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Diarrhoea but still eating/drinking?

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AMarsh

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Hi, firstly apologies for the long post!

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with a guinea pig that has ongoing diarrhoea but is otherwise still healthy (from what the vet can tell) Around 2 months ago I took my male GP to the vets due to soft poo. During the consultation they noted his belly sounded ok, teeth ok, ears, eyes and temperature ok and otherwise seemed bright. Was advised to treat him with Xeno 450 in case of parasites and to order some Pro-C Probiotic to help with gut health. He seemed to make an improvement - poo was still on the softer side so from then until now he has had limited veg to see how things went.

A day or so ago I noticed his poo was a lot worse, very watery and smelly although he was still eating his dry food (he has the Burgess Excel for indoor GPs) and hay which is topped up each day, water which still has the Pro-C added to it and even squeaks when the fridge opens. Yesterday he seemed out of sorts, he hadn't eaten or taken a drink when I woke up at 6am-12pm which is unlike him, he was fluffed up and didn't want to come out of hiding, wouldn't respond to rustling food or eat/drink even when put right in front of him. I went back to the vets in the afternoon and they said again temp fine, ears, eyes, nose, teeth all ok but his belly was painful to touch and she could hear some noises going on. They gave him an injection to increase him appetite and some Arthrocam to give him once a day for a week for the pain, to order some Emeraid IC Herbivore and Pancur oral paste wormer.

I haven't given him any Emeraid IC Herbivore as he started eating and drinking again later that day. I tried him on a tiny bit of Kale and he will still eat veggies. He otherwise seems bright, he's squeaking and will move if he wants to, he is sleeping a lot but will move if he hears any sudden noises or his cage mate wakes him. Today I have seen him eat the dry food and drink water.

Has anyone had a similar experience? I'm at a loss as to what to try next. Obviously diarrhoea is bad but his cage mate is totally fine, could this be down to age? He is coming up to 3 years old in Dec. Should I still give him the Emeraid if he is eating something? I am waiting for the oral paste to arrive so will treat them both with this but I'm keen to try anything that will help harden his poo! He is my best friend and I feel so bad he may be in pain or suffering. I am 35 weeks pregnant and feel the stress of this will put me in early labour!
 
I’m sorry to hear this.

First, this isn’t anything to do with his age.

You mentioned water with pro-c - can you clarify, are you adding pro-c directly to their drinking water bottle? If so, please don’t do this. Pro-c should be mixed in a couple of ml of water and syringed to him directly (carefully so as to not cause aspiration). If pro-c is added to the water bottle, then you cannot control what he is getting and it can cause issues with the water and algae and also prevent drinking.

As in understand it, and I haven’t used emeraid myself, but it is already fortified with probiotics so you should not give additional probiotic.

I would cut out the veg entirely. If he is having digestive issues then he needs a lot fibre to help balance his gut. Feeding any veg if his fibre intake is down will knock the balance further the wrong way and potentially make the issues worse.

In terms of him eating dry food - the pellets aren’t the main concern here. He doesn’t need them at all in fact, it is his hay intake which you need to monitor.
Please ensure you have switched from the routine weekly weight checks and that you are instead weighing him each morning. This is the only way to monitor hay intake and whether he needs syringe feeding with the emeraid. If he has lost 50g or more of his body weight, then he needs to be syringe fed as it means he isn’t eating enough hay.

You can make poop soup to feed to him as they will help directly replace the gut microbiome.
Take the companion out of the cage and feed him some snacks. Pick up any poos he produces and immediately soak them in water. It has to be the moment the poops come out as the good bacteria start to die off straight away so you went them to soak asap. Soak some poops for a few minutes, then discard the poops and syringe the water to your poorly piggy.

