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discomfort when pooing

loopyloo97

loopyloo97

Junior Guinea Pig
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I hope that you don't mind me asking but my guinea pig (an 18 month old boar) squeals in discomfort when it seems he is passing a poo. He arches his back and goes very still then is OK. This has been happening on & off for a while but then i cut out all high calcium foods I have researched & just feed him his Excel nuggets, sweet pepper, cucumber, carrot, apple, courgette, hawthorn occasionally and lots of herbs. He has Select Timothy Hay all day long too. I will get him to the vets to be checked over but can you suggest anything to give him? I have tried FibrePlex but he isn't interested in this at all. Our water is high in calcium, is bottled water OK? I was thinking of changing to bottled?
 
Water and pellets are the biggest calcium contributors in their diet. Pellets should be kept to maximum a tablespoon a day, and you can filter the water. I don’t know what could be wrong so best he’s examined by a vet. I’ll link the feeding guide below for you to have a read.

Does he have a friend or lives alone?
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
Have you seen the vet since this started? It may be that he has a uti, he will need to see a vet for diagnosis and treatment. Cutting out calcium foods and giving fibreplex alone won’t help if there is a bacterial infection going on.

Aside from this, I note you aren’t feeding leafy veg other than the herbs - feeding a wet leafy veg diet can help flush the bladder through.
Carrot and apple should be regarded as nothing more than treats and should not feature in their regular daily diet
If you are looking to cut calcium down - but you must not and cannot completely cut it out - then keeping pellets strictly limited and filtering drinking water will go a long way to helping. Even low calcium pellets (and you can get lower calcium pellets than the excel ones) contain more calcium than some high calcium veg.
 
loopyloo97 said:
I hope that you don't mind me asking but my guinea pig (an 18 month old boar) squeals in discomfort when it seems he is passing a poo. He arches his back and goes very still then is OK. This has been happening on & off for a while but then i cut out all high calcium foods I have researched & just feed him his Excel nuggets, sweet pepper, cucumber, carrot, apple, courgette, hawthorn occasionally and lots of herbs. He has Select Timothy Hay all day long too. I will get him to the vets to be checked over but can you suggest anything to give him? I have tried FibrePlex but he isn't interested in this at all. Our water is high in calcium, is bottled water OK? I was thinking of changing to bottled?
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Hi!

Please see a vet as your piggy could have sludge or stones, a cystitis (bladder infection), or something stuck in his penis shaft (semen rod).
Boar Care: Bits, Bums & Baths

Please be aware that your diet has become very unbalanced as result of your efforts; it is far too high in sugars, which can lead to severe bloat and other digestive problems in the longer term (dysbiosis = overgrowth of bad bacteria in the gut that unbalances the normal fermentation process).

The majority of calcium comes via the water and the pellets. Unfortunately most people are not aware of the fact that filtered water and and just 1 tablespoon of pellets will actually go much further in reducing the calcium in your diet. Even the pellets lowest in calcium still contain more of it that the same quantity of the veg highest in calcium. You should also not cut out all calcium altogether because that can be as detrimental as too much.
Please keep your diet as green as possible and feed a very little high calcium herbs or veg together with plenty of low nutrition but higher fluid content veg to ensure that the bladder is well flushed. Herbs, greens and their stronger relative, kale, contain other important vitamins (including vitamin C), important minerals like magnesium which are not in pellets, and trace elements.
The best fresh food is fresh untreated and dog pee free grass and hay. Fresh green growing grass is high in vitamin C; it is the reason why guinea pigs never had to make their own in the first place. Even hay contains it - and hay should make around 80% of the daily food intake as the nutritious silica rich fibre is crucial in keeping the chewing back teeth ground down and the gut microbiome healthy.

Please take the time to carefully read our diet advice, which takes a careful look at all food groups (hay, veg, pellets, water, treats etc); it also contains special tips for guinea pigs with urinary tract problems: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Make sure that you introduce any fresh grass gradually in order to not cause diarrhea or bloat by feeding too much too quickly. Detailed tips in here, including how you count fresh grass into your overall diet at different times of the year: Feeding Grass And Preparing Your Piggies For Lawn Time
 
Just to add to the other replies, I wanted to advise you on Excel nuggets as I used to use them too. They're actually made with lucerne -- which is alfalfa. Alfalfa is crazy high in calcium & shouldn't be given to pigs unless they're babies. I didn't know that lucerne was alfalfa for the longest time so it went uncorrected and caused my pigs some bladder issues. Once you've gone to the vets, if it's discovered that he has bladder sludge or a stone, preferably switch to a brand of nuggets made with Timothy hay instead. I use Oxbow which you can get online from pets at home.
Also, piggy diets are a nightmare & cutting out calcium from fresh veggies doesn't actually solve the problem as unfortunately that usually results in the addition of foods that can cause bladder stones made from other minerals, like oxalates. But I'm getting ahead of myself because he should definitely get a diagnosis before any messing around with diets. Best of luck.
 
