Soft poops and loss of weight

[Lovethempiggies]

Hi guys.... so this is about nibbles. My boys are always getting something wrong with them and I’m getting very stress becuase whenever I take them to the vet, they end up perfectly fine! But today in the morning I realized nibbles had a vet soft stool. He made a mess of the towel. I cleaned it up, turned over the towel, gave him so extra hay, then went to school. When I come back like at 7pm, I see that he still has soft stools. I get very worried and weigh him. He used to be 930 something grams. And when I weighed him he was 870 grams. Lord did my heart drop. He also had poop all over his feet and fur. I had literally no other option but to give him a bath. I tried to dry him fully but I couldn’t. I gave him some critical care. What happened is that I got some new hay. It is called orchard grass. He used to have Timothy. But he would barely eat most of it. But he kept on drinking a lot of water. This might have cuasdd the weight loss and the poops. I’m getting the Timothy hay tomorrow. He is very cold from the bath. I have dried most that I can but he is still a bit cold. I will updat tomorrow....

 

[Betsy]

Have you a hairdryer you can dry him off with? (Lowest setting) or a snugglesafe you could pop him on? A fleece hidey for him to snuggle in?

Take him to the vet for a check over and take him off all veg until his poops have normalised then introduce them gradually.

 

[dannif_piggies]

I'm so sorry your struggling with soft stools, I had a sow, Honey, that since her op in September almost constantly had soft stools. I know the trouble you're having and how frustrating it can be. Keep up with the CC feeding due to the weight he's lost. However when was the last time you weighed him? If the last weighing was a bit of a while a go I wouldn't be too concerned but weigh him daily from now on until he's better. The general advice is to stop feeding any fresh veg for 24-48 hours but if the soft stools are still there, visit a vet. When veg is reintroduced do it very slowly

 

[Wiebke]

Hi!

Take your off any fresh food until at least 2 days after the poos have normalise and have him vet checked. Start with veg again slowly and gradually increse the quantity.

 

[Lovethempiggies]

Have you a hairdryer you can dry him off with? (Lowest setting) or a snugglesafe you could pop him on? A fleece hidey for him to snuggle in?

Take him to the vet for a check over and take him off all veg until his poops have normalised then introduce them gradually.

So...... I don’t have any of those things but I will by the end of the week becuase it is so necessary! And about the vet check..... I can’t afford that right now. I took him to the vet the last time he had a soft stool and when I did they gave him so many tests like cultures and other things and literally nothing came out except for that he was strong against Bactrm and baytril now if I do end up getting the money by Saturday which is when I get my paycheck, the vet will show the same thing becuase I took him multiple times for soft stool and nothing came out. What I will say is that alll of these soft stools showed up after the new hay came in. I’m switching back, cleaning the cage, try to by support tablets, and slowly reintroduce his normal veggies. Both guinea pigs are puffed up becuase of the coldness that is getting into the house. All this snow is really tough! It’s very tough to have piggies in the winter! Sadly I can’t stop all the coldness and it gets to them

 

[dannif_piggies]

For making the soft stools easier to clean off his feet, I used Johnsons "just like water wipes" I'm assuming your American by your description of the weather. Idk what brands are available over there but the wipes were basically extra sensitive baby wipes that had no perfumes or anything in them and were described as being "as pure as water" these helped me keep Honeys feet clean without getting her wet, and every so often I would give her a bum bath, keep her snuggled in a towel in front of the electric heater with me.

In terms of keeping your pigs warm. Snuggle safes are a great way to provide a heat source in the pigs cage, bulking up the hay so they can snuggle into and under it helps maintain heat. And as mentioned above fleecy snuggles are great too. If nothing has been found previously, it could be just the change in the hay that has thrown his guts off balance, especially if it's a lot greener than what he's used to. I hope you get it sorted

 

[Lovethempiggies]

For making the soft stools easier to clean off his feet, I used Johnsons "just like water wipes" I'm assuming your American by your description of the weather. Idk what brands are available over there but the wipes were basically extra sensitive baby wipes that had no perfumes or anything in them and were described as being "as pure as water" these helped me keep Honeys feet clean without getting her wet, and every so often I would give her a bum bath, keep her snuggled in a towel in front of the electric heater with me.

