Soft Poop or Diarrhea!?

[Jrodriguez392]

Hi! I’ve been having my guinea pig for about a month now. Today I came home and he had stink up the whole house. He was having really soft poop that he even had some on his nails. It kind of seems like diarrhea because it has that type of smell. His urine started smelling really strong. Help! This has happened before and it resolves within days but then it starts all over again. Today it got to the point where my whole house was smelling like poo. He does eat fine, he actually ate a lot of romaine lettuce today, don’t know if that was the issue? He still gets hungry.

 

[Piggies&buns]

You must take your guinea pig to a vet. Severe diarrhoea is an emergency. Strong smelling urine can indicate an infection.

Please do not give your guinea pig any veg at all while he is unwell. Feed him only hay.
Your guinea pig requires only the fibre in hay to rebalance his guts. Giving veg will unbalance the gut bacteria again and cause the problem to not get better. You say he has eaten a lot of romaine lettuce today - that could be part of your problem - having too much veg causes an imbalance in the gut bacteria. Guinea pigs should not be eating lots of vegetables - they should have just 50g or one cup of vegetables per day - the only food they need to eat lots and lots of hay and it should be available constantly and in large piles everywhere in the cage.
You can only reintroduce veg when he is better, and even then it has to be reintroduced very slowly.

Please switch from the lifelong weekly weighing to weighing him daily while he is unwell. This will help you monitor his food intake much more closely. Please also step in and syringe feed him if he is losing weight or isn’t eating hay properly

These guides below explain everything further

Digestive Disorders: Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

Once he is well again, please do look to get him a friend if he is currently alone. Guinea pigs are herd animals and must be kept in pairs.

 

[Jrodriguez392]

It’s just soft poop now. No diarrhea. I def. Haven’t gave him any veggies since I got home and I will not just yet. He does keep asking for food though. He keeps wheeking everytime he sees me by his cage to check up on him, he smells my hand to see if I have any food for him but I’m just refilling his hay pile constantly! Thanks!

 

[Siikibam]

Keep him off veg until his poo has been normal for 24-48 hours. Then introduce slowly, starting with coriander.