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General Need some help!! Different poops??

Fei2143

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So I started noticing one of my male pig Mochi today, he is behaving weirdly. Not eating much of his pellets, romain lettuce and vitamin c tablet (only a few bites). He is still drinking water normally albeit I feel it's lesser than the amount he normally drinks.

Just15 minutes ago I started to notice that his poops are unusually small and the color is really off. I attached two pictures below, the first pic is how his poop normally looks like, and the second pic is what his poop look like 15 minutes ago. Should I be worrying???
 

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bpatters

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Has he had anything at all new to eat?

Is he eating hay?

Start weighing him daily, same time of day, preferably before breakfast. You need to know if he's losing weight. If you don't have a scale, kitchen scales are widely available at places like Walmart,Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc., for $15 or less.

Go to a pharmacy and get some infant simethicone. Give him 1/4 of the infant dosage. And put him on some sort of vibrator -- a vibrating pillow if you've got one is perfect. If not, put an electric toothbrush in your lap, put a cloth over it, and put him on the toothbrush. Or, most washing machines and clothes dryers will vibrate, and you can put him in a small container and put him on top of the machine. Just stay by him to make sure he doesn't jump out and break something.

Observe him carefully during the day. If he's not eating, but is still pooping, then handfeed him some Critical Care or a pellet mash. See https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/115000-Handfeeding-a-guinea-pig for more info on handfeeding. Also https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html.

If he stops pooping altogether, get him to an exotic vet ASAP.
 

Fei2143

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He is eating very little hay today from what I observed. A few days back my dad brought home these healthy recipe snacks (oat) and Mochi ate A LOT of them even when I told him they should be fed moderately. I'm thinking that this snack is the cause of his unusual poops. My other pig Pumpkin didn't get to eat a lot and he's perfectly fine. The snacks said it's for small animals and didn't really specify what kind of animals so I assumed it's fine for guinea pigs.

ps: thank you for the info!
 

bpatters

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They don't EVER need store-bought snacks. And any new food should be given in very small quantities to begin with to make sure it won't cause problems. Guinea pigs have very sensitive digestive tracts, and many things can cause upsets.
 

CrystalCavy

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Yup, the healthy recipe snacks are probably whats causing the problem. I'd suggest that you still monitor him for the next week or so, just in case.
 

Shieme

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I bet those "healthy" snacks have one of the no-nos that skinny pig talks about like yogurt, seeds, any milk products or extra sugar (molasses, sugar, sugar cane, honey, or glucose). Read the ingredients.
 

Fei2143

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Thank you for your replies! I will keep observing Mochi and let you know if he's any better :)
 

Fei2143

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Hey guys. So yesterday night when I got home, Mochi had these mushy poop stuck to his bum. We cleaned it out and this morning when I pick him up to check again, it was better but there are still a little poop stuck there. Also mushy ones like last night's. anyone has any idea what it could be? Impaction? FYI, Mochi is one years old.
 

bpatters

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What exactly are you feeding him?

What kind of hay?

What brand of pellets?

What vegetables, and how many of each?

Anything else?
 

Fei2143

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I am feeding him oxbow vitamin c tablet, forti-diet pellets, and Timothy hay. These are the usual food I feed him before the snacks that my dad bought home. I stopped giving him vegetables the past two days when he first started behaving weirdly. He seems to be having a hard time pooping, but did after all.
 

ZiggyPig

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I am feeding him oxbow vitamin c tablet, forti-diet pellets, and Timothy hay. These are the usual food I feed him before the snacks that my dad bought home. I stopped giving him vegetables the past two days when he first started behaving weirdly. He seems to be having a hard time pooping, but did after all.

I may be an alarmist and others know better than me, but I say exotic vet asap. I had a male who got impaction a few times and finally died from it (we knew a lot less 20 yrs ago.) Don't wait, make sure he's ok.
 

bpatters

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If mushy poop is coming out, it's not an impaction. So don't panic.

Are you checking his anal sac regularly? And cleaning it as necessary? It should be checked once a week, but cleaned only if needed. See https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/85830-Awesome-video-on-how-to-clean-the-Anal-Sac

I'd stop the vitamin C for a while -- it can cause and/or aggravate digestive upsets.

I'd also switch to better pellets. Kaytee is pretty poor quality across the board. The only pellets we recommend on this board are KMS Hayloft and Oxbow.
 

ZiggyPig

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@bpatters the thing that concerned me was that he seemed to have a hard time pooping and the mushy poop stuck all over his bum. Both recognizable signs to me.
 

Fei2143

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Hey. Mochi is all good now! I've been checking his anal sac every day since he had the mushy poop and it cleared in a day or two. Now his anal sac is clear all the time. His poops seem to go back to normal size now but the color is still a bit off. We stopped the vegetables up until now. He's been eating Well again. Also, the Japanese snacks that my dad brought home contained sugars. So I'm not sure if that's the reason why Mochi's stomach was upset? Anyways, we'll be bringing him to do a checkup next week. So hopefully all is well! Thank you guys so much for your help and information! :)
 

ZiggyPig

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Glad his poop and anal sac issues cleared up!!!
 
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