Guinea pig not eating poop at all

[Lazw]

Hello everyone!
My lovely almost 3 year old sow milly isn't eating her cecal pellets! She often has very mushy poop anyway as she seems to be very sensitive to most fresh veggies- been to the vet for this and she has been given 2 courses of probiotics which don't make much difference to her poop, however they have stopped her audible stomach noises which she's had for as long as I can remember. Her poop has been tested for parasites and came back negative. I have a bottle of kaogel to give her when it becomes a real issue, which does work really well but I don't want to be relying on this as it can't be the answer.

My question is, a lot of this mushy poop is green, wet, small, and very smelly which I'm assuming is the cecal pellets she's not eating. It's definitely not normal poops, which she does still do Inbetween bouts of the green stuff. Is there a reason why this might be? I'm confused, I'd say other than that she's her usual self. Please help! When she stands in it it gets stuck to all her feet and between her toes and she has an 8 week old Guinea buddy too who unfortunately also becomes covered! Thanks for any advice you can offer, this site is amazing for information.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi!

I would rather say that it is the other way around, but please take her off any fresh food until at least 24-48 hours after the poos have normalised. Please keep in mind that 80% or more of the daily food intake should be unlimited hay and that fresh food should only make about 15% with 1 tablespoon of pellets per piggy per day bringing up the rest. Too much fresh food in the diet can upset the digestion in the long term.
What most people don't know is that fresh grass is very high in vitamin C and that even hay contains it. It is the reason why guinea pigs never had the need to make their own in the first place!

Please don't home treat on spec; especially not with human medications.

Since she has got a companion, please use absolutely fresh healthy poos of his to make 'poo soup' for the transferral of live healthy guinea pig gut microbiome. If done correctly, it is much more powerful than probiotics as it contains the tailor made stuff. It also mimic natural behaviour.
A course fibreplex may also help. If your girl doesn't like it, mush up some pellets and mix it in there. That tends to go down well.

If this doesn't have the desired effect including with any diet changes, then I would discuss with your vet to have the poos lab tested and see whether a course of panacur may be indicated, depending on the results.

Are your piggies outdoors or indoors and have they been on the lawn a lot in recent weeks?

 

[Lazw]

Hi!

I would rather say that it is the other way around, but please take her off any fresh food until at least 24-48 hours after the poos have normalised. Please keep in mind that 80% or more of the daily food intake should be unlimited hay and that fresh food should only make about 15% with 1 tablespoon of pellets per piggy per day bringing up the rest. Too much fresh food in the diet can upset the digestion in the long term.
What most people don't know is that fresh grass is very high in vitamin C and that even hay contains it. It is the reason why guinea pigs never had the need to make their own in the first place!

Please don't home treat on spec; especially not with human medications.

Since she has got a companion, please use absolutely fresh healthy poos of his to make 'poo soup' for the transferral of live healthy guinea pig gut microbiome. If done correctly, it is much more powerful than probiotics as it contains the tailor made stuff. It also mimic natural behaviour.
A course fibreplex may also help. If your girl doesn't like it, mush up some pellets and mix it in there. That tends to go down well.

If this doesn't have the desired effect including with any diet changes, then I would discuss with your vet to have the poos lab tested and see whether a course of panacur may be indicated, depending on the results.

Are your piggies outdoors or indoors and have they been on the lawn a lot in recent weeks?

Thank you for your detailed response, I really appreciate it . That's great thank you, I will definitely reduce the amount of fresh veggies they both get daily. Just as an idea, what is a good amount of fresh veg for one adult piggy a day? She will eat until everything has gone but I think she's just greedy rather than hungry.

I should have said that the probiotics are fiberplex, she's halfway through the latest tube. She doesn't like it but I can get her to take it if I give her something nicer to chew immediately afterwards.

The kaogel was prescribed by her vet for diarrhoea caused by baytril back in February, so maybe I shouldn't be using it just for mushy poop as the baytril diarrhoea was really severe! If I use the other pigs poop to get her gut flora back to normal how much should I use, and does it matter that the other piggy is only an 8 week old? And no, they've not been on any grass recently and they're still living indoors in the house until its warmer. Thanks

 

[Lazw]

Thank you for your detailed response, I really appreciate it . That's great thank you, I will definitely reduce the amount of fresh veggies they both get daily. Just as an idea, what is a good amount of fresh veg for one adult piggy a day? She will eat until everything has gone but I think she's just greedy rather than hungry.

I should have said that the probiotics are fiberplex, she's halfway through the latest tube. She doesn't like it but I can get her to take it if I give her something nicer to chew immediately afterwards.

