Gweeker, my silver and white mixed-breed guinea pig, hunched in a corner of her cage and refused to interact with my other guinea pigs. These are signs that something was wrong. I picked up Gweeker but she did not want to be touched. Normally, she loved attention and didn’t mind getting picked up. Her abdomen was swollen and tight as a drum. She had constipation.
Constipation in guinea pigs or cavies is not to be confused with anal impaction. With impaction, the guinea pig is still producing normal stools, but these stools get stuck inside of the guinea pig’s perineal sac. The stool pellets need to be manually removed. Gweeker had trouble passing any stools. Those that she managed to pass were hard, round and sometimes stuck together.
Guinea Pigs and Coprophagy
Guinea pigs pass two different types of stool – regular feces and cecal pellets, also known as caecal pellets or caecotrophs. These pellets, softer than the usual feces, are like a cow’s cud. Guinea pigs need to eat these pellets in order to properly digest vitamins and other nutrients. The pellets cannot be digested the first time around by friendly bacteria such as Metabacterium polyspora. If a guinea pig does not eat these pellets, she can die. This is why constipation in guinea pigs cannot be ignored.
Guinea Lynx.com recommends feeing another guinea pig’s cecal pellets to a sick guinea pig. However, harvesting these pellets is difficult. Many guinea pig owners have never seen a cecal pellet because a guinea pig tends to eat them immediately upon excreting them. The guinea pig’s head goes down between the hind legs and out goes the pellet directly into the awaiting mouth.
Constipation Treatment
To treat Gweeker’s constipation, I first tried to feed her a bit of apple peel, which is high in fiber. She refused the apple peel. I dripped one drop of olive oil onto her favorite treat – a fresh Romaine lettuce leaf – and she did eat that. Encourage a constipated guinea pig to drink water and eat high-fiber treats to help stimulate the bowels. Never give a human laxative to a guinea pig. If a guinea pig refuses to eat anything at all, even her favorite treats, contact a vet immediately. This is a medical emergency.
Over the phone, my vet recommended to force-feed Gweeker mineral oil. However, I did not know how to do that. Now was not the time to learn. You need to be very careful when force-feeding a guinea pig, since any liquid can easily get into the lungs. The next day I took Gweeker to the vet for her mineral oil treatment. Let’s just say that everything came out all right in the end!
Additional References
The Proper Care of Guinea Pigs. Peter Gurney. TFH Publications; 1999
The Guinea Pig Handbook. Sharon L. Vanderlip, DVM. Barron’s; 2003.
Guinea Pigs. Audrey Pavia, et al. Bow Tie Press; 2005.
