Strange stool issues

[mikulinek]

Hi everyone,

As most of you know, Biscuit has recently been recovering from pneumonia brought on by strep. He has responded well to the treatment and seems to be much better. He will be seen by his vet on Friday when receive his final test results.

However, I have noticed some changes in his stool. Yesterday and today, he has been passing very few solid, hard droppings and much of his droppings are fairly soft and seem to be clumped together?!?

We put him on a hay, pellets and water diet and are going to get him some soluble vitamin C so that we can remove his fresh veg for a few days. It's not quite diarrhea that's coming out. I don't know if it's a problem with his droppings or with his caecotrophes - does anyone have an ideas?

He came off his anti-biotics on Friday last week (marbocyl and cotrimoxazole), could this have an affect?

Any advice welcome

 

[RoadRunner]

All Antibiotics have side effects and this can include soft stools or diarrhoea, as well as others, check the Antibiotic's leaflet it will have the 'side effects' listed.

A good suggestion is if you are overly concerned take him back to the vet, pneumonia is a very serious illness to be struck with even in humans it can be a killer.

I would suggest a hay and vitamin c rich dry food diet for 7 -10 days this will help firm up his poo, plenty of water but NO fresh veg.

Please make sure you finish the course of Antibiotic's as the treatment should last longer then any infection to give it less chance or re-occurance.

Some facts on the prescribed medication,

Marbocyl is indicated in the treatment of skin and soft tissue infections (skin fold pyoderma, impetigo, folliculitis, furunculosis, cellulitis), for the treatment of urinary tract infections associated or not with prostatitis and respiratory tract infections, caused by susceptible strains of organisms.

There are no known side effects of this product.

however...

Co-trimoxazole has two active ingredients, Trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole (co-trimoxazole) both work inside the bacterial cell, where they stop the manufacture of a substance called folic acid (folate). Folic acid is necessary for the production of genetic material (DNA). Without the production of DNA the bacteria is not able to reproduce, and the spread of the infection is stopped (a bacteriostatic effect).

The side effect list is quite long.

Rash
Diarrhoea
Blood disorders
Pain in the muscles (myalgia)
Seizures (convulsions)
Nausea and vomiting
Severe blistering skin reaction affecting the tissues of the eyes, mouth, throat and genitals. (This is why you were prescribed marbocyl to counter this side effect)
Inflammation of the lining of the mouth (stomatitis)
Damage to the liver
Damage to the kidneys

I hope this helps some what to helping you understand the issues your having, but again , if you are at all concerned, you should return to your veterinary practitioner.

 

[clairelove]

is he on probiotics? as when on antibiotics guinea pigs always need probiotics too, how is he eating? if his eating is not as good its worth asking your vet for Metrocloprimide until he is eating and pooping normal would be good, this is a gut stimulant the dose can be 0.5ml to 1ml 3 times a day until eating pooping fine. but he will defo need probiotics, also get some vit C tablets for humans i find the chewable ones work well as they dissolve add half a tablet to the water every day and hold back on veg for a few days until his poop is normal, sadly it is a side affect of antibiotics, Zithromax is a good antibiotic to use in chest infections but it can be hard to get a vet willing to give it to you x

 

[hallie2985]

I have noticed a similar problem with Rose. She was diagnosed with 'lots of fluid on the lungs' on Saturday. I extrapolate that she has pneumonia, as fluid on the lungs is the definition thereof.

She had an antibiotic injection at the vet's, and has been on Baytril 0.5ml bd and Metacam 0.3ml od since.

I suspect it is an antibiotic issue, but I'm loath to take her fresh food away - she is not eating as well as she usually does, and tempting her with lettuce/cucumber is my solution to her refusal to take her medicine! The way forward is probably a probiotic, but unfortunately I don't know how to go about sourcing it - I'm fairly sure that feeding her yoghurt is not a good idea :p!

I hope biscuit feels better soon!


