How Much Water?

[Angelyco]

Hey all,

I tried searching the forums but I couldn't find anything. How much water should a chin usually drink in a day? One of my chins is still having consistently soft poo, even with nothing but loose hay in her diet, and the two of them go through water pretty quickly, no leak in the bottle. I'm curious if she is drinking too much, and if that might affect her poo quality.

I did notice that the chin with the regular poo drank a LOT less water than how fast they go through it combined, so I'm pretty sure the soft-poo chin is drinking much more than the other.

Any ideas how much water consumption is normal and if it could be a factor with her poop?

 

[StevieP]

The average amount of water consumed daily is 25 to 50 mL (or 0.85 to 1.7 ounces). This is a ballpark number and different chins may drink more or less.

The fact that she is drinking more water is not the cause for the soft poop, but more likely it could be another symptom of the problem causing the soft poop.

Did the vet take a poop sample and send it off to be analyzed for parasites?

 

[Angelyco]

Yes, she already went to the vet, the fecal test came back clean. He said it was probably just diet or stress. He had me take away the pellets and hay cubes, and only feed loose hay. I switched to Oxbow hay at this time as well, so she's getting basically the best I can give her.

This was a few weeks ago now and her poop hasn't really improved. Every time I try to give a little bit of pellets (Oxbow as well), her poop gets a little worse - softer and stickier. I did give them Shredded Wheat for about a week (half of one each twice a day) but it didn't seem to make a difference, just made a mess!

Between the two of them, they go through about 5 oz of water a day, and I know this one drinks more than the other.

 

[Chub_Chub]

I think my questions would be what kind of pellets are you feeding and what kind of water? Wet poops can be a result of too many treats, cold turkey food changes (or not going slow enough with the introduction of new food), possible parasites, the list can go on. But if the chin is getting lots of hay and water, I would think they would have to be under constant stress to not have gotten better after a couple days (if all the rest of possible causes have been ruled out). Hope your little girl gets better soon!

Oh, and I have a couple guys who share a water bottle, they will go through a whole bottle within 2 days. But all the rest of my boys will have barely gone through a quarter of the same bottle. Some chins just love to drink I guess

 

[Angelyco]

I feed them Oxbow pellets and Pur filtered water. I was told to switch their food cold turkey from Kaytee to Oxbow, since Oxbow is much better for them, but this all started BEFORE that food change. They have only had a little bit of the Oxbow pellets, two occasions I tried to introduce the pellets back into their diet, Diamond's poop got much worse and I had to take it away again, less than 24 hours. Diamond hasn't had any treats in a month, and fecal test came back clean.

Could it still be a stress issue though if the pellets cause a noticeable difference in poop quality? I would think there has to be something physically going on for the food to matter.

I talked to the vet yesterday and he wasn't helpful at all - said he had to research it more and get back to me. I'm still waiting for the call back, but I'm not expecting much help there. I also mentioned her water intake, and he said it wasn't surprised since they are on such a dry diet (just hay) right now, but we could do blood work later if needed.

I did ask him about Albon, to which he said it wouldn't hurt, but he has no reason to give it to her, since the fecal came back clean. If he doesn't have a good answer for me, I'm going to push the subject. I feel like I have to try SOMETHING, because her poop is just not normal and it's hard to keep the cage (and their fur) as clean as I'd like.

 

[StevieP]

I doubt it is stress related. Allthough, Giardia can lay dormant in chins and flare up with the chin is stressed, but the fecal should have been positive for it. Did the vet send the poop off to the lab or did they try to analyze it in house? With this duration and severity of watery poop I would bet there is some sort of infection going on.

Have you been monitoring her weight? Any significant changes?

You could try giving acidophilus. There is also activated charcoal which would absorb any toxins. Both of these you would sprinkle on 1/2 of a shredded wheat and give to the chin. I would try these and see what happens. Neither can do any harm.

 

[StevieP]

You can also give Pet Pectillin which is found at PetSmart or Petco. That also claims to remove toxins. Give 3mL twice a day for 2-3 days. I would give this and acidophilus and after 3 days there is no improvement, see what the vet says.

 

[ticklechin]

There are chins that are wheat intolerant. The pellets have wheat and the shredded wheat could be causing the situation to be worse. Try feeding a alfalfa only pellet-meaning is has nothing but alfalfa and timothy hay and see if that helps. Albon is usually used to treat enteritis in chins, which is a infection of the intestinal tract.

 

[Spoof]

The fact that she is drinking more water means she is making up for fluid loss due to loose stool.

I'm with everyone on getting some acidophalus to reset the internal flora. You can also strip her cage and throw a healthy chin's poo in there - she'll eat it and it will do the same thing.

Temperature fluctuation is what causes the most liquid intake. Healthy water intake is very little during optimal temperatures and can become considerably more with extreme temps both hot and cold.

That, and some chins just drink and pee more than others. Particularly females.

 

[Angelyco]

I don't have a small scale I can use, but it feels like she's actually gaining weight. I don't believe she is full grown though, so gaining may be normal. Or it could just be all the water! )

I'm not sure if they did the fecal test in house, it was 2 days between when they took the sample and when I got the results, not sure how long it would take if they did it in house.

