Soft poo, stopped veg, piggies starving not pooping much

[Guineapiggirl34]

My new boar living alone is fine. My two girls started having soft poo, recently changed their diet to be more choice of veggie less lettuce etc as per your food page. Introduced new veg slowly but maybe not slowly enough? No one actually says how slowly ‘slowly’ is! I thought the soft poo was too much grass (they can eat a lot of it without getting bloat) so limited that. Still very squishy poo so last night stopped all veg and grass, only hay and nuggets (I have not r3ducued their nuggets yet as I didn’t want to make too many diet changes at once). Overnight they each lost 30g in weight. They have eaten some hay and their daily nuggets. Every time they cry for food I give them toilet rolls with hay/hay sticks/ or compressed hay cookies. They eat some but they are hungry, cross, rather depressed too. They are just laying sleeping (doesn’t help they lost a cage mate 3 weeks ago) will they starve? I’m scared their digestive system will slow down or stop cos they won’t eat much. These are my precious babies. I have lost two to cancerous lumps in 6 months, I don’t want to loose any more! We tried to find out which one was soft pooing but when one pig was out of the cage the other wouldn’t eat or poo at all.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Hay is their main food source (taking 75-80% of what they need to eat in a day) so provided you are giving them plenty of it and they are eating it then they will not starve.

If they don’t eat hay, and consequently lose more than 50g in weight then the situation becomes different. It may then mean that whatever is going on is more than a mild digestive upset. In that event you would need to step in with syringe feeding to stop further weight loss and see a vet.

Full diarrhoea is an emergency and vet care should be sought straight away (even if it is out of hours).

You have done the right thing by stopping the veg. You need to keep them off veg for as long as it takes for their poops to normalise. For a mild digestive upset it should take a few days. If it takes longer than that then you should take them to the vet.

When you say reduce pellets, do you mean you are already overfeeding them? They should only have one tablespoon per pig per day so as long as that is what you are giving there is no need to reduce further.

The guides below detail everything further

Wiebke's Guide to Tummy Trouble
Wiebke's Guide to Poops
Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support
Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)

 

[Piggies&buns]

And to add, what we mean by introducing new veg slowly is that it is only ever one new veg at a time: give just one new veg for a week before introducing a second new veg in the second week etc

We mean to give it in small quantities: so give just one or two sprigs of a new herb for a few days. Give one very thin slither of a new type of veg before increasing the width of it after those few days

 

[Guineapiggirl34]

Ok we have tried too many new veg at once, hopefully that is the cause of their upset. It would have been better if I have kept the overfed lettuce amount higher and got them us3d to other veg and reduced amount s of everything overfed slowly. They are currently given 2 tbsp daily each. I know this is overfed, and I was going to start the further reduction but then they have this soft poo, and as they are rejecting a lot of hay I do t want to reduce their nuggets any more yet, Infact the vet on the phone said you could increase nuggets as well as stopping veg, I thought that was a bit odd. (before they were being given more than 2 tbsp! Even the some of the Guinea pig charities r3comment you give them what the packet says which is way too much)

 

[Piggies&buns]

Hopefully it is a mild upset. If a few days off veg and increased fibre doesn’t cure it, please do see a vet to ensure it hasn’t progressed to something more serious.

I would advise you give a probiotic - something like Fibreplex - to help their gut settle.

That is odd advice from the vet - never increase pellets particularly as they are already being overfed.
They need the fibre from hay to help their gut settle (as this is the cause of the issue - too much fresh food and not enough hay fibre).

If they are rejecting hay then that is of concern. If they consequently lose weight over the next day or two, then please step in syringe feeding and see a knowledgeable vet.
If you know they aren’t eating hay (even before you can check their weight in the morning), then please step in with support feeding straight away - you don’t want their gut to slow down.

Make sure you weigh them each morning so you can monitor their hay intake.

How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency

 

[Guineapiggirl34]

Thank you, they are eating when I put fresh hay in then quickly (few mins) reject it. As I said the little boy is fine so I don’t think it is anything untoward, being young I guess his digestion got used to the new veg quickly. Whereas the girls having already had a bereavement and reduced nuggets etc they got overwhelmed. I think they are depressed as they had been getting fewer grass veg and nuggets than 3 weeks ago and now they are getting nothing but hay and a little bit of nuggets, they are wondering the point in life, I feel so bad. You like to see your child eating well!

 

[VickiA]

Sometimes it feels like you’re being cruel to be kind. Hopefully their tummies will improve without grass and veggies. And then you can reintroduce slowly.

 

[Guineapiggirl34]

We have had a look at their poos form today and they do seem improved (we had to ferret them out of their hay tray) how squishy should they be normally? I mean if you squeeze any pig poo it will crush eventually, how crushable is too crushable? Thank you again. Helping people like me must be a full time job (or hobby)!

 

[Piggies&buns]

We have had a look at their poos form today and they do seem improved (we had to ferret them out of their hay tray) how squishy should they be normally? I mean if you squeeze any pig poo it will crush eventually, how crushable is too crushable? Thank you again. Helping people like me must be a full time job (or hobby)!

You are looking for poops to be well formed.
Anything which is very soft or unformed as it comes out is not ok.

Wiebke's Guide to Poops