Inconsistent poop

[dee10535]

Hello, I have a female guinea pig who we estimate at about 4.5 years. She just lost her only companion to gut stasis several days ago. She hasn't shown any obvious signs of grief, but I have been watching her carefully. As of yesterday she is still eating and drinking, and today seems to be acting normal. I have been closely monitoring her poo output. I have noticed that they are often inconsistent. For example, yesterday evening she did a couple of extremely squishy pointy green poops, and a few fat soft ones in addition to normal ones. Today I checked and found a good amount of normal ish ones (perhaps a teensy bit smaller than usual), but I also found a couple of extremely small ones, one of which appeared to have a plastic like mucus tail. The inconsistencty is baffling to me. I attached a picture of some of the ones I found today. The normal ones and the mucus tail one appear to have been leftore recently, and the other small one has already completely solidified so may be older. She gets pellets, hay, and romaine lettuce daily, with a very occasional slice of cucumber or red pepper. Shwould I give her lettuce today? Any thoughts on what might be happening here?

 

[Claire W]

Hi, I am very sorry for your loss it looks like your piggy has a mild stomach upset / gut disturbance. Please take her off all fresh veg and grass for 24-48 hours after the poos have firmed up feeding only hay, pellets and water

 

[Wiebke]

Hello, I have a female guinea pig who we estimate at about 4.5 years. She just lost her only companion to gut stasis several days ago. She hasn't shown any obvious signs of grief, but I have been watching her carefully. As of yesterday she is still eating and drinking, and today seems to be acting normal. I have been closely monitoring her poo output. I have noticed that they are often inconsistent. For example, yesterday evening she did a couple of extremely squishy pointy green poops, and a few fat soft ones in addition to normal ones. Today I checked and found a good amount of normal ish ones (perhaps a teensy bit smaller than usual), but I also found a couple of extremely small ones, one of which appeared to have a plastic like mucus tail. The inconsistencty is baffling to me. I attached a picture of some of the ones I found today. The normal ones and the mucus tail one appear to have been leftore recently, and the other small one has already completely solidified so may be older. She gets pellets, hay, and romaine lettuce daily, with a very occasional slice of cucumber or red pepper. Shwould I give her lettuce today? Any thoughts on what might be happening here?

Hi and welcome

I am very sorry for your loss.

Your sow seems to have minor tummy upset (the mucus could be pointing to a little dehydration). Please be aware that the poo output can lag a day or two behind the intake, depending how fast the gut is working.

Switch from the usual life-long once weekly weigh-in to weighing daily at the same time on our kitchen scales. Unlike poos, they give you an up-to-date feedback of the actual food intake. Please be aware that you cannot check the hay intake by eye, which makes at least three quarters of the daily food intake and which is crucial in rebalancing the gut microbiome, because that is what the gut is laid out to digest first and foremost.
I would recommend to take your girl off any fresh food but to supplement feed her with some recovery formula (or mushed up pellets if you haven't got it handy) if she is/has been losing weight over the last few days. Offer her additionally water as much as she is willing to take (but not force any down her, please).
Mix probiotic powder into the syringe feed or syringed water to help the gut microbiome to settle down. It is likely that she has a much milder version of what has caused the fatal GI stasis.

Wait with reintrocuding any fresh food until 48 hours after the poos have normalised and then ideally start with little fresh herb like parsley or coriander/cilantro and then adding one more veg with every meal during the first day to make sure that the gut can cope.

Take the time to read these very helpful practical step by step guide links:
Digestive Disorders: Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Weight - Monitoring and Management

It is always much harder when you are extra jittery in the wake of a traumatic loss - and GI stasis definitely falls into that category! Be kind with yourself in the coming days and seek help if you feel you are struggling to cope with all coming together.
Human Bereavement: Grieving, Coping and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children
Looking After a Bereaved Guinea Pig

All the best! I hope that your poorly girl is feeling more like herself in day or two. If problems persist, please see your vet.

 

[dee10535]

I actually did give her one lettuce leaf earlier. All of the poops I have seen her do today are normal, although maybe she did others I am not aware of, so it seemed cruel. What I'm confused by is that usually when I read about a guinea pig who has a mild gut disturbance, the poops seem to be consistently odd. This is the opposite- like 90 to 95 percent good, and then the occasional bad ones. Although it is possible that my late guinea pig had something transmissible, her GI stasis was most likely caused by an infected tumor she had, which is why I am so confused now. I do get the sense that if I stopped veg though, she would still have an occasional bad poop and wouldn't help the problem. So I'm thinking for now just to give minimal veg, one leaf per day, so she doesnt get depressed, and continue to monitor. I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't truly understand the importance of weighing until recent events, but I ordered a scale and it will be here tomorrow.

 

[dee10535]

Given that poo output is a day or two behind, though I'm not sure what caused the mucus on that poop since I dont think she could have been dehydrated. I would see her drinking tons of water like she always does. So its a mystery. Ill have to check if it starts happening more.

 

[Wiebke]

Given that poo output is a day or two behind, though I'm not sure what caused the mucus on that poop since I dont think she could have been dehydrated. I would see her drinking tons of water like she always does. So its a mystery. Ill have to check if it starts happening more.

If she keeps on having normal poos, then she is obviously past her tummy upset now but if they keep coming, then please take her off any fresh veg altogether so the gut microbiome can settle down.

Keep in mind that piggies have two runs through the gut in order to break down the grass fibre fully and make the best of it so you can get funny poos interspersed with normal ones.

Please be aware that without direct access to your girl, we can only ever judge on a limited base of information.

All the best!

 

[dee10535]

Well the normal poops never stopped, its just that sometimes one or two of them is bad. For example, I just looked at the poos she left in her igloo. About 8 in total or so. All except one were completely normal. The last was quite small and a little soft. I'm starting to wonder if maybe she has always done this and I just never noticed? Maybe there is a certain acceptable amount of "bad" poop if the vast majority seems to be ok?