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Our little guy is on Critical Care :(

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GuineaGuy

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Hello All,

One of our little piggies is very unwell.

On Wednesday evening we noticed he was looking rather large around stomach area, although was eating and drinking and pooping. When we went to pick him up he was squeeling and definately in pain, whenever we touched him around that area he was squeeling and wriggling. We were worried it could be bloat, so took him to the emergency vet. She didn't think it was bloat, but instead trapped wind. She gave him a shot of something to help his gut and 0.41 (I assume mg?) of Vetergesic - this seemed to have knocked him for six. When we got back home he was lifeless - we were worried we had lost him but he was just out for the count. He arrived home at about 11:30, we took him at ten and he had been eating at about 9:30. I couldn't sleep and got up at 2am and managed to get some critical care into him, which I repeated at 5:30. As I had yesterday off I took him straight to our normal vets who gave him a shot of metacam and agreed that he probably had trapped wind. I was able to keep feeding him through the day At about 3pm he finally started wanting more than critical care, and munched on some peppers. Between 4pm and 5pm, he did his first poop since the previous night. We took him back to our usual vet in the evening who advised to keep doing what we are.

We have carried on giving him critical care. Last night/this morning at 8:30pm, 12am, 3am, 6am, 9am. He was very reluctant on the 6am feed and my girlfriend tells me he was on the 9am feed, but we were able to force some onto him, she tells me he has nibbled at some cucumber.

We are obviously very worried about him.

If anyone can answer any questions, I'd be really grateful:
Can anyone advise if Critical Care every 3 hours is ok? Or should we be doing it more or less often?
Is it possible to give him too much Critical Care. When he has been taking it freely, I have just been giving him as much as he wants.
How can we help him to want to eat it?
I have read that offering him a poop can help with his eating, I offered one of his own, but he didn't want it. Would he want one from one of our other pigs? If so, how do I know which one, as I believe there are 2 types.
Any other tips at all for getting him to eat? I will try absolutely anything that may help.

His metacam injection was given at 9 o'clock Thursday morning, so will have warn off by now, we think the underlying pain may be there. Should we get him another shot, and is it possible to get some that we could administer ourselves over the weekend?

Also, what is vetergesic? I have done some reading, but there isn't much on it. Is it safe on guineas and does that dose seem reasonable? The vet thought it would wear off within 6 hours, but didn't seem to.

Thanks in advance for any help that anyone can offer.
 
Vetergesic is an opiate derived pain relief, it has sedative effects which is why he seemed a bit subdued! It usually lasts 8hrs or so
 
How is his poo output now?

You can make some poo-soup using the poo of a healthy piggie mushed with a tiny bit of water so it makes around 3ml and syrigne him that that will help good bacteria in his tummy. But this will only act as a probiotic it will not sort the trapped wind out if that is the cause of his discomfort. Does your vet suspect bloat? Has he had an xray to rule out any blockage?

If it is bloat I would suggest speaking to your vets regarding some gut stimulant such as metachlopromide (i presume this is the shot the emergency vet would have gave them originally - that has now worn off) to be given at home 3 times a day this will keep his tummy moving and syringe feed him little and often as well as massage his stomach, bloat is a build up of gas/wind in the tummy, but a blockage needs to be ruled out also.

If it is a pain response then as well as further diagnostics I would ask for a some metacam to be given orally at home this weekend to help keep him pain free.

Well done on getting the CC in him, but I would get him back to the vets ASAP
 
Thank you both for the replies.

How do we know what poo to get, is it just any fresh poo from a healthy pig?

Took him back this evening and have got to take him back tomorrow. Poops are coming through slowly.

No Xray yet, the vet didn't seem to think it was a blockage. She gave him another shot of painkiller as well.

We have an array of veggies to try and tempt him.
 
If the poo's are coming through it is doubtful it would be a blockage and more than likely trapped wind causing bloating.

Did they give him any more Gut Stim, this will really help. With bloat it is a good idea to cut out all veg as veg causes bloat and just give hay and critical care. If you are tempted to give veg then please avoid cabbages, broccoli, kale etc as it is gas causing food.
I honestly can't stress how important it is to keep massaging gently and getting some metachlopromide into the system to work the tummy to avoid it going into gut status.

Poo soup does need to be made with fresh poo. Hope he starts to improve soon
 
No they didn't provide any metachlopromide, we will insist on some tomorrow and keep massaging him the meantime.