The shredded wheat made no difference in her poop one way or another. They have been on JUST Oxbow timothy hay for the last week or two and her poop is still soft. It just gets WORSE when given pellets.

I saw some other threads that mentioned Pectillin, I'm headed over by our Petsmart and Petco this evening anyway so I'll pick some up. I found info about activated charcoal and how to give it, but what about the acidophilus? Same thing with human capsules, sprinkle on shredded wheat? How often do you give the charcoal or acidophilus?

 

[Chub_Chub]

I know you need to be careful about the charcoal dosage because it absorbs both bad and good stuff out of their system. Vitamins, nutrients, all of it, so they kind of cancel each other out. So I think you would need to alternate the charcoal and acidophilius, not giving them at the same time to her. I hope someone can jump in here that has a better idea of dosage times, my charcoal shreddies from chocolatechinchillas.com are at home, I don't know what is recommended on it.

You can open acidophillius capsules and sprinkle on shreddie, or you can buy the chewable tablet ones that are milk free. We use the chewable strawberry ones.:thumbsup: Don't forget to break it into small pieces, I quarter mine.

Edited to add: From the site, she had info on the product page..
CHAR-SHREDS: Please Read Carefully. A mix of shredded wheat, charcoal, & honey. Offer to animals with diarrhea &/or those that may have consumed something toxic. Charcoal absorbs everything in the digestive tract- that includes nutrients, so it should be used no more than 2 days consecutively with at least one day in between the next dose. On the day that you do use it, get in as much as possible.
http://www.chocolatechinchillas.com/id14.html

 

[Tanya]

You can try Oreganol. It usually helps fast whether diarrhea stems from bacterial, viral, or parasitic origin. You can see improvement in 12-24 hours. Just add 3-4 drops of Oreganol to a small amount of hand feeding formula mixed with water (about a teaspoon). If you do not have a hand feeding formula, you can grind alfalfa leaves (coffee grinder). You should give your chin a pea-sized amount of the mix twice a day for about 3-4 days.
I'd also give your chin some loose alfalfa hay as she needs nutrients – prolonged diarrhea leads to the loss of water and nutrients from the body. It can be very dangerous if left untreated – it should always be treated promptly.

 

[Angelyco]

I got the Pectillin and gave Diamond some last night. Since she was a little messy and grumpy after that experience, we let her stay in the cage and just let Pearl out for playtime. Since Pearl was by herself, when I was cleaning up after playtime, I found out that Pearl's poop is also sticky and soft now. It's the same size as normal, though. We started her on the Pectillin as well.

Now I'm getting nervous though since they BOTH have soft poop. The only new thing Pearl had recently was a "dipped" apple stick from Camphor Chins (not sure if it was the dandelion or rosehip powder one that I gave her), I don't know if that did anything.

 

[Spoof]

Remember what I mentioned earlier about feeding healthy poop? It works both ways - if a healthy chin eats squishy poo they get squishy poo.

 

[StevieP]

Did you get some acidophilus? I agree that they need some alfalfa hay too for the nutrients. Honestly I would give some pellets since obviously they weren't the cause for the soft poop. Make sure to give the pectillin every 12 hours for 3 days.

 

[Angelyco]

Spoof - they've been together for about 6 weeks and Diamond has had soft poop ever since I got her, wouldn't it have happened by now if that was the case? Or Pearl just now decided she wanted to taste it?

I'm getting the acidophilus (and charcoal) tonight. I won't use the charcoal yet, but I want to have it on hand. Pellets make the poop worse, unfortunately. Instead of just soft, if they have pellets, there is poop smeared all over the cage within a few hours. I have some alfalfa cubes, but I'm afraid to give it to them, I don't want to make anything worse.

 

[GorillaJTA]

Pellets make the poop worse, unfortunately. Instead of just soft, if they have pellets, there is poop smeared all over the cage within a few hours.

It is normal for new pellets to cause soft poo for a while as the chin's digestive flora adapt. The chin will never adapt to the pellets if you never give them.

 

[Angelyco]

The vet just called me back, 3 days later. He thinks they may have missed a parasite, so he is calling in a prescription for metronidazole (Flagyl?). Since this is what he came up with, he is not surprised that both chins have diarrhea now. I told him about the Pectillin and he said it wouldn't hurt to keep giving it, but if it's not helping (which it hasn't so far), I can stop giving it. I'll have to wait and see how difficult it is to give this new medication and decide if it's too much stress to give them both.

 

[Angelyco]

Just an update: We started the probiotics Thursday night, started the metronidazole last night. We stopped the Pectillin after 4 doses, since we started the other things, and it was making no difference anyway. So far, no noticeable difference in poop, but the vet assured me the meds could take 3-5 days for the poop to improve. I went ahead and gave them them small amounts of pellets back, sprinkled with probiotics. Since their poop was already squishy either way, at least they'll stop pushing each other around over the hay.

I did pick up a scale though, and got their weights from the vet from March 17. At the vet, Diamond weighed 504g, and Pearl was 356g. Diamond is now 558g and Pearl is 383g. Apparently the constant diarrhea hasn't hurt Diamond's weight at all! Wow. Is it okay that she gained over 50g in a month, especially since she's been on nothing but hay and a little shredded wheat? I don't know if Diamond is full grown yet, but Pearl is still growing for sure, not surprised she gained weight.