Managing Bloat

[Gizboo]

Hi All

Last week I rushed one of my guinea pigs to an emergency vet appointment because it sounded like he was having some breathing difficulty (breaths were deep and quite laboured). The vet had a listen to his heart and chest but thought they sounded fine, she also had a feel of him and said his tummy felt quite bloated, which I noticed too.

Gizmo has had problems with bloat in the past (he is 3 years old), he has made some painful noises when going to the toilet and has visited the vet previously where they x-rayed him but couldn’t see any stones but suggested it was gas.

Given his medical history and his bloated tummy, the vet gave him a painkiller injection and prescribed cisapride, 3 times a day, to help clear the gas. He has been on cisparide now for the last 6 days and I have stopped feeding veg over that time as a precaution. His breathing had returned to normal by time we had seen the vet and he has been behaving normally ever since the vet visit (literally since the day after). He has been eating lots of hay, drinking plenty of water, going to the toilet without any problems, moving around and playing as normal, which has all been very encouraging.

His tummy does still feel quite enlarged and I have been massaging him to try to move the gas along. It's because of this I’m a bit nervous about starting him on veg again and wanted to check if anyone has any advice about what veg to start him back on? how much to give? (usual portion - one cup?), how quickly to add different veg etc. I'm planning to give Fibreplex with his meals, he's been prescribed this before and I've used it in the past.

I’m also looking for any advice on managing bloat long term as it seems to be a recurring issue for him. Thanks for reading!

 

[poopie]

Hi, I have a 3 year old who had the same bloating with vegetables , even with small amounts or grass. I have had her off all vegs for over 9 months now and she has she is thriving. She eats a lot of timothy hay, Burgess Excel pellets . Also some small amounts of apple chips ans pea.flakes for treats. Both her and her sister are doing great without veg and are very healthy with nprmal poos and no more bloating. Hope this helpsx

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear he is unwell.

In terms of reintroducing veg, it needs to be done once he is feeling better and then done very slowly. Herbs are a recommended starting point as they tend to be mild on the digestion - literally one or two sprigs at first though to see how he gets on.

Some veg can lead to bloating more than others so it might be that you can look for a trigger veg.

Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)

 

[Gizboo]

Hi, I have a 3 year old who had the same bloating with vegetables , even with small amounts or grass. I have had her off all vegs for over 9 months now and she has she is thriving. She eats a lot of timothy hay, Burgess Excel pellets . Also some small amounts of apple chips ans pea.flakes for treats. Both her and her sister are doing great without veg and are very healthy with nprmal poos and no more bloating. Hope this helpsx

Thanks for the advice!

That's really interesting, I didn’t know that stopping veg long term was an option to be honest. Do you give yours any supplements or anything like that? I’ve read that one of the reasons veg is so important is because guineas can’t produce their own Vitamin C like humans so have to get it from veg. How long was it after they had no veg that you started to see the bloat reducing?

I’ll definitely be looking into this some more, glad to hear your guineas are thriving

 

[Gizboo]

I’m sorry to hear he is unwell.

In terms of reintroducing veg, it needs to be done once he is feeling better and then done very slowly. Herbs are a recommended starting point as they tend to be mild on the digestion - literally one or two sprigs at first though to see how he gets on.

Some veg can lead to bloating more than others so it might be that you can look for a trigger veg.

Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)

Thanks for the advice!

When you say when he is feeling better, do you mean when it feels like his tummy is less bloated/has gone down? In terms of behaviour he seems to be a lot better in that he is being his normal cheeky chappy self and eating lots of hay, plus he is a normal weight.

Is there a time limit to when I should start feeding veg again or is it better to be cautious and keep him off it for as long as it takes?

 

[poopie]

Thanks for the advice!

That's really interesting, I didn’t know that stopping veg long term was an option to be honest. Do you give yours any supplements or anything like that? I’ve read that one of the reasons veg is so important is because guineas can’t produce their own Vitamin C like humans so have to get it from veg. How long was it after they had no veg that you started to see the bloat reducing?

