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Very severe bloat!

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Celias133

New Born Pup
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I really dont know anymore…

My 3 year old guinea pig Chase has a really bad bloat… yesterday evening he was still out and about and eating, but this morning he was a mess. He wouldn’t eat, there was green liquid oozing from mouth and nose and he was as big as a balloon! His body temperature was barely 34 degrees celsius. My exotic vet won’t be back until thursday and i do not have specialists in my enviroment. I did take him to the local vet where they did say that he had a bloat and had fallen into a bit of shock. Back home we got his temperature back up to 37,8. I was told to force feed but he is not chewing nor swallowing. I tried everything but he just will not swallow. He just sits motionless letting all the liquid food fall out of his mouth. Also water is just dribbeling down his chin as he refuses to swallow. Earlier i thought i had some food into him, but when i checked to give him some water, his mouth was full of the unswallowed food… i have no idea how to get any sort of food into him. Anyone some ideas? :( :(
 
The vet said she doesnt know much about guinea pigs so she couldnt do much. She did give some gut medication and a injection of metomotyl. Thats all they could do. They did not check for a blockage tho. There is fluid so now and then coming up from his stomache that leaks out through his mouth. He also doesn’t move around at all. I try to motivate and nudge him but he’s just apethic. Everywhere i go they recommend to go to the vet. But i tried to contact multiple and they all tell me they dont know enough. A specialist hospital a bit further away unfortunately refused me because they are overflowing with patients. I'm really stressed out and i feel like no one can help me. I feel so bad for my little guy. He’s been through alot the past years! Multiple bladder surgeries and a ton of meds. Lately it really seemed like he was thriving! So I'm so gutted he is likely to not make it. Vet bills are another issue. I spend a ton of money already on vets who couldnt help me :( my boy is worth it of course, but then i do want care that can make a difference for him
 
Celias133 said:
The vet said she doesnt know much about guinea pigs so she couldnt do much. She did give some gut medication and a injection of metomotyl. Thats all they could do. They did not check for a blockage tho. There is fluid so now and then coming up from his stomache that leaks out through his mouth. He also doesn’t move around at all. I try to motivate and nudge him but he’s just apethic. Everywhere i go they recommend to go to the vet. But i tried to contact multiple and they all tell me they dont know enough. A specialist hospital a bit further away unfortunately refused me because they are overflowing with patients. I'm really stressed out and i feel like no one can help me. I feel so bad for my little guy. He’s been through alot the past years! Multiple bladder surgeries and a ton of meds. Lately it really seemed like he was thriving! So I'm so gutted he is likely to not make it. Vet bills are another issue. I spend a ton of money already on vets who couldnt help me :( my boy is worth it of course, but then i do want care that can make a difference for him
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Hi

BIG HUGS

I am extremely sorry. It doesn't sound good. Please see a vet as soon as possible at any hour of the day or night, depending on your access.

Fighting, vigorous refusal to take food in a badly bloated piggy may mean a twisted gut or a blockage in the gut; it is usually a guinea pig that is no longer able to process food. :(

Especially If you hear your piggy grunting (extreme pain from a gut that is like concrete) or looking she is vomiting (typical for a twisted gut), please race your piggy to the vets as quickly and as soon as possible for emergency mercy euthanasia.

I really wish I had better news. Extreme bloating events always come as such a bad shock and leave you reeling. :(
 
I am saying this very carefully but: with a lot of emergency treatment and around the clock care (day and night) my guinea pig Chase has improved. He can move around again, he is eating quite some hay and is even trying to steal food from his brother (which is what he is notorious for :P ) i am really aware that he is not out of the woods yet. He is still far away from being how he once was. Still tired and somewhat lethargic. The mouth and nose oozing stopped like 24 hours ago and he is breathing much much better. He is still very displeased with syringe feeding but i try to do the best i can. He has eaten some pellets by himself this evening. He is not drinking yet so i give him water every hour. I really hope he can make it through!
 
