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Soft piggie poo! What do I do?

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MandFpiggies

MandFpiggies

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Ok, I'll try to give as much info as I can in case someone can spot an environmental factor. I think they are around 4 to 6 months old. There is more info about how I came to have them in my introduction. The 3 girls (Poppy, Daisy and Maisie) have been with me 9 days, I have not caught them to weigh them or check them in that time as I didn't want to stress them until they'd settled in, I had a little look the night they arrived, did my best to be sure they were girls! checked that their skin was clean and free of parasites, nails not too long, eyes, ears and bums clean and clear, and noses dry and clean, all looked fine (at least to my very inexperienced eye). Since then I have fed cleaned and watered as quietly and gently as I can, and sometimes just sat with them for a while offering little veggie treats through the wire (they are in a 2x4 c&c cage), Behavior wise I have seen some dancing from back foot to foot, and even some attempted mounting then pursuing from Poppy the largest one, a lot of wheeking from the other two, who run away for awhile, but when they get fed up with her they both seem to be able to stand their ground, and when everything settles down again they can and do all eat together and sleep together, I took this to be a dominance/settling in thing as I have no idea how long they were together before coming to me, but I'm guessing not very long, as they had been a Christmas gift to a child and I got them in Feb!
However this morning when I was on poo patrol I found some soft poo, not runny, the right shape and size just soft, I decided it was important enough to risk upsetting the girls to have a look, so I set about catching them (the first time I have ever tried to catch a GP, its not easy!) I did it by shooing them in to a snuggle sack in the end. I checked them over, looking mainly at their bottoms and then weighed each of them so that if this develops into anything I will have a point of reference to know if anyone is losing weight. Their weights were: Poppy who is visibly the largest was 534g and her bum which is white was perfectly clean, Daisy was 492g, but her bum was not as clean as Poppy's, there was no poo on her hair or anything , just a tiny smear on the pink fleshy part of her bum it's self, and I noticed a very small patch of discoloring on her belly, about the size of a 10p where it looked like she'd sat in some wee, Maisie who is very visibly the smallest was 359g, and her bum was quite clean though she is dark in color so if a similar smear of poo to Daisy was on it you could not see it the same.
I let them all go again and started to do the rest of the cleaning, then when I moved the food bowl I noticed a very small spot of blood and another little smear of it about an inch away, I saw no cuts no any of the piggies, but I wasn't looking for them, had I seen the blood first I would have looked a lot more closely at ears an toes and things! The blood was not inside a spot of wee, I even checked below the fleece and there was no stain where a wee had been The truth is if I bedded on any thing but fleece the chances are I would never have seen it, but I did so now I'm worried. They are all still eating, drinking and running about, they live in our living room so they are easy to observe, and no one looks of colour.
I'm really sorry this is such a long post, but I wanted to give as much detail as I could. Any advice would be very welcome, thank you all in advance.
 
If you worry about potential diarrhea, just put your piggies on hay for a day; usually the poo will stabilise again. Be careful when reintroducing veg - not too much and leave out rich veg like cabbages or peppers for a day or two. Frsh poo is noticeably softer than poo that has time to dry up.

If problems persist or the poo goes sloppy wet, see a vet.
 
Have they had unlimited access to a good quality hay?

And have they had any red fruit/veggies? The number of times mine have had strawberries and the next day i look in the cage and panic that someone is bleeding and its just strawberry juice is ridiculous.

Hope you can get to the bottom of it! Good luck x
 
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What a nightmare to have to go through this so soon! These little creatures don't half make you worry!

Were there many of these soft poos, or was it just one or two? Piggies produce two types of poo, their normal liquorice torpedo (sorry!) shaped poos, and some softer poos, that they eat (you don't normally see them, they tend to just arch over and eat them straight from...the source!). I'm wondering if it was just this type of poo that you saw?

I think the first thing to do, is work out who is responsible for the soft poo.

Can you separate one at a time from the group, maybe sit them on your lap or in a carry box or something if they're still fairly nervy, preferably on a white towel as you mentioned some blood? Offer them some food while they're out on their own, and the poo should soon start coming!

