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Weird poop

FknEcho

FknEcho

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello, my guinea pig - Puffy, 3 years old, male - recently lost its companion. Since then he has weirdly shaped poop, it’s getting me kind of worried. Sometimes they are a bit small. His companion had this type of poop in his last days as well, but a lot of them connected on a string and diarrhea. Is it normal to have poop like that after losing companion? He eats his vegetables, hay and drinks water. Please help! Is it normal? The poop is not easy to break and isn’t soft. I don’t think it smells, only when smelling them closely.

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I’m sorry for your loss.

They don’t look too bad - a bit tear drop shaped which can suggest a minor digestive issue.

Are you weighing him regularly? Weekly as part of routine care but daily (each morning) when there are health concerns. We recommend more regular weight checks during the period of grieving.
This is the only way to ensure a piggy is definitely eating enough hay (hay intake can’t be gauged by eye) and getting what they need for good gut function and weight maintenance.
If a piggy isn’t eating enough hay, then poops can change due to lack of fibre / lack of food. Weight loss is the result of reduced hay intake so syringe feeding can be needed.

This guide explains poops in more detail.

Wiebke's Guide to Poops
 
Last week it had around 997g and today around 974g but 982g after eating, is it concerning?
 
Weigh only once a day, first thing in the morning is most accurate. If you weigh after eating all you are doing is weighing a full stomach which means make make it inaccurate.

This means your piggy has dropped from 997 to 974 - a drop of 23g which is considered a normal fluctuation and not of concern at this point.
If weight loss hits 50g then that is when you go on alert and prepare to step in with syringe feeding.
However as your piggy is bereaved and you are noticing a change to poops, please weigh each morning and compare it to the previous day. If the weight continues to go down and hits 50g or more of loss then please step in with support feeding and see a vet.

This guide explains more
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support
 
Hi and welcome

BIG HUGS

I am very sorry for your loss. We have a Rainbow Bridge section if it feels right for you to post a tribute to your departed piggy at any stage during or after the grieving process. There is no obligation; it just there for those who feel it helps them with their loss.
Rainbow Bridge Pets

It is very normal to feel nervous about the remaining guinea pig but the weight is still what we consider stable and the poos are near normal, showing only the smallest hint of a mild disturbance of the gut microbiome. Please do not worry. :tu:

Please be aware that the more often you weigh, the more the weight is going to jump around. Also be aware that hay makes over three quarters of the daily food intake and that any veg, fresh and dry forage, any pellets and treats all together only fill the supplementary role that wild forage used to have in the grass based diet that guinea pigs have evolved on for well over ten thousand years. The weight swings around in a ca. 30g band over the course of 24 hours. It is lowest first thing in the morning. Weighing then is best for day to day comparison - and that is all you need. Keep in mind that the difference between a full and an empty bladder is 10g.

You may also find these very practical guide links helpful for yourself in understanding your current experiences and feelings better:
Human Bereavement: Grieving, Processing and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children
Pet Owners Anxiety - Practical Tips For Sufferers and For Supporters

Looking After a Bereaved Guinea Pig
 
Thank you all for warm welcome… Today I found two smaller poops connected by a small string, but we are still eating and drinking normally. Should I try to give it some probiotics? We have this at home. Does it count as probiotic? Or should I maybe stop giving fresh vegetables for a day?

Rodicare Akut | Digestive system | Rodents | Shop

Also we went to the vet today, (normal one - there is no exotic vet in the area) and she told us to get new guinea pig so Puffy could get better.
 
I forgot to include a photo.
 

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Its stomach is a bit loud today. While having dinner it suddenly stops eating, then eats a bit again and repeats this process. Maybe it’s nothing but I feel a really big weight upon my shoulders since my other precious piggie died.

Deceased piggie had gut problems, was gassy and had diarrhea, then a long string poops, I am a bit worried if it was contagious that this piggie got it as well.

We also got another piggie, about a month old which is in quarantine and I don’t want hej to “meet” if it’s contagious.

I am from Slovakia so I apologize if my english is not the best. We don’t have many exotic vets here or they are really far from my city. That’s why I posted on this site, seeking any help I can get.
 