The kaogel was prescribed by her vet for diarrhoea caused by baytril back in February, so maybe I shouldn't be using it just for mushy poop as the baytril diarrhoea was really severe! If I use the other pigs poop to get her gut flora back to normal how much should I use, and does it matter that the other piggy is only an 8 week old? And no, they've not been on any grass recently and they're still living indoors in the house until its warmer. Thanks

 

[Lazw]

Hi!

I would rather say that it is the other way around, but please take her off any fresh food until at least 24-48 hours after the poos have normalised. Please keep in mind that 80% or more of the daily food intake should be unlimited hay and that fresh food should only make about 15% with 1 tablespoon of pellets per piggy per day bringing up the rest. Too much fresh food in the diet can upset the digestion in the long term.
What most people don't know is that fresh grass is very high in vitamin C and that even hay contains it. It is the reason why guinea pigs never had the need to make their own in the first place!

Please don't home treat on spec; especially not with human medications.

Since she has got a companion, please use absolutely fresh healthy poos of his to make 'poo soup' for the transferral of live healthy guinea pig gut microbiome. If done correctly, it is much more powerful than probiotics as it contains the tailor made stuff. It also mimic natural behaviour.
A course fibreplex may also help. If your girl doesn't like it, mush up some pellets and mix it in there. That tends to go down well.

If this doesn't have the desired effect including with any diet changes, then I would discuss with your vet to have the poos lab tested and see whether a course of panacur may be indicated, depending on the results.

Are your piggies outdoors or indoors and have they been on the lawn a lot in recent weeks?

OK so I've woken up to actual diarrhoea everywhere this morning and they're both covered . Milly will be completely off any fresh veggies for the next 3 days as we really need to get on top of this. She is otherwise absolutely fine and her usual sassy self, she's having great fun rumblestrutting around the place . If I make her some poop soup from bramble our resident baby pig, how much should I give her? Thanks x

 

[Piggies&buns]

OK so I've woken up to actual diarrhoea everywhere this morning and they're both covered . Milly will be completely off any fresh veggies for the next 3 days as we really need to get on top of this. She is otherwise absolutely fine and her usual sassy self, she's having great fun rumblestrutting around the place . If I make her some poop soup from bramble our resident baby pig, how much should I give her? Thanks x

If you are now dealing with complete diarrhoea, then please call your vet
Digestive Disorders: Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating

 

[Lazw]

Hello there, yes I called the vet a couple of hours ago and they've requested poop and wee samples which I've just delivered to them, waiting for a call with some results.

 

[Lazw]

Hello there, yes I called the vet a couple of hours ago and they've requested poop and wee samples which I've just delivered to them, waiting for a call with some results.

I've just been out and got her some nice hay to eat to try firm her up and realised once I got home and gave her some that it says for rabbits. It's 100% Timothy hay though so will it be OK for piggies too?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Yes it’s fine for piggies as well

 

[Lazw]

Yes it’s fine for piggies as well

Phew thanks I'm worried enough about her as it is, I only lost my other piggy last week

 

[Merab]

Hope you can get everything sorted and your girl treated quickly.
Holding you in my thoughts

 

[Lazw]

Hope you can get everything sorted and your girl treated quickly.
Holding you in my thoughts

Thanks, I just called the vet reception and they've not run any tests yet as the only vet on is in emergency surgery . She's crying now when she strains which is heartbreaking. Other than that eating as normal x

 

[Lazw]

OK so milly pig was given poop soup on Tuesday that I made with poop from my other Guinea, and yesterday (weds) there was no diarrhoea and what looked like the most normal poops from milly in a long time, but some had bloody mucus on one end which I think is because her insides have been so inflamed. (She's had this before when on antibiotics and metacam and she visited the vets then who took her off everything for 3 days then restarted the ab's. Milly cannot have metacam as it always causes issues so she has tramadol instead when needed which agrees with her much more.) anyway, today the mushy watery poops have made a reappearance and she is squealing when she strains. Can't see any blood and I've rung the vets and her cavy specialist vet who has dealt with her many issues in the past is calling back after 3. I'm going to request an appointment with her tomorrow so poor milly gets seen.

Urine test on Monday came back normal, they didn't test the poop I sent up as they didn't see a reason to and said the crying is usually urinary?! Very frustrating.

Covid is making it very hard to get her seen by a vet but I'm going to insist she is seen tomorrow as its been 5 days of this now, even though in herself she seems happy enough. All she's had to eat is hay and pellets since the runny poop started and I'm getting anxious about her vitamin intake.

Has anyone got any advice or any idea what could be wrong with my little piggy? I'm worried about her