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Soft poo and diet advice

Waterfallhannah

Waterfallhannah

New Born Pup
Joined
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Location
Bridport
Hi everyone,
Sorry for what's about to be a bit of a long one, but I could really do with a bit of advice and see if anyone on here has had a similar experience.
A few months ago, one of my boys was put on Metacam for a slightly irritated foot (that's all clear now). However, the Metacam seemed to mess his gut up, because he began to lose weight, his stomach started making loud gurgling sounds and he was doing soft poos and poos with jelly in them. We took him off Metacam and stopped fresh veg, and got him to a vet. The vet did blood tests and did foecal tests...all came back clear and actually showed he had great bloods, proteins etc. Absolutely nothing to suggest there was any infection or anything. We were then advised to get him back on veg slowly, and introduce probiotics.
We have now got probiotics in his diet, but the veg is still causing issues. He's now had this problem for a few months now... everything is fine when off veg, but the minute I give him ANY veg his tummy makes a terrible noise and he has really soft poos again. We give him lots of Timothy and meadow hay as well as pellets and vitamin C guinea pig treats from Hay Pigs.
Going forward, I don't know whether to try reintroducing veg again. Has anyone else had anything like this happen? Is there any veg you found that eventually worked for your pig?
Any help would be much appreciated! I just want him to be happy!
Thank you,
Hannah
 
Hmmm, it may not have been the metacam as that is usually really well tolerated.
I would slowly re introduce veg one by one, I’d possibly start with pepper, see how that goes and then maybe coriander/parsley that type of thing.

Keep a diary and make sure hay intake is good.
 
Also define soft poos? Did they have any form? Before the soft poos happened? Where there no poos?
 
sport_billy said:
Hmmm, it may not have been the metacam as that is usually really well tolerated.
I would slowly re introduce veg one by one, I’d possibly start with pepper, see how that goes and then maybe coriander/parsley that type of thing.

Keep a diary and make sure hay intake is good.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I tried to give him pepper and his tummy made an awful gurgling sound and then he did a terrible poo which was like mud in consistency, so I'm scared to give him that again :/ Once we took him off veg again his poos went back to normal, and then yesterday we tried some parsley and he had poos with jelly in and mushy ones again this morning, poor little lad :(
 
Poor little pumpkin :( Sometimes certain veg is then issue but if you are trying different ones.
I have not heard of anything like this before but we have many experienced members so hopefully you make get some suggestions
I would ask suggest jointing Guinea lynx and their medical forum - an excellent US based medical website
 
Waterfallhannah said:
Hi everyone,
Sorry for what's about to be a bit of a long one, but I could really do with a bit of advice and see if anyone on here has had a similar experience.
A few months ago, one of my boys was put on Metacam for a slightly irritated foot (that's all clear now). However, the Metacam seemed to mess his gut up, because he began to lose weight, his stomach started making loud gurgling sounds and he was doing soft poos and poos with jelly in them. We took him off Metacam and stopped fresh veg, and got him to a vet. The vet did blood tests and did foecal tests...all came back clear and actually showed he had great bloods, proteins etc. Absolutely nothing to suggest there was any infection or anything. We were then advised to get him back on veg slowly, and introduce probiotics.
We have now got probiotics in his diet, but the veg is still causing issues. He's now had this problem for a few months now... everything is fine when off veg, but the minute I give him ANY veg his tummy makes a terrible noise and he has really soft poos again. We give him lots of Timothy and meadow hay as well as pellets and vitamin C guinea pig treats from Hay Pigs.
Going forward, I don't know whether to try reintroducing veg again. Has anyone else had anything like this happen? Is there any veg you found that eventually worked for your pig?
Any help would be much appreciated! I just want him to be happy!
Thank you,
Hannah
Click to expand...

Hi

Some piggies have a sensitive gut microbiome that is easily overset and which can be very difficult to get right again.

Do you have a healthy companion not on metacam (in your case, it is generally not a problem) or antibiotics (which can also affect the digestive bacteria)? In this case, I would recommend to try to live healthy gut microbiome transfer (or 'poo soup'). If done correctly it is a lot more effective than general probiotics and may help to stabilise your boy's gut but he getting the 'right' stuff. The trick is to use only just dropped poos (take the healthy piggy out for a snack, which usually triggers poos to be dropped) and to soak the poos only short in a little water before syringing. The water should at the most just start to discolour. The faster you are the more live microbiome will reach the gut. This mimics natural poo stealing behaviour from recovering piggies.
Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

If you reintroduce veg only once the gut has been stable for a goodly number of days do so very slowly. Start with just a very little fresh coriander/cilantro, then a bit more at the next meal until you have safely reached a whole sprig. Then add a small bit of lettuce or cucumber to the sprig of herb and build that up, and go on from there. Just be very careful and give the gut microbiome time to gradually grow the specialist digestive bacteria needed for the job.

