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Straining to poop

Pacopig9818

Pacopig9818

New Born Pup
Joined
Sep 8, 2019
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Location
Maine, USA
Hi all, i’ve posted a similar thread on here months ago but I’m trying again to see if I can get some different answers or ideas.

my pig Paco will be three years old this summer. The problem that continues to concern me is he is seeming to be straining to poop still. I’m not talking about all poops. He only strains when producing the ones he wants to eat. The poops look great there is nothing wrong with them. Some days are better than others. If I can catch him doing it I’ll take a video and post so I can show the behavior.

his diet consists of Timothy hay, oxbow adult guinea pig pellets and a daily bowl of green leaf lettuce and green pepper. Since my last post I have been really calcium conscious and refuse to feed anything high in calcium. I also feed an oxbow urinary support tablet daily.

paco has really intense gut sounds. The vet has told me in the past that he’s gut sounds normal. This might be a little graphic but what I hear is about 30 seconds worth of loud gut sounds and I can hear the poop pushing towards the anus and that’s when he starts squeaking in pain and hunches to try to push it out. This behavior has been happening for around six months now.

I took him to the vet about a month ago for a regular check up and explained all of this and the vet just wasn’t sure. The only thing he could come up with was the possibility of him passing a crystal. But Paco has no blood in his urine. And when he pees he does not squeak. Again, The signs of pain happen when he’s pushing out a poop that he wants to eat. I’ve been told by people on here that it could be inter- (can’t remember the spelling) cystitis. But I’m not totally convinced because he doesn’t even have half the symptoms that this type of cystitis describes.

i’m just at a loss of what to do at this point I’ve been to two different vets and I’ve explained The issues but I haven’t received a concrete answer to this problem. Anyone else experience something similar?

side note: paco is a very happy guinea pig he eats normally and he is a biter (which I thought might be because he’s uncomfortable) but I think he’s just so confident in himself lol. I don’t see any signs of any other diseases so I’m just at a loss at this point. I just want him to be comfortable when producing those kinds of poops :(
 
one of mine has done this her whole life. about 8 months ago i took her to the vet to ask about it and she prescribed her 5 days of painkillers. she said if there was something wrong and she was in pain, she would stop the squeaking and then when taken off it she would start again in which case they’d look further into i. there was no difference though so i’m assuming she’s just weird 😅
 
So is she continuing to be on pain medication? I’ve heard about this coming and going in “waves” but it sounds like it could be a lifelong thing. I just don’t want my baby to have pain. Does anyone know if you can attach videos to this fourm? I have a video of what he is doing
 
Pacopig9818 said:
So is she continuing to be on pain medication? I’ve heard about this coming and going in “waves” but it sounds like it could be a lifelong thing. I just don’t want my baby to have pain. Does anyone know if you can attach videos to this fourm? I have a video of what he is doing
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Post the video on you tube and then upload from there.

Interstitial cystitis (IC) could be the culprit. Has your vet considered this? It can’t be cured but can be managed with painkiller such as matacam and a daily dose of cystease which is a cat supplement to treat cystitis in cats when the piggy is having a flare
 
Both the vets I’ve seen haven’t considered anything because they are just not sure what it is. What a great idea I posted it on YouTube here is the link:


Hopefully this will help explain what I’m trying to describe.
 
Yes, I showed this video to him and that’s when he said that he could’ve possibly been trying to push out a crystal... his urine is white and it is much less gritty than it used to be, actually there’s barely any grit anymore since i’ve basically eliminated calcium from the diet. But his urine is still a pure white color in fact it’s been like that his whole life.
 
What usually happens is he raises his back end like 3-5 times like in the video and one poop comes out. He eats it. Then the same thing Will happen again a few minutes later and they cycle will repeat for like 10-15 minutes.
 
