Tear shape poop 4-5 days

[Lsd3]

Hello,
My female piggies cage is filled with tear shaped poop. Initially it started with a few tear shaped a few days ago, I thought it will get better but it’s a lot now.
The only thing changed was 2 weeks ago I reduced their veggies from 50gms to 40 gms. I am really concerned what should I do?

 

[Piggies&buns]

A tear drop poop can indicate a mild digestive upset. The poops don’t look too soft though.
If necessary remove all veg from the diet for a day or two to allow things to settle again.

Switch to weighing your piggies more regularly to keep a closer eye on hay intake.

You cannot gauge their veg by weight due to the differing densities. Veg needs to be done by volume - one cup per pig per day of mostly leafy veg and herbs.
Why did you reduce their veg amount?

 

[Lsd3]

The feeding guide on this forum says feed veggies about 30gm approx. I was feeding 50gm, so I thought i was overfeeding them.
Before I was giving them 25 gms of romaine lettuce, 10 gms of red pepper, 5 gms of cilantro/parsley, and 10 gms of either carrot/broccoli/cucumber/celery/etc.
But last few days I was doing 20 gms of romaine lettuce, 10 gms of red pepper, 5 gms of cilantro/parsley, and 5 gms of either carrot/broccoli/cucumber/celery/ etc.

Today the poop was worse, softer, smudged up, tear shaped, and also very stinky.

I have separated all the three girls to see who is having a bad tummy. the one having the bad poop is the one who was having light colored, crumbly yellow poop for almost 3 weeks. We went to the vet last month, the vet said it was side effects of antibiotics, we did the poo soup. She was on antibiotics for the first week of june for a mild upper respiratory infection. then the poo journey started with dry light poop.
Then the light color stopped, and now she started having tear shape, soft poop. I am not sure what's happening with her. She is eating/drinking.

 

[Piggies&buns]

The feeding guide on this forum says feed veggies about 30gm approx. I was feeding 50gm, so I thought i was overfeeding them.
Before I was giving them 25 gms of romaine lettuce, 10 gms of red pepper, 5 gms of cilantro/parsley, and 10 gms of either carrot/broccoli/cucumber/celery/etc.
But last few days I was doing 20 gms of romaine lettuce, 10 gms of red pepper, 5 gms of cilantro/parsley, and 5 gms of either carrot/broccoli/cucumber/celery/ etc.

Today the poop was worse, softer, smudged up, tear shaped, and also very stinky.

I have separated all the three girls to see who is having a bad tummy. the one having the bad poop is the one who was having light colored, crumbly yellow poop for almost 3 weeks. We went to the vet last month, the vet said it was side effects of antibiotics, we did the poo soup. She was on antibiotics for the first week of june for a mild upper respiratory infection. then the poo journey started with dry light poop.
Then the light color stopped, and now she started having tear shape, soft poop. I am not sure what's happening with her. She is eating/drinking.

If they are having soft poops, then they should not be eating any veg for the time being.

Are you weighing her daily while she is unwell?
Remove veg from the diet until poops normalise, feed more hay.

So the poop issue actually started for her as a result of antibiotics? And potentially her gut flora has never recovered properly since.
Did you continue probiotics after the course of antibiotics ended?
Is she on a probiotic now?


(The guide says 30-50g. Densities of veg would make it tricky to gauge accurately. This is why most people go by the picture ie one lettuce leaf, a 1cm chunk of cucumber etc.
I can honestly say I, and probably most people, will not weigh each veg out - it’s more done by eye And following the picture on the guide (And in fact I feed more veg than the guide shows as a wetter diet encouraging frequent urination).
I have just, out of curiosity, made a plate of veg according to the forum guide so I could weigh it. One leaf of lettuce, a chunk of pepper etc.
The one leaf of lettuce (little gem lettuce as per the picture) weighed just 8g. So 20g of lettuce, if you strictly follow the guide pictures, could amount to quite a lot more. Lettuce is watery, so perhaps she is getting too much watery veg for her gut to be able to handle since it has been depleted by antibiotics.

