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Poorly Rescue Pig With Bloating And Diarrhoea

quietone

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Aug 17, 2014
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Location
Lancashire
Hello,

I adopted three rescue piggies about two months ago. For the first few weeks they were absolutely fine, then after a month the smallest girl, Wispa, developed very loose stools. She was already noticeably smaller than the other two, so we were concerned. The other two are still absolutely fine.

At our first trip to the vet they gave us 2 sachets of recovery plus probiotic and said to give half a sachet per day. Wisp loved this, but her loose stool continued. After a few days it firmed up, and then things got worse. Wispa is obviously in pain when she poos, and she's quite bloated. We took her back to the vets who gave us antibiotics and fibreplex. The vet also said that she was no expert in small animals and has given us another vet to try if things don't improve.

We are only just on day 2 of the antibiotics, and although Wispa isn't noticeably worse, she's still unhappy and suffering from loose stool. It isn't constant. She's still eating and drinking, but losing weight. I don't want to rush into giving her anything that makes it worse, and my reading up on bloat, etc, has only made me more confused. How long do we give the antibiotics chance to work before moving onto the next vet? Is there anything else I can be giving her? She's been on just hay and pellets for about two weeks now. Is infacol something to try or will that make her diarrhoea worse?

Apologies for all the questions. I really don't know what is the best way to proceed.
 
I would be getting her to another vet at this stage, bloat should be treated with Emeprid (metachlopromide) and Zantac it will help keep the guts moving and pushing things through. Please top her up with syringe feed, and make sure she is getting lots of hay. Are you feeding any hay? What town are you in please?

What antibiotics is she on and why did the vet put Wispa on them? Antibiotics would help fight an infection but not bloat. I would be asking for a stool sample to be tested.

@Jaycey @helen105281 @Adelle @Pound Shilling & Pig
 
Hello,
Thank you for your quick reply.
The vet put her on 0.2 twice a day of metronidazole. Wispa lives in the hay loft of our c&c cage, and she's eating hay almost constantly. She still seems really eager to eat and drink. We're located in Carnforth, Lancashire, and the vet we were recommended to try next is the Veterinary Health Centre in Lytham St Annes. Our vet said she didn't think her lab even dealt with guinea pig stool samples!
 
These are the three local to you

  • The veterinary health centre
    4 Greenways
    Lytham St Annes, Lancashire FY8 3LY
    01253 729309
    www.tvhc.co.uk


  • Rose Cottage Veterinary Centre
    Jen Quayle
    Chester Rd
    Sutton Weaver, Runcorn
    Chershire West and Chester, WA7 3EQ
    01928 71758


  • Ashleigh Veterinary Centre
    Aidan Raftery
    221 Upper Chorlton Road
    Manchester
    , Lancashire M16 0DE
    0161 881 6868
 
Thank you! I just used the vet locator tool, and it showed Millcroft Veterinary Centre in Keswick as well, which is a much easier journey from here. The website says very specifically that one of the vets specialises in guinea pigs.
 
Excellent, please let us know what they say. Sending lots of healing vibes to little Wispa x
 
You could try adding in gripe water if she is bloated. It tends to disperse the gas bubbles and I prefer it to Infacol. I use the Woodwards one which you can get in the baby section of the supermarket. The dose generally used on here is 0.3ml every few hours but I have dosed up to 3ml.

My Fuzzy has had soft poos since being on an antibiotic that disagreed with her and I found that giving a handful of these each day helped a bit. I also gave her Fibreplex.

Protexin Pro-Fibre

I have heard that Chester zoo are able to test poo samples @Poppy'sMum
 
Thank you! I just used the vet locator tool, and it showed Millcroft Veterinary Centre in Keswick as well, which is a much easier journey from here. The website says very specifically that one of the vets specialises in guinea pigs.

Millcroft have a fantastic guinea pig vet (Vikki Temple) but she is based in Cockermouth and Workington. I don't know about the vet in the Keswick branch but I can highly recommend Vikki.
 
