Poo Question

[Fishybat]

Hi

I know that piggies need to eat their poo. But do they eat it straight away? If I am spot cleaning the cage will they be finished with the poo? Do I need to leave it so they can come back and eat it later?

I work from home so often give them a little clean but not sure if cleaning to often.

Also they don't seem to eat the hay from hay rack but I stock up the bedroom and they eat loads. I keep the hay rack full and fresh but they prefer it on the floor.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Tina

 

[piggyfan]

Hi Tina. The special poops that guinea pigs eat are eaten right away. If you ever notice them duck their heads under then they are likely to be eating their poops. It is fine for you to remove the ones on the floor.

Mine never liked having a hay rack. I put their hay on the floor as they like to play in it as well as eat it.

 

[Fishybat]

Thank you for the quick reply, that has put my mind at rest. I will keep poop scooping as they sure poop a lot.

 

[Briony_S]

Yes they only eat the "special" ones and they eat them straight from their bottoms. The ones that end up on the floor are "no good". Spot cleaning is a good practice x

 

[nicky]

Thanks for asking about this I was going to ask this myself

 

[Piggly]

As far as I know they have two kind of poops - soft ones which sometimes look darker in colour; these are the ones they eat straight away out of their bums (lovely habit) which I think they process again for more vitamin B...? I'm a bit sketchy on those details though. The others are the hard poops which are just waste. They get left for mummies to clean out :p When a guinea pig is feeling poorly and not eating anything you will see the soft poops (if there are any poops at all) left with the other ones in the cage.

 

[Briony_S]

Its down to the fact they are herbivores. They eat a lot of hay with very little nutrition so any "lost" nutrients go into the special poos which are eaten so they can absorb the lost nutrients. Think it is the guinea version of cows who have three stomachs to get all goodness out of the grass!

 

[guineapig-al]

Hi, it's called coprophagy, and the matter that they ingest directly from their anus is not really poop, but a sort of second meal containing mostly B vitamins, piggies digest their food twice. The fecal matter they leave lying about is waste.