Amount of poops when taking AB. What’s normal?

[Emmalou46]

Hi everyone
My boys had a bit of a fight and my most dominant piggie who seemed absolutely fine, no blood or anything was actually bitten on his back and I only noticed it a few days later which meant it had started to form a small abscess the vet got the gunk out and then prescribed metacam 0.3ml once a day, metronidazole 0.5ml twice a day and Quinoflox 0.1ml twice a day. I have been giving him fibreplex too to try and help his gut but he doesn’t seem to be eating his pellets at all. He is munching on hay, eats all his veggies and grass, hay treats and I have started weighing him daily too and he isn’t losing weight in fact today he seems to have put a little on. He seems fine in himself although I have noticed that he is hardly pooping. I counted about 40 poops yesterday which doesn’t seem enough at all. Should I be worried about the amount of poops? I know with him not losing weight he won’t need critical care but when are you suppose to start giving it? Is this if they are not eating anything at all? He has been on the AB since Thursday 4th May. I can still feel a small lump although he won’t let me have a proper feel so unsure if the AB are working or not
Thank you x

 

[Piggies&buns]

Don’t worry about him not eating pellets - they just don’t really matter.

It is hay which is the vital thing and it’s good you’re doing daily weight checks. They are the only way to know he is actually eating enough. Continue as you are with the weight checks, step in with syringe feeding if he starts to lose weight (weight loss is considered at 50g or more).

Poop output is 1-2 days behind food intake so it isn’t a reliable way to gauge.

 

[Emmalou46]

Thank you so much for your reply. So last 3 days poop output hasn’t improved and he’s now losing weight. He’s lost 34g in 5 days. He’s off his AB now, had his last dose on Wednesday but I’m worried about gut statis? He’s got his check up appointment regarding the little abcsess from the bite today, which seems to have cleared thank god, so will ask him about the weight loss. Should his appetite not just have improved after the AB stopped though? Hoping there’s not another issue

 

[Piggies&buns]

Are you syringe feeding him?
Are you still giving the Fibreplex?

 

[Emmalou46]

I’m not still giving the fibreplex no should I be doing? And I haven’t started syringe feeding yet as will still hoping all would go back to normal after finishing AB. Was going to start with syringe feeding if he got down to -50g, was hoping it wouldn’t happen but looks like it will. Should I give fibreplex and a syringe feed this morning or wait until after I’ve seen the vet? My appt isn’t until 2pm

 

[Piggies&buns]

I would continue with the Fibreplex as it might help.
Although his weight loss isn’t considered weight loss yet, I would be tempted to offer a top up feeds to get ahead just in case there is something going on.

Let us know how you get on at the vet

 

[Emmalou46]

So he’s had his vet visit, he would have expected his gut to have been ok now with having finished his AB on Wednesday, he couldn’t feel anything, blockage or bloating and said there was gut sounds on both sides. He’s given him a metacam injection and Emeprid injection to hopefully get things moving. He started eating hay when we got home and I put them out on the grass for a bit too where he did his first 5 poops of the day, normal size and consistency. He wondered if he was stressed being separated from Oreo, I said there’s no way they can go back together after their fight but their cages are connected so they can interact. Oreo does still rumble at him but Coco just sniffs at him and sometimes bites at the bars, I don’t think that could be bothering him? He doesn’t seem to be drinking but he’s having lots of grass, veg and dandelion leaves so hoping he’s getting enough water from that. Only other thing that could have been stressing him was the syringe feeding of the medicine, fibreplex etc. Really hoping the injections work