Constantly Harrassing Other Guinea Pig For Poo

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annaa

annaa

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We have had to separate our guinea pigs again as everytime we put them together Patch spends the whole time following Mouse around with her nose up her bottom seemingly trying to get her to pass some poos to eat. She just won't leave her alone, it is relentless and seems to be distressing Mouse. Is this normal behaviour? She has just finished her course of antibiotics and my assumption is that once her digestive system sorts itself out she will stop. I've been trying to help her gut flora by making sure she has probiotics, putting them in with the syringe feed, but it doesn't seem to be helping. They were out in the run today and after a couple of hours my husband had to put up a divider to give Mouse a break - apparently she went and had a sleep straight away after the constant chasing. But they do seem to miss each other when they are apart.
 
annaa said:
We have had to separate our guinea pigs again as everytime we put them together Patch spends the whole time following Mouse around with her nose up her bottom seemingly trying to get her to pass some poos to eat. She just won't leave her alone, it is relentless and seems to be distressing Mouse. Is this normal behaviour? She has just finished her course of antibiotics and my assumption is that once her digestive system sorts itself out she will stop. I've been trying to help her gut flora by making sure she has probiotics, putting them in with the syringe feed, but it doesn't seem to be helping. They were out in the run today and after a couple of hours my husband had to put up a divider to give Mouse a break - apparently she went and had a sleep straight away after the constant chasing. But they do seem to miss each other when they are apart.
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It is normal behaviour for a recovering guinea pig whose gut fauna has been wiped out by antibiotics. What you can do is collect fresh healthy poos from Mouse, soak them in a little bit water and then syringe the water to Patch.
What Patchis after are the redigested special poos, but even the normal poos contain enough specific piggy gut fauna and fibre to help restart Patch's guts. That should ease the bum digging somewhat and speed on Patch's recovery.
it is a bit gross, but it mimics the natural behaviour and it always goes down really well with the piggies. ;)
 
Thanks Wiebke. I had tried syringing some poop soup, but it got a bit messy and didn't seem to be particularly well received. That might have just been the syringe though - I've not tried again since giving her the syringe feeds. It wasn't the poo eating that bothers me so much - more the constant harassment. Mouse has lost patience with her a couple of times and lunged at her, guess I'm just concerned in case Patch gets bitten again.
 
Thanks for the link - but it doesn't actually say how long post antibiotics this may go on for.
It's not the coprophagy that is bothering me - I know they need to eat their own poo and expected her to eat Mouse's healthier poos after the antibiotics - but rather the fact that when we put them in an enclosure together she goes straight to Mouse's bottom and is then constantly there, licking and nipping (I assume to stimulate a bowel motion). There is no let up. Mouse does seem to get very distressed and there is alot of chasing and wheeking. I worry that the constant licking will make Mouse sore as well as the risk of Mouse getting fed up and them fighting and one or both getting bitten. But at the same time I'm sure we are delaying Patch's recovery, as she obviously really needs the healthy poo (though my husband has decided that Patch has got a taste for Mouses poos and we will never be able to put them back in the same cage as she will spend the whole time chasing Mouse with her nose up her bum. Please tell me he is wrong!)
 
It's now Thursday and she is still doing it. I have been syringe feeding a pellet mush with added probiotics, as Patch is not really eating anything other than Mouse's poos. She just won't leave her alone. It's like Mouse is being constantly abused and it's awful. What do I do?
 
Gosh I'm sorry to hear about your dilemma :( if this really is distressing Mouse then it may be time to try a trial separation. If Mouse perks up without the constant bum digging courtesy of Patch then it may be best to keep them separate at least until Patch is back on her food and hay. If your patch doesn't like the syringe I've heard of some members piggies who will take to being spoon fed? Perhaps this is something you can try. I hope everything works out for you and your piggies
 
They only have a bit of time together at the moment - mostly they are kept apart because of the continual ferreting. But I figure that Patch obviously really needs the poos otherwise she wouldn't be doing it, and I'm having very little luck getting poop soup into her (probably not the right sort of poo!) so she gets a bit of access to Mouse, and then we split them when Mouse starts looking very stressed by it.
I'm a bit concerned about the lack of fibre as Patch is hardly touching any hay - I tried chopping some hay up really small to go in the syringe food, just to get her chewing. But it's not really going to provide her with what she needs. how do I get her to eat more fibre?
 
Try brown cardboard, whether its a box or a toilet paper roll this is a hit with my boys. Its obviously no substitute to hay and food and healthy piggy poos but anything to get her chewing might help as the last thing you need is dental problems to arise if she won't eat and grind her teeth down
 
What is it thats wrong with your piggy to still not be eating? Id try and sort that issue out first and foremost.

