yet another chin poop

[pants567]

So I've looked through basically all the poop threads and found as many as I could that were similar to my situation. Anyway here's what is going on:
FenFen was fine last night, my boyfriend took him out and played with him and his poop was normal last night. When we put him away we went to bed and he just basically went to sleep. This morning I noticed there wasn't much poop on the shelves. I was looking at him and I saw his bottom looked strange, I immediately thought hair ring, so I got him to come out of his cage and burrito wrapped him so I could take a look. No hair ring, but I noticed a piece of poop sticking to his fur, so I pulled it off and he started pooping. I noticed that his poop was a lot bigger, stickier and had a green tint to it, they were also soft. So after thread surfing I went to the store and got acidophilus, activated charcoal, pure pumpkin, a syringe and some plain shredded wheat. When I got home I crushed up one of the acidophilus pills and mixed it in with some pumpkin and syringe fed it to him. He ate some of it but then just wouldn't eat anymore of it, it ended up being a little compact disc at the end of it so I popped out the little disc and tried to feed that to him, he wouldn't have it. I put some charcoal on a piece of shredded wheat and he ate some of it but then dropped it and went into his hammock where he has been sleeping since then. (probably bout 20 minutes ago)
How long should I wait until I take him to the vet if his poop doesn't firm up? I know how big of a problem this can be if it gets out of hand. He's been drinking pur3 filtered water with the exception of when he first came home 2 days before I got the filter (2 weeks ago). I took away his pellets so he only has hay right now. Is there anything else I can be doing for him? Anything in particular I should look out for as a sign to immediately take him to the vet?

 

[ticklechin]

Does the poo have a smell? Does is have a slime on it? If you break it open is it hollow or does it look like swiss cheese? If the answer is no to all those questions and the chin is not lethargic, not stretching and eating and drinking normal then is more than likely just digestive upset. When I treat loose poo I give pet pectillin for a day or so (you get it at petco/petsmart in the dog/cat heath section) .3ml twice a day. Others like to pull pellets, give activated charcoal and the such and that is fine also. The one thing I do not give is shredded wheat, there are chins that develop wheat intolerence and giving it can make digestive matters worse.

 

[pants567]

He's pooping a bit more than he had been earlier. They are a little bit slimey, but not terribly. I broke one of them apart and it is a lot firmer than it was this morning. The one that I broke apart only had one little bubble in it and they don't smell. I saw him stretch once this morning but not since then. He is still eating and drinking and he is wandering around his cage right now with his ears up, eyes wide open and honestly he is already looking a lot better than he did this morning. The poops are still bigger than normal though.

 

[pants567]

I broke open a couple more poops, two were solid all the way through and one had a little hollow center, it looked like someone had poked it through with a small sewing needle for size comparison. I wouldn't say they particularly slimey, they aren't sticky anymore. They are more just a little slippery/moist now. I've never picked up his poop unless I was cleaning up his cage so this is the first time I've handled it fresh out of him. He is eating his hay and his ears are perked up which they weren't earlier. Could it have been the stress of coming out for playtime after he hadn't had it in a couple days?

 

[pants567]

So FenFen is doing bit better, his poop is still a bit moist but not as squishy (though he's still making a mess of it) I'm making him some chin cookies which is really just me mixing pumpkin, acidophilus, a tiny bit of activated charcoal, timothy hay and crushed shredded wheat baked to harden. He also just looks a lot better than he did this morning, so hopefully he'll be back to normal by morning. I'm going to clean his whole cage tonight and try to scrub off some of the poop smears from the the shelves so I can monitor his poop more easily. I also scrubbed down his water bottle. If his poop is normal tomorrow should I start giving him pellets again or should I wait a couple days?

 

[pants567]

Update: I can't tell if he is pooping or not. I just finished cleaning his cage so that I'll have an easier time finding the poop. Normally he poops aaalllll over his shelves but as of last night new poo on the shelves so I'm keeping an eye on the bedding. He's still walking around but it is hard to tell if he's lethargic or just tired because I woke him up so I could clean out his cage. He is still eating and drinking which I take as a good sign. I haven't given his pellets back so he is just still eating hay and fresh water. I'm not going to give him the pumpkin today since I haven't been able to tell what new poops are looking like. Is it normal to go from soft poo to next to no poo or could this be signaling a problem? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[pants567]

So he's only pooped twice in the last hour. They were small and soft, I squeezed one of them and it sounded like a airbubble popped. After a while I got him out of his cage because I wanted to make sure his butt was clear and that poop wasn't impacting in there and he was clear. I felt his stomach and it didn't seem harder than usual but I gave him a mini belly massage which he seemed to enjoy. How long should I wait before I take him to the vet? Should I not give him the pumpkin again today since his poops are so small even though they are still kinda soft? Is this little amount of poop normal?

 

[pants567]

This'll be my last post in this thread, he's doing much better tonight. He's pooping up a storm and they are normal poops! He is also back to his active old self cage surfing like a mad man. He is actually more active tonight than he has been in a couple days so I guess he is feeling much better. Just want to say thanks to everyone who has posted their experiences and what they've done in the past, I wouldn't have known what to do other than taking him to the vet, which luckily he didn't need this time. Just a little TLC.

 

[Tillygizmo]

Sheesh. I wish you got more feedback than you did! Sorry about that. Seems like you've done all the right stuff which is prob why he's better. good job. Chinnymom