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Extreme Ongoing Bloat

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Beans&Toast

Adult Guinea Pig
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Toast has had bloat since March. It goes and comes back, but for the past month she's had it constantly. Grass seemed to be a big factor so she doesn't get any grass, and she's already on a diet of 95% hay (on vet's advice) so she only gets enough veg to get all her vit c etc.


Before the bloat issues her weight was 1130g. Since she's had bloat her weight has been 1220g, even going up to 1250g. Last night was the worst it's ever been, she ballooned up to 1280g, she was puffed up but still happy to eat and run around.

She's been on Emeprid, then Cisapride, Infacol, Gripe Water etc and nothing has made the slightest bit of difference. She also has access to my whole flat (piggy proofed) for at least 12 hours a day so exercise isn't an issue.

My vets are exotic specialists and extremely good with guinea pigs, but even they are now stumped as to why she keeps getting more and more bloated.

Today she's been put on;
Emeprid 0.5 x2 daily
Cisapride 0.2 x3 daily
Ranitadine 0.3 x2 daily
Gripe Water 0.3 x3 daily

She's also on;
2 Cystophan capsules daily
Locicom 0.2 x2 daily
Fibreplex 1ml 3x daily

My vet's going to speak to another exotic specialist to get another opinion on what's going on...

Does anyone have any ideas at all as to what is causing such severe, constant bloat? :(
 
I am very sorry for your problems. Have you tried taking her off any pellets with grains?

My Ffraid ended up with pretty much permanent bloating issues during the last few months of her life; she'd been struggling with on and off mild bloating since a very painful mystery episode, which caused temporary back leg paralysis and partial gut stasis for two years (she died aged 7 years). There was sadly nothing the vet could do with her, apart from the usual meds, which you have got, too.

@helen105281 @Adelle
 
She doesn't get many pellets as it is, but I do given her grain free, gluten free pellets.

My vet is getting really worried about her now as it's just not budging at all and there doesn't seem to be any pattern to it. I thought it may have been orchard grass causing it but I took her off that particular hay for a few days and it made zero difference so it wasn't that.

I'm seriously starting to panic, but I'm still hopeful as she still runs about all day and is still eating hay and begging for veggies, so that's really positive.

I've noticed her cystitis is worse the past few days also, she was put on Cystophan which stopped the squeaking whilst peeing but that has returned, I don't know if that is a coincidence or if it's related to the bloat?
 
If youve ruled out food being an issue (grain free pellets, stopping all veg then introducing one at a time) then the likely answer is something is slowing down her digestive tract causing bloat- this is more than likely to be the cystitis, especially since she is currently having another flare.

You need to be careful not to overdo the gut stimulants, its all about a balance to get both the upper and lower digestive tracts ticking over together.crunchie once had a stomach bulging with food.. And nothing in the guts, all due to an incompetant vet prescribing the wrong balance of meds. For a gas filled stomach iv found ranitidine every 8 hours with metacloprimide every 12 hours has got things moving and shifted gas. For gassy intestines, ranitidine and metacloprimide both every 12 hours.

Obviously every pig is different but the logic is there.

Any correlation between cystophan starting and the bloat starting?

Is this the piggy that was spayed?

What type of hay, pellets and what veg does she eat?
 
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Has she been checked for ovarian cysts? We had a pig years ago at clinic where a large ovarian cysts was pressing on the stomach and causing bloat. I can't remember if we have discussed that already though?

It is positive that she seems her usual self despite the bloat. You could try emailing the lady that runs Galens garden as I was recommended some products from there a few years ago but am no longer in touch with the person who told me about them to double check.
 
Also my late Moo used to benefit from the Oxbow digestive vitamin, used to have half a tablet each day. She was more gassy than bloaty though.
 
If youve ruled out food being an issue (grain free pellets, stopping all veg then introducing one at a time) then the likely answer is something is slowing down her digestive tract causing bloat- this is more than likely to be the cystitis, especially since she is currently having another flare.

