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Runny Bum/loose Stools

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Winifred

Winifred

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Hi

For about three months now willow has suffered with a runny bum. She's eating fine, not losing weight and is happy in herself. We've tried fibreplex, pro-fibre, dual care, and finally septrin. Nothing seems to be working. Much to her disgust I've tried keeping her off veggies and just purely hay and dual care. Sometimes she's got good solid poos and then just as I think it's all sorted it comes back again. When they are runny it's really smelly. My vet is at a loss other than sending off poo for analysis which she says would cost a lot of money and may not give us any answers. Has anyone got any ideas that might help please ?
 
I'd recommend going with the tests in case it is something serious, or can be easily stopped with medication.

In the meantime you can try to investigate what is causing it. Are her poops okay is she doesn't eat veg at all? If so, stop them until she is okay again and introduce one veg at a time to her to see which one causes it.

One of my current pigs can't eat tomato or dill, and I've had a pig previously who couldn't eat green pepper.

Good luck
 
Ive tried all the veg testing. Even to the point of not giving her any at all. I've weighed her this morning and she's 978g from 1042g so she's off to the vets
 
I've just seen your request on the other thread :) A poo analysis would give you a better idea of what is wrong & is the least invasive test. However most places just do a fecal float etc. I would recommend asking your vet to send the sample to Mary in the Exotics lab at Chester Zoo, to do a full fecal analysis cost us about £65 at the time, so probably £70 but will give you far more info :)
 
I hope the vet can shed some light on the cause of the problem. If the only test left is the faecal analysis then it sounds worth trying.
 
Poppy'sMum said:
I've just seen your request on the other thread :) A poo analysis would give you a better idea of what is wrong & is the least invasive test. However most places just do a fecal float etc. I would recommend asking your vet to send the sample to Mary in the Exotics lab at Chester Zoo, to do a full fecal analysis cost us about £65 at the time, so probably £70 but will give you far more info :)
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What's a fecal float?
 
A fecal float is simply putting the poo in a sugar Ect Warter solution and waiting for the parasite fragments
To float to the top.
But this is a general test, and will only highlight larger (visible to the eye parisits )
A broad spectrum poo analysis is much more acreate, that is done at a laboraty (some vets have in house labs) and enable 's vet to identify microscopic bugs like geardia, and it will save mony and time in the long term
 
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My fudge had the same issue recently, it lasted 3 weeks on and off- its a month later and shes only just started getting veg again.

I sent fudges poo off for analysis- it came back all normal. It cost me £92 which I'm guessing should be the average in most places..

I had fudge on slippery elm bark powder by dorwest herbs which really helped firm her poos up. Hers was diagnosed as an inflamatory gut disease and its unknown if this will flare up again.

I think the turning point with her was metacam- its an anti inflammatory which brought down the inflammation in her guts however.. Metacam can irritate the guts! So fudge was given it by injection to bypass the stomach, once a day for a week. Once the diarrohea stopped we moved on to oral metacam which she is still on now- and this could be the reason her guts are stable.

I would highly recommend testing the poo so you arent missing something.. Like a parasite or infection in the guts. If this is negative, trying metacam injections may be an option.

All the best
 
Adelle said:
My fudge had the same issue recently, it lasted 3 weeks on and off- its a month later and shes only just started getting veg again.

I sent fudges poo off for analysis- it came back all normal. It cost me £92 which I'm guessing should be the average in most places..

I had fudge on slippery elm bark powder by dorwest herbs which really helped firm her poos up. Hers was diagnosed as an inflamatory gut disease and its unknown if this will flare up again.

I think the turning point with her was metacam- its an anti inflammatory which brought down the inflammation in her guts however.. Metacam can irritate the guts! So fudge was given it by injection to bypass the stomach, once a day for a week. Once the diarrohea stopped we moved on to oral metacam which she is still on now- and this could be the reason her guts are stable.

I would highly recommend testing the poo so you arent missing something.. Like a parasite or infection in the guts. If this is negative, trying metacam injections may be an option.

All the best
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Hi. I've looked online and dorwest don't have that on their website. Any ideas where I would get some?
 
Winifred said:
Found it. It's coming tomorrow. Thanks guys
Click to expand...

I have a dog with inflammatory gut disease, but hers doesnt go away! She is on this daily in both her breakfast and dinner and she hasnt had a flare up in around 8-9 months.

With regards to the guinea pigs.. Try her on a pinch twice a day. Drop a pinch in a small tub or cup, add just under 1ml of water, mix, then draw it all back up into the syringe and administer into the side of the mouth. Fudge likes the taste of it!

The tree bark powder soothes the digestive tract and slows things down a little to allow the excess water to be absorbed therefore firming up the stools. Keep in mind you dont want to slow the gut too much and cause bloat- so please start on a very small dose and gradually increase until you feel things are stable.

I would still recommend sending off her poo for analysis in the meantime to make sure you arent missing something potentially easily treatable.
 
I will do. She's back up to 1000g today so am not worried about her weight. I'll get the vet to send off her poo as well. Thanks for the advice
 
Vet has agreed to send off poop. I'm now in the process of 'harvesting' so should hopefully hear next week. Of course as soon as I get home she's got solid poos again! Cost will be £66 which I was pleasantly surprised with. Thank you so much to everyone that's helped me at such a worrying time. X
 
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