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Upset Stomach

  • Thread starter Thread starter spitcher88
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spitcher88

Hello there,

One of my boars keeps getting an upset stomach. It's going on for about 6 weeks now, and he's been to the vets three times about it. I've cut down on his greens generally, and he's getting no more than the others and their stomachs are fine-it's what i've fed piggies over the past five years!

Anyway, as soon as I notice it, I stop giving him greens, feed him on pellets and hay and by the time I get round to the vets he's better! The vet's don't want to prescribe anything as his poo's are back to normal. He's got an upset stomach again now, so I'm doing the same thing. I don't really know what to do anymore so any advice would be great?
 
too many greens in one go perhaps? If my guineas have cabbage for example they don't get tons and tons, maybe 2 small slices each.

Mary (choloe) has had problems with Zoe's poops and what she feeds her. Not sure if she'd be any help but she might be able to advise :)
 
Not sure, thats what I thought at first but I don't think I give them too many greens. Like you said, couple of leaves, maybe a bit of kale etc and some crunchy stuff like cucumber, peppers, celery and so on. I've been feeding them this way for years so, I'm surprised it's only just come up if it's too much if you get what I mean? I'm totally prepared to except I do, and maybe I need to change it but I would have thought a problem would have come up earlier on you know? :-\
 
i am still having problems with zoe's poop even on probiotics and with bananna in skin. the vet feels that maybe zoe will only be able to eat grass, hay and parsley. if you find out what is upsetting your boy,please let me know as zoe has had this problem since november 2007 after 6-8 terramycin injections and metacam.
all i can suggest to you is try grass and hay and slowly add veg, perhaps put on a probiotic for a few days. keep eye on weight. has there been a change in diet or bedding or like a lost piggy? sorry i haven't been much help, you could try mashing pellets up in grinder or food processor and mash in pre boiled water, add 1-2 teaspoons of baby food like sweetcorn and syringe feed him. wishing you luck, hugs and cuddles from us :smitten: :smitten: :smitten: and the girls send :-* :-* :-*
 
Celery could be the culprit. Cut out the celery and see how he is, i know it sounds daft because celery seems like a "nothing" food but it sets my boy off & Debbie (furryfriends) has a piggy who had colic, he was treated by the vets. Kale & spring greens seemed to be the culprits but debbie slowly re-introduced them and he was fine, as soon as he had a chunk of celery he was ill again.
 
I too find if our boy has too many greens we get soft poo's...... try reducing the amount even more and encourage more of the hay and pellets O0 :smitten:
 
Thanks everyone :)

Yeah will do choloe! It's a mystery to me too at the moment.

I will try that with the celery, I'm willing to try anything. I checked him this morning, and just from laying off the greens he's got better in one day. I'll re-introduce slowly again and just fill up their hay trays even more! They do get hay and pellets all the time-constant supply so not sure whats going on really... 98)
 
as crazy as it seems some piggies have sensitive stomachs to veg, i would recommend a diet of readi grass, hay and dried food with added vitamin c, veg twice a week in very small amounts. Actimel is great for piggies that are a little loose as it is pre and pro biotic, and helps with there gut flora. I give mine 1ml x 2 a day one in the morning and one at night. If symptons dissappear with no veg then i agree not to give antibiotics, you can pop a vit c tablet in the water and see if piggie tolerates that if so then 4 tabs per week will be absolutely fine, the piggie will be getting the vit c they need and no bad belly's. love sue
 
Actimel is not appropriate for guinea pigs as it is a dairy product. The digestive systems of guinea pigs are not built to break down complex sugars and fats in cows' milk and it can cause serious digestive upset, from diarrhoea to bloat. Not what a piggy with an upset tum needs!

The only appropriate probiotics for piggies are the likes of Bio-Lapis.
 
One of mine gets runny/soft poos from cabbage and spring greens. At least it seems that yours isn't 'ill' as such, you just need to be careful about his diet.
 
I've noticed as my guinea has got older, even though her appetitie has stayed the same, she can't eat as much fruit/veg because ir upsets her tummy. Have you read the other posts and giving veg/fruit/water to your guinea at room temperature?
 
homefromhome said:
as crazy as it seems some piggies have sensitive stomachs to veg, i would recommend a diet of readi grass, hay and dried food with added vitamin c, veg twice a week in very small amounts. Actimel is great for piggies that are a little loose as it is pre and pro biotic, and helps with there gut flora. I give mine 1ml x 2 a day one in the morning and one at night. If symptons dissappear with no veg then i agree not to give antibiotics, you can pop a vit c tablet in the water and see if piggie tolerates that if so then 4 tabs per week will be absolutely fine, the piggie will be getting the vit c they need and no bad belly's. love sue
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I had a baby dalmation that had a seriously upset stomach and my vet (Maryh and lavenderjades vet too) recommended a diet of yakult, herbs and grass and it cleared up a treat. When i tried him back on the veggies he became loose again, so I gave him a tiny bit of yakult and it cleared up!
 