Celias133 said:
I am saying this very carefully but: with a lot of emergency treatment and around the clock care (day and night) my guinea pig Chase has improved. He can move around again, he is eating quite some hay and is even trying to steal food from his brother (which is what he is notorious for :P ) i am really aware that he is not out of the woods yet. He is still far away from being how he once was. Still tired and somewhat lethargic. The mouth and nose oozing stopped like 24 hours ago and he is breathing much much better. He is still very displeased with syringe feeding but i try to do the best i can. He has eaten some pellets by himself this evening. He is not drinking yet so i give him water every hour. I really hope he can make it through!
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Fingers VERY firmly crossed. It is surely not because you are not giving your very best. I hope that Chase is going to make a full recovery.
 
Thanks for the kind words :D

He did lose quite a lot of weight the past 24 hours 78 grams. But yesterday was really really rough. He didn’t eat anything and syringe feeding was almost impossible. So i guess that explains the weightloss. Today he has been eating much more on his own and i have been syringe feeding him with success. Hopefully his weight will improve
 
Absolutely everything crossed that Chase makes a full recovery. Well done for all the love and care you are giving him. Looking after a sick guinea pig is exhausting.
 
Celias133 said:
Thanks for the kind words :D

He did lose quite a lot of weight the past 24 hours 78 grams. But yesterday was really really rough. He didn’t eat anything and syringe feeding was almost impossible. So i guess that explains the weightloss. Today he has been eating much more on his own and i have been syringe feeding him with success. Hopefully his weight will improve
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Just continue to get as much feed into him as you can, little but often; ideally aiming at 60 ml in 24 hours. The fact that he is nibbling on food (although not eating much himself) is a promising sign. Keep on plodding and hang on in there.

PS: Please be aware that severe bloat is rather like a tsunami and comes in waves which can be spaced apart quite a bit - sometimes days or even weeks. It takes a very long time for the gut microbiome to stabilise again. This is unfortuntely a marathon. But I am glad that he has made it through and that it is not a blockage or a twisted gut.
 
This past night was more tough. He spit out most of the food i fed him in syringe. I think at best he got around 4 ml of Critcal Care in. He shows interest in pellets but does not eat them. He picks them up one by one and drops them again. He really wants vegetables but i do not dare to feed him that quite yet! The poops looked kinda normal yesterday but last night the poops were few and more stringy and thin.
There is a lot of progress with moving around. He walks freely everywhere and follows his brother around.

This whole bloat adventure really comes with ups and downs. Some moments he almost has me fooled that it will clear up any moment! And other times my head feels heavy with worries :(
 
I am also a bit worried about something that will happen in 6 days…

My father sadly passed in januari and was cremated. We want to bring his ashes in a place just outside the country, he loved that place.

We got everything arranged and my whole family will get together next tuesday. Its a long drive and me and my wife have an overnight stay. But i am so worried about Chase, as i dont think he can be without supervision for 24 hours in the next week.
 
Chase update:

Today has been really good, but he is still losing weight :( tuesday he was 1113 grams and today only 1004 grams. I still struggle with syringe feeding as he does not like it and makes it really difficult! I feed him critical care like 30 ml max on 24 hours and i know, thats really too few. This afternoon have found a new stratetgy that works better with support feeding. So now it goes a lot better.

what i think is especially great is he walks up to his water and drinks it by himself! He also leaves his little bed when he gets hungry and spends sometime at the haypile to eat :) i am happy he realises he wants food and goes for it.

The poops are another great thing. This morning they were tiny and clumpy and very infrequent. With more food intake and belly rubs he has been pooping out much more normal looking “bean”shaped poopies. So far, its going quite alright :) but i need him to stop losing weight.

Are there any hay kinds that are recommended to feed in these times? He has timothy hay but i also have some timothy that has dandelion in it, is that okay to give?
 
I'm glad he's doing well.

He could do with some pain and gut motility medication from the vet too.

Do your vets have boarding places for guinea pigs, which would be ideal for when you go away or are there any other boarding places that will syringe feed.
 
Posyrose said:
I'm glad he's doing well.

He could do with some pain and gut motility medication from the vet too.

Do your vets have boarding places for guinea pigs, which would be ideal for when you go away or are there any other boarding places that will syringe feed.
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He has cisaral drops and metacam. So far he is doing okay on that.

