Soft poos caused by...hay?

[greychins]

So, we pulled a chin from one of the local humane societies. No idea what she was fed before, but when we picked her up....the food in her food bowl looked to me like parrot food, so obviously not the right stuff. Not to mention, this chin is skin n bones.

So we get her home, fresh pellets, water, everything. For the first few days she had really tiny poos, which I attributed to the fact that she really didn't want to touch her food for the first few days. Well, she finally started eating the food and her poos became a more normal size.

I'd been giving her oxbow Timothy hay (someone had donated a bag, we use horse hay). Well I ran out of that bag and gave her our usual hay. Came back in the morning and she had loose poos. Didn't give her hay the next day and the poos were solid again.

I gave her hay last night, haven't had a chance to check on her yet today (i'm at work). So I'll see what's going on when I get home....but has anyone had something like this happen? Give hay and end up with loose poos? Our horse hay is a mix of Timothy, alfalfa, orchard grass, and rye. The bales we have current bales were recently cut and seem to have a more-than-usual amount of alfalfa in them. None of our other chins/rescues are having any problems
with this hay, and they're all gobbling it up. So I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts? I will be checking on the chin when I get home from
work and we'll see how she tolerated the hay then.

 

[greychins]

In thinking about it, it might be that she started to eat her new food the same time as the hay, which might make a little more sense for the loose poos....

 

[AZChins]

There's probably nothing at all wrong with the hay. Chins that haven't been fed hay for a long time often get diarrhea from eating hay just because their bodies aren't used to it, their gut bacteria isn't balanced for the digestion of hay.

There's a few options. You could just give her all the hay she wants and make her body adjust but that may make the diarrhea worse. Or, you could start her out with just a little hay and then work up to giving her a normal amount over a week or two. Or, maybe load her up with probiotic and help her digestive system along in acclimating to her new diet? Her diet obviously needs to change, but you may need to go about it slowly since she's not very healthy at the moment.

I've seen this same thing many times. I hope she's alright and will bounce back from being fed a poor diet and also because she is so thin. Losing all that muscle weight from her body could have caused some damage to her liver or kidneys.

 

[greychins]

Ok Thanks for the response. I did give her some acidophilus when I noticed the loos poos. I just have never seen loose poos from hay before. A lot of chins we get in haven't had much/any hay, but they've never reacted this way. Of course, they've also not been skin n bones either. Unfortunately she's in bad shape. Normal size chin but barely 400 grams when I picked her up. She's already gained 30 grams in the last...2 weeks? So she's at least eating, and aside from this loose poo incident, her poos were starting to look better. But she's got a ways to go.

As for the hay...I think the suggestion of working her up to a normal amount of hay is a good idea. When I gave her hay last night, i gave her a smaller amount than I'd usually give...maybe she'll do ok with the smaller amount and I can increase from there.

Eta: and I will definitely be keeping uP with the acidophilus. She could definitely use it.

 

[AZChins]

Yeah, her little body just doesn't know how to handle so much good food. Poor thing. When they are starved so badly they definitely have a much more dramatic reaction to dietary changes than one that is normal weight. I get them when they are so thin and I just cringe at how bony they are. There's always that compulsion to start giving them richer foods and supplements...but usually it's best to get the chin on the right track with good pellets and hay before stepping it up with extras. In a few weeks she'll probably look like a completely different chinnie!

By the way...you must post before and after pictures of her when you get her to be all gorgeous again!