What did this mornings weight check tell you about hay intake?

You’re in a bit of a difficult situation now you have another piggy - it would have been better to wait until you were sure your current piggy was healthy before getting another one.
The new piggy is too young to be quarantined, as piggies under four months old age must never be alone.
A baby’s need for companionship and guidance is vital so any new baby piggy which is brought home should be bonded with the existing piggy immediately.

A bonding needs to be done properly upon neutral territory.

Bonding and Interaction: Illustrated social behaviours and bonding dynamics
 
Before you bond them, make sure you check the sex of the new piggy. I’m assuming your 3 year old male isn’t neutered, so you need to be sure the baby piggy is also male
 
In terms of the poops, you can remove veg from the diet to encourage higher hay intake and see if that settles him digestion
 
Puffy is munching on the hay often and I try to encourage to eat it more.

About the little guinea pig, we’re not really sure if he’s only one month old, we don’t know the age since my godmother got him for us. He looks like a little baby. But is really active, we got him a lot of toys in the cage and we take him out of the cage to explore and get close to us
 

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Piggies&buns said:
Before you bond them, make sure you check the sex of the new piggy. I’m assuming your 3 year old male isn’t neutered, so you need to be sure the baby piggy is also male
Click to expand...



yes, vet checked the little piggy and confirmed it’s a male too
 

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FknEcho said:
Puffy is munching on the hay often and I try to encourage to eat it more.

About the little guinea pig, we’re not really sure if he’s only one month old, we don’t know the age since my godmother got him for us. He looks like a little baby. But is really active, we got him a lot of toys in the cage and we take him out of the cage to explore and get close to us
Click to expand...

His weight is dropping. While it is still within normal fluctuation range, if he loses again tomorrow then it could be starting to look like he is in fact not eating enough hay. You may need to prepare to step in with syringe feeding him if he loses more weight over the next two days.
You step in at 50g of loss and he is currently at 46g of loss.

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

Human interaction and toys are not enough for the baby. He needs the interaction and companionship of a guinea pig. He certainly looks very young. He probably is only a month old.
Is his cage beside your older piggy?
 
Puffy’s poop looks softer than yesterday, he just had dinner recently

I’ll look into that guide and I hope I can get the medication he needs
 

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FknEcho said:
Puffy’s poop looks softer than yesterday, he just had dinner recently

I’ll look into that guide and I hope I can get the medication he needs
Click to expand...

If his poops are getting softer, then you need to stop feeding him vegetables.
You should prepare to step in with syringe feeding a recovery feed such as emeraid or oxbow critical care, or mush his normal pellets with water.

How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency
Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe
 
I’ll weight him again in the morning. How long should he be off the vegetables?
 
FknEcho said:
I’ll weight him again in the morning. How long should he be off the vegetables?
Click to expand...

He should be off veg for as long as it takes for poops to firm up again plus another 24 hours.
For a minor upset, it usually takes a couple of days to resolve.
 
Thank you for your help. So if he loses more in the morning, I’ll make the mushed pellets. But how much should I give him for a day? about 10-25g in a 3-4 sessions? Since it can’t really be measured in ml… And he still eats hay, pellets and drinks water
 
FknEcho said:
Thank you for your help. So if he loses more in the morning, I’ll make the mushed pellets. But how much should I give him for a day? about 10-25g in a 3-4 sessions? Since it can’t really be measured in ml… And he still eats hay, pellets and drinks water
Click to expand...

It depends entirely on whether he loses more than 50g in weight as to whenever you syringe feed him at all. At the moment there isn’t an issue but if he loses more weight then it may become an issue. For a piggy to be losing weight, he may still be eating some hay but losing weight means he isn’t eating enough.

You give as much pellet mush as is needed to stop weight loss each day. This is why the daily weight checks are essential. If you syringe feed and be still loses weight the next morning then you haven’t syringe fed enough

Yes, it can be measured in ml and needs to be measured in ml. A piggy will eat somewhere between 40 and 90ml of syringe feed per day depending on how unwell they are.

