Need advice please

[mishellyshel]

I posted yesterday that one my chin had soft poo and it had a bit of an odor to it when i squished it. http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4894
I finally got him out of his cage last night (total PITA, cause he wouldnt come out & i had to take his whole cage in the bathroom).
I thoroughly cleaned out his cage, lined the bottom with white paper towels and then i rearranged it to hopefully be more to his liking.
Now this morning I checked on him.........tons of pee & poo. The poo looks normal. He seems much happier.
The only recent changes for him were that I had to move his cage due to weather and I started giving him lifeline a couple times a week. all other food and treats were normal.
I dont want to jump the gun and assume giardia for the reason of the soft poo.
So shuld i just keep an eye on him for the next day or so, make sure he is eating and pooping normal OR shuld I get a fecal test.
Also what is the best way to measure how much they are eating? Is it best to give them measured amounts and then remeausure? I find it difficult to see if my boys have just eaten their food and spit the ends out or if they are actually eating. Do you determine if they are eating their pellets by poo output. Also if they are not eating that much pellet but eating hay that is okay too?
Sorry for so many questions! Its been a rainy week here so I have time to think and hopefully you guys have time to answer!!!!

 

[jmdebb]

Someone told me, or maybe I read it here, but if you want to know exaclty how many pellets your chin is eating, count some out, say 20, then count them in the morning and see how many are gone. Of course some could be on the floor or squished which then means he didn't eat them, but you should get an idea.

I don't know much about giardia, but I would think if it were that, than he would still have soft poo, but hopefully an expert will know better on that subject.

I have a Merck/Merial manual and it says that with loose or watery stools it could be a intential disorder caused by nutritional, bacterial, protozoal, parasitic, or stress induced illness. Also that you would see signs, like lack of energy, loss of appetite, rough hair coat, saining near the anus, hunched posture, listlessness, dull eyes, weight loss, ..etc... Do you notice any of these symptoms.

Also, what type of food are you feeding him, or treats, sometimes i've heard that if they get too many treats [the bad ones] that can cause soft stools, not 100% correct on that one, so please someone correct me if I'm wrong here.

I would definately keep an eye on him to make sure the poo doesn't get soft again. Because if it doesn't clear up there is definately something wrong and he would need to see a vet very quickly.

I know they need a combination of the food and pellets, but one of my boys is definately a big hay eater. Whenever I refill his bowls he runs right over to the hay, I never see him pick up a pellet, not saying he doesn't eat the pellets, i know he does, just that when I refill, he runs for the hay.

I don't know if I helped you any, but I hope so.

Good luck,
Jean

 

[Brightstarchins]

Sometimes Giardia does not present itself with diarrhea, the chin will have normal poos but loose weight, and when a fecal test is done will test positive.
On the other hand, just because your chinnie has diarrhea does not automatically mean it has giardia. I would watch him for a few days and monitor his weight. If he looses weight or keeps having soft poos I would have a fecal done.
As far as monitoring his food intake, I would just put a full bowl of pellets in his cage, if there are less pellets in it at the next feeding time and they are not all over the cagefloor I would assume he ate some. There is no certain quantity of pellets a chin has to eat a day, he will take what he needs.
I weigh my chinnies regularly to determine if they get enough nutrition.

Claudia

 

[EnslavedByNinjas]

If you have a scale handy, it's much easier to weigh the pellets in the bowl before and after than to count them out.

 

[mishellyshel]

yeah, i could weigh the pellets.
neither one of my chins are messy eaters, so hardly any drops, so its hard to tell if they eat, cause it appears that there are still a lot of pellets left but maybe they are biting their half and dropping the other!!
i would love to get an accurate weight on Stitch, but he is such a spaz that i cant get him to stay on the scale. any tips on that??

My other chin richie is so much tamer and i can get weights on him but Stitch can be such a little b***rd.