Reccuring Diarrhea

[Pampeliska]

Hi, last Sunday Medi got a diarrhea. At that time she was on antibiotics for 3 weeks because of bladder problems. We got her off the antibiotics right away, got in contact with vet and read everything I could find on the forum. As long as she is only on the hay, some pellets and probiotics, she is doing fine and chewing on the hay.

However, she cannot seem to switch back to fresh food. After two days we tried small piece of carrot - that brought her back to diarrhea right away (soft, black, lot on one pile). We waited another two days, tried some spinach leaves which she handled alright and then tried some small piece of cucumber which basically destroyed everything and she had diarrhea for last two nights.

She is off to just pellets and hay again, but has lost some weight and is tired. She has been on probiotics for a week now. How do you start with food again after something like this? I am also not sure if keeping probiotics for second week could hurt or not. Thank you for the help.

 

[pig in the city]

Hi. It's fine to continue the probiotics. With upset stomachs I tend to supplement their diet with critical care feed either by syringe or just in a bowl. This will help to keep her weight up and provides vitamins. Maybe also give extra vitamin C. If possible mix in some pooh from a healthy piggy. Try her on dried herbs and forage as well as hay.
Get your vet to review her if she is not improving, sometimes bacterial overgrowth in the bowel can need treating with a different sort of antibiotic

 

[Pampeliska]

Hi. It's fine to continue the probiotics. With upset stomachs I tend to supplement their diet with critical care feed either by syringe or just in a bowl. This will help to keep her weight up and provides vitamins. Maybe also give extra vitamin C. If possible mix in some pooh from a healthy piggy. Try her on dried herbs and forage as well as hay.
Get your vet to review her if she is not improving, sometimes bacterial overgrowth in the bowel can need treating with a different sort of antibiotic

Thank you! So far syringe feeding led to a bowel problems as well but we might try again. If I can ask - what type of vegetable do you think might be the easiest for her to stomach after the few days beside the spinach leaves and some dried herbs?

 

[pig in the city]

Thank you! So far syringe feeding led to a bowel problems as well but we might try again. If I can ask - what type of vegetable do you think might be the easiest for her to stomach after the few days beside the spinach leaves and some dried herbs?

I wouldn't give her anything for a while until she is completely settled. Then just give tiny amounts. I would avoid cabbage type veggies and broccoli but otherwise anything she usually has but tiny bits and don't rush it

 

[Pampeliska]

Update: So, Medi still has diarrhea but the vet was pretty puzzled when I told her that it´s happening only during nights. During a day Medi is happy hay-eating piggy and as evening looms you can see that she is starting to feel uncomfortable and her tummy hurts. She is having little trouble to push it but the poop is normal. Then we go to sleep and during night she has diarrhea. In the morning she is back to her happy self. According to the vet, this is definitely not normal and she thinks there might be psychological reasons. In last month Medi lost her longtime partner and diarrhea started when we had to return the second girl with who she just didn´t click but they had cages beside each other. Still - she showed signs of tummy problems few days before that and it´s getting worse after vegetables. So we are all very very confused... Please, does anyone has experience with anything like this? @Wiebke could I maybe ask for your help please?

 

[Wiebke]

Update: So, Medi still has diarrhea but the vet was pretty puzzled when I told her that it´s happening only during nights. During a day Medi is happy hay-eating piggy and as evening looms you can see that she is starting to feel uncomfortable and her tummy hurts. She is having little trouble to push it but the poop is normal. Then we go to sleep and during night she has diarrhea. In the morning she is back to her happy self. According to the vet, this is definitely not normal and she thinks there might be psychological reasons. In last month Medi lost her longtime partner and diarrhea started when we had to return the second girl with who she just didn´t click but they had cages beside each other. Still - she showed signs of tummy problems few days before that and it´s Editgetting worse after vegetables. So we are all very very confused... Please, does anyone has experience with anything like this? @Wiebke could I maybe ask for your help please?

Please take her off veg and see whether that is stabilising her digestion. Can you get herbal tea bags from a pharmacy that help with bloating/baby colics? See whether a little is helping her. Let the tea cool and then offer it by syringe, as much as she will take it. Is she on any gut stimulating/anti-bloating drugs and painkillers?
At which times do you feed veg?

 

[Pampeliska]

Please take her off veg and see whether that is stabilising her digestion. Can you get herbal tea bags from a pharmacy that help with bloating/baby colics? See whether a little is helping her. Let the tea cool and then offer it by syringe, as much as she will take it. Is she on any gut stimulating/anti-bloating drugs and painkillers?
At which times do you feed veg?