As far as the poo chasing dilema, you'd be best trying a different probiotic as you seem to be doing everything you can on that front- which one are u using?x
 
She had an abscess removed last Thursday, and was on antibiotics for 5 days. She seemed to rally a bit over the weekend and he poos went back to looking somewhat normal, her appetite started to come back. But I passed guinea care over to my husband for a couple of days whilst I was on night shifts, and I'm not sure how much of the feed he managed to give her. She isn't overly keen and you have to be quite persistent - I think he possibly gave up and decided she didn't want it. Now her poos are quite dark and sticky.
@Keiko The Pig - tried spoon feeding, not interested :( Will leave her some cardboard bits in the cage tonight and see what happens.
@Adelle - I am using Pro-C as that is the one I could get hold of easily. Not sure if I am using enough though? I had a re-read of the syringe feeding guide on this forum and it said to aim for 5ml of probiotic every feed. But I've just been putting a pinch in as the instructions on the back of the tube say to use 5ml to every 300g of food. Not sure what to do now. Can you give to much probiotic?
 
Other than theowing the whole tub in her bowl- you cant really give too much. I normally give half a scoop each time, to reap the benefits of the probiotics it needs to be given 1-2 hours after the antibiotic is given.

I use avipro plus, same size tub and same scoop as pro-c but i find it more effective. You can order it online x
 
It's very likely due to the antibiotics as a way of trying to re-establish normal gut flora. I'm sure you've said in a previous post, but where was the abscess located? If it's a dental abscess and you're still not seeing resumption of normal chewing of food, it might be worth looking into pain relief or a different antibiotic (five days of antibiotics for an abscess is a lot less than any of my pigs have been prescribed.) What antibiotic was she on? I've found that some of my pigs have been really affected by Baytril (included the compulsive hounding of another pig for poop that you are seeing) but fared better on a different antibiotic. Was the abscess left open?
 
@Freela - it was a small abscess from a bite on her side. By the time they operated (Thursday last week) she had been on Baytril for 4 days. I then had 2 further doses to give her post op. I queried this with the vet, but as the baytril had shrunk the abscess she decided that she would be OK to stop after the last dose on Friday. It was glued shut post op.
How long did the 'hounding' go on for post antibiotics?
I've upped the amount of probiotics I'm adding, which seems to be helping, she's a bit more interested in her hay, and her nose isn't constantly up Mouse's bottom when I allow them some time together.
 
annaa said:
@Freela - it was a small abscess from a bite on her side. By the time they operated (Thursday last week) she had been on Baytril for 4 days. I then had 2 further doses to give her post op. I queried this with the vet, but as the baytril had shrunk the abscess she decided that she would be OK to stop after the last dose on Friday. It was glued shut post op.
How long did the 'hounding' go on for post antibiotics?
I've upped the amount of probiotics I'm adding, which seems to be helping, she's a bit more interested in her hay, and her nose isn't constantly up Mouse's bottom when I allow them some time together.
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Oh yes, I remember your earlier post now! If the abscess was completely removed and not merely drained, that would make sense of a shorter course of antibiotics!

I've seen it a couple of times in my pigs, but it was several years ago. In one case, unfortunately the pig involved was really ill and passed away while still on meds. I've got no idea how long it would have lasted. That was the only case where it was really persistent and obviously annoying the other pig. In this case, the sick pig was really not able to eat much of anything due to a major tooth root abscess and a botched dental by an inexperienced vet which probably made everything worse. We did 'poop soup' in with her syringe feeds, but I don't know that it ever changed the behavior, and then unfortunately she developed sepsis and passed away. In the other more minor case, it was not as persistent and didn't annoy the other pig so much (given that she was the subordinate pig and the ill pig was pretty bossy, she may have just been accustomed to taking things in good humor!) As I recall, I think it lasted a week or so after the cessation of the antibiotics and then gradually she returned to normal. Unfortunately she wasn't on probiotics, as I could not find one where I live that was recommended and known to be safe for guinea pigs.
 
Thanks for sharing your experiences @Freela. Sorry to hear about your poor piggy, that sounds an awful thing to go through.

Just a quick update on my two for anyone who might find themselves in a similar situation in future and come across this thread. They are back in the same cage, I upped the amount of probiotic I was giving to what was suggested on the guide on here and the bottom ferreting declined very quickly. She is still doing it a little bit, but it is not causing Mouse much stress and they seem to be getting along reasonably well now.
 
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