Please urgent advice - no poo

[abbypig]

I need advice urgently here.

3 days ago I noticed one of my guineas wasn't eating and seemed bloated, so I took her to the vet. He gave antibiotics and sent me home again, and I noticed she wasn't pooping at all. Took her back that evening and he took her in overnight to forcefeed, monitor and do xrays. Xrays came back clear, she had peed overnight and he couldn't feel a blockage, he sent me home to continue giving Baytril and forcefeeding.

I took her back to the vet today as she's still not eating or pooping, he gave her an anti-inflammatory injection and said he couldn't feel anything, and maybe she was pooping but eating it.

I've just now noticed that she appears to be pooping straight mucous. She's not lifeless but she's quieter, and we're still having to forcefeed her. What else can we do, if anything? I'm worried about the 'discharge'. We're still giving her Baytril.

[Orlaith]

I know that there's something that vets can give to rabbits to force them to poop. I don't know what it's called but a friend of mine had to get it for her rabbit before. Maybe you could ask your vet about it?

You definitely need to keep your pig eating. The mucous is worrying alright. You could try giving her some probiotics as well, just to keep her gut flora happy while she's getting the baytril.

[abbypig]

Trying not to get too optimistic at this point - but she's started eating again (a tiny amount) and she's come out of her pigloo without being forced to. This morning she had a few hamster-sized poos stuck to her bottom by mucous, now there are a few scattered around the cage that don't appear to be covered in anything, the poos are tiny but am I right to be hopeful, given that I've seen no bowel activity for days? I bought a probiotic today which I'll add to the mix when I handfeed her in a minute.

[Kayleigh]

What is she being fed? is she eating hay, timothy hay, readi grass ect? As this will really get her digestion moving. Try giving her some ribena as its high in vit c and will give her a nice tasting drink. You can also try giving her some bran (the human kind) or oats ect to get her eating. I tend to mash it down a little to make it more yummy.

It does sound like impaction have you yourself had a look at the anus area? Is there any faeces present?

Kayleigh

[abbypig]

Update - I'm still worried to hope but I have seen a big improvement in the past few days. She is now pooping regularly and eating them, though they're still very small (bigger than they were though). She's nibbling hay (I feed timothy) and she has pellets but I haven't seen her take any. She is eating small amounts of veg and when I leave it a while without force-feeding her tummy no longer goes hard, so I assume she must be eating enough!

She's still quieter and more sleepy than normal though, and she takes longer to chew what she eats. I'm hoping this is because she's still getting over what must have been a very nasty illness. I'm firmly convinced she nearly died several times during the worst of it.