Small poops and gurgly tummy

[David&Carly]

Good morning all,

It's been a while since I posted on here. Our piggies Bert and Wilbs have been in good health and we managed to find a great vet just down the road who are brilliant.

Bertie has recently had a very loud and gurgly tummy. The sounds are very similar to a human's stomach rumbling and can be heard across the room! Sometimes it sounds as though it's coming out of his butt. We've checked for diarrhea and haven't found any. His poops are however a lot smaller than they usually are and especially when compared to Wilbur's. They're probably about half the size.

This all started perhaps two weeks ago. We monitored him. He seemed fine in himself and was still eating and drinking. We took him to the vet last Friday and everything seemed fine with him. No gas or signs of bloat. He was given an injection to help his gut.

On Monday Bert was incredibly lethargic. He usually races out when you approach his cage and squeaks for food. This time he just stayed in his little house peering out. He looked like he'd puffed himself out a lot and just wasn't interested in anything. We took him to an emergency vet (it was 9pm or thereabouts) and on the way there he seemed to perk up (typical). He ate spinach, ate his hay and generally seemed to enjoy the attention he was getting. The vet couldn't find anything wrong with him. Heart, stomach, breathing, fur, willy, teeth all fine. Again no signs of gas or bloat. His temperature was fine too.

This morning we came downstairs and saw some odd looking stools in his cage. We aren't sure if it's blood or some undigested raspberry which we gave him the night before. Needless to say the stools still aren't the right size and we're making an appointment with the vet again today.

Does anyone have any advice on what this might be please? I read a few posts on here about it potentially being a UTI but I'll carry on searching.

Typical daily intake of veg would be 4-5 spinach leaves, a chunk of cucumber, a chunk of bell pepper, some mixed leaf salad, parsley and other herbs and perhaps some kale. Timothy hay is from Wilco as that's what they seem to enjoy. Pellets are from Pets at Home. We did try them on some other variants but they just looked at us in disgust.

Thank you in advance for the help.
David & Carly

 

[Helen82]

Hopefully your vet can properly diagnose Bert, and I hope he gets better soon. More knowledgeable forum members will hopefully be along, but one point I would make is that I think spinach, parsley and kale are high in calcium (?) so you might need to slightly revise their diet. Good luck!

 

[David&Carly]

Thanks for your reply Helen82. We do try and rotate their veggies. They get pak choi and things like fennel during the week too

 

[Wiebke]

Good morning all,

It's been a while since I posted on here. Our piggies Bert and Wilbs have been in good health and we managed to find a great vet just down the road who are brilliant.

Bertie has recently had a very loud and gurgly tummy. The sounds are very similar to a human's stomach rumbling and can be heard across the room! Sometimes it sounds as though it's coming out of his butt. We've checked for diarrhea and haven't found any. His poops are however a lot smaller than they usually are and especially when compared to Wilbur's. They're probably about half the size.

This all started perhaps two weeks ago. We monitored him. He seemed fine in himself and was still eating and drinking. We took him to the vet last Friday and everything seemed fine with him. No gas or signs of bloat. He was given an injection to help his gut.

On Monday Bert was incredibly lethargic. He usually races out when you approach his cage and squeaks for food. This time he just stayed in his little house peering out. He looked like he'd puffed himself out a lot and just wasn't interested in anything. We took him to an emergency vet (it was 9pm or thereabouts) and on the way there he seemed to perk up (typical). He ate spinach, ate his hay and generally seemed to enjoy the attention he was getting. The vet couldn't find anything wrong with him. Heart, stomach, breathing, fur, willy, teeth all fine. Again no signs of gas or bloat. His temperature was fine too.

This morning we came downstairs and saw some odd looking stools in his cage. We aren't sure if it's blood or some undigested raspberry which we gave him the night before. Needless to say the stools still aren't the right size and we're making an appointment with the vet again today.

Does anyone have any advice on what this might be please? I read a few posts on here about it potentially being a UTI but I'll carry on searching.

Typical daily intake of veg would be 4-5 spinach leaves, a chunk of cucumber, a chunk of bell pepper, some mixed leaf salad, parsley and other herbs and perhaps some kale. Timothy hay is from Wilco as that's what they seem to enjoy. Pellets are from Pets at Home. We did try them on some other variants but they just looked at us in disgust.

Thank you in advance for the help.
David & Carly

View attachment 108267
View attachment 108268

Hi!

I hope that you can get to the bottom of the problem. Please ask your vet also to check of signs of partial GI stasis (the gut stopping working fully or partly, which causes lethargy and which can be preceded by a very loud gurgling), or the possibility of other internal problems (pain, pressure on the guts) being at the bottom of the issue. You are a caring owner; it is good that you have seen a vet promptly and are seeing them again now - any lethargy is an alarm signal that means you need to see a vet asap.
Bloat, GI Stasis ( No Gut Movement) And Not Eating
List Of Life And Death Out-of-hours Emergencies

Please always take your piggy off any fresh veg if there is a digestive issue with the gut. Too much can cause fermentation in the lower gut and can contribute to any problems. In order to sort out digestive issues you need to go back to feeding hay fibre in order to rebalance the guts, whether it is in the form of hay or by offering top up syringe feed made from a hay based recovery formula. Introduce veg slowly at first at least 24-48 hours after the poos have normalised again and the gut is working again as it should.

