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Bloat

Little Ones

Little Ones

Adult Guinea Pig
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Location
Barnsley, UK
Our boy Peanut (age 4) has just eaten some veg and is suddenly bloated. It’s quickly come on, it’s not stopping him from eating or anything and he still wants to continue.
I’ve read the thread on bloat and his tummy is being massaged as we speak. Is there anything I can do?
We go to see Simon/Kim for his teeth on Tuesday and it’s going to be a really long drive, so I don’t think I’ll be able to get to our exotic vet before then as that is an hour away in itself. I could try and make the appointment with Simon on monday?
Will he be okay until then? Is this normal as he’s just scoffed tons of veg - he stole a fair amount of the other pigs veg and I just let him considering he’s underweight to start with.
Any help would be appreciated

Edit: it’s gone down a bit after being massaged, if that helps.
 
Little Ones said:
Our boy Peanut (age 4) has just eaten some veg and is suddenly bloated. It’s quickly come on, it’s not stopping him from eating or anything and he still wants to continue.
I’ve read the thread on bloat and his tummy is being massaged as we speak. Is there anything I can do?
We go to see Simon/Kim for his teeth on Tuesday and it’s going to be a really long drive, so I don’t think I’ll be able to get to our exotic vet before then as that is an hour away in itself. I could try and make the appointment with Simon on monday?
Will he be okay until then? Is this normal as he’s just scoffed tons of veg - he stole a fair amount of the other pigs veg and I just let him considering he’s underweight to start with.
Any help would be appreciated
Click to expand...

Please see an out-of-hours vet as soon as possible. Sudden severe bloat cannot wait!
You can find contacts on your regular vet clinic's answer machine or you can google for out of hours vet services in your area.

I am very sorry, but this IS serious; severe bloat can kill. The sooner you can step in with zantac, emeprid and metacam the better!
 
Wiebke said:
Please see an out-of-hours vet as soon as possible. Sudden severe bloat cannot wait!
You can find contacts on your regular vet clinic's answer machine or you can google for out of hours vet services in your area.

I am very sorry, but this IS serious; severe bloat can kill. The sooner you can step in with zantac, emeprid and metacam the better!
Click to expand...
Will a regular vets be able to provide the right meds? He’s already on metacam for his teeth.
How do I know if it’s severe? He’s eating and he’s active
 
Little Ones said:
Will a regular vets be able to provide the right meds? He’s already on metacam for his teeth.
How do I know if it’s severe? He’s eating and he’s active
Click to expand...

Please read this guide and feel the tummy as to how tight it is (as described in the guide). Also read up on the medication advice in the guide so you know what to ask the vet.
Bloat, GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating

Be aware that severe bloat comes in waves which can be hours or days apart. If you piggy is still eating, then the bloat is not yet very severe but the sooner you can get the gas moving, the better!

Massaging is only part of the measure; zantac is a key drug in the fight against bloat.
Zantac is one of the basic drugs that every vet clinic has in stock. It is the vet version of ranitidine and is used for larger pets, too.
 
Wiebke said:
Please read this guide and feel the tummy as to how tight it is (as described in the guide). Also read up on the medication advice in the guide so you know what to ask the vet.
Bloat, GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating

Be aware that severe bloat comes in waves which can be hours or days apart. If you piggy is still eating, then the bloat is not yet very severe but the sooner you can get the gas moving, the better!

Massaging is only part of the measure; zantac is a key drug in the fight against bloat.
Zantac is one of the basic drugs that every vet clinic has in stock. It is the vet version of ranitidine and is used for larger pets, too.
Click to expand...
Okay thank you. I’ve booked an appointment with the regular vet for 9pm
 
Little Ones said:
Okay thank you. I’ve booked an appointment with the regular vet for 9pm
Click to expand...

PS: The medications advice in the guide has been proof-read and added to by an experienced exotics nurse. I had added to help members so they can make the best of any emergency vet visit and know what to ask for. ;)
 
Wiebke said:
PS: The medications advice in the guide has been proof-read and added to by an experienced exotics nurse. I had added to help members so they can make the best of any emergency vet visit and know what to ask for. ;)
Click to expand...
Thank you, I’ve got the medication written down. Can I trust a regular vet to give him an injection, which will be in an injection form? Both the Zantac and the emperid?
 
Bloat can unfortunately kill! We had a case of acute bloat last year and our piggy was rushed in to the vet and given enough opiates to knock her out she was in so much pain, very luckily the ranitidine (zantac) she was given helped but even the vet didn't think she would make it without her gut rupturing from 2 huge bubbles of trapped gas we could see on her xray. Then gut stasis started setting in as nothing could pass the gas bubbles.
Don't want to scare you but severe bloat is very dangerous! All it took was a bit of a greedy dinner of what later turned out to be slightly dodgy coriander, an hour later she was uncomfortable, two hours later in extreme pain, three hours later she almost died, and after the first attack we had 3 months of weekly bloaty flare-ups... if you have a bloat-prone piggy its good to ask the vet if you can have the right meds to keep at home to give at the first sign, also identify and avoid any trigger foods... healing wheeks for your bloaty piggy, and good luck at the vet!
 
PS if we hadnt followed the excellent forum guide that @Wiebke has highlighted, and asked on the forum about bloat, we would have lost Puggle for sure- it was a Friday evening half an hour before the vets closed, and if the excellent people here hadn't advised us, she wouldnt have survived... but she did, hope your piggy is ok too!
 
Been to the vets, it was really busy! The vet didn’t seem bothered to be honest, he checked his teeth which I wasn’t too happy about as i was trying to advise him not to because I didn’t want him to accidentally hurt peanut, his ulcer or his teeth considering his dental issues.
Anyway, we’ve got some Zantac but the vet wouldn’t prescribe emeprid.
Fingers crossed Peanut recovers quickly as he’s got a 5 hour (in total) trip to Northampton on Tuesday!
 
Also: just inspected the other pig, feels like maybe he has bloat too? It’s hard to tell because he’s so fuzzy. Maybe it was something in the veg they ate?
 
That sounds horrible, is Peanut having an problems with his stool?
 
Update: yep, both pigs deffo have bloat. I’ve given the other some metacam and Zantac too. It happened right after they ate the vegetables so something must have been off or dodgy. Either way, it’s all getting binned in the morning.
 
Little Ones said:
Not sure how long to give the Zantac for?
Click to expand...
Best phone the vet to check! For a very bad acute bloat it could be a week, but for milder cases it could be 24-48 hours after symptoms get better... or if its a recurring problem it could be as needed... they should have put this on the dispensing label?
 
PigglePuggle said:
Best phone the vet to check! For a very bad acute bloat it could be a week, but for milder cases it could be 24-48 hours after symptoms get better... or if its a recurring problem it could be as needed... they should have put this on the dispensing label?
Click to expand...
It wasn’t an exotic vet, just a regular one, he didn’t really know much about guinea pigs. Nothing was put on the label either, they both still feel slightly bloated but nothing compared to before. I’ll carry on with the meds today and tomorrow, then see how it is from there I think?
 
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