Guinea Pig Gut Stasis.

[Guinea_Lover]

So, a few days back I noticed that my guinea pigs poo became rather small, tear drop shaped and dry/ and some days looked like a string of pearls- when usually her poos are quite thick and large size. I knew straight away something was wrong with her gut, even though shes still eating & drinking fine. I took her to the vet today and the vet was concerned because she couldnt hear any movement in her guts, and pigs have to continuously have movement in their digestive system- so the vet gave her Emeprid to help move the stomach (but in oral form 0.7ml) twice a day and a stick of fibreplex- that she takes 1 ml 3 times a day (anyone else heard or used those before?). Now the vet told me that if she still isnt producing good enough poos by Monday- she will want to see her, that part is ok. What I'm asking about is, what else did any of you do to help with gut stasis apart from the fact of giving recovery food stuff and Emeprid medications? My old piggy had gut stasis before, but really bad and she passed away- so I'm worried about this little one

 

[Wiebke]

If I were you, I would not panic, as your girl is still eating and drinking, so any gut stasis is not complete. The signs for that would be total lack of appetite and lethargy. my Telyn had it once when we were coming back from a weekend away. Thankfully, she made a full recovery!

However, I would consider topping her up with hand feed to make sure that she is getting the volume of food to get the guts going; it may take a day or at the worst even two before you see results from a sluggish gut. Also provide some very rough fibre like brown cardboard, which piggies whose guts are unbalanced seem to crave. Take her off any fresh food until the guts have rebalanced.

Gentle massages will also help to stimulate the guts. Wiping the anus with a slightly damp cloth can mimic the bum licking that a mum uses on her newly born pups to kick start the digestive tract.

All the best! Please weigh her daily at the same time to get an idea of her true food intake.

 

[NASH]

We had a piggy who suffered a lot with bloat and gut problems. The first thing we would do - apart from seeing the vet to get gut stimulants etc, would be to encourage her to move around and would give her extra floor time. We have a vibrating cushion and would put her on that and we would rub her little tummy. Hopefully your little girl will feel better soon,

 

[Pebble]

Syringing fluids is just as important as fibre. So every 3-4 syringes of food, give one of water. I would aim for 20ml every 4 hours if hse is not eating anything fro herself.
You don;t need to give recovery food - you could instead liquidise her pellets in warm water with a hand blender and syringe her that.
My pigs like to rip up newspaper when they are poorly (or kitchen towels) as well as cardboard.

Gut stimulants such as emeprid are used to regulate and re-establish the rhythmical contractions of the gut muscles that move the food along. Emeprid acts on the stomach encouraging it to empty - your vet may also wish to think about using cisapride which acts on the hind gut.
My vets treat sluggish guts (eg in piggies recovering from an op) with zantac (in place of emeprid) and cisapride - although when the poos are small and dehydrated such as you have described they will also add emeprid into the mix.

Hopefully now you have the emerpid and have started to syringe feed you should start to see some poos come through in 24hours time (that is roughly how long it takes for what goes in to come out the other end!)