After time without veg, the ongoing poo soup support can help you with the growth stimulation job as most of them will have withered away on a veg-free diet. Just make sure that the poo donating piggy is eating the same foods in his own normal veg mix at the same time.

I cannot guarantee success but this is at least a method that takes into account how the gut operates and how to at least partially minimise the risks of overreaction to any foods it is no longer prepared for.
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

Some piggies have a sensitive gut microbiome that is easily overset and which can be very difficult to get right again.

Do you have a healthy companion not on metacam (in your case, it is generally not a problem) or antibiotics (which can also affect the digestive bacteria)? In this case, I would recommend to try to live healthy gut microbiome transfer (or 'poo soup'). If done correctly it is a lot more effective than general probiotics and may help to stabilise your boy's gut but he getting the 'right' stuff. The trick is to use only just dropped poos (take the healthy piggy out for a snack, which usually triggers poos to be dropped) and to soak the poos only short in a little water before syringing. The water should at the most just start to discolour. The faster you are the more live microbiome will reach the gut. This mimics natural poo stealing behaviour from recovering piggies.
Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

If you reintroduce veg only once the gut has been stable for a goodly number of days do so very slowly. Start with just a very little fresh coriander/cilantro, then a bit more at the next meal until you have safely reached a whole sprig. Then add a small bit of lettuce or cucumber to the sprig of herb and build that up, and go on from there. Just be very careful and give the gut microbiome time to gradually grow the specialist digestive bacteria needed for the job.

After time without veg, the ongoing poo soup support can help you with the growth stimulation job as most of them will have withered away on a veg-free diet. Just make sure that the poo donating piggy is eating the same foods in his own normal veg mix at the same time.

I cannot guarantee success but this is at least a method that takes into account how the gut operates and how to at least partially minimise the risks of overreaction to any foods it is no longer prepared for.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much, I will give this a go tomorrow when I've got some coriander to feed "the donater" 😂 hopefully it will do the job!
 
Waterfallhannah said:
Thank you so much, I will give this a go tomorrow when I've got some coriander to feed "the donater" 😂 hopefully it will do the job!
Click to expand...

Please let us know. 'Poo soup' has helped with some cases of a disturbed gut where nothing else has.

Since it is going to be a few days before you can start introducing fresh food - you need to see whether 'poo soup' is actually working first, you can start with it tonight right away if you like. I am sure that your 'poo donator' of choice won't mind a little extra treat on a towel outside the cage! :D
 
Wiebke said:
Please let us know. 'Poo soup' has helped with some cases of a disturbed gut where nothing else has.

Since it is going to be a few days before you can start introducing fresh food - you need to see whether 'poo soup' is actually working first, you can start with it tonight right away if you like. I am sure that your 'poo donator' of choice won't mind a little extra treat on a towel outside the cage! :D
Click to expand...

Perfect! I will go and grab him in a minute :) how often should I give him the "soup", and how much "soup" should I give him per go?
 
Wiebke said:
Please let us know. 'Poo soup' has helped with some cases of a disturbed gut where nothing else has.

Since it is going to be a few days before you can start introducing fresh food - you need to see whether 'poo soup' is actually working first, you can start with it tonight right away if you like. I am sure that your 'poo donator' of choice won't mind a little extra treat on a towel outside the cage! :D
Click to expand...
Oh and how many poos do you recommend soaking?
 
Waterfallhannah said:
Oh and how many poos do you recommend soaking?
Click to expand...
As many poos as come out but ideally at least 3-5 in a little water that covers them - you can use whatever container is suitable, from a deep spoon or a small dish or tiny cosmetic jar etc... Basically anything that you have to hand that allows you to easily get 3 syringefuls (ca. 3 ml) of soaked water out of.

There is no firm recipe, you just go along with what you have to hand and what is donated without having to wait for too long and risk for the microbiome to die off. Ideally you manage within 5-10 minutes; the quicker the better.
 
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