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Probiotic veg and soft poos.

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Connie

Connie

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Right... well here goes my long story (bare with me i need your help!)

I have two male piggies, at 10 and a half months old. Aproximatly 2 weeks ago, they began to have soft poos. Not diarrhea, just soft when picked up (warm playdoh consistency) I took away all veg, and kept a carefull eye. The next day, they decided it would be fun to scare mommy by not eating or pooing AT ALL for 14 hours. So we booked in at the vets for the same day. The vet couldnt find anything wrong, and he is very thorough. No absess, very very SLIGHTLY raised temp, no weight loss, no bloat. It was so strange, because they both did it at the same time. So he put them on 0.4ml of 2.5% baytril for 10 days, 2 drops (I'm sorry i dont know how else to put it, the syringe was wierd and measured in drops so thats what the bottle dose said) Of loxicom (metacam) and spice needed an eye drop for a slight bit of crust. They began eating a pooing almost immediatly (within half an hour) of returning home. They have continued to eat normally till this day (nearly 2 weeks later) I started them on probiotic hoping to firm up the stools, (still only soft). They were syringed atleast 5ml of probiotic a day, and had it in an extra bottle in the cage (they soon decided it was nice and continued to drink from the bottle so i stopped syringing) 3 days after the antibiotics stopped (saturday) I stopped the probiotics. (i had gradually been reintroducing veg during their time on meds with no ill effects) When the probiotics stopped, it was ok untill this morning. The soft poos are back. No other symptoms present. All veg is NEVER more than a week old, ususally fresher. Nothing I wouldnt eat myself (and some thats better than I eat! hehe.)

I am now putting them back on probiotics. I thought maybe once the poo has firmed up, stop the probiotics (no veg for the duration of probiotics) And then, give it a few days with no veg and no probiotics, to see if it returns to soft. If it stays firm, introduce veg one by one, in small quantities.

*sigh* I'm so annoyed. theyre happy in themselves and popcorning. I have no idea whats wrong! Any suggestions/help will be apreciated.

Well done to those who made it to the end!
 
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Ive had the odd 'soft poo' or two, like you descibed, a bit squishy when picked up, but still perfectly formed. Ive never been worried much about it to be honest, providing its formed and the pigs are well in themselves, ive just put it down to different veg they get from time to time. And like all creatures sometimes poo's softer some days than others. Ive never bothered with probiotics etc. But i understand your worry.
Not much help, sorry.

x.
 
What veg do you feed them? If they get lots of lettuce or cucumber it could possibly be this. I can't think of anything else that could cause it to happen. Maybe they are just sensitive to something ?/
 
I'm not super stressed, but the main thing is its not the odd poo or too, its EVERY poo, from both piggies, which is very unusual for them. :/ Just trying to work out what it could be.

I feed them 1 cup of fruit/veg per day (each)
Some of the normal things included are
Celery - about half a stalk chopped into less than one inch pieces (they LOVE it)
Cucumber (aproximatly 1 1/2 inch chopped into 4)
Spring greens/cabbage/lettuce - 1 or 2 leaves depending on the size (depends on the week, has been spring greens and cabbage lately as theyve gone off lettuse)
Slice of bell peper each, or 1 inch chunk or a thinish carrot each, or a small brocilli "tree" each (varys throughout week)
Sometimes parsley instead of other high vit C veg, (depends iff they have it at the local shop) And have tried them on corriander in the past, they have had some this week but wernt eating it when the soft poos started a couple of weeks ago.

They do have other treats, such as Corn/corn husks
My dad works for an organic food company, so we get all sorts, but i always check out whether its ok for piggies first and they havnt had anything unusual lately. :S

Any advice besides slowly introduce veg one at a time to see if something sets them off? :(
 
Sweetcorn with the husk on used to always give one of my piggies soft poos, could it be that? rolleyes
 
Possibly, they had that the day before the soft poo started, so i thought so, however they have not had ANY more since... so I'm a little confuzzled as to whats causing it this time.
 
I think you are doing the right thing introducing fresh food gradually. I would stop fresh food for at least a day then not give them the celery, lettuce & cucumber at all maybe just some spring greens, a small amount & up their hay intake. Hopefully that will help. If they are on antibiotics that can make their poops soft I believe. :)
 
I may be completely wrong here, so will be happy for someone to correct me, but like Abi I have never been too concerned by soft-ish poos. As long as they are still well formed and the piggy is behaving normally I wouldn't be hugely worried. Now I have 2 pigs again, I have noticed that Little Pig's poos are generally softer than Bobby's, but they both eat exactly the same things every day. I think it is fine to give them probiotics daily though if you have found that helps.
 
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Thankyou. :) Like i said i dont worry about the odd soft poo, i was just surprised that they went so soft so fast and seemingly out of the blue. Your comments have been very helpfull and its good to know i can give probiotics every day if i need too! :)

I will try all your suggestions, and keep you posted incase anyone needs the thread for future referance.
 
I've been thinking about this quite a lot today... don't have any answers, but did think of another question: has their weight remained stable recently?
 
theyre still growing, so it goes up by about 25g every 2 weeks or so, sometimes they dont grow at the same rates, but they havnt LOST weight for over a month, and that was only 5g so could have been just a wee or a poo! hehe.
Basically yes, its stable.
Poos have firmed up now theyre back on probiotics.
How much probiotics is it safe for them to have per day (I'm currently just giving them a bottle of it in the cage, refreshed every 2 days) (other water is freely available and changed daily)
 
Okay, good on the weight issue, I was wondering if it could have been worms, but as weight is fine I don't think it could be this.

Did your probiotic come with the measuring scoop? I think it is about 1 scoop per 200ml, but not 100% sure. I give Little Pig probiotic every day - I add a pinch to a small amount of water and syringe feed it to him, so I'm not very precise!
 
Yes, mine came with a scoop and i follow the instructions (the bottle is 330ml but i only put 300 in) I just wondered if they drank all of it would it harm them. :/
 
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