poppylovesguineas
Junior Guinea Pig
is it normal for a guinea to eat every poop he does? mine has just eaten 3 in a row!
poop
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its safe and if he happens to be eating his cagemates poo it might actually be good for him
Guinea pigs produce two kinds of poops.
One kind is the normal kind which you see lying around. The other kind contains the vital vitamin C which guinea pigs can't produce themselves and therefore can't afford to lose - these are the poops you see them eating and searching desperately, if they can't find one!
One kind is the normal kind which you see lying around. The other kind contains the vital vitamin C which guinea pigs can't produce themselves and therefore can't afford to lose - these are the poops you see them eating and searching desperately, if they can't find one!
This is very interesting.
I saw Cocoa eating a poo today and it really bothered me. Now, even though I don't love the idea, I understand why.
My guys are getting lots of vitamin C. I give them citrus fruits and veggies with vitamin C like bell peppers. So I seriously doubt that they are vitamin C deficient. Will they keep eating poo because it's instinctive even though they're getting enough?
PiratePig
Junior Guinea Pig
It is also the second step of their digestive process. Unlike us, they don't have metres and metres of intestine to break down all the plant matter they ingest. Plants take a lot to break them down which is why a lot of plant eaters like guineas and cows have multi-step digestion processes. Cows (and other animals like them) are able to bring up food from each part of the process, rechew it (as ***) and swallow it again.
Guineas seem to have a somewhat less developed process where things go through the system once for the initial breakdown, stored as soft mush and then eaten a second time to ensure that all nutrients (including but not limited to vitamin C) are extracted.
These poops also contain bacteria that are important in the digestive process and this is why sometimes sick pigs (or better pigs who have been on antibiotics) will be seen eating the soft poo of healthy pigs.
PS I have just watched a couple hours of David Attenbourgh nature documentaries and one of them was on plant-eaters... I don't think I normally carry all of this info around in my brain... although that could explain why I can't remember other important things......
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