I also made a plate as per what I feed my piggies and all in all it comes to 75g per pig per day. Plus fresh grass.
So as you can see mine eat considerably more veg and grass. They eat considerably large amounts of hay but don’t get pellets often.)

 

[Lsd3]

I am going to start weighing her daily now. I wasn't doing that.

yes, everything started after antibiotics.
No, the vet never gave any probiotics. I asked the vet when she was only having light colored poo, the vet said it will recover automatically in a few months. But now in 3 weeks it's become soft and teary. I am concerned.
Which probiotic should I get? I have booked an appointment with another vet on 19th July.


Can you please show me the picture of the plate you made. I am curious what you added - it amounts to 75 gm? Thank you, I really appreciate it.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I am going to start weighing her daily now. I wasn't doing that.

yes, everything started after antibiotics.
No, the vet never gave any probiotics. I asked the vet when she was only having light colored poo, the vet said it will recover automatically in a few months. But now in 3 weeks it's become soft and teary. I am concerned.
Which probiotic should I get? I have booked an appointment with another vet on 19th July.


Can you please show me the picture of the plate you made. I am curious what you added - it amounts to 75 gm? Thank you, I really appreciate it.

It’s advised to give a probiotic for a piggy on antibiotics. It’s not a prescription item so you can buy it from a pet shop - Fibreplex or pro c are well recommended. Personally I use Fibreplex.
Normally once a piggy comes off antibiotics and if they have struggled with them causing a bit of an upset, you would continue with the probiotics for a few days after the course of Antibiotics but things will be back to normal within a few days of the course ending.

As I say, I would cut all veg out, feed increased amounts of hay and let her gut settle. Give a probiotic and weigh her daily. If poops go back to normal after a few days without veg, then you can very slowly start to reintroduce veg.

This is a rough idea of what each of my piggies gets in a day. This one came to 64g this time but that is what I mean - I have never weighed my veg out, it is done by eye. Sometimes it may come out with less lettuce and more herbs etc. Sometimes it’s less veg entirely but it is instead replaced with wild fresh forage.
They also get many hours on the lawn each day with constant access to hay whether in their cages or in the run.
I do feed a much wetter diet than most people but this is what works for my four piggies though.
My point was more that going by the picture rather than weighing each veg may be a much easier way to do it.

 

[Lsd3]

ok i see what you mean.
i will weigh her everyday.
The probiotic available here in Canada at my vet right now is Bene-Bac Plus for guinea pigs, is that okay? I am going to pick that up.
I will cut out veggies for her, and see if that helps too.

 

[Piggies&buns]

ok i see what you mean.
i will weigh her everyday.
The probiotic available here in Canada at my vet right now is Bene-Bac Plus for guinea pigs, is that okay? I am going to pick that up.
I will cut out veggies for her, and see if that helps too.

Benebac plus is absolutely perfect

 

[Lsd3]

Sorry one more question, how much to give,
It says 1 gm per 10 lb, but vet said give 1 gm a day.
It’s too much right, should I give 1/4 gm for her she is about 1.2 kg.
How many times a day ? Bottle says skip 3 days

 

[Piggies&buns]

Sorry one more question, how much to give,
It says 1 gm per 10 lb, but vet said give 1 gm a day.
It’s too much right, should I give 1/4 gm for her she is about 1.2 kg.
How many times a day ? Bottle says skip 3 days

benebac plus is not widely used in this country - I’ve never used it. However we did have a similar question from another member a few weeks back.

It is 1 gram per day.
The package says 1 gram for up to the first 10lbs of body weight. Your piggy is up to the first 10lbs of body weight, so it is 1 gram per day.
You can give it once or twice a day - if you give it twice a day then obviously only give half a gram each time.

Yes the bottle does say skip three days (or something to that effect) so do as the bottle says for that.