Soft poos what to do?

[Princess and Lily]

Hi everyone

So my guinea pig Lily has had soft poo for about 5 days now. Its not water but not solid.
She lives with 3 friends all girls. 2 younger girls 17 weeks and 15 weeks they have pellets , water and Rhodes hay. I will switch back to oaten hay after the babies are 6 months.
I feed herbs like Parsley and grass, some veg like cumber and cos letture and other veg. i feed fruit once a week sometimes my mum gives them more lol.

What can i do?
I live in Perth, Australia. my closest vet do not treat gps.

Thanks
Daisy

 

[Piggies&buns]

Please remove all veg and grass from the diet until poops normalise. Feed increase amounts of normal grass hay.
Once poops normalise, wait a further 24 hours and then slowly reintroduce veg.
This should allow a mild digestive upset to settle.
If it doesn’t settle after a few days off veg, then please see a vet.
Make sure fruit is not fed more than once a week - too much will cause digestive issues. Fruit doesn’t need to be in the diet at all.

Do make sure you don’t feed parsley often - it is too high in calcium and should be fed very sparingly and no more than once a week.

 

[weepweeps]

I hope Lily is soon back to her normal self after no veggies for a few days.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone

So my guinea pig Lily has had soft poo for about 5 days now. Its not water but not solid.
She lives with 3 friends all girls. 2 younger girls 17 weeks and 15 weeks they have pellets , water and Rhodes hay. I will switch back to oaten hay after the babies are 6 months.
I feed herbs like Parsley and grass, some veg like cumber and cos letture and other veg. i feed fruit once a week sometimes my mum gives them more lol.

What can i do?
I live in Perth, Australia. my closest vet do not treat gps.

Thanks
Daisy

Hi

With a minor disturbance of the gut microbiome take a piggy off fresh food until 24-48 hours after the poos have normalised again and then starting with some fresh herbs and adding one more fresh veg per meal for the next 2-3 servings. Keep in mind that it takes about 24 hours for any food to pass from the mouth to the anus and that piggies eat part of their poos for a second run through the gut - hence the 48 hours rule.

If that does not do the trick or symptoms persist, softer poos can also be an indication that your piggy is not eating enough hay from an underlying - usually pain related - issue.
With persistent issues, please switch from weighing once weekly to weighing daily first thing in the morning on your kitchen scales for best day to day comparison; cheap scales from a supermarket are perfectly fine for monitoring purposes since you do not have to compute medical dosages, unlike a vet.
If there is a weight loss as described in our weighing guide lines, then you will need to step in with feeding support. Our support feeding guide has a chapter on how you can improvise in an emergency.
Weight - Monitoring and Management
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pigs Safely (videos)
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures