Low poop production

[CJR]

Bessie hasn't been pooping normally for the past few days. She is still eating, drinking, and active but her poop production is oddly low. For instance, I had her out for playtime for about 15 minutes and she didn't poop once. Usually she poops at least 10-30 times. The poops she does produce are normal, with no holes in them, they are not squishy. Completely normal. Her belly is not any harder than normal.

What should I do? I can take her to the vet, but I need to know what to ask for because my vet is not too educated on chinchillas. Should I get x-rays done? Should I get a gut motility drug and if so, which one?

 

[Stackie]

As long as the poops look normal and her appetite and energy levels are normal, I wouldn't worry too much just yet. If the poops start to look odd and her appetite & energy change, then something might be going on.

There are days when my boys will poop up a storm when I have them out, and others where they hardly poop at all. You might have just caught her at an odd time where she hadn't eaten in awhile or something. A little bit of Lifeline and some acidophilus wouldn't hurt.

 

[CJR]

Maybe Stackie, but she has been like this for a few days now. I wasn't worried at first for exactly the reasons you specified, but it is worrying me now that it's still happening.

 

[Stackie]

Is it just when she's out of her cage? Does she have poops in her cage?

 

[ticklechin]

Do you have CC on hand? Might run a couple syringes of CC through her and see if that helps. Chins with GI slow down or partial impactions won't eat, drink or act normal, so if I were you I would weigh her food bowl for the next couple of days and see exactly how much she is eating, since most times input almost equals output.

 

[CJR]

Stackie - She has poops in her cage, but not as many as usual.

Ticklechin - Yeah, I can see if I can get some CC into her. She's really hard to burrito but I'll try. I'll keep track of her food bowl weight as well.

Do you think exercising her more would help (letting her out several times a day instead of just once)?

 

[ticklechin]

Yes, exercise is fantastic for poo production, the more the better.

 

[CJR]

Bessie's poos are still sparse, and they are very hard. She is drinking a lot of water compared to normal and she also isn't eating as much hay as normal. I'm starting to get worried. I've given her simethicone, but she isn't bloated and she doesn't have gas. I tried to feed her CC but she won't eat it willingly and no matter how hard I try, I can't burrito her.

I'm starting to get worried.

 

[caiti]

I would bring her in and maybe get x-rays. She might have a bit of an impaction. Is there any chance this is just normal variation? I would think an x-ray would be the most accessible test with clear enough results to rule out or lead to several diagnoses (gas, impaction, foreign body stuck in tract etc).

Hopefully others with more experience can advise you too. That's just what I would probably do if I had to make a decision about it without anyone else's input.

 

[CJR]

Thanks for the information, to those who gave it. Bess is finally pooping and eating again. I gave her some botanical hay instead of normal hay, which encouraged her to eat, and I exercised her a lot. Don't know if that helped or not, but she's better.

 

[ticklechin]

I have one who goes through a few days of small dry poo then they return to normal, not sure if he was always like that since he is a rescue of unknown age but in the year I have had him its happened 3 or 4 times. 1st time I freaked and took him to the vet and the vet found nothing, just told me to watch so since then I do just that, look for any other symptoms and none have ever showed up. Maybe she is just like him and all you can do is BOLO for any other symptoms.

 

[caiti]

Sweet beans!! Glad she got better, maybe she had a small, brief blockage or something that the hay moved out.

 

[CJR]

I think I found out why Bess wouldn't poop. Her cage is a Martin's-style cage, with a large plastic pan that the wire frame sits into. Today I was sitting in my room and I heard the tell-tale sound of teeth on plastic. Turns out she has been sticking her nose through the wire and eating the plastic pan. :banghead:

I am 95% sure that it caused a blockage. She must have passed it though, thankfully... in the past 24 hours, she has eaten four tablespoons of pellets and a good fistful of hay, and drank like 3oz of water.

I wrapped her pan in fleece for the night. Tomorrow I'm going to ask my dad to make a metal pan for her cage to sit in (he works a laser than cuts metal), instead of the plastic one. I'd like to see the little harlot chew through steel.

I'm just glad that she passed the plastic, somehow.

 

[Essentia]

Trust me when I say I know your pain. About a year ago Chula started having low poo production. They were smaller and much, much less. He also wasn't really eating his food. I pushed some CC in him over two days, and he seemed to get better. Then all of a sudden a few days later it would happen again. For the life of me I couldn't figure out what was going on. I feed him some CC over two days, and once again he was better. After the third time I was completely perplexed and more than a little frustrated. I fed him CC again and lo and behold he was once again better. I had already looked through his cage at all his fleece items since everything else was wood and metal, yet none of it had been chewed. I looked and looked. Then all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I saw something all the way to the back of his cage laying on top. It was right above his fleece house so I couldn't see it unless I was at an absolute perfect angle.

I found this.

These are pliers that my husband accidently left on top of the cage when he was tightening a bolt on the outside of the cage. See, most chins just chew. Chula doesn't chew, he eats. His fur, his sticks, pumice, anything he can get his little mouth on. There are pretty large chunks missing out of those handles, yet for whatever reason he was able to pass them as well. We shall count our blessings together.

 

[CJR]

Chula doesn't chew, he eats. His fur, his sticks, pumice, anything he can get his little mouth on.

Bess is the same way... I'm just happy that she passed it and I found the problem before it got any worse. I told my dad the measurements for the pan earlier, he said he can't promise he'll be able to make it today but he'll get to it. For now it'll stay wrapped in fleece until that metal pan is done.