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Gastric And Caecal Bloat Gastrointestinal Stasis.

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Squirrel2.5

Squirrel2.5

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Squirrel my 2y 5 month old girl has bloat she was fine on Saturday 14th at 11pm but it all changed at 9am on the 15th, I heard a cry sound and she was hunched up I instantly knew it was pain from poo or pee and picked her up and saw 1x soft poo I knew this horrible bloat had struck. Her stomach was distended hollow to tap with my fingers and a swishing water sound I could also hear. I was straight on my the phone to her vets and at the same time massaging her tummy with fingers and electric tooth brush, I gave her infacol, Metacam, Tramadol and sulfatrim ( I keep a few medications for emergency) but I had more as I've just nursed another sick piggy for 5 weeks. She passed more faeces even softer and when I wiped red blood started to come out and she cramped in pain, we made it to the hospital 40 minutes later. She remained in hospital with her best friend until today (4 nights) where it was thought best I could treat her at home in her normal enviroment but kept near her friends but in a cage. When in hospital they can provide medications I can't but now at home I give cisapride, metronidazole,tramadol,cholestyramine. She wont eat nuggets, hay, anything fresh nor drink water from the bottle, so we are on oxbow critical care recommended 10-15mls 5 times a day plus I syinge water. I also have been giving her gripe water and massage her stomach like mad with my fingers and a homedics massager. She is in discomfort as she just sits and gives no sound, her poos are tiny slithers and doesn't resemble normal poo but are firm and we have no blood. If anybody has information to help I would be grateful.
 
welcome to the forum, sorry i have little advice as it looks like you have done brilliantly so far, think i would keep persevering with the syringe feeding, water to keep her hydrated, &massage her to help keep her comfortable.
the more food that goes in the better the poop output & the quicker her guts will kick start & recover, if she doesnt like the critical care, some members have more luck with the their usual nuggets mushed up in warm water & syringe fed. are any of those gut stimulants, emiprid is a familiar one, afraid i'm not overly knowledgeable on meds.
this may be something to discuss with the vet as it will help her gut recovery too.
Do you give probiotics? might be a possibility to help settle her stomach also.

Is it liquid or gas bloat? if its liquid bloat she may need some diuretics to help relieve her of the volume of liquid in her. (furisimide (spelling?))
if its gas bloat the gripe water is probably better than the infacol as that makes one big bubble to release (uncomfortable as trapped wind), where as the gripe water disperses the gas into small bubbles that pass through her system more comfortably.

try keeping off greens/veg until she has settled a little & then reintroduce them slowly & one at a time over a few days. this may also help you discover what triggered the bloat in the first place.

keep up the good work & speedy recovery to both your little ones. xx
 
Thank you,

It's gas in the cecum, she has had 3 x rays and they were all filled with gas. Its been a big day as she is now at home and that means massive change to what hospital can provide medicine wise and what I can do. Its been 12 hour non stop massage from me and Critical care/water. The past 30 minutes we have improvement in faeces size (getting bigger) she also expelled spirts of urine, I must have been pressing bladder.
 
Thank you,

It's gas in the cecum, she has had 3 x rays and they were all filled with gas. Its been a big day as she is now at home and that means massive change to what hospital can provide medicine wise and what I can do. Its been 12 hour non stop massage from me and Critical care/water. The past 30 minutes we have improvement in faeces size (getting bigger) she also expelled lots of spirts of urine
 
I continued with the massage and small amounts of water and Oxbow until 4am and we managed to get some out, then I set the alarm for 6am and we continued again and she passed 4 more small poos out. I have put her best friend in beside her for a wee while to let me have a coffee then we will continue with the massage Oxbow and water. The only way she can pass any poo is with my help.
 
We are making positive progress with Squirrel she is more lively also her stomach is less bloated but we have still got work to do. I spoke with her vet yesterday and upped the cisapride 0.1ml 3x daily from 2x and I asked if I could start ranitadine 0.3ml so she started that as well along with the other medicines. I asked about the Gripe water I have been giving her and she explained that they are no medical evidence it would help as Piggies can't burp but if anything it was more fluid and would not do her any wrong. Her poos are still small and not perfect shapes but sometimes come out on their own but mostly the thing that works is finger massage and some time on the homedics massager. She isnt drinking from the bottle but I am keeping her hydrated with vit c syringe water frequently and keep going with the frequent oxbow critical care I upped this to 6x a day 10-15mls a time. She also has ate small amount of romaine and spinach by herself.We are back on Monday for a check up but if at anytime she dips I can take her straight back to hospital and I have the vets availability on phone at any time.
 
We have hit another obstacle Squirrel has developed a upper back left spur from her tooth ulcer due to being under the weather for the past 10 days and being of nuggets and hay. She still has gas in her caecum which has improved 50% and we were pleased by this but still a long way to go.The past few days I knew we were possibly facing a dental problem as occassionaly I saw her paw go towards her face and she was very picky with her food and more weight loss. She is back in hospital for dental work tomorrow, it was my only option as she isn't eating properly due to this but also this will cause more GI status not helping with the bloat.
 
The past 6 weeks have been horrendous as I have/had another sick piggy with ovarian disease and cushings that had a spay at 4.5 and other masses removed, she became anorexic and had GI status because of this, I was 24/7 with her. I literally had to stop critical care with her to help Squirrel when she became poorly. My other piggy is well and holding her own. My bank account is near enough empty (waiting for pay day) as I have paid out nearing £3000 in these weeks.
 
I'm glad both piggies are doing better it's a horrendous strain when having to nurse sick pig's but it's most certainly worth it when they recover.
 
Sorry no further advice to offer, just wanted to say that you are doing such a fabulous job nursing 2 guineas, its such a strain. You must be exhausted :(

Can your vet do conscious dentals? This would this would reduce the chances of digestive issues developing further after you have been battling so hard to sort her out. Maybe just a whiff of gas instead of general anaesthetic.

Speedy recovery vibes being sent :nod:
&a big hug for you- you're a wonderful piggy slave :luv:
Xx
 
Squirrel came out hospital today after being admitted on Tuesday during a check up it was thought she had a dental problem upper back left. But after her mouth was seen by 3 vets today and it was decided that the spur was tiny and wasn't ulcerated and wasn't severe enough to cause her lack of food intake. She was ment to go for dental work on Tuesday afternoon but it kept being postponed due to emergencies and she remained in hospital waiting for this treatment. I got a phone call today to say they had reviewed her and when looking at radiographs on 15th of this month it was thought now a area of consolidation was in her lung ( no breathing problems) and asked to give her a CT scan. CT scans are still pending, results tomorrow. We saw the high definition scans today that show everything but not a presice, her lung congestion has cleared, the ceacum has cleared of gas but the stomach remains full. The vet I chatted with said it is amazing her stomach is so filled with gas but yet her stomach is so soft nor does she seem to be in pain.
 
Dental work is still pending but we are hoping she picks up and starts eating hay nuggets etc that will wear the tiny spur down.
 
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