Stinky Poop

[Tophica]

One of my piggies pulls out her poo then bites it half and the poop really badly stinks. Its a horrible smell. Also sometimes when I walk into their room I can smell it. Is it normal to have stinky poo or is it something to do with their diet?

[Suisan]

It is normal for them to eat their caecal pellets.

In terms of odor, the larger the cage and the more you clean it, the less they smell. What size is your cage?

Sometimes if mine have been eating a LOT of kale, or a decent amount of cauliflower leaves and broccoli, I'll notice a stronger odor. One of my older sows seems to generate more odor than the others -- not sure why. But I combat it by having a lot of towels nearby for her hidey house, which I change frequently.

EDIT: Meant to say that I change out the towels, not the hidey house.

[Tophica]

No what I mean is their actuall poo smells. I know they eat some of their pellets but what my piggy does is she bites it in half it it stinks. Mind you they havn't had their proper diet yet as I have been creating their weekly menu but havn't got round to finnishing it. I have been feeding more kale than usual so maybe thats the curlprit. I clean out their cage twice weekly so it shouldn't smell but they are in a small cage but are being upgraded as soon as I move to a 2x4.

[Suisan]

I'm sweeping out "poo" and changing out towels in sleeping spots twice a day, sweeping up wet hay and changing out the hay loft once every morning, and cleaning out the entire cage about once a week. The odor I notice is when I'm right up in the cage doing maintenance or saying hello.

Until you get a larger cage, you're going to have to deal with odor issues. When I had my two older pigs in a quarantine cage, which was a 2X3 for the both of them, I had to change everything daily to keep the odor down. It's just too small a space for them to get away from their own output.

Good Luck.

[Wheek Weak]

My schedule is the same as Suisan's for two 2x5 cages, and I can still smell poos first thing in the morning for the first cleaning of the day, but only when I bend down into the cage to sweep up. And even then, it's only a slight odor...barely distinguishable.

You'll probably not have a problem when you have the adequately sized cage, and are feeding the proper diet.

[pigsforlife]

Let me clear something up; guinea pig poop does NOT smell. If it does then it indicates a GI infection and the pig should be seen by a vet.

Guinea pig urine on the other hand does smell.