Only veggies he has are baby sweetcorn and watermelon, the latter or which he just fed from my hands.

In the past few hours he has started chewing even though there is nothing in his mouth - hes not chattering his teeth, its definate chewing sound. Any ideas why?
 
When my piggy had bloat I was advised by my exotics vet to avoid all fruit as the sugar can aggravate the situation. With him, we think it was melon that triggered it, as he had never previously had bloat and I gave him some melon during those hot few weeks that we had in the summer. I thought the water in the melon would help keep him hydrated, but within a few hours his stomach had swollen and he looked quite pear shaped.

Jerry had good results with a combination of metaclopromide and zantac, and a daily dose of Metacam. It took about 2 weeks for his gut to return to normal.
 
Thank you, we will stay off the melon. The thing is he will not eat any hay or pellets the only thing he has been eating is the critical care, which he is becoming increasingly reluctant to take and a bit of melon.

I wish I had've got some metaclopromide now. We will be insisting on it tomorrow.

He is still producing poops, we just pulled a lot from his bum, like he was impacted.

Jerrybelly - what was yours eating during those 2 weeks?
 
Hello, how is he? My boy Toffee got bloat. Please stop all veg immediately and just let him have nuggets, hay and water and keep syringing CC as much as you can get him to take. This was the first thing I was advised to do. It's a good sign at least if poos are still coming through, but he may well need the metachlo-promide and something to settle his tummy like bio lapis. Keeping him eating and moving is a must. Following this saved my boy at the time. My fingers are crossed for him x
 
Sorry about the late reply.

He is ok - he is still very alert and seems a bit more upbeat today.

he went to the vets this morning and had a very thorough check over - he was very wriggly and she wanted to check his mouth - she found some food stuck in his mouth, no cuts or absesses.

He does sometime seem in pain when chewing - any ideas why this could be? He has never had problems with his teeth, could they have grown that much over the past 4 days whilst he has been unable to eat? And he is still grinding them even when not eating, sometimes for a few minutes at a time.

He doesn't feel bloated but we continue to massage him. He has been taking critical care better since we made it up to a slightly thicker consistancy with cranberry juice. We got him some 'hay cookies' today which he has always loved and he has had a few nibbles so he really wants to eat.

We have some metacam and gut stim for the weekend so will carry on as we have been. If we have no improvement by Monday the vet wants to do an Xray. Poops appear to be being produced, although still getting caught like an impaction.

Thanks for all the help and support, it's really nice to have this forum for advice and goodwill, it really means a lot to us.
 
Thanks for the update, I have been thinking about him today :)

Pleased you have metacam and Gut Stim keep going with that. The Teeth thing will need looking at, when you say grinding, is it teeth chattering like anger or actual grinding? A tip with the CC is to trim the end carefully of the end of a 1ml syringe, make sure there are no jagged edges and the plunger won't come out; This makes it easier to suck up the CC and less likely to squirt it out fast when syringing it as that is dangerous.

If the vet does an xray Monday just get them to do the jaw as well this will rule out tooth root problems if they think that dental may be a cause of issues and obviously they will need to give his mouth a really good check.. You may as well get it all done on one sray rather than keep stressing them out.

Keeping everything crossed for you. What is your lads names?
 
sport_billy said:
Thanks for the update, I have been thinking about him today :)

Pleased you have metacam and Gut Stim keep going with that. The Teeth thing will need looking at, when you say grinding, is it teeth chattering like anger or actual grinding? A tip with the CC is to trim the end carefully of the end of a 1ml syringe, make sure there are no jagged edges and the plunger won't come out; This makes it easier to suck up the CC and less likely to squirt it out fast when syringing it as that is dangerous.

If the vet does an xray Monday just get them to do the jaw as well this will rule out tooth root problems if they think that dental may be a cause of issues and obviously they will need to give his mouth a really good check.. You may as well get it all done on one sray rather than keep stressing them out.

Keeping everything crossed for you. What is your lads names?
Click to expand...

Thanks for thinking of him, it really means alot to us. I was hoping to update sooner, but have been busy at work all day and have been concentrating on him since we got home.

His name is Benny, he's 4 years of age. We rescued his mum and dad and she was pregnant with him and his brother.

He's not chattering, he is definitely grinding them together - it is mostly after he has eaten or had water or critical care (we are given him some clean water in a syringe after his critical care to help wash it down. Thanks for the tip on the syringes, we have a few 1ml so will try and adapt one to make it easier.

