mel
Foraging Degu
Posts: 100
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Post by mel on Oct 19, 2011 9:35:03 GMT
Sorry to bring up the subject of poo but just want to check this is normal. I got my degus on Sunday and have found lots of normal looking dark brown/black pellet like poos around the cage. Today I was tickling one of the degus through the bars of the cage and he went to the toilet. I was close up enough to see it well and a normal pellet like poop came out but also a little puddle of milky,slightly yellow thickish liquid came out with it. What is this? On closer examination of the cage I've found another puddle like this with a poo in it. Is this what their urine looks like or is it something else?
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Post by fred on Oct 19, 2011 10:45:15 GMT
This sounds like urine. Depending on their diet, it can have quite different consistency and colour.
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mel
Foraging Degu
Posts: 100
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Post by mel on Oct 19, 2011 10:59:46 GMT
Ah that's put my mind at rest. Thank you. I've always kept rats before and their urine is thin and clear with a yellowish tinge much like ours. Didn't expect a degus to be so different!
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 20, 2011 0:51:12 GMT
The liquid came out WITH the poo? Both came from the anus? This may be very important to know, because it is abnormal for a degu to have liquid move through the bowel like that. If he urinated at the same time, then the milky substance will be due to the mineral content in the water he drinks, which is not a problem.
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mel
Foraging Degu
Posts: 100
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Post by mel on Oct 20, 2011 20:57:56 GMT
I didn't actually see it emerge from his anus but both appeared on the shelf he was sat on at the exact same time. As degus are very new to me I'm not familiar with what their urine looks like or whether they tend to urinate and poo at the same time or at different times.
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 21, 2011 4:58:35 GMT
You don't often see degus wee in a puddle, but rather they leave a trail behind them as they are walking . . . or waddling as the case may be. Wee in a zig zag seems to be more desirable than a simple straight line. However they do occasionally leave puddles and you can find a poo left in it. Have you found any more puddles like that one?
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mel
Foraging Degu
Posts: 100
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Post by mel on Oct 21, 2011 8:37:23 GMT
I have found one other puddle like this with a poo in the middle.
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Post by malteser60 on Oct 21, 2011 10:08:04 GMT
Mine leave poops in puddles. They seem to have 3 different favourite weeing positions - either in the corner on the bedding, or bum up against the cage and the wee just dribbles down the bars (thank you girls, more for me to scrub and clean!), or as deguconvert says they leave a trail behind them as they're walking. The also sometimes pee on the plain shelves and will leave a poop right in the middle of the puddle, then sniff it and grin at me as if they've accomplished something great! lol!
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madhoose
Foraging Degu
Pumpkin & Pipsqueak...
Posts: 85
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Post by madhoose on Oct 27, 2011 10:40:54 GMT
Mine too sometimes leave a wee puddle of pee with the occasional poop in it or they zig zag it all over the place.. i have only noticed the thickish cloudy liquid once or twice when we first got them but don't know where it came from or who it came from and never seen it since.. i assumed it was quite normal as they were all well.. What i have noticed since pumpkin has had her babies is that they both appear to lick her pee..  don't think they do it with his.. not sure what that's about or if they did it before... |
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Post by deguconvert on Oct 27, 2011 15:22:12 GMT
I have seen my males do this a number of times over the years. I have assumed that it is another way of measuring the health of the degu that the wee came from. I've never given it much thought beyond that.
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don't think they do it with his.. not sure what that's about or if they did it before...