Hmm I don't want to give him anything dairy, don't think thats wise. like Popcorn said he's not 'ill' really he just gets a funny stomach. Maybe it is because he's a bit older? He's four now so I guess it could be that. I think I may just need to be more careful with what I feed him. Trouble is, he LOVES his food, and will eat anything in sight, so he'll gorge himself if he gets the chance.

rw3399 said:
I've noticed as my guinea has got older, even though her appetitie has stayed the same, she can't eat as much fruit/veg because ir upsets her tummy. Have you read the other posts and giving veg/fruit/water to your guinea at room temperature?
Click to expand...

No I haven't I'm afraid, didn't realise that could be an issue? :-\
 
If you have a look at Zoe Update post, page 7 you might find something on there about it as 'Chloe' has been having problems with her guineas with upset tummies.
 
piglover said:
I had a baby dalmation that had a seriously upset stomach and my vet (Maryh and lavenderjades vet too) recommended a diet of yakult, herbs and grass and it cleared up a treat. When i tried him back on the veggies he became loose again, so I gave him a tiny bit of yakult and it cleared up!
Click to expand...

Improvement could just have been chance as much as it could the Yakult. As I said above, dairy based probiotics are absolutely not appropriate for guinea pigs. There's a reference to it in the book Diseases of Domestic Guinea pigs by Richardson, a text that many vets use.

There are probiotics out there specifically formulated for herbivores and most vets will recommend them. Usually Bio-Lapis.
 
as mentioned in zoe's thread she is on protexin a probiotic and this is doing nothing for her, if anything it is making her poops worse. :tickedoff: :tickedoff: :tickedoff: we put it in a jug and mix with preboiled water and put it her drinking water and also syringe her some 4-6 times a day. as someone suggested it could be an age thing as zoe is 4 months short of being 4 and the antibiotics and surgery didn't help either. just may have to be very careful what you feed your baby. our vet said just feed zoe grass and hay and pellets for the rest of her days as in the wild they don't get veggies and herbs etc. i am at my wits end with it! have even tried bananna's in their skins which worked to start with but now they don't. if you find an answer please let me know :tickedoff: damn no begging icon! hugs to your baby. :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:
 
daftscotslass said:
Improvement could just have been chance as much as it could the Yakult. As I said above, dairy based probiotics are absolutely not appropriate for guinea pigs. There's a reference to it in the book Diseases of Domestic Guinea pigs by Richardson, a text that many vets use.

There are probiotics out there specifically formulated for herbivores and most vets will recommend them. Usually Bio-Lapis.
Click to expand...

Just sharing my experiences as we do!He only had a couple of ml not the whole bottle!
However my vet is highly successful as you've seen with Maryh and Fiona.
But I also acknowledge your point.
 
Aw choloe i've been reading through your thread, you are doing so well though! Yeah definately will let you know if I find something. Like you said, maybe your baby and mine are just a bit more sensitive as they get a tad older? Mine is alert and happy, making laods of noise as per usual just a bit icky ?
 
daftscotslass said:
Actimel is not appropriate for guinea pigs as it is a dairy product. The digestive systems of guinea pigs are not built to break down complex sugars and fats in cows' milk and it can cause serious digestive upset, from diarrhoea to bloat. Not what a piggy with an upset tum needs!

The only appropriate probiotics for piggies are the likes of Bio-Lapis.
Click to expand...

YES they can have sensitive stomachs to anything with cows milk in, thats why it is in small doses and it does work a treat, more and more vets are catching on to this as word is travelling. I have 50 piggies and have never had one with diarrhoea or bloat after using actimel, i have had some piggies with fluid diarrhoea which can be fatel and they have pulled through with this and the other things i have mentioned. Pro -texin is a probiotic for guinea pigs from the vets if people wish to try that, we do not stock bio-lapis in the vets i work in. sue
 
Err... Protexin are the company that manufacture Bio-Lapis, so the product is very likely to be Bio-Lapis.

There is no way on this earth that ANY vet at my practice or neighbouring ones would recommend dairy products as a probiotic. Regardless of the number of piggies you have, their digestive systems are NOT built to cope with cows' milk in any form.
 
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