Diarrhea is a very common condition in guinea pigs. But it’s usually not serious and can be quickly remedied with the right type of treatment.

Symptoms

Guinea pig diarrhea is watery and sometimes watery, and always mushy. It is very distinguishable from regular stools which are rounded and hard. Diarrhea is often accompanied by a number of other symptoms. You may notice that the cavy is not eating as much as usual, showing signs of pain in the stomach area, and having trouble performing daily activities.

If you find that the diarrhea is very frequent or smells very bad, you should take your pet to the vet immediately. This could be a serious case and you need to treat it urgently; at this time, the pig may also feel very weak or inactive.

Causes

Diarrhea is usually caused by indigestion due to eating the wrong food and is not too difficult to treat. However, it can also be caused by a number of other factors that, while not that common, do pose a real threat. One of these causes is parasites: sometimes bacteria or fungi can be ingested with food and cause diarrhea.

Ironically, diarrhea can also be caused by medications. If your pig is currently being treated for a medical condition, there is a good chance that this is the cause as well. Another common cause is not eating enough hay. Hay is extremely important for maintaining your guinea pig’s digestive health and a shortage of it will almost certainly lead to diarrhea.

Treatment

The first thing to do is stop feeding your pig fruits and vegetables. Until the diarrhea subsides, the pig should eat mostly timothy hay (perhaps with some feed pellets) and drink plenty of water. You must personally ensure that food and water are ingested, or hand feed if necessary. It is essential to keep the pig fed and well hydrated at this time.

If you haven’t already, you should be filling your guinea pig’s cage with plenty of fresh hay; this is vital is to contain diarrhea. Some of the hay may have gone bad and caused the problem in the first place, so if you can, you should replace all the hay with a fresh batch.

You should be able to see a drastic improvement in a day. If it doesn’t, take it as a serious condition and see your vet right away.