Hello All - I need some help. I have been taking my skinny pig Jenny to the vet for a little over 2 months and we are stumped, so maybe you all have suggestions or have run across this. It started when my Jenny got pneumonia, we took her to the vet and got her on antibiotics and some Metacam for the pain. We did get the pneumonia cleared up, but then she had been loosing weight rapidly. She went from almost 600 grams to 485 grams. She was still eating her regular amount, but not gaining the weight and was getting really skinny. She was pooping a lot even more so than she normally does. We started her on a probiotic and that got her weight back in order and now we give it to her everyday. Now the lingering problem that we can't figure out is why she is having pain when she poops. It's not all the time but a lot. It's so said you hear her wheek and cry and sometimes she will try to pull the poop out with her mouth and her butt is sensitive when you touch it. Our vet did x-rays and an ultra sound and didn't find any blockage. We have her on a diet of timothy hay, cilantro, small peppers, parsley, green beans and an occasional slice of apple or orange. We also give them vitamin C treats daily. The vet tried to take blood from her today but it was unsuccessful so we have to take her to the vet at CSU but they are scheduled out for almost a month. In the meantime, I don't know what to do. The vet also had us make "poop soup" for her and take the poop of one of our healthy skinny pigs and mix it with Critical Care and feed it to her. Yet, the problem persists. Could it possibly be the Metacam that is causing her the pain? We are stuck and don't know where to go from here. I just want to get her better!
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Pain when pooping
- Thread starter lcoburn79
- Start date
D
DMS260820
I may be totally wrong but has the vet checked here vagina area to make sure nothings blocked in there like a calcium stone or something. Might not have showed up on xray, don't know if ultrasound can miss something like that or not.. Just an idea
Hi and welcome!
I am very sorry. Your vet sounds pretty thorough and seems to have done their research.
Of course, I can only guess and just throw into the ring the issues that are most commonly connected with painful pooing, and which your vet may already have excluded.
Has your vet checked for bladder stones or problems with the reproductive tract? Pain from arthritis can in some cases also impact on the gut. Has he checked her urine for traces of blood or infection (hi protein)? Is the bum dry or is there increased urination/smelly urine?
I am thinking of a potential cystitis, more likely a sterile (i.e. non-bacterial) interstitial (recurring) cystitis one than a bacterial one.
Pain with pooing and peeing is most often connected with the urinary tract; it can in rarer cases come from the reproductive tract. Because the gut surrounds these organs, any pain generally impacts on it.
Metacam is a painkiller as well as an anti-inflammatory. We have never heard of a bad reaction to it in all the time we've been running with literally tens of thousands of piggies passing through.
PS: I would recommend to up the calcium content of the veg diet somewhat but reduce the sugar content (which encourages the wrong kind of gut bacteria). Your diet should be mostly green, ideally leafy darker green.
Keep in mind that more calcium is coming from low calcium pellets than from any veg (including spinach and kale) and that water is another source of calcium that is mostly overlooked. Too low a diet on calcium is problematic, too.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Also be aware that guinea pigs, like humans, adapt to high levels of vitamin C and conversely suffer symptoms of scurvy whenever that levels drops for some reason. It is better to use high levels of vitamin C as a short term booster for 2-3 weeks.
Also keep in mind that most people are not aware that grass is actually high in vitamin C and that hay also still contains a certain amount of it, which is why guinea pigs never had the need to produce their own vitamin C in the first place and why we don't see piggies on a hay based diet (80% or more) suffer from vitamin C deficiency. If you can, add fresh grass to your daily diet but make sure that it has not been peed on by dogs (their pee is poisonous to guinea pigs) - that gives you exactly the kind of vitamin C in the most natural form.
miowmix
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi I am going through a similar thing with my recently castrated boar. just wondering is it definitely pooping thats making her squeak? Has she had a urine test for a urinary tract infection? Otherwise, are her poops too dry and painful to pass - could she need more water?