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Diarrhoea- Any Suggestions

Katiedid

Katiedid

Adult Guinea Pig
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It’s now been a week that Biscuit has been ill and it’s getting quite upsetting.

She has just about maintained weight (she is 15g down tonight on her usual steady 950g).

History - she has kidney cancer - before Christmas she had a bout of diarrhoea for 3 days - fibrepelx cleared it up by Christmas Eve.

Last Saturday night it started again. I only had a days worth of fibreplex left which i gave her then we went to the vets on Wednesday and was given bio lapis. No othe piggy is ill (although Jet has a noisy tum).

She has had no veg since last Saturday (at the moment the others are out eating veg and she is going mad), she has had only hay and grass (a very small amount of grass) no pellets since Wednesday lunchtime.

She is lively and eating well and drinking (she is drinking huge amounts) but the diarrhoea is just not improving, it’s cow pat like. She is eating about 50% of it too.

She is getting butt baths every other day and wiped inbetween - which isn’t ideal in this weather although she is inside.

I am headed back to the vets as soon as I can get an appointment next week, but what on Earth do I do, what do I ask for? Do I push for more fibreplex? Are there any medications she can have?

Help please?
 
I'm really not sure what to suggest. I know daisy went through a stage of diarrhoea which lasted about a week or two but it just cleared up by itself. My vet did give me some zantac but she didn't really need it as she was fine in herself and I don't think it made any difference
 
When Holly had colitis and bloody diarrhoea Adelle suggested slippery elm bark powder. Here is her post from that thread,

Adelle said:
Fudge loves her emeraid too!

Zantac is good when there's blood from the guts. But the best thing iv found is slippery elm bark powder. It soothes inflammation in the guts and in turn helps lesson diarrhoea and mucous. Iv used it on fudge twice now and my dog has it twice a day for 3 years for ibs.

I use the dorwest herbs version, it comes in a big pot. Let me know if you want some and I can post it x
Click to expand...
 
@Katiedid You'll feel like the worst human ever but I'd stop the grass too, until she's completely better. When their stomach is feeling off even normal every day stuff like grass can affect it.

It can take a while before it rights itself unfortunately so it may just take time.

You can get fibreplex online or you could use a different probiotic. You could also try "poop soup", putting a healthy piggy poop in a bit of water and syringing it to her. They hate it, but the healthy gut bacteria may help.

Vets don't usually prescribe medication unless the diarrhea is black and foul smelling as that could suggest an intestinal infection. Or if it's accompanied by bloat, then you would get some gut motility drugs.

The vet might try a course of panacur. It's officially a worming product but vets sometimes suggest it for pigs with digestive issues, I've had it prescribed a couple of times.
 
Lady Kelly said:
I'm really not sure what to suggest. I know daisy went through a stage of diarrhoea which lasted about a week or two but it just cleared up by itself. My vet did give me some zantac but she didn't really need it as she was fine in herself and I don't think it made any difference
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Thank you, Biscuit is fine in herself, she has just given me hell for eating popcorn. I wonder if Zantac would help.

VickiA said:
When Holly had colitis and bloody diarrhoea Adelle suggested slippery elm bark powder. Here is her post from that thread,
Click to expand...

Thank you, I will get some and see if it helps. I just want her back to normal.

Jaycey said:
@Katiedid You'll feel like the worst human ever but I'd stop the grass too, until she's completely better. When their stomach is feeling off even normal every day stuff like grass can affect it.

It can take a while before it rights itself unfortunately so it may just take time.

You can get fibreplex online or you could use a different probiotic. You could also try "poop soup", putting a healthy piggy poop in a bit of water and syringing it to her. They hate it, but the healthy gut bacteria may help.

Vets don't usually prescribe medication unless the diarrhea is black and foul smelling as that could suggest an intestinal infection. Or if it's accompanied by bloat, then you would get some gut motility drugs.

The vet might try a course of panacur. It's officially a worming product but vets sometimes suggest it for pigs with digestive issues, I've had it prescribed a couple of times.
Click to expand...

I came to the same conclusion on grass tonight so she hasn’t had any today. I may order more fibreplex, the bio lapis is a probiotic which the vet wanted to try instead. I was wondering about asking for panicur or maybe Zantac when we see the vet. I will grab Binky and do a poop soup from her as she is the most robust from a tummy perspective.

I found my oxbow digestive support tabs tonight when I was looking for vit c for the others ( which I got for Jet but he doesn’t like them) they have slippey elm in them as well as other herbs, are they worth a try?

I suspect this has been an ongoing issue for her, when we got her she had been bathed but still had a couple of poop patches attached to her fur, as well as sore hocks.
 
She still isn’t well tonight, I have ordered slippery elm and fibreplex. I took Binky’s poop and poop souped her (whilst gagging). I have disinfected the cage another time. Let’s hope it stops soon.

She is very very thirsty, could this be kidney failure?
 
Katiedid said:
Thank you all! I have been using the slippery elm for 3 days and fibreplex since yesterday and we have this! It’s solid! I am so relieved!

View attachment 78402
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Never thought i’d be so pleased to see a poop! Good girl Biscuit, now just some more like that so your poor hard working piggy slave can step back and relax a while.
 
Sounds like @Adelle ’s slippery elm was the missing puzzle piece. So glad someone remembered about that and suggested it.
 
Yes I think the poop soup started the change and the slippery elm cleared it up. On tuesday I thought it was never ever going to end.

Thank you @VickiA for remembering about slippery elm.
 
Katiedid said:
Yes I think the poop soup started the change and the slippery elm cleared it up. On tuesday I thought it was never ever going to end.

Thank you @VickiA for remembering about slippery elm.
Click to expand...

I’m so glad it worked. We must all remember it for future cases. So glad that she has finally turned a corner x
 
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