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Help Needed With Water Bloat

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AshleyElvisPriscilla

AshleyElvisPriscilla

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Hi, I would like some advice please just incase anyone else has something I have not tried yet. My guinea pig has had liquid bloat since Monday. She stopped eating and pooping and hid in her house for a few hours. I have a good friend who works at a guinea pig rescue sanctuary and is very knowledgeable. We could hear the liquid in her stomach, she told me liquid bloat is very often fatal. She looked after her for me all night giving her charcoal and rehydration every hour. As well as a few vitamin supplement. She did 4 poops in the night. Tuesday I took her back home and kept on with the charcoal and rehydration all night again. No Improvement, she only pooped out the charcoal in soggy lumps and did a big wee. so I took her to the vets yesterday morning. The vets gave me fibreplex and also metoclopramide x2 a day and advised me to syringe feed her science recovery, 3ml 4x a day. Now my friend from the sanctuary tells me metoclopramide is prescribed for gas bloat not liquid. And I have found information online that says metoclopramide should only be given AFTER the liquid has been drained. Which it hasn't and I can still hear it. She has advised me to keep going with the fibreplex and also keep going with the science recovery as much as I can, and I trust her word rather than the vets. My poor guinea is pretty lifeless. She will walk around the floor a little bit sometimes but is mostly just laying there. I am having to pretty much force feed the recovery. No poops, no wees. she won't eat hay. She's on towels, on my bed with hay she won't touch and having all these things done to her when she feels like crud. I don't know what more I can do for her. Does anyone know anything else I can do?
 
AshleyElvisPriscilla said:
Hi, I would like some advice please just incase anyone else has something I have not tried yet. My guinea pig has had liquid bloat since Monday. She stopped eating and pooping and hid in her house for a few hours. I have a good friend who works at a guinea pig rescue sanctuary and is very knowledgeable. We could hear the liquid in her stomach, she told me liquid bloat is very often fatal. She looked after her for me all night giving her charcoal and rehydration every hour. As well as a few vitamin supplement. She did 4 poops in the night. Tuesday I took her back home and kept on with the charcoal and rehydration all night again. No Improvement, she only pooped out the charcoal in soggy lumps and did a big wee. so I took her to the vets yesterday morning. The vets gave me fibreplex and also metoclopramide x2 a day and advised me to syringe feed her science recovery, 3ml 4x a day. Now my friend from the sanctuary tells me metoclopramide is prescribed for gas bloat not liquid. And I have found information online that says metoclopramide should only be given AFTER the liquid has been drained. Which it hasn't and I can still hear it. She has advised me to keep going with the fibreplex and also keep going with the science recovery as much as I can, and I trust her word rather than the vets. My poor guinea is pretty lifeless. She will walk around the floor a little bit sometimes but is mostly just laying there. I am having to pretty much force feed the recovery. No poops, no wees. she won't eat hay. She's on towels, on my bed with hay she won't touch and having all these things done to her when she feels like crud. I don't know what more I can do for her. Does anyone know anything else I can do?
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Please see a piggy savvy vet who can do a scan to see what is really going on asap, so you know exactly what you are up against and are not just treating on spec, even if it means that the kindest thing is to pts based on the findings.

The longer your guinea pig is being left without anything to eat, the more you have to also deal with gut stasis (the guts closing down). As to the amount of recovery food, 12 ml in 24 hours is too little to keep your piggy alive although you may find that you are struggling to get anything in. Try to get as much in as you can, the less you can get in one go, the more often you have to feed round the clock. Ideally you come as close to 40 ml for a mere survival ration. Please do not feed if your piggy is very apathetic or is too weak to swallow.
Please read the information in our syringe feeding guide; it is all laid out in detail there. :(

Metoclopramide works on the gut muscles to get them to contract and therefore to kick start the digestion again. It is a gut stimulant to prevent gut stasis and not an anti-gassing medication in itself, so please give it.
Guinea Pig Vet Locator
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
 
I agree she needs to see a more knowledgeable vet. I only have experience of one pig with fluid bloat and they were actually given diuretics. However, when I mentioned this on here on another thread someone disagreed with the use of diuretics. I would have a look on our vet locator and see if you can get her seen, though as Wiebke has said, PTS may end up being the kindest option.
 
Fluid bloat is notoriously difficult to treat and needs a knowledgable vet. Her failure to eat enough is real cause for concern because gut statis is fatal for sure. Good luck. xx
 
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