digestion

Question
Hello, I would be grateful, if you could help me in the following situation. my guinea pig hasnt really pooped for some time (2 days)even though he has eaten rather normally. he makes only few small poops. He is a little less active than normally. I dont know what the cause might be, hasnt changed his diet recently. he is about 6 years old. His tummy is flat and soft to touch (not hard or so). Could it be a problems with probiotics? If yes, how can I supply them? Would normal human probiotics (in capsules) work? I have to say that where I live vet care for guinea pigs is absolutely insufficient, the doctors know a lot about dogs and cats but they now very little about guinea pigs and very probably have no other medication, just human or cat/dog treatments. So only going to the vet might not really help. Please help, I am worried, it has never happened to him.

Answer
You're not alone in being unable to find vets who are knowledgeable about guinea pigs. Very few really are.

At six years old your little fellow is an old man by guinea pig standards. The average life span is 4-5 years, although some do make it much farther. I'm not sure there's any indication for probiotics. We typically don't give those unless the pig is on antibiotics.

He may just be exhibiting signs of old age. At a certain point they are less active, eat less than normal and naturally do not poo as often. The best indicator of any pig's health is their appetite. When they don't feel well they stop eating and drinking. So if he's eating normally I don't think there's anything you can actually fix. Even though his poo is small, it is present. So we know he does not have any kind of blockage.

You might try giving him some extra lettuce. Wash it well before you feed it to him and give hit to him wet. The extra liquid sometimes helps the digestive tract to move better. I would not give him any kind of medication, not even probiotics. There really doesn't seem to be anything you're describing that sounds like he's ill.  

Guinea pigs age much as any other animal or human does. As we get old we don't move as much and we don't eat as much. It's just part of the aging process.