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Specialist Healing Vibes Needed Please.

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Midge&Panda

Adult Guinea Pig
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Finny has been steadily gaining weight and today reached the high of 1730g (if he was female he would look as if he was about to give birth to a large number of babies) . The reason for this is unknown, he has been x-rayed and found to have a pocket of gas, that was treated with infacol, no impact on it at all. Also he started a treatment for diabetes but again no improvement just a steady gain. Tonight his stomach went hard so he's gone to the vet's where he has been admitted for obs and treatment with cisapride etc. If there is no improvement tomorrow then he's going to have exploratory surgery - the vet thinks the gas and swelling could be hiding something on the x-ray. He is still eating, pooing and all the stuff healthy piggies do. I'm hoping for a positive result. xx
 
Fingers very firmly crossed!
Infacol tends to collect the gas in one place rather than break it up. Zantac/ranitidine is better. Gripe water can also help to disperse gas in some cases.
Short term weight gain in some cases can be due to the build-up of fluid in the body. In that case, your vet may want to look at a diuretic.
An x-ray or scan is certainly the way to go.

@Pebble @Abi_nurse @Elwickcavies may know more.
 
Ahh poor Finny.
Loads of healing vibes coming his way :)
Have the vets tried him on a vibrating pad? If its bloat some members have had a good success rate with electric toothbrushes gently massaging their tummies to disperse the gas.

Bucketfulls of vibes, healing wheeks &fingers n paws all definitely crossed for him here for a speedy recovery. Xx
 
When we were having cuddles earlier on this evening I was gently massaging his tummy and I could hear him passing wind. This is what is making me hopeful it is just a very gassy tum and diet and medication will sort him out. x
 
So sorry your chap isn't well. Cispride is fab stuff so your vet him on the right stuff. Adding in ranitidine (Zantac) would be useful to. It sounds like your vet is going down the right sort of route. Though I would be inclined to potentially stick a ultrasound on him and take some blood (if your vet hasn't already that is). Gas build up is worrying if it's not diet or gut stasis related as it could be there is a narrowing or blockage in the guts. However at the weight he is I can't see it being anything major? Has your vet checked for fluid in the abdomen, this could be a sign of several things including liver or heart problems.

I can't offer much more apart from sending my love. Your vet sounds like they have it all under control.

Thinking of you both.
x

Ps. Keep us updated on how he does.
 
Thanks Abi-nurse. I was going to mention an ultra sound rather than an op but because it was late and he was a locum I thought I would wait until I spoke to one of the regular vets tomorrow. It didn't feel like fluid though I'm guessing the stomach would be soft, his went solid until he started passing gas.
 
I understand that Finny has been prescribed Glibenclamide for suspected diabetes - I understand that a potential side effect of Glibenclamide is weight gain.
 
Some pigs are by their very nature gassy pigs. One of my boys gets a bit of a swollen gassy tummy on occasion and that means he is developing impaction and needs a clear-out.....then he's fine for the next few weeks.

From looking at the threads you have started on Finny I think all his history/symptoms need to be taken into consideration.

He is 3 years old (is he neutered?) and has always been a greedy pig

My understanding is that the matter of concern are
a) weight - this is increasing despite his restricted diet and he is now up to 1.7kg
b) possible diabetes - but this hasn;t been diagnosed by blood test, only urine test - which given he is on Gertie could be a false positive. Nevertheless he has recently been prescribed glibenclamide
c) now he has gas in the intestine which developed to cause a distended hard abdomen earlier this week -

He also had an op to remove a fatty lump recently (from where? how big?) and developed crackly breathing afterwards (and loss of weight) which has now resolved with associated return to his normal weight.

Let's deal with the gas first: Could this be a result of the glibenclamide? Is it being given orally and how long has he been on it? I note you say he is on occasional cabbage -what did he eat/ingest 24hours prior to the gas developing (food and meds)? I would in any case cut out all leafy greens/brassicas for a while and see if that has any effect Also keep him on cisparide and zantac for a while and see if that helps get rid of the gas (certainly wouldn't use infacol - that could also be the reason why his tummy became more swollen because the gas bubbles coalesced into one bug bubble). There could be a really simple explanation for this that is dietary related and, unless a blockage is suspected (in which case it would be an emergency) I do not think his current condition (especially since he is eating/pooing etc) merits exploratory surgery (which is extremely drastic and can have all kinds of complications once you start prodding their intestines, leading to infections an/or adhesions developing etc etc).

