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Gut Stasis

VanessaC

VanessaC

Junior Guinea Pig
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5 days ago, I noticed my Jed wasn’t coming out for his treats, he normally runs out as soon as I open the fridge. Anyway, long story (kind of short), I took him to the emergency vet that evening and they diagnosed gut stasis, they kept him in and said they syringe fed him the food (I can’t remember the name of it) and gave him injections of metroclopamide. When I got him home almost 20 hours later, he was perky and ate a little plus I was giving him metroclopamide. The next day we had another appointment, she said he’d lost some weight, gave him subcut fluids and injection of ranitidine. Today, day 5, he really is his normal self but still not pooing or hardly pooing. He shares a cage with his brother and there really isn’t much in there.
Does anyone know how long it takes for them to poo properly again and should I take him to the vet again tomorrow?
Thanks
 
Is he eating enough for himself, or are you still having to syringe feed him critical care? What is his weight doing?
Output is a reflection of input so if he isn’t eating well, then his output won’t pick up until he is eating enough
 
He’s eating as normal, his veg, nuggets and hay plus he’s bouncing around. I have seen him drinking water but maybe not as much.
I think I’ll start giving him some water via syringe. They gave me critical care but said just give it if he’s not eating so I haven’t been, do you think I should?
 
Did the vet give you oral versions of the gut stimulant meds to give at home? I would expect him to need this for at least a few days afterwards, and also some top up syringe feeding of critical care and a probiotic just to help him recover his usual gut function...
 
:agr:
Have you been weighing him daily since he has been ill? That is the only way to know if he really is eating enough. Given hay is the most important part of their diet and you can’t gauge they are eating enough by eye, then monitoring weight is your only guide to know that he is in fact eating enough and can tell you how much/many syringe feeds he needs.
His output will catch up if he is now eating enough but it is behind input
 
Hi!

Please be aware that 80% of the daily food intake is hay. Just watching your guinea pig nibbling on some veg is not enough. You need to always switch from weighing once weekly as part of the life-long health monitoring to weighing daily at the same time whenever you guinea pig is not fully healthy. this can save lives.

Here is more information on gut stasis, weight monitoring and emergency/crisis care:
Digestive Disorders: Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Emergency Resources and Critical Illness Care - Contents list and subforum link
 
Thank you all. His weight is exactly the same as 2 nights ago, weighed at the same time (2 hours post a bowl of evening veg), yes, I’m giving him metroclopamide 3 times a day. He is definitely eating hay. He’s just been popcorning around the cage as I was doing the evening spot clean and change of hay
 
It’s good that his weight hasnt dropped in the past two days. Keep a daily check on his weight and step in with the syringe feeds if necessary. You should start seeing poops soon if he is eating enough and his system starts to pick back up but do check in with the vet if you are concerned
 
Yes, I’m really pleased with his weight and it’s so lovely seeing him back to normal in temperament. It was awful when he was so flat the other day and would hardly move. I asked the vet what could’ve caused this as nothing has changed in his diet, hay etc. The only thing that has changed is that I’ve gone back to work after being off sick for 6 months so both of them are so used to having me around for most of the day and now I’m gone from 6.30am-6pm, so he could be a bit stressed about that
 
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