Know you guinea pig, know your poo

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jacqueline

Post   » Wed Jul 17, 2013 3:39 am


Do Olive's poos look small to you?

emilyam19

Post   » Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:16 pm


Here is a shot of Charlie’s current poops. They found an overgrowth of two bacteria: klebsiella and enterobacter (both normally found in the gut of mammals).

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Jacqueline, I’m not sure if I’d consider those small (at least compared to my pigs). It looks like the droppings are about the size of GW’s face (on the quarter). Here’s a comparison shot with one of mine:
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wenton5

Post   » Fri Jul 19, 2013 1:44 pm


Did that bacteria growth show up on the fecal smear? Is he taking anything? L

emilyam19

Post   » Fri Jul 19, 2013 1:52 pm


Here are all the test results.

Wet mount; Result: tritrichomonas
Gram stain; Result: some yeast but no overgrowth; normal
Culture (aerobic C&S); Result: overgrowth of klebsiella and enterobacter; no fungus

He's currently on Metronidazole for two weeks. If he isn't where we want him to be on the 24, or he back slides after taking him off the metronidazole, we will put him on some baytril.

He's been nibbling some poop from the other pigs. The vet mentioned it could be the meds are making his taste a little off and he's just not used to that. I might've even lightly nudged Sonia over when she was reaching for one of hers to see if Charlie would take it (she quickly replaced it with another one).

emilyam19

Post   » Fri Jul 19, 2013 5:43 pm


I wanted to observe Charlie today so I’ve had the pigs out in the living room all day and I took some more comparison shots.

Small vs normal droppings (all from the girls)
I have noticed some changes in size once in a while. I haven’t noticed any health issues in connection with the different size. This might be similar to what you’re seeing Jacqueline. I don’t think only one of the girls is doing the smaller ones.

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Here are shots of Charlie’s droppings. The normal shaped dropping in some of the shots is the same in the “normal” photos.

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wenton5

Post   » Fri Jul 19, 2013 6:56 pm


Oh Charlie, you are fabulous! Thank you for donating! This thread has all kinds of poo fluxuations:
viewtopic.php?t=32953&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20

emilyam19

Post   » Fri Jul 19, 2013 7:08 pm


Very interesting thread. There are a few things that sound very similar to Charlie this past week. When he stopped going last weekend I was really scared he'd go into stasis.

I forgot to mention the texture of his droppings is much better than it used to be. They're much closer to normal droppings since I've been home. Even though they're weird shapes, this is the best his droppings have been since I had him. These are even a better consistency than the few "normal" shaped ones he occasionally had (which were like soft clay). The cage looks so clean now that things have firmed up for Charlie.

wenton5

Post   » Fri Jul 19, 2013 7:27 pm


Sorry I have been gone dealing with family. Moonfall was curious about the poops that the fur babies like to eat. Anyone have a pic of the caecal pellets?

wenton5

Post   » Fri Jul 19, 2013 7:43 pm


Emilyam19, are you giving Charlie a probiotic? Jacqueline, Olive's poo looks a little small to me, maybe dehydrated too. Maybe she eats a little less when her pharynx is bothering her. Poo is so tricky, abnormal poo and consistency in poo can point to many things. For example, if mooshy poo points to five possible problems, you have to rule them out one by one. Olive is cute. My guess Regiane (and totally just a guess) is that maybe the meds are occassionally affecting Panthufina. Any other ideas everyone? I have started pondering the consistency of poo with the fluxuation in the quality of hay. I buy all my vegetables organic and my pellets from KMS but I wonder about all those pesticides in the hay. Anyone's thoughts? Thanks, L and the gang p.s. emilyam19, did the vet say anything else about the yeast overgrowth?

wenton5

Post   » Fri Jul 19, 2013 7:49 pm


Emilyam19, is the only medication Charlie is on is for the parasite? Thx, L

emilyam19

Post   » Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:03 pm


Charlie isn't currently on a probiotic. However, if we need to move onto baytril I'll probably use a probiotic.

The vet didn't mention yeast when she spoke about the culture results. When she found it with the gram stain, she said it was normal to find some yeast in the gut. I believe she said something along the lines of it not looking like an overgrowth of yeast in this case.

She did say the culture showed an overgrowth of klebsiella and enterobacter. I think she also said it could be resistant, which is why we may need to use baytril if the metronidazole doesn't resolve the issue.

I'm not sure if the shape of his droppings is related to the things found in his droppings or the extended period of time he wasn't going to the bathroom. Based on our observation of what we were finding in the cage, it's possible (but certainly not confirmed) he went as much as 48 hours without going -the vet said with his system slowing down it could be 24-48 hours before we saw something. I was not there to see what was going on over the weekend, but some of what was said sounds similar to bloat. I don't have experience with that or any kind of GI stasis so I don't really know what happened.

emilyam19

Post   » Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:08 pm


He's only taking metronidazole at the moment. He gets .33 ml every 12 hours.

I think, but maybe someone with more experience can correct me, that the metronidazole can work as both an antiparasitic and antibiotic. The vet also said it can help with any inflammation in his gut.

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