I am worried indeed about boarding places :( so far no luck. I love my guinea pig and i want to go above and beyond to safe him, but i also would not want to miss such an important moment of saying my final goodbyes to my father. I will need to come up with a solution.
 
Celias133 said:
He has cisaral drops and metacam. So far he is doing okay on that.

I am worried indeed about boarding places :( so far no luck. I love my guinea pig and i want to go above and beyond to safe him, but i also would not want to miss such an important moment of saying my final goodbyes to my father. I will need to come up with a solution.
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BIG HUGS

I am so very sorry.

Could you take him with you in a carrier if he is still hanging in there? It's not ideal by any means but piggies can live in carrier for a day or even three if really needed, as long as you can change old towels and puppy pad underlay in there daily (and can if needed throw away the soiled bedding). At least you would be able to feed and medicate him in between everything. These things always happen at the worst of times. :(

I had what turned out to be a bladder stone piggy coming up with squeaking and bloody pees in the West Midlands justwhen my MIL was put on terminal care without warning so I was up on the train to Wales to sit with her every second night to give my hub time to sleep and then go back down on the next day to feed and medicate the piggy, get a nights sleep, set up the piggies for the next 24 hours and repeat the whole thing. I couldn't find anybody to feed and medicate all my piggies in a hurry.
Anyway, all piggies survived, including Cariad who had her emergency bladder stone op in the thick of us organising the funeral and yet another trip to Wales... Thankfully she was well enough again and back to eating on her own on funeral day. :(
But I fully sympathise with your worries!
 
Wiebke said:
BIG HUGS

I am so very sorry.

Could you take him with you in a carrier if he is still hanging in there? It's not ideal by any means but piggies can live in carrier for a day or even three if really needed, as long as you can change old towels and puppy pad underlay in there daily (and can if needed throw away the soiled bedding). At least you would be able to feed and medicate him in between everything. These things always happen at the worst of times. :(

I had what turned out to be a bladder stone piggy coming up with squeaking and bloody pees in the West Midlands justwhen my MIL was put on terminal care without warning so I was up on the train to Wales to sit with her every second night to give my hub time to sleep and then go back down on the next day to feed and medicate the piggy, get a nights sleep, set up the piggies for the next 24 hours and repeat the whole thing. I couldn't find anybody to feed and medicate all my piggies in a hurry.
Anyway, all piggies survived, including Cariad who had her emergency bladder stone op in the thick of us organising the funeral and yet another trip to Wales... Thankfully she was well enough again and back to eating on her own on funeral day. :(
But I fully sympathise with your worries!
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Oh my! Its always unwelcome news if the piggies are unwell but especially at the rough times. It must have been so exhausting to manage all of that at once. Its such a good and thankful feeling when our pigs pull through and return to be their happy self. But its not an easy thing.

Thanks for your sympathies! I am still
Looking into some kind of boarding place, i might have a small chance somewhere and i will look into it today
 
Chase update:

Last night was an okay night for chase. When i put him on the scale (anxiously) this morning, he lost 7 grams which i was very pleased about because this is the first time that the weightloss is kind of insignificant. I stepped up the critical care and he had 54 ml over the last 24 hours.

I do find him eating less hay again on his own. I neer to put a little pile of fresh hay in front of him every 30 minutes or so. Only then he wil eat like 4 or 5 strings of it. His poops are also getting smaller again. Yesterday it was looking fairly normal but this morning they are only half the size of yesterdays poops.

The water drinking is going well. He does that completely by himself :)

He hasn’t had a bloated stomach for two days now. I wonder when he will start feeling less lethargic. When i put him back after his feed he lays down immediately and doesnt come up to walk around. He sleeps a lot.

I wonder if there are any foods i could give him besides hay to make eating more appealing. He really wants veggies but i wont give that yet

Our exotic vet is finally in and he will give her a visit today ;)
 
Chase went to his usual exotic vet today. She was very pleased to see that he was doing really well. There is no sign of bloat and she gave me some more medication (emeprid) but the best news for Chase is: its safe for him to have some veggies again! My exotic vet was displeased to hear that my local vet drained his stomach by perforating his stomach with a needle. She Says thats not usual thing to do with guinea pigs.

