Conditions guineapigs left with little food for about 24 hours

[tenar]

So we have had a diffusion of responsibility here, due in part to us having a couple of extremely bad days in my household. I've gotten home to realise that two of our guineapigs were left outside in their outside pen for a day.

In the pen they had access to water, shelter (not very good shelter, but it's been mild, luckily), grass (only a little: about 60cm by 30cm tray of it I've grown for them), other veggies and herbs (chard, parsley, mint, couple of other things) growing nearby. No hay. They were supposed to be out for an hour and obviously I thought they were brought inside yesterday at about this time. That I didn't make certain they were inside is my fault.

I've brought them into their inside C&C cage. They are now munching away at their fresh grass and hay with enthusiasm.

I know it's bad for them to go without food for even a short time. They haven't been entirely without food all this time, but they haven't eaten as much as usual, or as much hay/grass as usual, I think. Is there anything I should watch out for in the next few days, to check they are ok?

I feel awful!

 

[Soecara]

Watch their poops and their eating, if all seems well over the next few days then they should be okay. My main concern would be the lack of fiber possibly causing gastric upset, and if that does happen it will be apparent in their poops.

 

[tenar]

Thanks Soecara, would their poops be fewer in number or different in shape/texture, do you know? With 3 piggies in the cage (two of whom were outside overnight), I'm not sure I could tell if there were a few fewer poops than usual.

I'm mostly worried about the smaller boy, as he always seems less robust to me. That said he's appears to be eating as usual at the moment. He's shyer than the other two, so he doesn't come out as readily when I'm around: it's going to be harder to spot differences in his demeanour.

 

[Soecara]

I would be looking for deformed poops, small poops, soft poops, strung together poops, basically anything out of the ordinary. If anyone starts acting in a way you are concerned about separate them off for an hour or two to see if you can get a look at their individual poops.

 

[Artista]

Vitamin C is important. Get whatever color pepper and give it to them. Also lettuce other than iceberg is good. Use oxbow or kms hayloft pellets.

Go to the diet nutrition forum here for help with their menu. If they are over 6 mo, don't give the high calcium veggies.

My girl gets unlimited hay, fresh filtered water, bell peppers, lettuce and 2 Tbsp kms hayloft pellets daily. If she doesn't eat peppers then I syringe Oasis vita c drops for guinea pigs.

Daily treat is a cherry tomato, cucumber, zucchini and radicchio. But hay should be 80% of diet.

 

[tenar]

Two days later and everyone seems to be fine, fortunately. I'm very relieved!