H

 

[doglovinpiggylover]

definately not yoghurt.

When my boys had Baytril last year i got them Avipro Plus and they took it from me easily, from a syringe and in their water bottles.


Really hope Biscuit is feeling brighter soon x

 

[Midge&Panda]

When my girls have been on antibiotics they have had probiotic from P@h (sorry cant remember the name buts its in a yellow tub) they have it added to the water apparently it tastes nice and I have noticed its drunk quicker than plain water and from the syringe. Just to point out they still have plain water from another bottle. When Lily had issues with her teeth she was given a probitiotc called 'fibreplex' from the vet. It contained the probiotic aswell as additional fibre.

 

[Pebble]

I have noticed a similar problem with Rose. She was diagnosed with 'lots of fluid on the lungs' on Saturday. I extrapolate that she has pneumonia, as fluid on the lungs is the definition thereof.

She had an antibiotic injection at the vet's, and has been on Baytril 0.5ml bd and Metacam 0.3ml od since.

I suspect it is an antibiotic issue, but I'm loath to take her fresh food away - she is not eating as well as she usually does, and tempting her with lettuce/cucumber is my solution to her refusal to take her medicine! The way forward is probably a probiotic, but unfortunately I don't know how to go about sourcing it - I'm fairly sure that feeding her yoghurt is not a good idea :p!

I hope biscuit feels better soon!


H

Oh goodness.....as an experienced "respiratory problem" piggie owner with a great exotics vet...........If she has fluid on the lungs she really needs a furosemide diuretic fast......first one should be injected subq..a hefty 10mg/kg....thereafter maintence is 2mg/kg oral from tablets.

Not many vets know that if they are not that cay savvy

If baytril doesn;t work after a few days you need to switch to septrin...(paediatric banana oral suspension..... give 0.7 ml/kg)

As for probioitics....try fibreplex......

x

Sorry for hijacking thread....but this is rather important
x

 

[mikulinek]

After nearly four days of no fresh veg, Biscuit's droppings seem much better. Thanks everyone. We've given him additional vitamin C in his water to try to make up for the lack of fresh veggies. Apart from that he is eating normal amounts of hay and pellets.

He's going back to see our vet, Sarah, tomorrow for some more tests and a check on how he's responding to his current treatment. She seems confident that strep is a manageable bacterium so hopefully he'll continue to improve.

We didn't give him any probiotics as I am still unsure about their clinical advantages. We've had a few chats about them on here and my vet believes them to be clinically pointless... I'm undecided and as such, I'm not going to give Biscuit something I'm not 100% sure about. Thanks for all your advice though, as usual you guys are great

 

[Pebble]

Hope you get a good result on your return to the vets.


But just in case you don;t................you might want to print out the following and take it along to the vet to save time and further consultations......

When my piggies developed lymphadenitis a few years ago, (normally a strep - but we didn;t swab to confirm) baytril cleared most of them. However in one we had to resort to an injection of long acting tetracycline in order to clear the infection.

Last year most of my piggies all developed a respiratory problem and when we did poo cultures we found many of them had baytril resistant staph and strep....and some were also septrin resistant. (As an aside....The cause of my piggies pneumonia -despite every test under the sun- has not yet been identified and vet is now leaning towards a virus as despite numerous PMs there is no evidence of any bacterial/protozoal/lymphoma involvement/cause - we manage their clinical syptoms with diuretic)

Hopefully the two antibiotics already used should clear this up...and you will get good news at your next vet visit. However the point I'm trying to make is that piggies can now harbor antibioitic resistant bugs, So if the current antibioitics don;t seem to be working, can I suggest that you try either long acting tetracycline or (more preferably) azithromycin....and also administer a diuretic (furoseamide - firstly a hefty 5-10mg/kg injection to "kick start" and then 2mg/kg (tablets orally twice daily for a week) to reduce any fluid in the kungs resulting from the pneumonia and give the new antibioitcs a better chance to reach the bugs.

x