Millcroft have a fantastic guinea pig vet (Vikki Temple) but she is based in Cockermouth and Workington. I don't know about the vet in the Keswick branch but I can highly recommend Vikki.

Can you pm me the address details please? we can add them to the vet locator
 
@quietone How long has she had the loose stools and bloat? What is she eating, are you still giving her veg? What is her weight like, is she stable or losing? How is she acting? If she's bright and active then the bloat isn't very serious. When they start slowing down/not moving and looking very sorry for themselves then the bloat is serious.

The lab Helen mentions is PALS vetlab Pinmore Animal Lab Services. I've used them for one of my boys. He wasn't bloated or had loose stools, but he was losing weight despite a great appetite. And he's always had a troubled digestive system. The service was great and I recommend going direct to them as it's much cheaper than getting your vet to send off the samples. The results weren't detailed but it highlighted a fungal issue which we have treated with Itrafungol. He's stopped losing weight but I need a retest to see what it shows now. I keep forgetting to do it.

Anyway, with your piggy. Sometimes if they have an issue with digestive upset adding in med's which we think should help can make it worse. So, unless there is a real reason for the med's I would stop them (after speaking to the vet).

I've had a few pigs stay with me for a few weeks and one of them came with loose stools and a bit of a round bloated tummy. I took him off veg for a few days and he's now fine again. He's even eating veg again. Sometimes not doing anything is the best action to take.

If you could update us with a bit more information, or a timeline then we might be able to think of other things to try.
 
Hello!
I thought I'd give you all a quick update on Wispa. We popped her to the vets in Lytham yesterday as Vicki wasn't around until today, and I didn't want to wait.
The vet is just as perplexed as we are. Wispa is still eating and drinking plenty, but continues to lose weight, and suffers from bouts of diarrhoea. It isn't constant, and in herself she actually seems a bit brighter.
They did an x-ray that showed nothing except some gas. Bloods were done, and we should have the results by the weekend. She ruled bloat out straight away, but given the length of time this has been going on for, the vet reckons there could be an underlying issue such as organ failure or diabetes. She said to finish the dose of antibiotics and prescribed zantac to keep Wispa's guts moving. We're also worming Wispa as apparently they're not always wormed by the rescue centre. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Thank you for all the support everyone. I'll update once the results are in!
 
Do you know what the wormer is that you have been given @quietone ? I have experience of using panacur with pigs.

If nothing comes back from the blood test I would definitely recommend having a poop test done. Especially if the vet doesn't want to treat as fungal without proof first.

Has there been any time when she wasn't pooping? If not then I personally wouldn't use the Zantac. Sometimes if they have stomach issues adding in med's that aren't helping can contribute to the problem.
 
It is panacur, just checked. Wispa detests it, but at least its only once a day.
She's never stopped pooping, and since she took the zantac last night she's done some awful looking puddles of poop, which she wasn't doing before. Her stool was very squishy but not that bad. On the otherhand she looks less bloated. I don't know if this is the zantac, or the various other drugs she's now on.
 
Did they give you any fibreplex?
 
An hour or two after every dose of metronidazole. Wispa has perked up a bit this evening, so I'm quietly hopeful we're getting there.
 
Guinea pigs with chronic diarrohea will need extra fluids, did the vet give her some by injection? You can offer her some water by syringe, don't syringe directly down the back of her throat, try to get the syringe in by the side of her mouth & only squeeze in 0.1-0.2 mls at a time, towards the inside of her cheek. You can also leave a small bowl of water in the cage to encourage her to drink more. She shouldn't be on any veggies or fruit until her tummy settles. I would syringe feed her softened pellets such as Burgess Blackcurrant & Oregano using a 1 ml syringe with the end cut off (See our syringe feeding guide) I would aim to feed her about 4-5 times a day by syringe to keep her body weight up, each time you need o feed her 20-25 mls if possible in total. Mary at Chester Zoo does comprehensive full fecal tests for parasites/fungal etc. you need to collect a poo sample in a sterile container from your vets & get them to send the sample off for you. This is a far more extensive test than the normal fecal float tests offered by in house vet labs.
 
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