No Poop (ish)

[Welldweller]

Hi, I'm a new chin owner and I'm very anxious about things that arent normal. My Boy wilson is about a year old. I got him from someone whose daughter lost interest and mom did minimal cleaning. He was on some sort of mix from a rescue that had a lot of random stuff in it(oats, seeds and other things + pellets). I did a slow transition to oxbow premium (red) over 3 weeks. He is now totally on oxbow and having soft squishy poops the last two days (randomly during transition there were soft poops but mostly fine).
When the poops were all soft I saw information that said to feed hay only for a few days. so I pulled pellets for a day and then was told NOT to pull pellets and do a hard transition and leave them in so I put them back. He had poop this morning and some around his cage that seemed dried and hard when I got home from work,
He had one poop (soft and green) around 6:30pm and I havent seen a poop since ( it is 8:40pm)
---its 9pm now and he had about 5 poops. some small some normal, still squishy .

His stomach is a bit squishy I guess but since I never felt his stomach before I have no frame of reference for the normal feeling. Hes moving around and acting normal. He ate a tiny bit of hay and a bit of pellets every little bit but not a lot. I havent seen him drink yet personally but his water is working and he is urinating yellow.
We decided to give gas drops because we dont have an exotic emergency vet ( and we cant really afford it).
He has a wellness exam on friday (scheduled before any issues had arisen)


I am so overwhelmed and the information is so varied I feel lost.

 

[Welldweller]

I realize I may have posted in the wrong section

He has pooped a bunch more after getting the gas drops. could be coincidence or not. I'm not sure. its 1:45am. While a bit reserved (there is some street sweeper noise outside) he's still acting normal.

 

[Amethyst]

If the reason for the soft poop is diet change or eating too much treats or something along those lines, then yes pulling the pellets for up to about 3 days can sometimes help. The idea is to help increase fiber intake to hopefully firm up the poops and get whatever they ate that upset their gut moving along through faster. If after a day or two of just hay you don't see any improvement then you need to see the vet because it's something more serious then just a sudden change in diet causing it. Some people do feel it's best not to pull pellets though, since they do make up for any nutrients the hay is lacking, if the chin is actually sick and not just something the chin ate causing upset it can do more harm then good. That is why you should watch for signs of improvement within a day or two, and they should be better within a few days.

As far a the poop goes, it's best to just talk to the vet when you go in for the wellness check. Wet poop and especially squishy green poop can be a sign of a gut parasite like giardia, or infection. Giardia is fairly common, and is most common if given unfiltered tap water, safe levels of things in the water for humans can still be too high for a chin. Lack of many poops and small poops can be a sign of gas, so the best thing to do is try the gas drops like you did. Chins are good at hiding illness and act normal until they are so sick they physically can't, so you need to watch for the little things they can't control like their poop for signs something isn't right.