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Stopped eating pellets

A

Aga

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello, my guinea pig stopped eating pellets (Cavia Complete). A few days ago I opened a new bag and she ate pellets. Yesterday and today she didn't want to. I found some leftovers in the previous bag and she ate them. I compared the ingredients but everything looks the same. She eats veggies, hay and herbs without any problems. What's going on? And what am I supposed to do? Give her more veggies? (but she has problems when eats too many of them), more herbs? Buy some new pellets or change brand (but which one?) Please advise.
 
And now I noticed that some of her poops are softer so I suppose that more veggies is not a good idea. But how to feed her?
 
Please don’t worry about whether she eats pellets or not. They are the one part of the diet that they don’t actually need at all - not all owners give them. I barely give any to mine. Mine only get 5 pellets each on a Wednesday and another 5 on a Sunday as a treat and that’s it (and in fact now it’s summer I keep forgetting to give them pellets at all!)

Hay is the main part of the diet. As long as she is eating plenty of hay and her weight is stable at each routine weekly weight check (you can switch to daily weight checks if you are worried) then there isn’t an issue.
Veg is merely supplementary also and replaces the wild forage element of the diet - it makes up around 15% or daily food intake only

Don’t suddenly give additional veg as it can cause digestive upsets, just give additional hay instead.

If her poops are soft, then please remove all veg from the diet and only feed her hay.
Only reintroduce veg very slowly once her poops have normalized and have remained normal for 24 hours

If her refusing pellets is part of a wider health issue ie you notice weight loss or other symptoms (such as diarrhoea, lethargy, refusal to eat anything) then please switch to daily weight checks, step in with syringe feeding and see a vet.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Wiebke's Guide to Tummy Trouble
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/weight-monitoring-and-management.171577/
 
In the evening she was worse. She ate less hay and almost stopped pooping. A few poops were very soft and really smelly. I massaged her softly and encouraged all night to eat hay. It helped her because now she eats hay, herbs and pellets again and started to poop but poops are still soft but not smelly. Can I give her probiotic? I am wonder how long she should be on such diet?
 
Please make sure you are weighing her every morning so that you can ensure she is eating enough hay. If she loses weight then you must step in with syringe feeding a recovery feed. You also need to see a vet - stopping pooping means a piggy hasn’t been eating enough for up to a couple of days (and that syringe feeding is needed) and a gut motility medication is needed. It’s a very serious situation.

If she is still having soft poops then she must not be fed any fresh food at all - no herbs and no veg at all during the time her poops are soft.
Soft poops occur due to a tummy upset and gut imbalance. It can also be bloat which is very painful, requires gut motility meds and painkillers.

If after a couple of days without any veg at all poops still have not normalised, the she needs to see a vet as it can mean the issue is more serious.
She needs to only eat hay (and any necessary recovery feed) for as long as it takes for her gut to stabilise. Could be a couple of weeks in more serious cases.

Please do give her a probiotic, but I would also encourage you to see the vet in this case.

I’ve added further guides below

Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

Wiebke's Guide to Tummy Trouble

Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)
 
Thank you for precious info. I weighted her today in the morning and will do the same tomorrow to compare the results. But the situation is much better. She poops as crazy and eats lots of hay. But would it be safe for her to eat only hay for a couple of days? What about some vitamins? Can I give her dried herbs (how much)?
 
Aga said:
Thank you for precious info. I weighted her today in the morning and will do the same tomorrow to compare the results. But the situation is much better. She poops as crazy and eats lots of hay. But would it be safe for her to eat only hay for a couple of days? What about some vitamins? Can I give her dried herbs (how much)?
Click to expand...

It’s absolutely fine for her to only eat hay - it’s her main food intake and what she needs while her gut is upset.

Just stick to the hay and any necessary syringe feeding. As she is eating pellets again then she will be getting some vitamins from those
 
I weighted her today and her weight stayed the same - 945 g. That's better because when she was ill her weight dropped about 35 gram within 24 hours. Her poops also look better. How am I am to reintroduce vegetables? Is there any sample plan? And which vegetables are safer after tummy problems? Is there something to avoid?
 
You still need to keep her off vegetables for a 24 hours after poops normalise. If you add veg back in too soon you will just unbalance everything again.

It’s recommended to start with just one sprig of a her as they are milder on digestion. If she is ok with one sprig for a day or two, then add in a small slice of lettuce for a day or two. If she is ok with that then add in pepper for a day or two etc.
The diet is the normal four safe dailies (pepper, lettuce, cucumber, coriander/cilantro).
 
Sorry, That should say herb


And to add weight dropping by 35g in a day is not a worry. That is just normal fluctuation.
It’s only a concern if it continues going down like that day on day and once it gets to and surpasses 50g of loss

Dropping by 50g in one day is concern (warranting syringe feeding), and dropping by 100g in 24 hours is a life threatening emergency and a vet visit
 
Her weight is still the same (about 945g in the morning). I gave her parsley (couldn't find corriander anywhere) and everything is ok. Her poops are even a bit too dry and smaller now although she drinks about 150 ml of water a day. I don't have access to any good lettuce so I wonder which vegetable should come first? Chicory or celery? Or maybe something else?
 
Unfortunately as parsley isn’t a herb they can have every day you will not be able to increase it as per my guidance above. Parsley is a high calcium herb so can only have one tiny amount only to be fed once a week.

I think chicory is also higher in calcium so cant be fed daily either.
Celery leaves are high in calcium but they can have a very small chunk of the stem
 
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