Gi stasis recovery and eating poop question

[Nifen]

Hello my boy is recovering from gi stasis. my vet said it was second to the hypothermia he experienced in another vets care. it's been about 2 week and he's still not eating on his own so I'm just a bit worried. He is doing a lot better and eating very little on his own but no where near enough to take him off critical care. I also have noticed him eating his poop, I know it's normal for him but he's eating every little poop it seems. I didn't stop him because I thought it was okay but it's been every poop which I'm not sure is normal.Let me know if any of you have any thoughts on this, thank you.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear he is unwell.

By eating poop he is trying to recover his gut microbiome and get maximum nutrition out of what he is eating.
Do you have another healthy guinea pig? If so, you could try making poop soup from that piggy’s poop as that will help replace gut bacteria.

Are you weighing him daily?
Is he on gut stimulant medication?

 

[Wiebke]

Hello my boy is recovering from gi stasis. my vet said it was second to the hypothermia he experienced in another vets care. it's been about 2 week and he's still not eating on his own so I'm just a bit worried. He is doing a lot better and eating very little on his own but no where near enough to take him off critical care. I also have noticed him eating his poop, I know it's normal for him but he's eating every little poop it seems. I didn't stop him because I thought it was okay but it's been every poop which I'm not sure is normal.Let me know if any of you have any thoughts on this, thank you.

Hi

It is a good sign that he is eating his poop again. It means that the gut is fully functional. How many poops he is eating depends on how many he is making.

If he has a healthy companion, then please consider making poo soup (i.e. live healthy gut microbiome transfer, which when made correctly can be more effective than any product you buy) or otherwise support the gut with probiotics like bene bac plus.
Probiotics Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

Please be aware that recovery from GI stasis depends very much on whether the stasis event has been primary (i.e. the cause
of it is lying in the gut) or if it is secondary, i.e. caused by an ongoing problem outside the gut like an temporaor or intense ongoing pain or heat event or an underlying illness that has not yet fully manifestated.
Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)

 

[Nifen]

I’m sorry to hear he is unwell.

By eating poop he is trying to recover his gut microbiome and get maximum nutrition out of what he is eating.
Do you have another healthy guinea pig? If so, you could try making poop soup from that piggy’s poop as that will help replace gut bacteria.

Are you weighing him daily?
Is he on gut stimulant medication?

he's on gut stimulus medicine and a pai/anti inflammatory. ad of right now he's maintaining his weight. I do have a healthy piggie so I'll look into poop soup for him. would giving him a preobiotic like benabac also help?

 

[Nifen]

Hi

It is a good sign that he is eating his poop again. It means that the gut is fully functional. How many poops he is eating depends on how many he is making.

If he has a healthy companion, then please consider making poo soup (i.e. live healthy gut microbiome transfer, which when made correctly can be more effective than any product you buy) or otherwise support the gut with probiotics like bene bac plus.
Probiotics Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

Please be aware that recovery from GI stasis depends very much on whether the stasis event has been primary (i.e. the cause
of it is lying in the gut) or if it is secondary, i.e. caused by an ongoing problem outside the gut like an temporaor or intense ongoing pain or heat event or an underlying illness that has not yet fully manifestated.
Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)

my vet thinks it's secondary to the heat stroke and then hypothermia he went through when a vet lower his body temperature too far. I have a follow up appointment to see how he's doing next week. I'll look into making the poo soup from my healthy piggie thank you

 

[Wiebke]

Heat stroke affects the whole body and can seriously damage it, including the heart, especially if he was cooled down to far too quickly. He was lucky not to go into cardiac arrest.

It takes quite a long time to recover from a narrow escape. Be patient and celebrate the fact that he is showing normal natural behaviours again, including recovery behaviours.

You are on the right track, just at a slower speed than you would like. It is always more difficult when - as a caring owner - you are inevitably blaming yourself fully or partially for what has happened and you can't wait to see the damage repaired as quickly as possibly. What has happened doesn't make you a bad owner. Climate change and weather extremes are a huge challenge we have to learn to deal with by learning from our mistakes. Life is not about never putting any foot wrong but about getting up, getting going and learning from our mistakes so we do not repeat the same one all the time. That is how we grow as humans. Your piggy is still there and is on the road to recovery; that is the important thing.

HUGS