Mr. Bailee Boy
Teenage Guinea Pig
After roaming aound a bit outside of his home I have noticed that he snacks on his poo at time then continues his popcorning about. Is this normal behavior?
Is it normal for piggies to eat their poo at times?
- Thread starter Mr. Bailee Boy
- Start date
- Status
Mrs Sport_Billy
Forum Donator 2022/23
Afraid so, this is completely normal. The time to worry is when they don't do this! Piggies have very dubious personal hygiene.
kidspiggies4
Junior Guinea Pig
Yes, as gross as it may seem to us humans, piggies are coprophagic which means they eat poo to aid their digestion!
Pigjes
Junior Guinea Pig
They only eat special poos, which are larger and full of vitamins. I have been calling them vitapoos for many years. They need them to stay healthy. I had the "luxury" of tasting one, as Kooky ate one and kissed me on my lips right after. It tasted like hay and multivitamins. 8)
MerryPip
Adult Guinea Pig
Ah poo kisses are fairly common in our house as Hamish likes to 'wash' my OH at every available opportunity so post-poo kisses are frequent!
Eating poos is a normal and healthy bit of piggy business. As Mrs Sport Billy says, the time to worry is when they don't do it! They are an important bit of healthy life. If your piggy is ill or not eating then sometimes feeding a cage-mates vitapoos (like the name Pigjes!) can help rebalance things and kick start appetite! Interesting things piggies!
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2009
- Messages
- 53,882
- Reaction score
- 38,598
- Points
- 3,350
Hermes
Teenage Guinea Pig
Those 'special poos' are called caecotrophs. 
Grass is really difficult to digest because it's largely made out of cellulose. Guinea Pigs are hindgut fermenters relying on bacterial symbiosis in order to digest cellulose. This bacterial breakdown occurs in the caecum after the grass has passed through the stomach and small intestine. As such, in order to actually extract all the nutrients from the grass they have to produce and consume caecotrophs, which are essentially part-digested food, so it can pass through the stomach and small intestine again. Caecotrophy also helps to maintain balanced gut flora. They have to eat more or less constantly but can survive on very low (nutrient) quality food because of this.
Grass is really difficult to digest because it's largely made out of cellulose. Guinea Pigs are hindgut fermenters relying on bacterial symbiosis in order to digest cellulose. This bacterial breakdown occurs in the caecum after the grass has passed through the stomach and small intestine. As such, in order to actually extract all the nutrients from the grass they have to produce and consume caecotrophs, which are essentially part-digested food, so it can pass through the stomach and small intestine again. Caecotrophy also helps to maintain balanced gut flora. They have to eat more or less constantly but can survive on very low (nutrient) quality food because of this.
- Status