You need to be careful not to overdo the gut stimulants, its all about a balance to get both the upper and lower digestive tracts ticking over together.crunchie once had a stomach bulging with food.. And nothing in the guts, all due to an incompetant vet prescribing the wrong balance of meds. For a gas filled stomach iv found ranitidine every 8 hours with metacloprimide every 12 hours has got things moving and shifted gas. For gassy intestines, ranitidine and metacloprimide both every 12 hours.

Obviously every pig is different but the logic is there.

Any correlation between cystophan starting and the bloat starting?

Is this the piggy that was spayed?

What type of hay, pellets and what veg does she eat?
No it was Beans who was spayed, and the bloat issues started a while after she had already been on Cystophan.

For pellets, she only gets about 5-10g of them a day and it's a mix of P@H nuggets (her absolute favourite) and Vetcare Multi Modal sticks which are grain and gluten free.
Veg she gets pepper, coriander, chard. Occasional celery, cucumber, blueberries, carrot.

She gets Meadow and Timothy hay from Dust Free Hay and Oxbow Orchard Grass hay.

When she's really gassy I massage her tummy and it really seems to help, she also poos as normal despite being really gassy/bloaty.

Has she been checked for ovarian cysts? We had a pig years ago at clinic where a large ovarian cysts was pressing on the stomach and causing bloat. I can't remember if we have discussed that already though?

It is positive that she seems her usual self despite the bloat. You could try emailing the lady that runs Galens garden as I was recommended some products from there a few years ago but am no longer in touch with the person who told me about them to double check.
She's had several x-ray's recently and no cysts or anything appeared, she's also been thoroughly examined and had her teeth checked and everything seems fine. My vet did mention possible worms/parasites, is that likey?

I haven't heard of Galens Garden... what kind of products do you mean?

I'm hoping this specialist has some kind of answers as nothing seems to be working.
 
They are herbal supplements. I would link but my work pc blocks the site for some reason. Worms are definitely worth considering though there are mixed opinions on it.
 
As pigs age and health conditions occur, they really can become more sensitive to foods. This is the case with fudge and crunchie, things they used to eat now cause bloat or diarrohea. Id suggest stopping all veg, adding in one at a time once her gassyness has settled.

Id try her off orchard grass altogether, as its more towards the grass category than it is hay.

The fact she still poos normally throughout suggests a gassy upset rather than bloat.

If none of this works i would think its her cystitis slowing down her system, causing gas. Crunchie has proper bloat continuously from her ovarian cysts. She had been fine since we rectified that problem.

Another way of trying to get her IC uder control and hopefully stop the bloat would be to temporarily increase her metacam under vet advice, in the hope one problem being sorted also helps the other x

Crunchie is on the urinary support tincture from Galens Gardens.. So far so good x
 
Toast is still really bloaty/gassy despite taking Cisapride/Emeprid/Ranitadine/Gripe Water and Loxicom since Tuesday morning...

She's now also really straining and squealing whilst doing the toilet. She has recurring cystitis and it seems to flare up when she's spent a lot of time at the vets, it really stresses her. Apart from the squealing and straining to do the toilet, she's eating and running about okay but I'm getting quite worried about how much pain she seems to be in right now..

I phoned the OOH there to see if I could increase her pain relief for tonight and I got a locum vet who said increasing it from 0.4mls could be very dangerous and she wouldn't recommended it. Toast has been on 0.8mls Loxicom before so I'm not sure how that could be..

Not sure what to do now. When she gets painful cystitis she ends up not eating which makes her bloat worse and causes dental issues :eek:
 
Also ask your vet to add in Tramodol for extra pain relief if they are willing to, it really made a difference to one of mine. Sending healing wheeks to Toast, I know exactly what you are going through xx
 
Also ask your vet to add in Tramodol for extra pain relief if they are willing to, it really made a difference to one of mine. Sending healing wheeks to Toast, I know exactly what you are going through xx
Thank you :hug: he did mention tramadol but said he wouldn't want to give it as she's prone to gut stasis and bloat. Something about tramadol can slow down the guts? It's a vicious cycle, stress sets off her cystitis, which makes her bloat worse, which puts her off her food which causes dental issues.. and she reacts badly to GA and ABs..so it's a nightmare :blink: x
 
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