I’ll definitely be looking into this some more, glad to hear your guineas are thriving

I had tried so many times with different veg, like peppers, but always in a few hours , she would be bloating and very loose poo and loss of weight. She dropped to under 700gr at her worst.So i started just green Timothy hay and small amounts of Burgess which is fortified with Vit C
. I have never given any extra supplements of C . She and her sister ,both on same diet are now in the range of 900 to 950 gr. I did find I had to feed more than the 1 tablespoon of pellets to increase weight to a reasonable level.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thanks for the advice!

When you say when he is feeling better, do you mean when it feels like his tummy is less bloated/has gone down? In terms of behaviour he seems to be a lot better in that he is being his normal cheeky chappy self and eating lots of hay, plus he is a normal weight.

Is there a time limit to when I should start feeding veg again or is it better to be cautious and keep him off it for as long as it takes?

Yes you need to wait until the bloat episode has passed. It can come in waves so do ensure he has settled before reintroducing.
There is no time limit.

 

[Gizboo]

I had tried so many times with different veg, like peppers, but always in a few hours , she would be bloating and very loose poo and loss of weight. She dropped to under 700gr at her worst.So i started just green Timothy hay and small amounts of Burgess which is fortified with Vit C
. I have never given any extra supplements of C . She and her sister ,both on same diet are now in the range of 900 to 950 gr. I did find I had to feed more than the 1 tablespoon of pellets to increase weight to a reasonable level.

Okay thank you.

I would never have thought of taking away veg permanently or using fortified Vit C in the Burgess, thanks again for this. I will definitely be keeping him off veg until the bloat has gone down and might see about keeping him off for longer to see if the issue disappears altogether.

 

[Suki&Indie]

I have a piggy who suffered from bloat constantly. Decided to take her off veg permanently and now we very rarely get an episode. Oxbow vitamin C tablets are great if you’re worried about vit c levels! The vet was very kind and gave me extra cisapride so when she starts to bloat I’m able to stop it quickly. Also the snugglesafe heat pads seem to help with the pain when she’s bloated

 

[Gizboo]

Thank you for t

I have a piggy who suffered from bloat constantly. Decided to take her off veg permanently and now we very rarely get an episode. Oxbow vitamin C tablets are great if you’re worried about vit c levels! The vet was very kind and gave me extra cisapride so when she starts to bloat I’m able to stop it quickly. Also the snugglesafe heat pads seem to help with the pain when she’s bloated

Thank you for the advice!

Great to hear from someone else who has stopped veg altogether, after having my boys for 3 years I am still learning all the time. Gizmo has had on and off bloating issues for a few years now so at this point I'm keen to give this a try, or at least see how it goes in the medium-term. Supplements is a good idea, thanks for pointing me to the Oxbow tablets and Snugglesafe pad, I've been using a massage pad I bought from boots to try to ease the bloating, but might give this a try too. Do you give them any treats instead of having veg or is it strictly hay and pellets?

 

[harmonies]

great advice honestly mine loves the oxbow vitamin c cant snatch it quick enough

 

[Suki&Indie]

Thank you for t

Thank you for the advice!

Great to hear from someone else who has stopped veg altogether, after having my boys for 3 years I am still learning all the time. Gizmo has had on and off bloating issues for a few years now so at this point I'm keen to give this a try, or at least see how it goes in the medium-term. Supplements is a good idea, thanks for pointing me to the Oxbow tablets and Snugglesafe pad, I've been using a massage pad I bought from boots to try to ease the bloating, but might give this a try too. Do you give them any treats instead of having veg or is it strictly hay and pellets?

I give the science select loop treats, I also like oxbow treats but they’re a bit too expensive to feed my greedy lot. I also occasionally give dried veg like pea and carrot flakes which luckily hasn’t affected her so far! Every piggy is different so it takes a bit of trial and error to figure out what their tummy can handle