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Bloat cause?

H

hayethusiasts

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Good morning everyone

My guinea pigs usually have 50g of lettuce between the 2 of them, then I recently changed it to 40g of lettuce and this has caused them bloat. I have not changed anything else in their routine, and have not given them any new foods. It was just the slight weight change in lettuce.

Is this possible that the lettuce caused it? I find it hard to believe and am beating myself because I caused it :(

I have now switched to daily weight checks and have switched 1 tbsp of their usual pellets to the dualcare.

I also wanted to ask, can I still give the fibreplex on top of the 1tbsp dualcare? I have given the 1tbsp dualcare this morning so was planning to give fibreplex lunchtime and this evening.

Thank you so much
 
They have both bloated?

Generally speaking reducing the amount of veg they have does not in itself cause bloat.
Suddenly increasing veg and sudden extreme changes in the diet can cause it. It is of course possible your piggies are very sensitive to it but I struggle to reconcile 10g (5g each - it’s what, half a leaf difference) reduction in lettuce as a cause for them to bloat.

I have to say I have never weighed veg out, and actually veg is usually done by volume but weight due to the differing densities. One lettuce leaf each.

Dualcare already contains pre/probiotics but pre/probiotics are not a treatment for bloat.

You will need to remove all veg, daily weight checks and support feeding where appropriate and see a vet
 
Piggies&buns said:
They have both bloated?

Generally speaking reducing the amount of veg they have does not in itself cause bloat.
Suddenly increasing veg and sudden extreme changes in the diet can cause it. It is of course possible your piggies are very sensitive to it but I struggle to reconcile 10g (5g each - it’s what, half a leaf difference) reduction in lettuce as a cause for them to bloat.

I have to say I have never weighed veg out, and actually veg is usually done by volume but weight due to the differing densities. One lettuce leaf each.

Dualcare already contains pre/probiotics but pre/probiotics are not a treatment for bloat.

You will need to remove all veg, daily weight checks and support feeding where appropriate and see a vet
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I believe both have, yes. I am baffled myself. They still appear to eat hay, although less. I am now thinking, they seemed fine with the fireworks but may have affected them more than i thought. Oh i don't know, i feel worried :(

I will stop their veggies.

Is there a thread about how to re-introduce them please?
 
Make sure you only weigh them once a day. First thing in the morning is the best time for weight checks.

You certainly didn’t cause this and you haven’t harmed them.
Eating just 5g less lettuce each is not going to have done this.
Weighing veg is generally speaking not the done thing so there are going to be inconsistencies in veg size from day to day in most piggies diets. Nobody would ever be able to spot a 5g difference in a lettuce leaf
 
Piggies&buns said:
Make sure you only weigh them once a day. First thing in the morning is the best time for weight checks.

You certainly didn’t cause this and you haven’t harmed them.
Eating just 5g less lettuce each is not going to have done this.
Weighing veg is generally speaking not the done thing so there are going to be inconsistencies in veg size from day to day in most piggies diets. Nobody would ever be able to spot a 5g difference in a lettuce leaf
Click to expand...
Thanks @Piggies&buns. Weight has been stable so i am not too worried. Have stopped their veggies now so hopefully in the next 48 hours it will normalise, they have slightly more poops and more formed this afternoon than this morning so it is weird what has caused it as i have not done anything different in their routine at all
 
It's so hard when they are wheeking for their veggies and when you look at their cute little faces expecting it 😅🥲
 
weepweeps said:
I’m glad they have perked up. It’s possible it was the fireworks. We had 5 days of them here.
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Thank you. The weird thing is they have been acting normally still popcorning a lot, etc. Just the poops are so much less and mishhapen. But yes i'm glad their weight is stable and that it looks like just a mild GI upset x
 
I just wanted to double check - i'm just reading for when hopefully i will reintroduce veggies again - the first meal, second meal, so on... is it daily? What i mean is, is the first meal day 1 then second meal day 2, so on? Or is it weekly? Sorry i wanted to double check as I'm sure i read somewhere here in the forum that i have to give the small amount of cilantro for a few days then increase? I wanted to double check what it meant by the 'meal' please if it's per day or per week.

Thank you. I hope my query makes sense!
 
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