In terms of keeping your pigs warm. Snuggle safes are a great way to provide a heat source in the pigs cage, bulking up the hay so they can snuggle into and under it helps maintain heat. And as mentioned above fleecy snuggles are great too. If nothing has been found previously, it could be just the change in the hay that has thrown his guts off balance, especially if it's a lot greener than what he's used to. I hope you get it sorted

Omg yes, apart from the fluffing becuase of the cold, a lot of the poops were a dark brown, but lord did they have the strongest smell! Some of them were green and left a green smear. He refuses to eat his hay becuase he doesn’t like it. I’m getting the hay that he is used to in a couple of hours. Does this sound really bad that a vet needs to see it?

 

[Lady Kelly]

Ok I know the standard response is that he needs a vet check but please take a deep breath. Is he eating, drinking as normal and does he look quite bright and healthy apart from the poops? If so then it's not what I would call a medical emergency but you definitely need to keep a closer eye on him. The 50g weight loss, what time period did that happen in? Are we talking overnight? Or days, weeks etc?

Daisy had a dodgy tum and poop was smeared over everything when she overindulged on grass once. I took her out at veggie time every night so the others still had veg but she didn't. A couple of days after her poops had returned to normal I continued taking her out at veggie time but would hand feed her a small amount so that veggies were introduced gradually. She stayed bright eyed and active throughout. I took her to the vets but they didn't do anything other than tell me to keep an eye on her, offer extra water as well and try some probiotics to help settle her guts. She was right as rain in no time

 

[Lovethempiggies]

Ok I know the standard response is that he needs a vet check but please take a deep breath. Is he eating, drinking as normal and does he look quite bright and healthy apart from the poops? If so then it's not what I would call a medical emergency but you definitely need to keep a closer eye on him. The 50g weight loss, what time period did that happen in? Are we talking overnight? Or days, weeks etc?

Daisy had a dodgy tum and poop was smeared over everything when she overindulged on grass once. I took her out at veggie time every night so the others still had veg but she didn't. A couple of days after her poops had returned to normal I continued taking her out at veggie time but would hand feed her a small amount so that veggies were introduced gradually. She stayed bright eyed and active throughout. I took her to the vets but they didn't do anything other than tell me to keep an eye on her, offer extra water as well and try some probiotics to help settle her guts. She was right as rain in no time

Okay, I got the Timothy hay today and he really brightened up. He started eating it slowly becuase he hadn’t had it in like two weeks . He was refusing to eat the orchard grass. Maybe that’s why he lost weight. Drinking fine, DEFINITELY MOVING WHEN OUT OF CAGE, except that recently becuase of all the snow here in alexandria makes it really cold in the basement that I live in. It is probably like 60 something degrees in my house. Maybe 68. I know I know, I am working on getting some more heaters in here the weight lost was definitely in like 1 week. The time that he refused to eat the new hay. But other then both piggies being a bit puffed up becuase of the cold, the got pretty happy when the saw their old hay was back

 

[Lovethempiggies]

Ok I know the standard response is that he needs a vet check but please take a deep breath. Is he eating, drinking as normal and does he look quite bright and healthy apart from the poops? If so then it's not what I would call a medical emergency but you definitely need to keep a closer eye on him. The 50g weight loss, what time period did that happen in? Are we talking overnight? Or days, weeks etc?

Daisy had a dodgy tum and poop was smeared over everything when she overindulged on grass once. I took her out at veggie time every night so the others still had veg but she didn't. A couple of days after her poops had returned to normal I continued taking her out at veggie time but would hand feed her a small amount so that veggies were introduced gradually. She stayed bright eyed and active throughout. I took her to the vets but they didn't do anything other than tell me to keep an eye on her, offer extra water as well and try some probiotics to help settle her guts. She was right as rain in no time

OKAY UPDATEEEEEEE so I brought in their old hay and immediately both of them lit up like never before... but I seee the problem now. They will refuse to eat no other part of the hay except for those fluffy ones in Timothy. Spoiled brats. Oh and both poops are now not mushy and more of a small pointy end but definitely in shape. Just that they are a little smaller and more pointy. But hey it’s an upgrade. I bought some wipes but it was a waste becuase they have hard poops now they like to try to eat everything but those hard pieces of the hay. ONLY THE FLUFFY ONES. Is this normal? Still puffed up becuase this cold is unbearable. I will post some pics of how they are doing.