I have added several guides in below which explain everything further

I hope he is ok

Wiebke

Thread 'Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support'

1 Weight and Weight Loss
- Why regular weight monitoring matters
- How weight changes over a lifetime
- How to weigh on your kitchen scales (with video)
- The weight loss rules
- How critical is the weight loss for my piggy?
- Possible causes for weight loss
2 Body Mass Index (BMI) or 'Heft'
- Why is understanding your piggy's weight so important?
- 'Average' weight vs. individual weight - the big trip up
- How to check for the BMI
3 The...
  • Like
Wiebke

Thread 'Wiebke's Guide to Poops'

1 How the Digestive System Works
2 Poo Eating (Coprophagy)
3 Health Monitoring: Weighing vs. Poos Watching
- What does weighing do?
- What does the poop output tell you?
4 Minor Poop Issues
- How to deal with a minor tummy upset
- Funny poops: What do they mean?
- Caked on poops
5 Serious Diarrhoea
6 Impaction
7...
  • Informative
  • Like
Wiebke

Thread 'All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures'

Introduction
1 Choosing the right place to medicate/feed your piggy
2 Guinea pig whispering and asserting your authority
3 Recovery products and emergency improvisation
4 Syringe recommendations
5 Weight monitoring: your biggest ally
6 Weight loss guidelines and when to step in with feeding
7 Syringe feeding amounts/frequency advice
8 Practical medication and syringing tips
9 Medicating and feeding cooperative guinea pigs (videos)
10 Medicating and feeding uncooperative guinea pigs (hold pictures and tips)
11 The line between life and...
  • Like
  • Love
Wiebke

Thread 'Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)'

1 Not eating (anorexia) and the importance of syringe feeding fibre
2 Soft poos and runny diarrhea
3 Acute bloat (severe dysbiosis) - blockage - twisted gut - persistent milder bloating
4 GI stasis (no gut movement)


Severe runny diarrhea, bloat, blockage or a twisted gut, GI stasis and excessive salivating in guinea pigs that are not eating are absolute life and death emergencies that need to be seen ASAP by an out-of-hours vet at any time of the day or night or that should be seen by a vet as soon as you can get an appointment outside the UK...
Wiebke

Thread 'First Aid: Immediate Care Measures and Non-medication Products'

1 Important Proviso
2 First Aid Kit
- General Items
- Comfort
- Useful to have in stock
3 Illness and Recovery First Aid Tips
- Accessing vet care and when it is too late for help
- Loss of appetite and weight (Feeding support, Recovery foods, digestive aids and rehydration)
- Accident, bites and injury (Wound disinfection and bleeding)
- Eyes and ears
- Breathing
- Acute heart and circulation failure
-...
  • Like
 
Thank you so much for your reply, this is all really helpful.

Yes I was adding the Pro-C to the bottle of water (not every time the water is changed as I thought that would be too much) as this is what was recommended by the vet but I will remove and give him normal water. Thank you for the tip on the poop soup I will also give this a go and fingers crossed these will help him improve!
 
In my rescue I do see thus from time to time. I give 1/4 teaspoon of pro-c mixed with 20ml of water then gently syringe this. Once he gets the taste he'll like in and you can probably give him 5 1ml syringes of it. Also get some Fibreplex and give him 1ml once a day. Finally give him a bowl of dry porridge oats which will help his tummy too. I your vet prescribes antibiotics then only give pro-c & Fibreplex at least 2 hours later.
 
Stewybus said:
In my rescue I do see thus from time to time. I give 1/4 teaspoon of pro-c mixed with 20ml of water then gently syringe this. Once he gets the taste he'll like in and you can probably give him 5 1ml syringes of it. Also get some Fibreplex and give him 1ml once a day. Finally give him a bowl of dry porridge oats which will help his tummy too. I your vet prescribes antibiotics then only give pro-c & Fibreplex at least 2 hours later.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply and help. Do you have a specific brand of porridge oats you use? Just want to make sure I’m not getting anything with any sugar or added things he shouldn’t have!

Thank you again
 
AMarsh said:
Thank you for your reply and help. Do you have a specific brand of porridge oats you use? Just want to make sure I’m not getting anything with any sugar or added things he shouldn’t have!

Thank you again
Click to expand...

Plain old-fashioned ones that are as little processed as possible and have no added sugar or flavourings nor are they designed to go into the microwave (requires extra processing). You serve them as they are.
 
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