Bloat?

[Dilly's Piggies]

I've been hearing very loud stomach growling coming from my girl Delilah for the past 4-5 days, her poops are slightly softer and are teardrop shaped with a sharp point on them, I looked this up and it's a sign of not eating enough and dehydration, however Delilah is not off her food or water at all, infact she has actually been eating more since this started, I assume her instincts are telling her to eat more because her tummy is upset. I've been hand feeding her more hay, syringing water and giving her fibreplex every day for the past 3 days, I've also cut out spring greens and been feeding less veg.

I gave her a tummy massage yesterday and her stomach was growling up a storm, sounds like there is lots of gas in there and the massage seemed to help get some out, although she seemed a bit uncomfortable with me doing this, I can't tell if that's due to pain or if it's just because she's an extremely timid pig and doesn't like to be handled anyway. When I hold her up and gently flick her tummy it does sound hollow, but she doesn't look or feel very bloated, although I am going to say that she is bloated due to everything else going on plus the excess gas.

She's eating, drinking more and pooping at a normal rate but the poops are softer and misshaped. Is this the start of bloat?

 

[helen105281]

It could be the start of bloat or she may just have a bad case of gas. I would see what the vet thinks. Keep up with the massage as it does really help. Do you have anything that vibrates like an electric toothbrush? if so you can run that along her tummy. Gripe water may help too, I use the Woodwards one from the baby section in the supermarket. Start at 0.3ml a few times a day, I have dosed higher than that though. It does seem to help. Stop if you notice her poos getting even softer though. The vet may give you some gut stimulants too and hopefully some pain relief.

 

[Flutterby]

Sending healing vibes x

 

[DM030819]

I wouldn't worry too much as in my experience of bloat it tend to escalate very quickly if it's going to turn into life threatening bloat, and as she's been like this for 4-5 days then I think she'll be okay. If she's eating, moving around and doesn't seem to be in pain then it's not bloat, just gas.

When my bloat prone boy was like this I would give him some Metoclopramide (the vet was okay with me having some at home) and some Gripe Water if it didn't shift the gas. I would use vibration when I could, but if I didn't have access to anything then he would have lots of floor time. I would enlist the services of his enemy, Podrick, to help out if he didn't want to move around much.

Poop soup from a healthy piggy can be really helpful in getting the gut back to the right order.

How's Delilah feeling now @CavyConnoisseur ? Hope she's feeling better.

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

I wouldn't worry too much as in my experience of bloat it tend to escalate very quickly if it's going to turn into life threatening bloat, and as she's been like this for 4-5 days then I think she'll be okay. If she's eating, moving around and doesn't seem to be in pain then it's not bloat, just gas.

When my bloat prone boy was like this I would give him some Metoclopramide (the vet was okay with me having some at home) and some Gripe Water if it didn't shift the gas. I would use vibration when I could, but if I didn't have access to anything then he would have lots of floor time. I would enlist the services of his enemy, Podrick, to help out if he didn't want to move around much.

Poop soup from a healthy piggy can be really helpful in getting the gut back to the right order.

How's Delilah feeling now @CavyConnoisseur ? Hope she's feeling better.

I also thought 5 days was quite a while for her to be like this, I've had a piggy with bloat before and she stopped eating, became very lethargic, didn't poop and if she did poop it was like strings of tiny poops stuck together, this all happened within a matter of hours, sadly I had to have this piggy put to sleep, she was in terrible pain from it and wasn't improving, I will never forget that, it shattered my heart.

I've never had any tummy issues with my current piggies, Delilah is the first one and I'm not sure what caused it, they're still overcoming mites after treatment so maybe stress related, maybe some veggies I gave were bad or she just ate too many veggies, I'm not sure. Delilah is still doing just fine, I'm still giving her fibreplex and that is helping a tremendous amount, it stops her stomach growling within half an hour and puts her poops back to normal, it also makes her eat a tonne, there's definitely a negative change in gut flora so your recommendation of poop soup sounds like it would help, I have 10 pigs so we're not short of poop here lol! Can I just pick poops out of the cage or do I need to separate a healthy pig and collect them fresh? (Yuck!) Also how much and how often would you recommend I feed her that? I do always have metacam in if need be but I don't want to give her meds that could make the gas worse, I'm not sure if metacam causes gas though, someone more experienced would have to tell me if I should give her some at this time.