Assuming he may have teeth problems, what is a likely problem? Overgrown or something else? They appear fine to look at, but I'm not sure I would know otherwise unless they were obviously overgrown. I assume there may well be a thin line between 'normal length' and 'overgrown enough to cause problems'? He was eating, and knawing his wood toys as per normal on Wednesday before his visit to the emergency vets.
 
guineaguy said:
Thank you, we will stay off the melon. The thing is he will not eat any hay or pellets the only thing he has been eating is the critical care, which he is becoming increasingly reluctant to take and a bit of melon.

I wish I had've got some metaclopromide now. We will be insisting on it tomorrow.

He is still producing poops, we just pulled a lot from his bum, like he was impacted.

Jerrybelly - what was yours eating during those 2 weeks?
Click to expand...

Sorry it's taken me a while to reply. Luckily for Jerry, although he was quite badly bloated he didn't loose his appetite. We don't feed him any cabbage or any of the usual 'bloaty' veg (as he also has bladder issues), so the vet was happy for us to continue feeding his usual food - which he happily ate.
 
Possibly overgrown is the normal problem with teeth - your vet would need to check the back of the teeth also, this can be difficult to do conscious so some vets will use a GA if they can't get a proper look. I didn't wish to scare you on the teeth root thing , but it is worth ruling out seeing as they'll be doing an xray and a possible dental issue may be there.

how is Benny with hay at the moment, Hay helps wear the teeth down. Treacy-Bum used to suffer with bloat and when she had episodes she would only eat timothy hay (she had expensive tastes lol) So it may be worth getting a few different types of hay in to tempt him.

Lots of healing vibes to Benny, you are doing an ace job. I know it's tiring both emotionally and physically. Well done, you are doing your best for your little boy.
 
Bless him poor little love. Sending healing vibes to Benny. Sounds like your doing a great job with him x
 
You didn't scare me, don't worry! - I would rather know of all the possibilities.

He hadn't eaten any hay until a few strands earlier - from the 'hay cookies' they sell at Pets at Home. He used to go mad for them, which I had forgotten about, so I picked some up on the way home, and he was eager to eat them, but he did seem to be in pain when chewing, and then continued with the grinding afterwards - he only managed a few strands but thats a few more than he has been having - I can pick up some timothy hay to try - I will try anything for him. I just have a horrible feeling that maybe he has teeth problems and have shown themselves at the worst possible time when he needs to eat most.

He did have a touch of Anaesthetic today so the vet could have a look at his mouth, so she could have a good look inside. Despite being very busy and she was the only vet on duty, she gave him a very thorough check. She has been brilliant for him.

With regards to veg, we are going to cut them out, but is there anything at all that would be safe, cucumber for example?

Yes, its been very tiring - managed to get a full night last night as my girlfriend did the night shifts, and tonight we will do one each and that will be our plan going forward. A bit worried about Monday as both of us will have to work, but luckily my employers are fairly empathetic, so if I may be able to get an extra long lunch if he needs feeding and meds.
 
We had a slight improvement last night - shortly after giving him his metacam he came out from under his bed, he had a drop of water from his bottle and chose to eat some hay, only some but this is the first time he has so much as just wandered out of his bed for food.

However, he hasn't done a lot since - he still seems alert and active - he wants to eat, but he just can't seem too. Poops are coming through but they are small and far between and I'm not sure if we are getting enough into him. He is still grinding his teeth.

I know you have said to keep him off veg, but this morning I tried him with a slice of cucumber chopped in 2 which he ate and some carrot which he was able to tear off, but it kept falling out of his mouth like he couldn't chew it, this does make me think that he has underlying teeth problems, so we need to get that checked out tomorrow. We are giving him plenty of tummy massages and keeping an eye for bloat aswell.

Is there anything else at all we can tempt him with, especially fibre? He just can't seem to get at hay.

I know this is unscientific and may be impossible to tell but I have some pictures of his front teeth. I realise it could be back teeth, or even below the gum so they may not help with anything.

teeth.jpeg
teeth2.jpeg
teeth3.jpeg


He really wants to pull through and I am desperate to help, so if anyone can offer anything I would be grateful.

Thanks again.
 
Could you get him to Dursley for Rachael Mowbray to have a look at at Vale Vets? - that's the best I can suggest - there is a video of her on their website looking in a buns mouth - age should be able to check without an anesthetic for you - its free to give her a ring - they are a referral service for other vets - good luck x
 
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