Thank you Wiebke! She is off veg since friday, it always helped before but now now it´s not working. After last days we are out of painkillers but on the advice of vet I am giving her Bio Lapis (Bio-Lapis for rabbits - Protexin). She is drinking actually a lot always after these night runs (at least some good news). I have not tried anti bloating drugs and I am not sure whether I can get some without presciption but I can certainly do a baby tea, that sounds like a good idea. I was even advised to give little bit of Smecta to stop the worst.

 

[Pampeliska]

I researched the internet and found one other user with basically the same symptoms as Medi has. It´s from the forum Guinea pig cages about 2 years ago and some users there suspected the bloat but I don´t think bloat is not usually asociated with lots of mushy poo. Anyway there was no definite answer and I struggle to find these symptoms anywhere else. I am posting it here in case anyone is familiar with anything like this:

Spunky's Symptoms:
1. Poop gets smaller and smaller, then he has really mushy poop (close to diarrhea but not watery), then he doesn't poop for a while (a few hours?), then lots of poop comes out in a pile, then his poop goes back to normal. The poop looks perfect for a while (in case of Medi) and then the cycle starts all over again.

 

[Wiebke]

I researched the internet and found one other user with basically the same symptoms as Medi has. It´s from the forum Guinea pig cages about 2 years ago and some users there suspected the bloat but I don´t think bloat is not usually asociated with lots of mushy poo. Anyway there was no definite answer and I struggle to find these symptoms anywhere else. I am posting it here in case anyone is familiar with anything like this:

Spunky's Symptoms:
1. Poop gets smaller and smaller, then he has really mushy poop (close to diarrhea but not watery), then he doesn't poop for a while (a few hours?), then lots of poop comes out in a pile, then his poop goes back to normal. The poop looks perfect for a while (in case of Medi) and then the cycle starts all over again.

Has Spunky had a scan/x-ray to check of an obsctruction, whether that is gas or something else?

The poos indicate that there are periods when there is not enough regular food intake (the small poos - pain/discomfort?) and then suddenly a lot.

 

[Eriathwen]

My Bramble seems to have the runs on and off. Last time she was off veg for over 2 weeks before I was able to reintroduce it. She was having fibreplex, bio lapis in one of her water bottles, a bowl of critical care over night, dried raspberry leaves and 2 days worth of ranitidine.
We now have her on the Oxbow digestive support tabs, Protinex probiotic pellets and grain free pellets, this has greatly reduced her problems.

She was also doing the whole diarrhoea and then no poops for a few hours (I was following her bum around with a torch for ages to see if she was producing normal ones or not pooping at all)
When introducing veg I started with grass, as it's winter its not lush and nutritious so it's closer to hay than a fresh food, after that she got a little sprig of herbs. Add one new thing every other day or so so that you can accurately pinpoint anything thats causing an upset. Her diet is much more restricted then my others but it's really helped avoid a re occurrence *touch wood*

 

[Pampeliska]

Has Spunky had a scan/x-ray to check of an obsctruction, whether that is gas or something else?

The poos indicate that there are periods when there is not enough regular food intake (the small poos - pain/discomfort?) and then suddenly a lot.

There is nothing about x-ray or scan, but I am thinking about asking for one for Medi. And I think you might be onto something with the poo. True is she doesn't eat when her tummy hurts and then she suddenly ests a lot. Maybe the problem isn't mushy poo but something in digestive track before.

We are going to the vet tomorrow. Medi is currently loosing about 20g of weight per day - at this rate (and its worsening) we have about week, maybe two until she reaches critical weight so I am praying really hard vet figures something out because right now it really doesn't look good.

@Eriathwen thank you so much for your reply, i will try to get hold on anything I can get from thay list here.

 

[Pampeliska]

So, we are starting the third week without vegetables and things are still complicated. For a week we have had a shots from vet - one every morning and evening - with pain medicine, gut supporting medicine and some amino acids. Diarrhea stopped, Medi was able to hold on to her weight (she went from 1000 to about 800g) and I was starting to get little bit optimistic. Then it happened again - this night, this afternoon and this evening there was a soft poop again. At this point I don´t have a slightest idea why it might be happening - she is eating just a hay and a few pellets now.

We are going to the vet tomorrow but none of us seems to know where could be the problem. According to the vet, antibiotics couldn´t do something like that. She thinks Medi might have eaten something bad or it might be start of a cancer. On the last visit, she did an ultrasound, and Medi wouldn´t let her near her stomach as that hurt her too much, but she saw thath her intestines are not moving much, Also she is bloated a lot but we got anti - bloating medicine for the babies and that helps her a lot.

I just don´t know what to do now. I am confused, she is miserable and so so hungry. That is the thing that pains me the most - she wheeks for something green all the time and I would love to give her a huge bowl full of goodies but I just can´t

Anyway, I figured since I am writing about her so much, I should post some pictures - she is the frendliest creature ever, 4,5 years old ♥