Hopefully it clears up soon, if she's no better on Monday I will take her to the vet but I think for now she is not in any immediate danger and maybe treating at home will suffice

 

[DM030819]

I personally try to use the least amount of medication as possible, so it's not affecting the gut flora any more than necessary. So, I would hope off on the Metacam (unless she seems to be in pain).

I tend to just hover around the pig cage for a while, and retrieve a fresh poop when I see one of them poop. I usually dissolve it in a bit of hot water and then let it cool a bit. I think pigs realise what it is so I've never had a willing volunteer, so I can usually only get 1ml into them before the stink eye becomes too strong. If they're really having tummy issues then I give it 3 times a day, more if I'm up during the night with them.

It sounds like you're doing a fantastic job! I've always wondered what causes their tummy upsets or bloat every time it happens. I can only assume it was a little bit of veg that has off that I missed. Although I did notice with my bloat prone boy that cold veg could set him off. So, I always used to have to let his food get to room temperature before feeding him.

I have a boy currently that has piggy IBS so his tummy is rumbly quite often, and his poops are never completely normal. I've noticed a few things set him off:
Tomato
Cucumber if the edges aren't completely fresh
Herbs
Certain pellet foods
Readigrass and hays that have bits in it

 

[Annabellam]

I would take it to the vet especially now that am not much of a specialist. Hoping and praying that it gets back to normal soon. Keep us posted.

 

[Dilly's Piggies]

I personally try to use the least amount of medication as possible, so it's not affecting the gut flora any more than necessary. So, I would hope off on the Metacam (unless she seems to be in pain).

I tend to just hover around the pig cage for a while, and retrieve a fresh poop when I see one of them poop. I usually dissolve it in a bit of hot water and then let it cool a bit. I think pigs realise what it is so I've never had a willing volunteer, so I can usually only get 1ml into them before the stink eye becomes too strong. If they're really having tummy issues then I give it 3 times a day, more if I'm up during the night with them.

It sounds like you're doing a fantastic job! I've always wondered what causes their tummy upsets or bloat every time it happens. I can only assume it was a little bit of veg that has off that I missed. Although I did notice with my bloat prone boy that cold veg could set him off. So, I always used to have to let his food get to room temperature before feeding him.

I have a boy currently that has piggy IBS so his tummy is rumbly quite often, and his poops are never completely normal. I've noticed a few things set him off:
Tomato
Cucumber if the edges aren't completely fresh
Herbs
Certain pellet foods
Readigrass and hays that have bits in it

I've also read things about feeding veg straight from the fridge, I admit I am guilty of this, it could be why. Would it work to buy plastic boxes, fill them with water and just leave them on the kitchen counter, and store the veggies in there instead of the fridge? I go shopping for veg every 2-3 days so the veg is eaten very fast with my lot, I don't think it would go off faster than they would eat it. The water and veggies inside would obviously be room temperature rather than chilled and I hear water preserves the fruit/veg, especially lettuce? Just a thought. Delilah also has a fetish for tomatoes, she absolutely loves them, I feed cherry tomatoes daily, 3 of them cut in half for 5 piggies so they all get a half of a small tomato each, but Delilah often eats two maybe even three halves, she's a tomato savage lol, I will not give tomatoes tonight and check the cucumber skin as I'm curious what triggered this. I will also try the poop soup, I'm sure Delilah can't wait for that

 

[Poppy'sMum]

I never give mine straight from the fridge either, I usually get it ready, do a cage tidy/poop sweep, meds then clean the litter tray, wash it & bowls etc then put fresh hay & pellets in, then I wash the veg in warm water, so it isn't cold by the time I give it to them

 

[DM030819]

I prepare the food in advance using the plastic chinese takeaway boxes. Then on a morning when I get up, or as soon as I get in from work I get out the boxes and leave them on the side for 15 -30 mins so they warm up a bit.

On an evening I'll do the boxes for the next day, for morning and evening.

It could be something completely different that triggered your girl. My bloat prone boar was absolutely fine with tomato but he couldn't have green peppers, weird!