Jbrophy1021
New Born Pup
I know this might sound like a stupid question but just checking do Guineas pigs eat their own poo and is it normal
Poo eating
- Thread starter Jbrophy1021
- Start date
In order to break down the tough but highly nutritious hay/grass fibre, animals with this as their main food source have had to come up with creative solutions - like 4 stomachs in a cow.
Guinea pigs do have to run their food through their very long and thin gut twice. They bundle the not yet fully broken down fibre into special poos called caecotrophs ('eaten poos') which they usually pick up straight from the anus. these caecotrophs are produced at a different time to waste poos. They have a slightly different consistency and smell, so they are never mistaken.
Waste poos (the ones you see laying around) result from both runs through the gut.
Here is more information on guinea pigs as a species: Guinea Pig Facts - An Overview
Betsy
Anniversary Herd
Yes Eaty Poops are quite normal.
You are highly unlikely to see them but if you do then you can tell the difference. They take caeoctrophs directly from their bottom and eat them without them every touching the ground. They tend to be smaller, softer, and lighter in colour. Seeing caecotrophs at all should alert you to a problem.
But, If you see soft, wet, small poops in the cage they’re unlikely to be caecotroph and almost always due to a digestive upset and requires action as such.
LollyJJ
Adult Guinea Pig
Thanks @Piggies&buns , just curious as rabbit ones are so obvious
Yes, you can tell the difference between rabbit waste poops and caecotrophs. Funnily enough i actually found a rabbit caecotroph last week, immediately sent me into ‘what’s wrong’ mode. Day of hay and recheck veg and pellet portion and they are fine now.
Hath
Teenage Guinea Pig
I always wondered how they know what type of poo is coming out? 
Yes they do
Betsy
Anniversary Herd
Same here!I always wondered how they know what type of poo is coming out?
Hath
Teenage Guinea Pig
I've seen my boys throw away a solid poo. Not sure how their sensors work... Maybe it smells different?
Two_Wheeks
Junior Guinea Pig
When I deal with Gibson's impaction I have to offer up the loose ones to him, he always snuffles an eater out! The ball of poops though just goes in the bin..
Glamourous..
Glamourous..
It's normal... it's actually a problem if they don't do it, as the food they are designed to eat (hay and such) is hard to break down and low in nutritional content that this is basically evolution's way of extracting all the needed nutrients by basically digesting the food twice. Cows have multiple stomachs for this, guinea pigs and rabbits eat caecotrophs instead.
Siikibam has now made me wonder if other rodents do it too... in all my years of having hamsters and mice I have never once seen this behavior, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's the herbivore-only rodents like guinea pigs who need this behavior. Most other rodents are omnivores and are eating food where the nutritional content is a lot easier to extract, so it kind of makes sense that this behavior would evolve for them and not for, say, a mouse, who is going to be a eating a lot more variety of food and not just grasses that are hard to break down.
Siikibam has now made me wonder if other rodents do it too... in all my years of having hamsters and mice I have never once seen this behavior, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that it's the herbivore-only rodents like guinea pigs who need this behavior. Most other rodents are omnivores and are eating food where the nutritional content is a lot easier to extract, so it kind of makes sense that this behavior would evolve for them and not for, say, a mouse, who is going to be a eating a lot more variety of food and not just grasses that are hard to break down.