Over 80% of the daily food intake should be hay while veg should only make about 10%. Hay intake is impossible to check by eye and can only be minotred by switching from weighing once weekly to weighing daily at the same time. It is often the first food group that is impacted when a piggy is not feeling well/is in pain and when you aren't aware of it, can lose a lot of weight in a short time while seemingly still eating normally.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Not enough hay and too much veg will produce pellets like yours. The dark colour indicates that there has been too much veg and not enough hay going through the guts in the last 1-2 days (which is the time poo output lags behind the intake). The smaller size is the indicator that your piggy has been eating less than normal.
The Importance Of Weighing - Ideal Weight / Overweight / Underweight
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
First Aid Kit For Guinea Pigs

All the best!

 

[David&Carly]

Thank you Wiebke for your detailed post. We will take all of that onboard.

Bert's weight has always been fairly consistent. We weigh both pigs at least once a week and he's normally around 1200g. The vet on Monday night suggested that he may even be a little overweight, I hope he didn't realise what she was saying! We think he's just a bigger pig.

Great point on bringing him off the veg until his poos return to normal. He won't be happy but he'll thank us in the long run. He's booked in for a vet's appointment later this evening. We will mention the partial GI stasis and I'll report back shortly after with any findings. Is there anywhere online I can purchase larger bags of hay? We're buying the small bags from Wilco and whilst not terribly expensive we'd like to get some larger ones delivered if we can. I'm not sure if the Wilco stuff is the best quality either but it's what they love!

Thank you again.
David & Carly

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you Wiebke for your detailed post. We will take all of that onboard.

Bert's weight has always been fairly consistent. We weigh both pigs at least once a week and he's normally around 1200g. The vet on Monday night suggested that he may even be a little overweight, I hope he didn't realise what she was saying! We think he's just a bigger pig.

Great point on bringing him off the veg until his poos return to normal. He won't be happy but he'll thank us in the long run. He's booked in for a vet's appointment later this evening. We will mention the partial GI stasis and I'll report back shortly after with any findings. Is there anywhere online I can purchase larger bags of hay? We're buying the small bags from Wilco and whilst not terribly expensive we'd like to get some larger ones delivered if we can. I'm not sure if the Wilco stuff is the best quality either but it's what they love!

Thank you again.
David & Carly

The weighing guide link from my last post will tell you how you check whether a piggy is a good weight for their size around the ribcage. Feeling for the 'heft' works for all piggies of any size and age and is much better for working out overweight than vet literature, considering that sizes and weights vary so much. Your boy is a nice average weight for an adult boar during their best years of life.
Please take the time to read the links; you will find them both helpful and interesting!

For online hay, you can try the Hay Experts or other online UK companies; other members may be advise you better on the currently best places for good hay when you open a thread in the Food section. I have been getting my own locally grown hay via an independent local pet shop, which I am very happy with for a number of years now, so I am not on the 'up' on this score.

 

[David&Carly]

Thank you. I'll do some reading.

 

[Helen82]

(I can recommend the soft meadow hay from Dust Free Hay; it comes in manageable-sized cardboard boxes so I don't need to decant it into anything else)

 

[David&Carly]

An update on our little Bert. His poos have returned to normal size and there are definitely fewer tummy noises. We now give him a more rounded veggie meal and despite him having the hump with us we think he's slowly accepting things. His weight has also returned to normal although he never really lost much in the first place. We are syringe feeding him a Critical Care alternative which he absolutely hates but we try and get as much in him as we can without stressing him out too much.

All seems well for now.

 

[David&Carly]

Oh, the poop in the picture above contained raspberry seed according to his normal vet and not bloody. Phew!

 

[piggieminder]

So pleased to hear Bert is getting better.
I mostly buy Nature's Own meadow hay and Timothy Hay from Timothy Hay.co. on line. I have been shopping around a bit lately as no hay seems to be very good quality at the moment due to last summers lovely weather, guess we had to pay the price somewhere along the way!

 

[VickiA]

An update on our little Bert. His poos have returned to normal size and there are definitely fewer tummy noises. We now give him a more rounded veggie meal and despite him having the hump with us we think he's slowly accepting things. His weight has also returned to normal although he never really lost much in the first place. We are syringe feeding him a Critical Care alternative which he absolutely hates but we try and get as much in him as we can without stressing him out too much.

All seems well for now.

Good to hear things are moving in the right direction for Bert. Well done for prompt action.