When syringe feeding you mush up a some pellets with water (you don’t need to weigh them just pick some up and put them in warm water to soften. You then cut the tapered end off of a 1ml syringe and load it with the mush.
You then feed as many syringe fulls as your piggy will take at each sitting. How many sittings you need to do each day depends on how much the piggy eats at one sitting and how stable their weight is.
For example - a piggy may take 5 x 1ml syringes at each sitting so in that case a piggy would need to be fed every two hours throughout the day and may need to be fed eg 10 times a day. Or a piggy may take 15 x1ml syringes at each sitting so may only need to be fed three or four times a day.
It all depends entirely on what is happening with their weight each morning

All the green links I have added in throughout my replies are guides which explain how to syringe feed if needed
 
just weighted him and it’s 944g, so 6g less than yesterday
 
Hi. So I cut down veggies for 24 hours, his poop wasn’t that soft, so I gave him some veg this morning. I also give him Rodicare acut every 8 hours, so 3x a day.

This afternoon his poop started to smell, could it be because of the veg?

also I started to siringe feed the mushed pellets. I gave him 5ml in one sitting, 2 ml, rest when he went to eat hay, 2 ml again, eating hay and then 1ml, he is eating hay again. Is it a good sign?

Also, yesterday we introduced him with little piggie, he seems to be happier. We had them out of the cage all day and then at night put them in it, they bonded really well. They chased each other and played together. Started to eat more hay. but today during the day in the cage the big piggie - Puffy - was again just laying sad.

So I took them out and since then they run around, eat hay but Puffy not as much as the little piggie, also the smelly poop appeared.

I'm not sure if its the soft poop he eats again. Or its because of the veggies. But I saw him few times to eat the soft poo, but these ones he did not touch.

I am also scared to syringe feed, because I worry that I might hurt him or make him worse.
 
this is his weighting so far. I’ll see again in the morning.

I’m so scared he might die as the other piggie two weeks ago. I don’t want to lose him too.
 

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Remove veg from his diet.
Now he has lost 64g he needs to be syringe fed a lot more to stop the weight loss from continuing. You won’t hurt him by syringe feeding him but you have to do it. If he continues to lose weight and not eat enough, he will get worse.

Please look at the guide I linked in as it explains the guideline amounts to aim for at each feed.
It is good he wants to eat some hay but he can’t continue to lose weight.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Remove veg from his diet.
Now he has lost 64g he needs to be syringe fed a lot more to stop the weight loss from continuing. You won’t hurt him by syringe feeding him but you have to do it. If he continues to lose weight and not eat enough, he will get worse.

Please look at the guide I linked in as it explains the guideline amounts to aim for at each feed.
It is good he wants to eat some hay but he can’t continue to lose weight.
Click to expand...

Yes, I looked at the guideline, thank you. But it’s good thing he eats hay after syringe feeding, yes? also, can it upset his stomach? I’ll try to give him more, but like I said, it’s been an hour since his feeding, which he only took 5ml and eats hay in between. So I’ll feed him in another our again

Also, should I make new batch of mushed up pellets every time I have to syringe feed?

I ordered rodicare instant to syringe feed and fibreplex. I hope it’ll arrive soon.
 
Yes it’s good he eats hay after a syringe feed, it shows he still has some appetite, but you need to make sure to get enough feed into him to keep his weight stable.

Yes make another batch of pellets each time.
 
Thank you all. I managed to give him 13ml in another session, but it took me almost more than hour and a half. How much should a session last?


Also during this he only pooped 6 times, all of them were soft poops which he ate
 
FknEcho said:
Thank you all. I managed to give him 13ml in another session, but it took me almost more than hour and a half. How much should a session last?


Also during this he only pooped 6 times, all of them were soft poops which he ate
Click to expand...

There is no right answer here - it depends how much of an appetite he has. The less he eats at each sitting the more sittings are needed but the guide explains how much per sitting and what that amount means in terms of how they are feeling

Soft poops means he has an upset tummy.
Eating poops means he is trying to settle his tummy.
 
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