Thanks for your help. It certainly is very difficult to give herbs, and greens that are not high in calcium isn't it? He eats piles of Timothy Hay all day every day as it is. I thought he needed red pepper as it is high in vitamin C as is a teeny bit of carrot? I will get the Oxbow low calcium nuggets then & get him booked in to the vets. I am still unsure about whether I can use filtered water? Can you suggest any? I have stopped giving kale as it is so high in calcium. Graham has cucumber too as it has a high water content.
 
loopyloo97 said:
Thanks for your help. It certainly is very difficult to give herbs, and greens that are not high in calcium isn't it? He eats piles of Timothy Hay all day every day as it is. I thought he needed red pepper as it is high in vitamin C as is a teeny bit of carrot? I will get the Oxbow low calcium nuggets then & get him booked in to the vets. I am still unsure about whether I can use filtered water? Can you suggest any? I have stopped giving kale as it is so high in calcium. Graham has cucumber too as it has a high water content.
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Please have a look at the sample diet picture in our diet guide and then read the information for guinea pigs with bladder stones or ongoing cystitis problems in the special diet section: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

You will find it all explained in much better detail than I can do with a blinding headache right now. We have written these guides so you can use them as a helpful resource as we cannot repeat the full complex information all the time.
 
The guide linked above is awesome and has a section on bladder piggies so do check that out. Filter-wise, you want to use an ion exchange filter which are fairly hard to come by nowadays because they're not great for humans but I use these and they work great for my bladder pig. Good luck at the vets! :^)
 
Hello all! Thanks so much. The vet saw him & checked him over. He said (as I had to wait in car due to lock down) that Graham has a few ulcers on his willy. So he is on antibiotics (Baytril) and metacam pain relief. I have to also bathe it in salty water too. Today is the 2nd day of this but he is still uncomfortable when weeing. Luckily his bottom area looked fine & he pooed in the carrier on way to vets and this was normal. Anyone else treated a guinea pig with this? Thank you...
 
Graham was on baytril for about 2 weeks. He also is still on Meloxidyl. He is a lot better than he was & the ulcers on his willy seem to have gone after bathing it twice a day in Hibiscrub and putting a tiny bit of vaseline there. I have bought Oxbow pellets but they will not eat them at all! He has a bit of pepper, loads of cucumber, spring greens, Timothy Hay, Readigrass, carrot tops every day too... but he still does squeak in discomfort sometimes and hunches up maybe once a day some days never. I think if he does not improve he will need an xray.
 
Readigrass and carrot tops are both high in calcium, I would only feed sparingly as a treat. It does sound like he needs an xray to rule out bladder/kidney stones.
 
piggieminder said:
Readigrass and carrot tops are both high in calcium, I would only feed sparingly as a treat. It does sound like he needs an xray to rule out bladder/kidney stones.
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oh ok i never knew that, i assumed readi grass was grass which they eat all the time when outside, but thanks for the update.
 
Graham went back to vet yesterday- but they still have no idea on what is going on. His willy looks awful- covered in ulcers. He is on 0.4ml of cat dose Meloxidyl once a day but it does not seem to stop him. He is fine apart from him being in pain when going to wee or poo. I have put Sudacrem there today after bathing it in Hibiscrub. I was wondering if anyone knew if TCP was ok to use? Obviously very watered down? But with us Humans TCP is used for mouth ulcers to gargle with? Bonjela? I have emailed a Guinea Pig Vet who suggested upping the dose to 1ml a day but my vets seem to keep to 0.4ml at the highest. I just am at a loss what to do! I will attach photos.
 

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I am sorry, this is well beyond my experience. How cavy savvy are your vets?
 
ok thank you, how do you give it to a guinea pig please?
 
loopyloo97 said:
ok thank you, how do you give it to a guinea pig please?
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it’s in capsules. Open the capsule and mix Powder with 2ml of water (best shake in a small medicine bottle to get the lumps out) then syringe it to them. They don’t dislike the taste
 
👍thanks just ordered some off of viovet for £6.99 for 30
 
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