Guinea Pig With Wind

[Maddykins]

The other day my Nelson had a lot of wind. His tummy felt a bit bloated, and I could hear quite a number of farts coming from him! He had a new type of cabbage the night before so I assume it was that.

He seems to have generally a more troublesome tummy than Martin. What is the best thing to do when a pig has wind? I know bloat can kill so I got very worried and was monitoring him very carefully but apart from passing some noisy wind on and off for a few hours he seemed absolutely fine (still eating and wheeking and running about fine). Is there anything else you should do in the immediate time other than obviously not give them like brocolli or cabbage or anything that could make it worse? How do you know when it's serious bloat? Is it fair to say that if the pig seems normal (eating, wheeking happily and running about) then they're ok and they would change their behaviour if they were more unwell?

 

[helen105281]

They do tend to be very subdued with full blown bloat, and if you tap the sides of their tummy it would sound hollow. For a pig with wind that I feel needs treating I tend to give Gripe water and Dioralyte and be careful with veggies. I also put them on the massage pad if needed. You would need to check that their poo output is ok and get them to the vet if not.

 

[Maddykins]

What is a massage pad?

 

[helen105281]

A vibrating pad, I have this one:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NIAGARA-Cyclo-massage-Cyclopad-Massage-Therapy-/351058692957

It helps disperse the wind as long as there isn't a blockage.

You can get cheaper ones though and can also use an electric toothbrush in an emergency.

 

[Maddykins]

Ah, sounds like a great idea! Will look into it. Thanks for your help

 

[Pebble]

A guinea pig's gut responds 24hours after eating something (owing to the "transit" time for foodstuffs going through the GP's gasto-intestinal system)

Two points therefore need to be addressed:

a) Immediate treatment when wind/possible bloat is an issue: In this case, massage pads but also pro-kinetic gut stimulants that a cavy savvy vet can prescribe (such as metoclopromide/cisapride and also zantac) are required so a vets input is necessary to keep the gut moving properly and expel the gas

b) It's important to find out why he has developed/or suffers at times with wind.....so think about the first time you noticed it (or other times it has become noticeable). The cast your mind back 24 and 48 hours to what he ate - some particular veggie or been on the grass etc?

Cut out all greens/veggies and get the appropriate gut prokinetics from your vet.....then after a week of stabilisation, (and providing all is back to normal) then start re-introducing veggies and green one at a time - each veg gets 72 hours before the next one is introduced.

HTH
x

 

[Stewybus]

My tip for helping with this is to massage their tummy with an electric toothbrush the type that vibrate, This worked well with Minky when she was poorly in December. She would lay on her back between my legs with her head resting on my hand, I massaged her tummy gently for 30 to 45 minutes at a time, then all of a sudden she would do lots of poos in a short time. The record was over 50 in 10 minutes.