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Piggy with gas

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LaylaAndSaffy

LaylaAndSaffy

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I'm new to posting so I hope I've got this in the right section. Sorry if not.

I am having a problem with my little Saffron. She suffered with bloat about 2 months ago and I had to take her to the emergency vets. She had stopped eating, drinking, peeing and pooping. The vet gave me metoclopramide to give her for a week and she greatly improved.

However, for the past few weeks she has had a awfully gassy belly. I have been massaging her abdomen, giving her 0.2ml of infant calpol and 1ml of Infacol (infant colic griping pain medication). I have been giving this morning and evening. She seems much happier once I have massaged her belly and I am always checking she is still pooping.

I haven't been feeding her much fresh food at all apart from the odd bit of lettuce if she won't take her medicine willingly just in case a certain food has caused the problem but it is still ongoing. She has started to drink a lot more water now. Oh I have also been giving her 2ml of pure cranberry juice mixed with water morning and evening too for vitamin c.

When I went home for Easter (I am at Uni with them at the moment) I gave them a lot of fresh grass. Could this have caused the problem? Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
 
The rich, fresh spring grass can cause bloat just as it can cause colic in horses.

Suzy
 
mmm thats interesting, so we need to limit their time in run or put down some flooring of some kind so that they only have access to a small amount of grass?
 
When first putting pigs out on grass it's best to limit the amount of they can eat - once they have adjusted to having it in their diet again they can eat freely. A few days allowing them to eat more each time should be ok - just keep an eye on their tums and poo. They won't need as much veg if they are on grass and always allow them access to hay.

Suzy x
 
Layla and Saffy haven't had grass for about 3 weeks now and I think it has definitely helped the situation. I think I did go overboard with the grass over Easter (a mixing bowl full twice a day... oops). Won't be doing that again.

Saffy's bloat is still ongoing but (fingers crossed) I am managing it okay. She had quite bad gas yesterday and I think this may have been the cherry tomato I gave her the day before. Day by day I will hopefully find out which foods irritate the problem and be able to keep it at bay.

Thank you for your replies. This forum is incredibly helpful :)
 
My vet advised me to keep them moving to help release the gas, a good (gentle!) chase round the room certainly helped Gerry although it was only a mild case.
 
I tried Saff on carrot last night and today she has been terribly bloated. I am back to sqaure one :( it makes me sad to see her like this. I keep rubbing her belly, holding her bum in the air, letting her run around with her sister and have given her medicine so hopefully something will help. Oh we were really getting some where :( no more carrot... ever!
 
LaylaAndSaffy said:
I tried Saff on carrot last night and today she has been terribly bloated. I am back to sqaure one :( it makes me sad to see her like this. I keep rubbing her belly, holding her bum in the air, letting her run around with her sister and have given her medicine so hopefully something will help. Oh we were really getting some where :( no more carrot... ever!
Click to expand...

Bloat is often a secondary condition. My Bette never Bloated, until she was ill thats when she started suffering from Chronic bloat.
 
flintstones said:
Bloat is often a secondary condition. My Bette never Bloated, until she was ill thats when she started suffering from Chronic bloat.
Click to expand...

What did Bette have when she was ill? Saffy had to go to the vet when she stopped going to the loo a while back, would that have set it off? How do you cope with Bette's bloat?
 
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