If it was just the normal, softer-to-be-re-eaten-poo that you saw, all you should find when they've been separated is "normal" looking poo. If you find that somepig is producing softer poos INSTEAD of "normal" ones, then this would indicate that there may be a problem that needs looking into further. It could be that they've had some veg that they haven't had in their previous home and it's upset them a little bit, or even just a higher proportion of veg than they've previously been used to, or it could be a sign of an illness, in which case it's a trip to the vet!

I hope that makes sense!
 
The fact that the girls are new to you could be the cause here, do you know what they were fed before? Do you have them on different pellets and hay? Were they previously given veg? All changes in this could cause changes within the tummy which might explain it all. Keep an eye out and like Wiebke says if it continues or gets worse then get them to a vets.
 
I now know who and where the soft poo, and the blood is coming from. I sat and watched for a while and Daisy was the only one in the igloo after I had cleaned it out, so when she left I had a look, and there was both soft poo and smears of what looks like blood in around the poo!!
 
Ok, I have just lifted Daisy up and had another look at her bottom which had some poo on it, but no sign of any blood or any injury where blood could be coming from, so it must be coming from inside with the poo. She is still eating, drinking and running around quite alert as usual. Is it at all possible she had done a particularly hard poo and then the soft stuff is what was backed up, and the blood is the little bit of damage done by the effort needed to get the first hard poo done? I know I sound like I'm clutching at straws, but she is showing NO other signs of being ill at all !:{
 
Did you notice her make any noises like screams or crying while she was in there? I would try and monitor for this, but i think a vet trip asap would be the best solution.
 
Things are a bit fraught, but I wanted to keep you all up to date with happenings. Daisy is continuing to stay very bright and active, eating and drinking as normal, (although I have reduced, but not stopped, everyone's intake of veg). I have found absolutely no blood in her poo or anywhere else in the cage, however her poo is still very soft, so I am arranging a trip to the vet asap. I am having great difficulty in finding a vet near me (I live in Northern Ireland, if anyone knows of a really good GP vet, PLEASE let me know) I have been in touch with a small animal vet quite a distance away, and have made arrangements to go to her, now I am just sorting out the care of all my other animals and my child before I can leave:... BY the way I am taking all 3 piggies with me, and I will have them all checked out when I'm there, I think that is best.
 
Update: We are just back from the vet!

So I have just come home from an appointment with a vet I never used before, I went to them as when I was phoning around to try to find a vet, these people said that they had vets within their practice who specialized in small animals.

We went in and I had a sample off poo with me, and I had the fleece liner with the little smudges of blood on it from yesterday with me too. I explained the events and showed the lady vet what I'd brought with me, then she had a look at Daisy, and took her temp, as the vet was looking at her I noticed a patch of dry skin on the lower part of her thigh on her back leg, just above her knee/elbow joint, it was round and about the size of a 5p, I pointed it out to the vet who then had a look.

She told me that she would not be very worried about the soft poo as it is probably just the change of diet, and the blood was probably just from straining to do the soft poo, as it has now stopped. She said Daisy did not have any kind of infection as she did not have a temperature, and was still bright,alert, eating and drinking, so she would not give her any antibiotics as they often did more harm in a case like this. She recommended that I stop giving all veg for 2/3 days, and see if the poo firms up, then reintroduce it again slowly. As for the patch of dry skin I had pointed out she said to just keep an eye on it.

If this advice had come from a vet I knew well and trusted I would be over the moon right now, but as I have never been with this vet before I can't help but have still some concerns.

Does anyone have any opinions on the advice I've been given, or advice of their own as to what I could do to help this patch of dry skin to heal up?
 
Hiya,

I'm based in Derry, Northern Ireland and find it hard to get a good vet who is guinea pig savy. Let me know what area you are in and perhaps I might know of one in your area.

Which vet did you visit, if you don't mind me asking.
 
Hi I'm in the Mid Ulster area, and I went to Creamill Vets in Magherafelt, I thought I was going to have to go to Belfast at first, then I rang them and got an appointment for today, if I had to go to Belfast the best they could do was Monday, or of course they would have given me an out of hours appointment!
 
