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Please Help Me And Mabel

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Hemmy

Hemmy

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi everyone
When I got in today, I noticed Mabel wasn't right. She was sat hunched up, her eyes looked dull and she wouldn't eat. She looked like the discomfort was coming from her stomach.

When I picked her up and tapped her sides they sounded hollow and I immediately rang the out of hours vets. She had an X-ray and a check over and the vet came to the conclusion that she has bloat. He says the prognosis is not great.

She was given pain relief and metoclopramide. We have been told to stay up all night and keep getting fluids, critical care and hay in to her. She is eating and drinking by herself right now.

I also have a large vibrating pad which I keep sitting her on top of.

Please can anyone offer me some more treatment advice or just some hope?

I want so badly for Mabel to be okay.

Thanks
Hemmy
 
Many guinea pigs can recover from bloat! My Sophie had bloat and made a full recovery. Please try not to worry although I know it is difficult. Somebody knowledgeable will come along soon.
 
Everything you are doing so far is great, put her on the massage pad as much as you can and keep going with the fluids and critical care. Well done on getting her xrayed so quickly, at least you know there isn't a blockage.

When my Maddie was full of gas recently I gave her Woodwards gripe water which helped too.
 
I really hope she will be ok - you've done all the right things so she has the best chance.

Has she been pooping at all?

It's a great sign that she is happy to eat by herself. It would be worth weighing her once a day at the same time each day over the next few days to make sure she is eating enough. A Piggie in pain is less likely to eat and you want to prevent any weight loss.

Good luck, I really wish you both well.
 
Thank you for the kind words, everyone.
She has passed some poo but it is misshapen and grainy. I suppose that is better than nothing.
I will keep on her massage pad for 20 mins per hour, and feed her a syringe of critical care every hour throughout the night.
 
It is good that she is pooing. Try to get more than 1ml in each hour if you can, as she will need more than that, but I know it is difficult to find the right balance bearing in mind there is not much coming out. It is important that she has enough to keep her guts going though.
 
We had a bloaty Piggie Treacle who would have these 24 hour long episodes. You are doing well, The Metachlopromide is a gut stimulant so it will be keeping her guts moving food through. The massage pad will help as will gentle massage at sides of tummy. As Helen says you know its bloat not a blockage due to your quick thinking.
If she hasn't improved within 24 hours I would advise speaking to your vet about trying Zantac as well as metachlopromide as they work on different parts of the gut. Metachlopromide used to sort treacle out fairly quickly. Is she pooing and eating hay?
Healing vibes to Mabel

EDIT: The mishapen poo is a good sign, it will come out big and sloppy before returning to normal. You are doing well.
 
How many 1ml syringes would you advise per hour?
Again, thank you all so much for your support
 
If you are feeding every hour I would say around 5 syringes, maybe slightly less? For a pig that is not eating at all the standard is 120ml in 24 hours but some people recommend more, however, as she is eating for herself then you probably don't need to give as much as that.
 
Cut the end off a 1ml syringe making sure the plunger can't come out and file it smooth. This makes sucking up the syringe food easier and makes it easier to feed and it is less likely to fire out if the food gets stuck
 
Your piggie will need 20ml mushed food every 4 hours day and night.

Car journeys work well - I used to drive my Beechie round the village at silly o'clock hours of the morning when he had bloat and it worked.

They have metoclorpomide but they might also need zantac (rantidine) -as it works on the hind gut unlike metoclop.

In this case of stasis then 4-6mg/kg zantac twice daily in addition to metoclop would have a beneficial effect. Please discuss this with your vet. You can get zantac tablets in a supermarket.

Healng wheeks

x
 
Just given 3 ml critical care and another 10 minutes on the vibrating pad.
The pad seems to soothe her and she fell asleep while I held it on this time.
She is eating hay and some granules at the moment. She is passing urine and some very small stools. Her stomach has also started to make some gurgling noises - is this a sign of progress?
Hemmy x
 
Yes I think so, it means things are moving. I am sure that it is when there are no gut sounds that you need to worry. You may find she farts too which is all good.
 
Phew. Just enough time to make another coffee before the next massage session!
She has another appointment at 11 am tomorrow. I'm hoping if we can make it until then we will probably be through the worst.
 
You are doing really well so far and your quick actions earlier may have saved her life. Just goes to show how important it is to get a poorly pig to the emergency vet.
 
Mabel has just had another 5ml of critical care, 10 minutes on the pad and some diarolyte (as recommended by Pebble - thank you). This is the plan for every hour throughout the night.
She has passed a few more stools and is eating hay by herself.
Her sister pig is being so good and doesn't seem to care that she's disrupted every 30 minutes haha!
 
That's great she is still pooing. Dioralyte is good we gave that to Maddie too and it really helped.
 
Feeling a bit panicky and upset now. I've read the pages on bloat on Peter Gurneys website and a few other sites and I feel very disheartened. I hope Mabel can get through tonight and be okay but I am starting to worry more and more and her stomach still sounds hollow.
 
Hi Hemmy, I don't have any experience with bloat, but I really want to wish you and mabel good luck. You are doing everything right, try to remain optimistic about her recovery. You will get her through this!
 
In this last hour her stomach has got very large again and she seems a little uncomfortable. I have had her on the vibrating pad for about 20 minutes but I feel terrible about the rest of the night and tomorrow morning
 
How is she doing this morning? x
 
Really really hope your little lady made it through the night! X
 
Thank you for checking in with Mabel, you are all so kind to think of her this morning.

It was a long night but Mabel has made it through. Her stomach is still slightly puffy this morning but it is no where near as large as yesterday. I contined feeding and massaging every hour until 7, when she fell asleep next to Daphne-pig and looked too comfortable to disturb.

She is wheeking and moving around as normal, as well as eating and drinking by herself.

We have a vets appointment at ~11 am, where we will hopefully be told that she is well.

Thanks,
Hemmy
 
Oh thank goodness, so glad to hear she is looking better! Well done for all your efforts last night!
 
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