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Help please with my guinea pigs
- Thread starter Naomi d
- Start date
PigglePuggle
Senior Guinea Pig
Are you weighing your piggies regularly? A bit of weight loss might indicate who isnt eating or digesting properly. And do your piggies get plenty unlimited hay? Often cutting out veg for a couple of days and only feeding hay and afew pellets can help normalise unusual poops, or you could try a probiotic- but if it persists and you are concerned (or if there is 50g weight loss) you should see a vet.
I don’t weight them regularly . they appear to be the same size. Will a kitchen scale work? they have access to Timothy hay all day. I am not sure who is eating a good amount so I might have to separate them. Thankyou for your help
Sophia_Oreo108
Junior Guinea Pig
Kitchen scales work fine. I weigh mine on kitchen scales but I put a shallow, wide bowl/tray on top of the scales and then put my girlies in the bowl. Make sure you keep a record of their weights and the date when you weighed them.
ideally you should weigh them every week as part of routine care. You can then spot when one isn’t eating enough hay as you see the weekly weight change and can then take action.
while you have health concerns, you then switch to weighing them daily, at the same time each day, so you can monitor their hay intake more closely. I would not separate them at this stage, instead keep a check on their weight every day. Separating causes them stress which can lower the immune system which will make getting better much harder for them.
if you notice daily weight decreases (outside of normal fluctuations) then you need to step in and syringe feed
the guides below explain further
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Sophia_Oreo108
Junior Guinea Pig
Have you introduced any new foods to their diet as this can sometimes overwhelm their digestive system?
Thankyou , very helpful information
You’ve introduced blueberries as a new food item? How long ago was that and how much did you give? It’s fine for them to have some fruit but it should only be a very small amount and given once per week only, as fruit is sugary (carrots are also included in that) and when given in large quantities too regularly it can cause gut imbalances.
Smaller than normal poops can be due to reduced hay intake though hence the weighing regularly which will show you what is going on. Poop output is 1-2 days behind so if you're seeing small poops today its because they didn't eat enough hay a couple of days ago. Do read the guides I linked in and as PigglePuggle has said, stop giving all fresh foods, feed only hay and the normal one tablespoon of pellets per day and monitor weight daily. Step in with syringe feeding if the weight checks suggest anything outside of normal fluctuations or a continual downward trend, and see a vet.
Smaller than normal poops can be due to reduced hay intake though hence the weighing regularly which will show you what is going on. Poop output is 1-2 days behind so if you're seeing small poops today its because they didn't eat enough hay a couple of days ago. Do read the guides I linked in and as PigglePuggle has said, stop giving all fresh foods, feed only hay and the normal one tablespoon of pellets per day and monitor weight daily. Step in with syringe feeding if the weight checks suggest anything outside of normal fluctuations or a continual downward trend, and see a vet.
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Sophia_Oreo108
Junior Guinea Pig
Your piggies might be struggling with digesting them. Try not to give them any blueberries for a few days and see if that helps. Once you have done that, try giving them one or two blueberries and see if that makes any difference to their poops.
Siikibam
Forum Donator 2022/23
She needs to cut out veg rather than stop the blueberries. It’s likely a mild tummy upset that started 1-2 days ago.
Sophia_Oreo108
Junior Guinea Pig
Yeah that's what I meant.
PigglePuggle
Senior Guinea Pig
After a few days off veg, best to start by introducing some small bits of essential regular veg- a small piece of bell pepper, or a couple of stems of coriander or parsley- maybe then a small chunk of cucumber- and build from there very slowly. Avoid watery lettuces or gassy kale and cabbage for a while, stick to the essentials.
I meant my boys
Thankyou for your help . I will monitor them and their hay
i have had your new thread merged with your original thread from this morning.
as explained in the thread, smaller than normal poops can indicate a reduced hay intake. Please switch weighing your piggy daily - it’s the only way to gauge if they are eating enough hay as you cannot judge hay intake by eye. If there is weight loss then you need to step in and syringe feed and see a vet.
Okay Thankyou. I have bought a new batch of hay because the other one appeared to be dryer and harder than normal. maybe they didn’t like it. I am going to buy and kitchen scale to today as well
I will cut out their veg for now. I don’t know if they lost weight. if they did it wasn’t drastic for me to tell. I am going to buy a scale Thankyou
Just so you know, it doesn’t have to be drastic weight loss before you must step in. This is why weighing weekly (and then switching to daily when there sre health concerns) is so important. A sudden weight loss of just 50 grams would be unlikely to be noticeable but it is enough to warrant immediate support feeding, and a vet visit.