Gassy Pig

[Midge&Panda]

Little paprika was rushed to the vets this morning with a gurgly and hard tummy. She was kept in for an x-ray and the diagnosis is that she has trapped pockets of gas with pockets of undigested food in her intestines. They are keeping her in today for meds and observations. The initial cause for concern is to get her gut moving properly and I have to phone late afternoon for an update. Fingers crossed she will be ok and she can come home. The vet reckons she gorged overnight, strange really because they didnt have anything they havent had before.

 

[Beautifulmess]

Fingers crossed, hopefully a little TLC at the vets will get the gut moving. Thats what I see it as when I leave my pigs in, like going to the salon heh but obviously for their insides. My pig came back two days ago, not good news but he seems to not want hugs now, guess he didn't like being left

 

[sport_billy]

Lots of healing vibes to Paprika, a lovely name!

We have a bloaty piggie, Treacle. Once she is home reintroduce veg slowly, avoiding gassy veg like cabbage and broccoli etc.... Top up with syringe feed if needed and lots of hay. It may be worth speaking to your vet to have some gut medicine like metachlopromide at home for a few days to help keep pushing everything through.

Hope Paprika feels better soon x

 

[shiny]

We have had a guinea prone to bloat & it is something you learn to manage. The important thing is figuring out what triggers it for your particular guinea. Brassicas like kale & broccoli are known to be pretty gassy & also I have heard this about cucumber. However, it seems that different foods can trigger it in different pigs. The important thing is to have plenty of hay going through the guinea's digestive system rather than loads of pellets or dry food, this is what keeps them moving inside. Some people on www.guinealynx.info swear by gentle massage to help get the digestive system going again too. Hand feeding Critical Care can help as it is very high fibre.

We used Zantac from our exotics vet & I have heard that metachlopromide can be better & some people use them in combination. It's really worth finding an exotics vet that specialises in small mammals who knows about these treatments if you don't have one already.

In my experience, the symptoms of bloat we saw in our guinea (not eating, gurgling tummy, sitting hunched up, squinty eyes, small or very reduced amount of pooing) can come on really quickly & need to be treated really swiftly to get things going again. We found grass cut from the back lawn was the best thing to get our guinea interested in eating again. We used Metacam from the vet to keep on top of the pain so he was able to eat. We found he had huge weight loss when an episode of bloat happened & that he would regain some weight but each time it happened he lost a little more overall.

Once the gas was passed & food was moving through again, the sypmtoms just disappeared as quickly as they came & I have arrived at the vet with the guinea half expecting him to die on the way only to find he was looking in perfect health & eating normally!

As I mentioned swift treatment is vital, guinea pigs need to keep their digestive system going all the time or they really go downhill & it can be difficult to restart it all again.

I hope this is helpful & that Paprika is better soon.

Best wishes, shiny

 

[shiny]

We have had a guinea prone to bloat & it is something you learn to manage. The important thing is figuring out what triggers it for your particular guinea. Brassicas like kale & broccoli are known to be pretty gassy & also I have heard this about cucumber. However, it seems that different foods can trigger it in different pigs. The important thing is to have plenty of hay going through the guinea's digestive system rather than loads of pellets or dry food, this is what keeps them moving inside. Some people on www.guinealynx.info swear by gentle massage to help get the digestive system going again too. Hand feeding Critical Care can help as it is very high fibre.

We used Zantac from our exotics vet & I have heard that metachlopromide can be better & some people use them in combination. It's really worth finding an exotics vet that specialises in small mammals who knows about these treatments if you don't have one already.

In my experience, the symptoms of bloat we saw in our guinea (not eating, gurgling tummy, sitting hunched up, squinty eyes, small or very reduced amount of pooing) can come on really quickly & need to be treated really swiftly to get things going again. We found grass cut from the back lawn was the best thing to get our guinea interested in eating again. We used Metacam from the vet to keep on top of the pain so he was able to eat. We found he had huge weight loss when an episode of bloat happened & that he would regain some weight but each time it happened he lost a little more overall.

Once the gas was passed & food was moving through again, the sypmtoms just disappeared as quickly as they came & I have arrived at the vet with the guinea half expecting him to die on the way only to find he was looking in perfect health & eating normally!

As I mentioned swift treatment is vital, guinea pigs need to keep their digestive system going all the time or they really go downhill & it can be difficult to restart it all again.

I hope this is helpful & that Paprika is better soon.

Best wishes, shiny

 

[Midge&Panda]

Hi quick update on Pappy. We had a call fromt he vet to say she had weed and pooed, never been so happy at the mention of poop . Took a visit to see her and take up some of her favourite nibbles and had a cuddle. Her tummy is somewhat softer and there was about 7 smallish poops in the corner. She looked better in herself to. She's staying in overnight which I'm not happy about but it's best for her. She is currently on infacol, metacam, cisapride and one other drug which I cant remember. I still cant quite figure out what has triggered this off though. Thanks again for your kind wishes.

 

[sport_billy]

Pleas she doing well, sounds like you have a good vet... The cisapride is a gut stim so will Keep everything moving. Lots of healing vibes to your little one.

 

[Midge&Panda]

Well she's home much to hers and my relief. The other medicine was ranatidine. As soon as she was put back into her hutch the other girls came up to say hello and nuzzle her. Maisie gave her eyes an extra special wash. All is well in their world again. While I'm posting can those members who have 'prone to bloat piggies' please advise as to what vegetables/fruit would be ok for her - never had to deal with this before. Many thanks.