• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Bloat...

Status
Not open for further replies.
Vets usually give an injection of a motility drug - a gut stimulent - to help keep the digestion moving. More often than not it's something called metaclopromide. They may also inject fluids to help keep piggie hydrated if he's not drinking for himself. Some vets may choose to carry out an xray to determine the cause of bloat i.e. gas buildup/blockage, thus determining the best treatment.

"At home" treatments worth having to hand in case you do have reason to suspect a piggie has bloat, is Buscopan and an anti- colic drug such as Infacol or Gripe Water.

Do ensure that piggie is at least pooping before trying to 'force' feed, and if it is an acute case of bloat (hunched/puffed up, not moving much, not eating or drinking) then do seek urgent vet treatment.
 
Last edited:
Well, I took her to the vet who gave her quite an abdominal mauling and thought she felt fluid as well as air in the abdomen, and confirmed the bloat. She administered rimadyl and metoclopramide and fluids via subcutaneous injection which appears to have only made the poor mite more miserable than before.

The prognosis, as I suspected is guarded to poor and I didn't want her anaesthetised to x-ray her due to cost and risk and the outcome meaning little in the way of a more favourable outcome. She's not passing any wee or poo and that in itself is extremely worrying, as she needs her gut to keep moving and quickly. She was bouncing about just yesterday.

She's back home and tucked up with her cagemates and we'll do whatever else we can for her at home.

Praying for a miracle has been added to the list. :(
 
Buscopan, 2ml of Dentinox Colic Drops, abdominal massage, try to keep the pig moving.
There is no need to subject the pig to an xray, most vets would insist on giving a general anaesthetic to do that.
Genuine bloat is life threatening, it can often need the trapped gas to be released, again no GA is needed.
I have had to do that on one of my own pigs some years ago. He was in the most severe pain that I have ever seen in a guinea pig. He did recover from the bloat and went on to live another 18 months and he was 5 years old when he died.

(I had also given him Calpol and Rimadyl in addition to the treatment listed above.)
 
Last edited:
alcesterpigs, I wish you could have helped us - Pip went to the forever sleep at about ten o'clock on Saturday evening and I have been too upset to post.

Indeed, they did want to GA in order to x-ray. I think she would have benefitted hugely from the air being released, so why on earth are vets not shown how to do this procedure?

Why are all the piggy experts on forums and not out there getting vets up to speed with relatively straightforward procedures?

Has anyone ever dared say to a vet - well, youreckon to have checked her molars, but actually, I think you have missed something? I take them along to the vet with a dreadful sinking feeling in my stomach, almost certain I am simply being a responsible pet owner and (going through the motions of) doing the right thing. All I succeeded in doing was upsetting the poor little gp further and spending £40 in the process.

I miss her little face up at the bars in the morning and the cage seems more than a third empty without her presence.

Sleep well sweetheart x
 
Ratpig.jpg


Pip x
 
I'm so, so sorry.
Losing one of your Piggies is such a hard and terrible thing to go through.

I can see that you loved her deeply.
She was very lucky to have someone who loved her as much as you do.
She looks so beautiful in that picture. Rest in pease, honey.
 
Yes, she was a real character and I feel I let her down not being able to help her. That's the very worst thing. She was only three. Susie and Midge are very quiet. I think I need another piggie to make it three again.
 
Pip was beautiful, I am so sorry she didn't make it. You did everything you could, you didn't let her down at all. xx

Many of us have stood up to our vets (or tried to!) with varying degrees of success.
There are a select few vets who are generally very good, who will listen, who will learn...but they tend to be few and far between. It's incredibly frustrating, especially when the right information is out there and there's evidence and experience of many people (well, piggies) to back it up but the vets still refuse to listen to it.
 
In all fairness there is, of course, no certainty that anyone could have done anything to save her life.
However, for once, I am left thinking "What if, and if only"?
 
i know the feeling of what if i knew8... lost my becks last year to bloat trusted the vet & felt so let down when he didnt make it 8... would it have made any difference if i had known about using Buscopan? i just dont know miss my baby so very much xx
 
so sorry for your loss.
i lost one of my piggies to bloat just over a year ago and he was only a few months old.
my vet told me bloat is usually fatal and not many survive it :(
i completely understand how you feel, I felt responsible for his death, thinking did I give him too many vegetables etc, and having lost Archie yesterday to a stomach infection at such a young age you do question if there's something you are doing wrong or asking if you could've done more. it would seem piggies have such delicate tummys and can take a turn for the worse in such a short space of time.
thinking of you x
 
Thank you everyone for your kind words. The learning curve should not be at the expense of your guinea pig's health and comfort, but I think bloat is about as bad news as you can get from the start.

A very big wake up call, even though we try to everything properly, and I'll wonder 'what if?', myself, for a very long time to come.
 
"I'll wonder 'what if?', myself, for a very long time to come."

From my own experiences it can be years, I regret to say.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top