Pacopig9818 said:
Hi all, i’ve posted a similar thread on here months ago but I’m trying again to see if I can get some different answers or ideas.

my pig Paco will be three years old this summer. The problem that continues to concern me is he is seeming to be straining to poop still. I’m not talking about all poops. He only strains when producing the ones he wants to eat. The poops look great there is nothing wrong with them. Some days are better than others. If I can catch him doing it I’ll take a video and post so I can show the behavior.

his diet consists of Timothy hay, oxbow adult guinea pig pellets and a daily bowl of green leaf lettuce and green pepper. Since my last post I have been really calcium conscious and refuse to feed anything high in calcium. I also feed an oxbow urinary support tablet daily.

paco has really intense gut sounds. The vet has told me in the past that he’s gut sounds normal. This might be a little graphic but what I hear is about 30 seconds worth of loud gut sounds and I can hear the poop pushing towards the anus and that’s when he starts squeaking in pain and hunches to try to push it out. This behavior has been happening for around six months now.

I took him to the vet about a month ago for a regular check up and explained all of this and the vet just wasn’t sure. The only thing he could come up with was the possibility of him passing a crystal. But Paco has no blood in his urine. And when he pees he does not squeak. Again, The signs of pain happen when he’s pushing out a poop that he wants to eat. I’ve been told by people on here that it could be inter- (can’t remember the spelling) cystitis. But I’m not totally convinced because he doesn’t even have half the symptoms that this type of cystitis describes.

i’m just at a loss of what to do at this point I’ve been to two different vets and I’ve explained The issues but I haven’t received a concrete answer to this problem. Anyone else experience something similar?

side note: paco is a very happy guinea pig he eats normally and he is a biter (which I thought might be because he’s uncomfortable) but I think he’s just so confident in himself lol. I don’t see any signs of any other diseases so I’m just at a loss at this point. I just want him to be comfortable when producing those kinds of poops :(
Click to expand...

Has your vet checked whether something like a semen rod could be stuck in the penis shaft? He is a bit on the young side for impaction yet.
Boar Care: Bits, Bums & Baths

Unfortunately without seeing your piggy and without a hands-on examination, we can only go by our own experiences - which means generally starting with the most common problems and then gradually working your way down to the less common ones.
Without a video we can't even really judge how severe the issue is (whatever the issue is, it looks to be on the mild side to be honest) - our members have a very wide variation in the perception of what is worrying or not. Thank you for posting that.

What we simply cannot do is snap our fingers and tell you straight away what is the matter. Online support doesn't work like that and it has strict limits against we come up all too quickly and too often. I am very sorry if that is disappointing for you; it is very often frustrating for us, too.

In your case, the gut wraps closely around the urinary and the reproductive tract and also along the spine; this means that any problem generally transmits quickly to the sensitive gut. Unless you have a nice big textbook issue, diagnosing is more like detective work. You work down from eliminating the most obvious suspects to the less obvious. sometimes you won't be able to catch the perpetrator as any vet can tell you. It is not an exact science, as frustrating that is for any loving owner (and I include myself in that).
 
Yes, I’ve checked myself for semen rods and found none. I make sure to occasionally check his boy parts anyway. Yes, it’s extremely difficult when there’s not a lot of answers. I have found this forum very helpful, sometimes more helpful than the vets. It’s so easy to love these sweet adorable creatures but hard to accept their many possible health issues. I think we all would do anything to see them live their lives to the fullest. They deserve the maximum amount of time here on earth ❤️
 
Pacopig9818 said:
Both the vets I’ve seen haven’t considered anything because they are just not sure what it is. What a great idea I posted it on YouTube here is the link:


Hopefully this will help explain what I’m trying to describe.
Click to expand...

Hi, is the video still available? I can't view it and i want to verify if mine was doing the same as I've just caught him straining to poop out the one he eats. Haven't seen this behaviour before. Do you have any updates with your piggy? Thanks!
 
Stinkyboars said:
Hi, is the video still available? I can't view it and i want to verify if mine was doing the same as I've just caught him straining to poop out the one he eats. Haven't seen this behaviour before. Do you have any updates with your piggy? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hi!

We are asking our new members kindly to please start their own support thread for any questions they have and not revive an old thread, which can lead to major confusion. This thread is half a year old and from a poster who has not posted since. Thank you.
 
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