What's going on with my boys?

[Brittney]

I'm so stressed with this. I have had their poos tested multiple times and this is still a problem and I'm not sure what to do.

I have 2 boys, Bryson and Ande, both a year old, and both weighing in exactly at 680. I weigh them often and they aren't gaining or losing weight, just seem to be maintaining that weight nicely. They are on Mazuri and have gained weight since switching, which has been a couple of months. Their poos are in shape, and they aren't smearing around the cage, but squish flat easily and smell bad. Sometimes they are firmer, but still squish easily and still smell horrible. Then other days, they are so soft and have mucous bubbles and slime on them. I have taken in samples of all of them, and still nothing. I even went to a different vet. I'm so confused.

My dog likes to eat chin poo and lately she has been having yellow, mucous diarrhea and it smells horrible. I'm not sure what's going on here. Could it all be linked?

I have upped their timothy hay, and given them activated charcoal on a shreddie and acidophilus and that usually fixes it, but now nothing is working.

Also, I gave Bryson a hair ring check today, finally, the first time he has ever let me do it and he had a ball of hair which I removed. It smelled like fish. I know that's not normal.


What's going on here?

 

[alli713]

When you say you've brought their poop in, has it been tested for parasites like giardia?

 

[Brittney]

Yes, I had them test for everything and anything, at 2 different vets

 

[tunes]

First thing I would suggest is try switching them off Mazuri. There were many people having this issue with Mazuri on CnQ. I know some people swear by it, but the people who switched off of it were much happier once they did.

What exactly did they test for with the stool samples? And yes, depending on what they had, it could be passed to your dog if the poo gets eaten. It just depends on exactly what "it" is.

 

[Brittney]

I had them test for giardia, coccidia and worms.

 

[Rickman]

One of the reasons I switched from Mazuri was it's inconsistancy - I could sometimes see/smell the difference from bag to bag! [other reason was price]
You might have gotten one of those bags that was first or last milled, and might be missing something or have too much of another.
Maybe try another bag or switch to another recommended brand to see if that's the problem.
My first switch was to PANR, recommended by another member, and besides being 1/2 the price, cured the 'soft poo' dilemma! Never had another problem!

 

[Siylvat]

How errr..fresh were the samples you had tested? I heard that if they are not really fresh things may not show up when tested.

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

I, too, switched to PANR from Mazuri due to the mucousy, squishy poos. We have nice, plump poos now and the boys gained some weight as well.

 

[Brittney]

I took them with me, in different carriers. They took the samples from the trip over, and it only takes 10 minutes to get to the vet.

 

[Stackie]

I agree with switching them onto another food. All of my chins that I had at the time had mooshy poop off and on when I fed Mazuri..when I switched, the problem stopped. Never had any problems with Oxbow and I've been feeding it for over a year now.

 

[theCHIBIkitten]

I had the same issue with Mazuri. I switched to a high quality feed milled locally (Unifeed/Surecrop), and my guys have been doing fantastic ever since. No more poop inconsistancy, and they've gained some weight and kept it on.

 

[AZChins]

Are you sure that it's not the hay or something else you are feeding them? Didn't you have them on Orchard grass or something?

 

[AZChins]

I've NEVER had any problems like that with Mazuri. I've been using it for 12 years...I have 250 chins on it without any problems.

 

[Brittney]

I had them on orchard grass for a week, and it did make it softer, but this has been going on for a while, even before I had to make them eat orchard grass for a while.

I went out and bought the smallest bag of rabbit PANR- show they had. 50 freakin pounds was the "smallest" oh lord. Please tell me I got the right kind. If this doesn't work, then I don't know what's going on.

 

[Siylvat]

Please tell me I got the right kind.

Purina Advanced Nutrition Rabbit Show Formula. Yep. Blue bag.

 

[starleomach]

What is your water source? I had a water issue here from our well that presented in some of the chinchillas similar but was the chemicals upsetting the GI tract. All it took to correct it for most of the herd (after many many dollars at the vet and trips to the vet) was switching to bottled water.

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

That's the right one!!!

You can do what I do with my 50 pound bag. I have the feed store scoop out 15 pounds for me and then I donate the rest to the Denver Dumb Friends League.

That way, my boys don't have to eat stale feed for months at a time and I get to do a good deed at the same time. :thumbsup: They're always happy to see me!!!

 

[Brittney]

I use reverse osmosis water. In my area of AZ it's the only thing suitable for any living creature. I would never give them, or myself for that matter anything else because our tap water is soft water, which means it's high in sodium and minerals.

 

[Chinniechantel]

I had the same problems with Mazuri, and am SO happy now with the PANR. It has been a lifesaver (literally) for my chins.

 

[starleomach]

That is also why I switched away from Mazuri long ago...animals losing weight, low birth survival rate...and poop was off.