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Soft poo after suffering from a stroke

Amy Barton

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi, a week ago today our guinea pig Peppa who is 6 had a stroke which left her paralysed in her back legs and blind in both eyes. We immediately phoned our vet (who is very good with guinea pigs) and when we took her in the vet agreed that she had had a stroke but due to her age was unsure if she would recover. She gave us a herbal remedy which she said might help with the paralysis and advised us that we would have to wash her as she was unable to wash herself. Peppa stopped eating everything other than vegetables and dandelion forage. She refused to eat hay and pellets. Unfortunately, we didn’t realise we had run out of critical care and due to the current circumstances it took us two day’s to get a hold of some so in the meantime she was only eating vegetables and forage. When the critical care arrived we started syringe feeding straight away which she loved - we didn’t even have to take her out of the cage as she dragged herself over to the cage bars. Over the past few days she has improved significantly. She has regained nearly full use of her back legs and had started to get back to her normal self despite being blind. As of yesterday she has got her full appetite back and is now munching on lots of hay. However, peppa’s poo has been very soft and it is getting stuck to her fur as she still a bit wobbly and isn’t cleaning herself properly. Despite us giving her clean every night, her hair always gets poo stuck in it as they are soft and she has become quite smelly. Hopefully she will start to clean herself properly soon and since she has started eating hay again I’m hoping this will help sort out her soft poo but we have also been giving her a probiotic with vitamin C. I was wondering if we should stop giving her veg? We have reduced the amount she is having , however, I was skeptical to remove it completely since she has only just got her appetite back.

Sorry this is so long!
 
The advise is usually to stop veg until at least 24 hours after the poo is back to normal. But I don’t know if that would be the case with your piggy. If she’s eating hay again and is taking the critical care then perhaps you could do it.

Have you been weighing her daily to see if she’s maintaining, losing or gaining weight?

I’ll tag @Wiebke @PigglePuggle @Piggies&buns @VickiA
 
Yes she has lost a bit of of weight but not an awful lot, she is quite a small pig to begin with though and has lost a bit of weight due to age prior to her stroke.
 
I agree that the advice is to Stop veg for a while to let her guts rebalance. She needs fibre, so the critical care and hay, it’s the important bit for her health and weight as her main priority.
 
I agree. Please stop all veg, fruit and grass for at least 48 hours to let the guts settle. I also agree with daily weighing.
If you run out of CC in future you can feed your piggy’s normal pellets soaked in water to make a mush and syringe feed that.
 
Hi, a week ago today our guinea pig Peppa who is 6 had a stroke which left her paralysed in her back legs and blind in both eyes. We immediately phoned our vet (who is very good with guinea pigs) and when we took her in the vet agreed that she had had a stroke but due to her age was unsure if she would recover. She gave us a herbal remedy which she said might help with the paralysis and advised us that we would have to wash her as she was unable to wash herself. Peppa stopped eating everything other than vegetables and dandelion forage. She refused to eat hay and pellets. Unfortunately, we didn’t realise we had run out of critical care and due to the current circumstances it took us two day’s to get a hold of some so in the meantime she was only eating vegetables and forage. When the critical care arrived we started syringe feeding straight away which she loved - we didn’t even have to take her out of the cage as she dragged herself over to the cage bars. Over the past few days she has improved significantly. She has regained nearly full use of her back legs and had started to get back to her normal self despite being blind. As of yesterday she has got her full appetite back and is now munching on lots of hay. However, peppa’s poo has been very soft and it is getting stuck to her fur as she still a bit wobbly and isn’t cleaning herself properly. Despite us giving her clean every night, her hair always gets poo stuck in it as they are soft and she has become quite smelly. Hopefully she will start to clean herself properly soon and since she has started eating hay again I’m hoping this will help sort out her soft poo but we have also been giving her a probiotic with vitamin C. I was wondering if we should stop giving her veg? We have reduced the amount she is having , however, I was skeptical to remove it completely since she has only just got her appetite back.

Sorry this is so long!

Hi!

Please switch to weighing her daily at the same time in order to monitor her food intake. Over 80% of the daily food intake should be hay, which you cannot control by eye.
Weight - Monitoring and Management

I would strongly recommend to have her vet checked and to have her teeth looked at, especially the crucial ones at the back. From my own experiences with the survivor of a massive stroke, she was no longer able to chew well on one side, which led to dental overgrowth and sadly ultimately was the reason we had to have her euthanised as Nimue started increasingly having mini-strokes and was not fit enough for any dental procedure. In a stroke piggy, you and your vet are looking particularly for the premolars and molars at the back being noticeably higher on one side of the mouth and the self-sharpening incisors at the front having a noticeable slant as a result. A build-up of unchewed/half-chewed gunk with larger rotting pieces in the mouth can also be sign of no longer being able to chew properly.

Lack of hay fibre in the diet (which is what keeps the teeth ground down and the gut microbiome running evenly) can lead to soft poos and other digestive problems as a secondary complication of dental premolar/molar overgrowth
You may have to step in with syringe feeding support but this cannot prevent dental overgrowth, just keep her going for a bit longer.
Please also have your vet check on the eye on the affected side whether your girl is still able to keep it hydrated and cleaned. if not, plain artificial tear gel from your vet or a pharmacy will do the trick; apply 3 times daily ideally about 8 hours apart. Plain tear drops will do the trick but they are more difficult to apply and don't last as long, so your are looking at 4-6 times throughout the day depending on the severity of the issue.

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
 
Okay perfect thank you I will get in touch with the vets and to see when they can see her!
 
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