Sick Vomiting due to burges nuggets help???

[hanstan]

Hi,
so i have 2 pigs and had them on the wilkinsons (UK SHOP) assorted mix (with all the multicolour museli thing) they always pick out the bits they dont like and the vet told me to get all there nutirition I need to switch to a nugget food which is one solid granuel containing all the nutituion at once, so they cannot pick.

I tryed to ween them onto it by mixing a little at a time with there old museli food however they hated it, they did try it and for some reason they keep pushing it out the bowl, so today i discovered that after about 3 weeks of trying to get them to eat it ever so much i think they have been vomiting it...

At first my sister thought that they had chewed a nugget at a time up and then weed on it, but when I found it I immidentaly thought they had vomited it up,
one piggy in parituclar has been a little odd sort of coughing up looking like shes got a hairball is the best way i can expalin it...
After closer inspection i have found alot alot alot of this malled sick looking nugget mush even found a large amount in there fresh water bowl after chaning it 20 mins before hand!!!

I have took a few picutres and can upload if anyone could help me with this further.

The nugget food is Burgess excell sensetive guinea pig nuggets which is suggested by vets and what I have been told is the best food

Has anyone else had this problem or can anyone shead any light onto this, im going the vets next week anyway but would appriciate any help in the time beeing

Thanks so much x

 

[madelineelaine]

To me that almost looks like poop that's been mashed up. You need to take them off that food right away. To my knowledge guinea pigs do not 'vomit'. There system works one way.

When looking for a guinea pig food, hay should be the first ingridient. Oxbow pellets are one of the best. Your vet was right that museli is not good for them, but a pellet with: Soya Bean Hulls, Lucerne, Oat Husks, Wheat Feed, Sunflower Meal, Yeast, Mint (1.25%), Molasses, Vegetable Fat, Cellulose, Salt, Minerals, Short Chain Fructo-Oligosaccharides (0.25%) isn't good either. I'm especially confused as to why it contains mint and vegetable fat? Either way, it doesn't contain hay and therefore it's not the best pellet.

The pigs could be spitting out the pellets. Do you know how old they are and how much they weigh? Are you feeding unlimited hay per day and 1 cup of vegetables per pig?

 

[Sundaexoxo]

I used to have that kind of pellet too mixed in with the rest. my boy hated it and usually ignored it altogether I'm not sure why it is I'd take him to the vet again and tell them whats going on.

 

[lissie]

That looks like wet pellets to me. Your pigs might have been peeing on them.

 

[madelineelaine]

As for the stuff in the water bowl, it probably got knocked in. Now that I think of it, that does look like wet pellets. I'm waiting for someone to weigh in on this.

Still though, I'd look into a new food asap.

 

[RubyRain]

It just looks like wet pellets that got squished to me. We find that in many of our rescue cages near the water bowl or bottle or near the food bowl. Nothing to worry about.
BUT, if your pig looks like it is "coughing up a hair ball" then you have a problem because they don't do that.

 

[PrincessAngel]

It honestly looks like peed on pellets with poo mixed in (not sure if the poo was squishy when it came out or also peed and smashed). Guinea pigs cannot vomit. Are their pellets in a bowl? What are the ingredients in their pellets? It good be your piggies don't like the lower quality stuff even if it is a solid pellet.

 

[madelineelaine]

Soya Bean Hulls, Lucerne, Oat Husks, Wheat Feed, Sunflower Meal, Yeast, Mint (1.25%), Molasses, Vegetable Fat, Cellulose, Salt, Minerals, Short Chain Fructo-Oligosaccharides (0.25%)

@PrincessAngel

 

[hanstan]

Thanks so much for the replies everyone...

Both piggys are 1 and weigh the perfect piggy weight (cant remeber exactly 1 pound I thnk? but the vets weighed them twice and said there both the correct wight)

Yes my piggies get 3 sources of unlimited hay between them - by that i mean 3 different hay dispensers so they cant guard one from the other piggy so each piggy always gets a chance to eat,
They also have 2 food bowls of dry food
And yes they get fed breakfast and tea (small amount of varied veg each day)
At first we did think that they were just chewing it and peeing on it but then today when I noticed one piggy was sort of doing a wierd uncomfortable chewing mouth I put 2 and 2 together and though it may be these pelettes

I think for sure its not there poop because there regular little piggy poos are the same as always and still there,

The texture is sort of like mashed mushed up if this helps, unfortunalty there are no poops in the picture to compare to but Itis definatly not there poo I dont think, Ive watched them both poo normally and this mush stuff is only found where there dry food is so I can only assume it is this???

Can anyone reccomend a different pellete food? has anyone tried the pets at home branded pelette, ill be looking into the Oxbow ones also...

Ive emailed burges excel and will update you all with their reply to this 'vetenary reccomended pile of crap'

thanks

 

[bpatters]

Guinea pigs can't vomit, so take your pick between pellets and poop. Looks like pellets to me.

 

[PrincessAngel]

@madelineelaine Thank you, somehow I missed that part of your post -it's been a long day-.

I'm not sure what pellets are decent in the UK, but I know there has to be better ones than the Burgess. Just because something is "veterinary recommended" doesn't mean it's any good. Vet's get paid to sell and push products that usually do more harm than good.

 

[_Cass_]

You can special order Oxbow Pellets, I think one of the members from the UK on this forum does that.

 

[Digital_Dad]

Mazuri Guinea Pig 5664 is what I recommend. We have tried others but keep going back to the Mazuri pellets. They always wheek when it is time for pellets and there is never any left when they are done.

 

[madelineelaine]

Well if you want to put your mind to rest, take a few pellets, put them in a dish, add a little water and see what happens.

but really, it's not anything to worry about.

 

[BernieAndBert]

Soya Bean Hulls, Lucerne, Oat Husks, Wheat Feed, Sunflower Meal, Yeast, Mint (1.25%), Molasses, Vegetable Fat, Cellulose, Salt, Minerals, Short Chain Fructo-Oligosaccharides (0.25%)

@PrincessAngel

:/ oh dear. where's the timothy hay!

 

[madelineelaine]

@BernieAndBert I really don't understand the mint and vegetable fat :| I guess the cellulose was a weak attempt to add fiber, and what on earth is short chain fructo-oligosaccharides? To google I go!

 

[madelineelaine]

Okay here's an intresting factoid, Short Chain Fructo-Oligosaccharides is a naturally derived sweetner that comes from plants like onions and leeks (to name a few) and even wheat.

It's considered safe in small doses, but it can cause bifidobacteria (sometime along those lines) in the gut to grow. Normally they occur, and they're considered good bacteria. However, when you have a lot of them they can cause gas (which isn't good for cavies) I also read that consuming it can reduce colon tumor development in animal modules.

Thought it was intresting. So basically it's a sweetener that makes you gassy.
Nutritional aspects of short-chain fructooligo... [Dig Liver Dis. 2002] - PubMed - NCBI

 

[BernieAndBert]

Okay here's an intresting factoid, Short Chain Fructo-Oligosaccharides is a naturally derived sweetner that comes from plants like onions and leeks (to name a few) and even wheat. It's considered safe in small doses, but it can cause bifidobacteria (sometime along those lines) in the gut to grow.

Even in small doses, at times it's derived from onions? They are poisonous to piggies, no?

 

[soopermum62]

I am also getting that it is a weak effort at adding more fiber and can be known as a "Prebiotic" What Is a Fructooligosaccharide (FOS)? Either way, not good as you read down the article it is a manufactured product from white sugar.

 

[CavyGirl11]

If they continue to not eat it, you may want to try Oxbow Cavy Cuisine, it's great