Soft poos for a few days now...

[pelicano]

This is a new one for me. Cassie has for a long time been a bloaty/gassy pig, but for the past few days (since the weekend) her poos have been quite soft/smelly. They still have a shape, and her rear end is clean. I've seen proper diarrhoea before in a piggy and it isn't anywhere near that bad.

She actually had some oral ivermectin the day I discovered the soft poo, but it was present before the ivermectin - I just hadn't noticed it at that point, if that makes sense!

I gradually reduced the green food, and she is currently on just hay and dried food, but she still hasn't improved or declined. I've also been giving her probiotic and Fibreplex. I haven't been able to give her my favourite probiotic, Entrodex, since I ordered some from Chemist Direct and they sent me an out of date product (and have been very slow about giving me a refund... grrr, I won't order from them again). I've ordered some from elsewhere now, and fingers crossed it will come this morning.

I really hope I don't have to go to the vets with this one... I hate to think of it being made worse if I'm given unnecessary antibiotics, say. But then, they might be necessary. :{ I'm thinking I will give it another day or two before going to the vets, as she's eating and drinking well, but is desperate for veggies. I'm also weighing her.

I was reading that Peter Gurney recommended arrowroot powder for this, so I'd better get hold of some. Anyone else tried this?

Any other suggestions would be very welcome. Obviously the other thing I've thought of is that it could be a sign of something more sinister.

 

[devonbelle]

You may find this thread http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=47269 helpful as I'm having a similar problem with my Ben and others are with theirs too.
I wouldn't worry about it being something sinister yet. If Cassie has been on fresh grass, that may be the cause of the problem. I would stick with the regime you have adopted and monitor the situation closely. Ben appears to be improving (slowly) so I'm not planning a trip to the vets just yet. Keep us informed. I'm sure someone will be along with experience of the arrowroot, and maybe some more suggestions.
Good luck.

 

[Laura-CCC4]

Not sweet Cassie again! I'm sure they're running rings round you, making sure you stay on your toes.

It helps to know the cause but sometimes it's not easy to figure it out. I'd be inclined to give Pebbles' suggestion of Zantac a go, she speaks highly of its uses in guineas with soft poop but it's not something I've got experience of/needed to try with my own lot yet.

Also no idea on the arrowroot powder either but I've found a lot of Peter Gurney's suggestions feasible, it may be worth a try. I'd only give one remedy at a time though, so you know which one clears things up!

 

[pelicano]

Thanks for the responses. Honestly, I don't know what I'd do with large numbers of piggies - they'd send me completely grey! rolleyes

Interesting about the Zantac... Trouble is, the paediatric solution is prescription only. I used to get it from the vets for the bunnies. I wish I could get hold of some just to give it a go...

If it doesn't resolve itself, I'll definitely be going to the vets, but I really don't want them to treat for a bacterial infection that isn't there, if it isn't that... The new probiotic didn't come in the post... grrr... I have enough of the Lacto B and Fibreplex to keep me going though.

In some ways, I'm tempted to get her back to the vets to discuss the bloating anyway, as it does cause her a problem/discomfort. I have never tried anything like Buscopan (or however it is spelled), as it's not a one off bloaty problem with Cass, but always the same, no matter what she has eaten. The vet has examined her before with it, so it's nothing new.

 

[Laura-CCC4]

Zantac tablets don't seem to be a POM, but I did the same looking for the suspension and it is a POM. Pebble wrote how to "compound" the tablets yourself along with doses.

Dexter was always the same as Cassie (as you know), luckily Jasmine is a lot less sensitive to things now so she can have tiny bits of brassica veg etc. On the rare occasions my lot get those foods!
Something in the pellets was upsetting Dexter, he's got no abdominal distention at all now he's off them and no tenderness either. He still gets a bit tight after he's eaten but it passes, that's fairly normal. At least I've got the routine pretty much down to a T in case it's ever needed again in the bloated-but-not-acute cases. rolleyes

 

[pelicano]

Cassie went to the vets today along with Holly, and the vet didn't seem too concerned by her poos at the moment. More worrying is the fact that she is absolutely obese now - not just a big porky. In the past few months she has put on 100g. Unfortunately, for the past year, I have constantly had Cass in a cage with a skinny pig (either Holly or Sukie), so I've really not been able to cut the dried food down etc. Not that they have a huge bowl of it or anything, but I would definitely like to have her on less. She's always eaten stacks of hay, but she'd eat stacks of anything given the chance!

The vet confirmed that she has a lot of fat, which is likely to cause problems with her organs. So I really have to do something... I'm already feeding Holly and Cassie their veg separately, and I've cut Cass right down, but I think I'll have to feed them their dried food separately too, rather than letting them graze on it.

The vet thought her metabolism was slowing down with age, as she's always been on the large side, but not this bloomin' big. Plus I've never known an animal think so much about food quite so much as Cassie does - eg. literally 2 seconds after arriving back from the vets incredibly stressed, I watched her sniff the air and waddle up to the hay and start munching!

I just hope I can get the balance - got to get Holly's weight up and Cassie's down! Trying to get Cassie more mobile and exercising more is obviously also something I'd like to do, but I can't really see it happening - she's not the most active of piggies, unsurprisingly!

 

[pelicano]

Just to update, I'm starting to worry about Cassie's gut... She's becoming so sluggish. I've got her out at the moment and have been syringing warm water into her, as she just doesn't poo often enough, and she's really not on good form today. Her gut is now gurgling and I've seen 3 poos come out - yippee! She had some Zantac earlier today.

I really don't know what is wrong, and why things are slowing down so much with her... Could do without this stress, as Holly is still skinny as anything, and I'm waiting for a urine culture test result.

However do you with lots of piggies cope with all the stress? ?/

 

[Laura-CCC4]

It's a secret.

Dexter's had very sluggish digestion, which has improved vastly by altering the bias of the diet towards hays and grasses, and very, very few pellets. But this will lead to a little weight loss, which is obviously not so good for Holly. Could you perhaps have Holly out for a bit on her own and offer her oats/bran in an effort to help some weight gain?

 

[pelicano]

Thanks Laura.

They are being fed separately (apart from the dried food), so Cassie isn't getting much veg and Holly much more. I did start restricting the dried food, but in the end had to put Holly first, so that is available all the time in the cage - that's always the problem with my piggies, in that Cassie's dietary needs always end up having to come last. Holly is so picky with her food that she won't eat anything new - in fact, she eats the same veggies (plus grass) every single day at the moment and won't tolerate anything different! I had a major panic in the supermarket the other day, as there was no kale, which is one of Holly's current veggy mix! rolleyes