Is it her diet?

[willowfaery]

So I am going to try and explain my situation without being too gross...

Tsunami's poo is not like my other piggies' poo. Her poo is mushy and pointed at the ends not rounded like a little bean. Do I need to cut back her veggies or change her veggies? When I give her lettuce, should I only give her the green leafy part and leave out the white stem part? I've read that cutting back on wet veggies might help, but what exactly does that mean? Does that mean no green peppers? I'm just confused. She doesn't have diarreah (I don't know how to spell that). She's eating and drinking fine. She's not hiding in her igloo. She's out and about and seems ok. But good gracious the poo! It's just not right I don't think. Also, her poo doesn't seem to dry out as quick as the others, so she ends up getting it everywhere. If someone has had any experience with this, I would appreciate some advice. Thanks.

[Ly&Pigs]

I need to know everything you've fed your pig regarding veggies and fruits for the last week or two. Teardrop shaped poos often indicate gastrointestinal problems related to diet. It can also be a sign of dehydration.

Also, does she seem to be drinking the same amount of water or more/less water?

[willowfaery]

I've fed her romaine lettuce, green leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, green peppers, red peppers, carrots, cilantro, celery, a little bit of pear (twice), a little bit of banana(once). I think that's it. She gets unlimited hay and 1/8 cup Oxbow pellets every day. Her drinking is like it's always been. It seems normal to me. I've had her for 2 or three months now and her poo has always been this way. I have read your veggie chart and have used that as a guideline. I hope she is ok. I took her to the vet a couple of weeks ago and they said she was fine. Do some pigs just have this sort of issue for no reason?

[Ly&Pigs]

No more banana please. It's not really good for them, especially those with intestinal problems. Banana can cause bloat which is serious and is one of the intestinal problems they can get with the signs you mentioned.

On average how much water does she drink per day and are you giving wet veggies or dryer veggies?

[willowfaery]

I don't know how much water she drinks. I will fill her bottle up right now and see how much it goes down. As far as the veggies, I usually put their lettuce in a salad spinner, so most of the water is off of them when they eat them. But they are still damp. This morning she had a 1 inch x 1 inch piece of green pepper, 5 or 6 cilantro leaves, and 2 small leaves of romaine lettuce (but not the white stem part). Do you think this will help? Do I need to take her to a vet? Is there medicine or something they can give her or are they just going to tell me to cut back on the veggies?

[Ly&Pigs]

You aren't feeding much in the way of veggies as it is really. You can give the white stem part of the romaine, there's no harm in giving that. I'd try giving a bit wetter veggies for a day or two and monitor her water intake for the next couple of days. I'm curious as to how much she drinks in a 24 hour period.

Has she shown any signs of being in pain? Does she have a firm stomach or is it more squishy feeling? Has she seemed lethargic at all?

[willowfaery]

I usually feed way more than that. The reason I cut back this morning was because I thought it might help. And I usually feed the white stem part of the lettuce, but I didn't this time because I thought it contained too much water. I just now gave her lots of wet veggies and filled her water bottle to the top. So, this time tomorrow I will be able to see how much she is drinking. It seems to me she's at the bottle as much as the other two though.

I felt her tummy and it is mushy. She's not lethargic either. She always munching on her hay and visiting with my other two piggies. I've seen her popcorn a few times too. I made an appointment with the vet for Tuesday morning just in case. This was the soonest I could go. If it gets to be an emergency though, I will do all I can to get her to someone ASAP.

I hope this clears up soon. You should see the poo squished in her nails. It's a bit nasty. I love her anyways though.

Oh and on a side note. Is it ok to feed guinea pigs cilantro STEMS? And I noticed that the chart says you can feed them green peppers every day, but how much per day?

Oh and no signs of pain either.

[Ly&Pigs]

Ok, thanks for that. I doesn't sound like bloat or gas to me. I am wondering along the lines of dehydration but since I'm not a vet I can't really answer that. It may be a good idea to go ahead and take her into the vet and take a couple of the mis-shaped poos along with you so that he/she can see them. It may not hurt to do a gram fecal stain either. Pigs poo when they first go will be moist, it takes a bit for it to dry to the hardened poos.

You can feed the cilantro stems. My girls love them. Also you can give 1/8 or more of a bell pepper per pig.