However factoring in the weight gain, then clearly something is going on. Nevertheless, neither me nor my vets could justify resorting to exploratory surgery without first doing blood tests to check for both diabetes and THYROID ISSUES (an underactive thryoid can explain weight gain despite reduced calorie intake). At the same time blood would be tested for heart and kidney function as sometimes developing issues in these organs can cause fluid to accumulate with a resulting weight gain.(and also can mean the pig is slower to recover from a GA)

I believe @Abi_nurse has already suggested blood tests in your other threads...and personally that is what I would do next (with associated gut motility meds/no green veggies for the gas) .....and then imaging (ultrasound or even MRI/CT scan)..

Exploratory surgery is always my last option now following my experience with poor Beech - he had gut problems and despite opening him up we were none the wiser as to the cause, it exacerbated the problem so badly he had to be PTS..... and even after a PM we never found out what was really going on.

Hope this helps
x
 
Thanks Pebble.
Yes he's neutered about 2 yrs ago he came from a rescue and he has always been a greedy pig. He will bully and steal from the others. He's always been around the 1450g mark it was back in march when it slowly started creeping up.
The diabetes was mentioned last year due to his cataracts and high glucose reading so we started to control his diet then.
He had a fatty lump about 1in in diameter removed from his hind leg about 6 weeks ago his weight then was just under the 1700g mark. After surgery it dropped down to 1450g. Within a couple of weeks it started to creep up and this week he went to just over the 1700g mark. He had an x-ray on Sunday a pocket of gas was found but because he was doing everything he should be he was prescribed infacol . A check-up the next day the vet wasn't too concerned about the gas because he was fine in himself but thought the problem was due to his diabetes and because diet wasn't controlling it prescribed the glibenclamide.
Last night his stomach became hard so he was taken to the vets where he was kept in and given cisapride and ranatadine. I took him a goody bag with his different forages for overnight.
This morning I find he hasn't pooed or passed urine but he is still eating. I told them he was to have no green food at all. I phoned at 10 am to find out what was going on(after ward round) to be told he still hadn't had any output and would be re-assessed at 2 when surgery finishes.
To look at him he isn't fat all over he looks like a heavily pregnant female.
 
I agree with the above, I had a guinea pig diagnosed with diabetes she had extreme thirst and was losing weight rapidly. She was diagnosed re-Urine sample directly followed by a pin prick behind the ear's.

Blood tests are invaluable can show multiple illnesses but for diabetes only a small pin prick has to be done behind the ears it must however be followed by positive Urine sample.
 
It's worrying that his output has stopped, (unless he is eating all his own poos - they sometimes do that when they have gut issues just to scare you). If it was just poos, I wouldn't be too concerned as pigs with bloat/gut stasis can sometimes go for 48hours without poos before the cisapride etc starts to work. What is even more worrying however is the lack of urinary output and therefore I think if there is no output of urine by this afternoon, then it becomes an emergency and this would justify whatever action the vet wishes to take.

I'm sorry Finny is feeling so poorly and hope the vets can identify the problem and get him "sorted"
Pebble piggies are crossing all their paws for Finny.
x
 
Good news we have output, poo and urine, apparently there was quite a large pile when they checked him at 2 oclock and a couple of wet patches. His stomach has reduced a little which is good and she is happy for him to come home this evening with his meds and critical care. I had a look for a vibrating pad, I couldn't get one locally so checked out the local Argos and picked up a vibrating baby bouncer. Will try that tonight not sure whether Finny will approve of the music that it also plays :D . He has a check up with his regular vet on Monday so I will be asking for a scan and blood test to get some definitive answers. Thanks for all your help and good wishes. x
 
i hope you can find out what is going on. bloods may give a better indication so i would definitely agree with going for those.

infacol is one of those things that vets don't tend to agree on. our vet (exotics) said it is a good one to use for guinea pigs. he doesn't agree that it forms one big bubble that is then hard to pass. he said it works more by 'popping' the gas bubbles in guinea pigs. eta: if it didn't work anyway though i guess it doesn't matter anymore! :))

:)
 
Well he's home and seems to be happy about it, he rumbled when my daughter took him out of the box. He's currently sat under the bed on clean vet bed surrounded by hay and forages happily stuffing his fat little face. We've already had poo :D. Fingers crossed he is over the worst of it and now see what is said at the check up on Monday. Thanks again for all your good wishes xx
 
Well he's home and seems to be happy about it, he rumbled when my daughter took him out of the box. He's currently sat under the bed on clean vet bed surrounded by hay and forages happily stuffing his fat little face. We've already had poo :D. Fingers crossed he is over the worst of it and now see what is said at the check up on Monday. Thanks again for all your good wishes xx

glad he's back home :luv:
 
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