Firstly HUGS XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

You did well to find out who was having the problems, not easy with a few piggies!
The dry skin could be mites? As they're new to your family i'd be speaking to whoever you got them from and asking about what they were fed on (so you know for reference) and also did anyother piggies have fungal or mites.
I just popped a link on for one of our other members......Gorgeous Guineas do natural lotions, shampoo etc for piggies i'll pop the link on for you.

http://www.gorgeousguineas.com/indentification.html
 
This vet in Newtownards I hear is good;
http://www.jubileevetcentre.co.uk/

There was anothe vet recommended to me awhile ago, I think it was Belfast direction, but I can't remember the blummin name! Though I do remember at the time having contacted both, that I'd use Jubilee if it came to it as they came across as more GP savy at the time.
 
Poo's improved :) but the bloods back :(

I followed the vets instructions and stopped all veg, which to be honest I'd already done before I'd seen her, and by this afternoon the poo was beginning to look normal, I even saw Daisy reach down and take one to eat, so I hoped normal service had been resumed. However by this evening I noticed some little spots of blood again. My friend was visiting at the time and she is a GP (Doctor not guinea pig) and she said if the blood is bright red, it must be from something like an anal fissure, because if it was internal bleeding and the blood was traveling through the intestine and bowel it would be a much darker colour if not black, she suggested that so long as Daisy was feeling good eating and drinking, and that that did not change, I might try a little Vaseline on her bottom just to ease the passing of the poo until the fissure has some time to heal its self. Does this sound sensible to anyone else, is it at least worth a try until Monday when I can start ringing around for another vet, as I have my doubts about the one we saw yesterday:{

On the subject of vets can anyone suggest some questions I could ask potential vets that would give me some ideas if they really were used to treating guinea pigs, and not just BSing me. It's just so hard to tell before you get there, the one I saw yesterday seemed fine, but her lack of concern about the patch of dry skin, when to my mind it could be mites, made me lose faith in her a little, and I don't think they can be seeing very many guinea pigs as the nurse who was helping her had no idea what she was doing to the point that my Hubby had to step in and hold Daisy while the vet examined her.
Thanks Splat'n'Dexter for your suggestions, Jubilee, and I think the one I heard of in Belfast was called Braemore, will be at the top of my list of phone calls on Monday morning. I also have to contact a friend in Derry who uses a vet in Belfast for her ferrets.
This is not quite the start to my guinea pig carer career I had imagined:0 They could have at least broke me in gently.
 
Baptisim of fire, you poor thing. GPs like to keep us on our toes. :))

If your friend in Derry knows of a good GP vet in the area, please let me know. Though from ringing round most of them last year with questions on neutering a boar, most admitted to not knowing much, or it became apparent as the conversation went on.

Good to hear they are improving. Might be a good idea to post a photo of the dry patch up on here for more experianced owners to give their opinion on what it might be.
 
Would you believe it!!

Would you believe it, the Vaseline seems to have worked. I put on a good liberal coating of it all around Daisy's bum and rubbed it in a little, to get it in all the folds of skin and cracks where a little abrasion or fissure might be hidden, and since then lots of perfect poos and no blood at all :) I can hardly believe it, fingers crossed it stays this way!
 
OH Darn and Blast!

I've been posting about my woes on another forum, to try to get as much info as possible, and I've just been told I shouldn't have used Vaseline as it is VERY bad for GP's system when they lick it off,apparently I should have used cold pressed coconut oil instead so now I just have to wait and see how much damage I've done.Meanwhile the patch of dry skin that the vet we saw dismissed completely has turned bright red and I have found 2 more patches of it.It has been suggested that I should use Clotrimazole 1% cream but the only one I have also contains 1% hydrocortisone and I have just no confidence left,and I REALLY don't want to get it wrong again!.Does anyone know anything about this?
 
What is the outcome of your piggies health issues ?
 
NASH said:
What is the outcome of your piggies health issues ?
Click to expand...

All turned out fine :)) We survived those first few weeks, we even survived a broken leg, and the surgery to repair it! And touch wood all has been quiet for a little while, although I feel slightly anxious even saying it :x :x :...
 
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