one who gets occasional soft poos but luckily we have worked out her trigger foods. Has your vet considered a course of Metronidazole? (Flagyl). I would also look into worming as Wiebke has suggested. You could also look into the Oxbow digestive supplement which may help?
 
Wow you are all amazing! Thanks!
So worming..we've been lapse on that front so I can do that right away.
Fibreplex: so I use Protexin Profibre which is from the same company: I just contacted them to see if it's essentially the same.
Wiebke: she has just had an operation for a fatty lypoma lump (very big!) so was scanned then I think but an analysis of her stools might be the way to go.
Thanks again all.
 
@Pinki Does she get bloated or gassy with it? Have you tried gut motility drugs?

I've had a couple of pigs over the years react to different foods. I'd definitely recommend keeping a food diary for her and slowly try to work out what it is.
 
Hi Jaycey..not bloated or gassy no. A food diary we have done and that's why I'm wondering if it's the dry food as we have eliminated everything else..apart from the daily cucumber, which we will do today. But I think diet is not the cause in this case.
 
@Pinki One of my current boys has issues with cucumber.

I went done the route of sending off some poop for testing with one of my boys. I didn't point to anything conclusive but it suggested a course of Itrafungal could help. And it did.

I'd definitely try removing the dry food to see if that helps, as it could be one of the ingredients.
 
Mine has had a problem in the past with Timothy hay. I switched to oxbow and it didn't agree with him. As soon as I switched to something else it cleared up.
 
Wow, who would have thought they would be so sensitive!. So Jaycey, that is interesting with cucumber because it's the only thing we have not swapped out apart from the dry food.
What intrafungal did you use, can you remember?
daveclark, not used Timothy Hay but do use Burgess, not sure if that could be it.
Thanks
 
@Pinki Sorry, the Itrafungal was just in a small brown bottle as it came from the vet. I'm not sure what brand it was.

I always laugh when I think of how dill really affects one of my boys. His stomach gets pretty gassy and noisy. Dill is an ingredient in gripe water which is used when pigs have bloat to soothe their stomachs. Typical!
 
Itrafungal is prescription only and not cheap. You will need to see a vet willing to prescribe it but it might be worth checking their cost. When I had it for ringworm it would have cost £120 through the vets so I paid for a prescription and brought it only for around £54
 
I had a guinea pig who had soft stools for about 2 years and they reaked. Nothing i tried would help.he went on fine like it. Just had to make sure i cleaned his feet and mucked out his sleeping area if it was messy. If i fed too much kale he gota diarhea though
 
I got hold of some Fibreplex (from my local vets, but it's available on Amazon) and then spoke to the manufacture's in-house vet, who was really helpful.
He said that Profibre, (which is the pellets) is not as effective as the Fibreplex, which is for acute symptoms. They have different types of fibre in them. The pellets are for more general gut health maintenance.

And...after one dose, her poop has got a bit of shape back already, not the cow-pat that we had this morning. So fingers crossed. Will report back tomorrow.
 
Hi - yes yes yes yes and yes boy have I had issues with that (we are now on the other end of the spectrum). I have had it with Biscuit my 6 year old and to a lesser extent with Jet.

Trying to remember what we tried but here goes………..
first step
Probiotics (Bio lapis and firbreplex)
No veggies for a few days (we did 5 days) then slow introduction (weigh every day when you do this Jet lost 100g overnight - it turned out he was surviving off veg and pellets as his teeth were overgrown) to try to identify the culprit (Biscuit loves lettuce so will hoover everyone’s up and get what we lovingly call lettuce bum).
Make sure it isn’t low level bloat (look for gas etc – Jet was bloated constantly because he couldn’t eat hay)

We had some limited sucess with slippery elm powder too.

Meticulous cleaning – it wasn’t caused by poor conditions but Biscuit ate her own poop so it was made worse by not cleaning out twice daily and washing fleece more often.
Second step
Scans (to check for cysts, bloat and tumours) and investigations (in the end scans showed the issue but we had ultrasounds and x-rays, we considered poop analysis).
It is worth at this stage having a proper teeth check for molar issues.

Check for arthritis – Biscuit can’t lean under herself to eat the caecal pellets so will poop and turn – they are soft so due to limited mobility that often resulted in poop step in whilst turning. Some metacam helps this.

The one thing that did eventually (for now) clear it up was critical care. Every time she gets a runny bottom we give her 2 says of critical care and it all dries up.
 
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Hi Katie..that's good to hear that Critical Care is working. Teeth are fine on Amla and I don't think any arthritis. She has recently had an operation so has been investigated for lumps/tumours.
Today she is a lot better after we've started the Fibreplex.
Helen mentions above Metronidazole (Flagyl) and I'm wondering if you considered this?
Thanks!

(btw I always avoid lettuce of any sort even though they love it!)
 
Pinki said:
Hi Katie..that's good to hear that Critical Care is working. Teeth are fine on Amla and I don't think any arthritis. She has recently had an operation so has been investigated for lumps/tumours.
Today she is a lot better after we've started the Fibreplex.
Helen mentions above Metronidazole (Flagyl) and I'm wondering if you considered this?
Thanks!

(btw I always avoid lettuce of any sort even though they love it!)
Click to expand...

Biscuit has cancer (which has caused liver and kidney failure issues) which is the cause of her runny bottom so we just manage it.
 
Well 6 years old is a fine old age for a guinea. Good for Biscuit!
 
Well a step back today. So we've eliminated everything in the diet and she's on Fibreplex three times a day and it's made it better but now we're back to squidgy. I think I'm going to have to suspect parasites of some sort and Flagyl or similar is the next step. Well the vets is the next step on Monday.
Thing is she is perfectly happy and not in any sort of discomfort at all..just us!
Hey ho.
 
So I wanted to give an update for Amla. Stools are firm at last! A knowledgeable guinea pig person told us to stop giving the Fibreplex and return everything to normal apart from greens...and wait. She said the anaesthetic from a major op can take up to six weeks to clear from the system and to be patient. Also this hot weather means they are drinking huge amounts of water. And exactly six weeks later..stools are firm at last. So I think Fibreplex is good but actually doesn't necessarily firm up stools. In fact having spoken to them it actually keeps the stools flowing..so it's not really a good thing to keep giving after the 3 days they say. Hope that helps someone.
 
@Pinki I definitely agree that sometimes less is more. If a pig is having digestive issues then surely sometimes we're not helping by using lots of different gut meds and changing diets. But, we do have to listen to our vets when they prescribe things too. So it can be difficult to get things right.

My vet usually advises to finish a course of Fibreflex, which is 1 tube so thats 5 days. I have a pig who has a bit of an off stomach and I was told not to give it long term but if he's having a particular off time then to give him a course

I'm glad she's feeling better and that it continues when you're adding greens back into her diet!
 
Thanks Jaycey. I agree it is a matter of finding that balance.
I spoke to Protexin's in-house vet and he said a course of Fibreplex is 3 days not 5, so that's interesting.
Anyhow it's always that difficult thing of judging how much to intervene isn't it? I do think vets are in the business of intervening however!
Thanks!
 
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