Chase has been gaining weight :) it may only be 21 grams but at least the weightloss has stopped for now.

The poops remain something to keep an eye on. They are infrequent and pretty small. Gut medicine and belly rubs will hopefully keep it going.

Syringe feeding remains a bit of a drag but its really worth it :)
 
Celias133 said:
Chase went to his usual exotic vet today. She was very pleased to see that he was doing really well. There is no sign of bloat and she gave me some more medication (emeprid) but the best news for Chase is: its safe for him to have some veggies again! My exotic vet was displeased to hear that my local vet drained his stomach by perforating his stomach with a needle. She Says thats not usual thing to do with guinea pigs.

Chase has been gaining weight :) it may only be 21 grams but at least the weightloss has stopped for now.

The poops remain something to keep an eye on. They are infrequent and pretty small. Gut medicine and belly rubs will hopefully keep it going.

Syringe feeding remains a bit of a drag but its really worth it :)
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Great news!

Please be careful when reintroducing veg and start slowly since too much too quickly can trigger another bloat as we have seen quite a few times on here.

Ideally you start with a little coriander/cilantro or parsley. With the next meal you can add another piece of veg and if that is going down well, then you can add further. Stop immediately if there is any bloating.

All the best - it is better to take this stage slowly and carefully in order to avoid a setback.
 
Wiebke said:
Great news!

Please be careful when reintroducing veg and start slowly since too much too quickly can trigger another bloat as we have seen quite a few times on here.

Ideally you start with a little coriander/cilantro or parsley. With the next meal you can add another piece of veg and if that is going down well, then you can add further. Stop immediately if there is any bloating.

All the best - it is better to take this stage slowly and carefully in order to avoid a setback.
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Yes indeed! I am being really careful with it. My vet says its not necesarry to be so careful but it gives me a better feeling to give him veggies with most caution.
 
Chase is still doing good :) he is currently not gaining much weight but he is maintaining the weight he did put on. I want to put him back to being around 1100 grams because he has been that weight ever since he became an adult piggie. He currenly weighs 1021 grams, better than the 997 of last wednesday.

The poopies are still kind of infrequent. He has been inactive as well. I removed some hiding spots today to make him walk more. It proved to be a success, he and his brother ran a couple laps while making those jolly guinea pig sounds :) it was good to see him move so freely.

He could also show some more interest in food when he is in the cage. He nibbles on some hay (and ate 3 whole guinea pig nuggets this morning :o ) and when i offer him a small amount of veggies he only eats it if i lay it in front of him. If i put it elsewhere he does not make an effort yet to go get it. Hopefully he will become more active again
 
Chase update

He seems to be mostly normal again. He eats, drinks, poops (poops do not look how the used to yet but its getting there) he has also been more active lately. He munches on the hay i give him and eats some guinea pig nuggets. But his weight… it keeps only going down even tho i syringe feed him every 3 hours. Is there anything else i can do to improve his weight?
 
Celias133 said:
Chase update

He seems to be mostly normal again. He eats, drinks, poops (poops do not look how the used to yet but its getting there) he has also been more active lately. He munches on the hay i give him and eats some guinea pig nuggets. But his weight… it keeps only going down even tho i syringe feed him every 3 hours. Is there anything else i can do to improve his weight?
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How much syringe feed is he getting (in ml) in each 24 hour period?
How much weight is he losing/has he lost?

His weight is going because he isn’t yet eating enough hay and until he does you need to continue to syringe feed him more than he is currently getting to keep his weight stable.
 
Hi

If the weight continues to go down, then it is either due to you not feeding enough volume in 24 hours or because there is another underlying health issue that has caused the bloating and that still continues to worsen, like for instance a potential internal growth (which are notoriously hard to find until it is virtually too late).
 
Piggies&buns said:
How much syringe feed is he getting (in ml) in each 24 hour period?
How much weight is he losing/has he lost?

His weight is going because he isn’t yet eating enough hay and until he does you need to continue to syringe feed him more than he is currently getting to keep his weight stable.
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I fed 60 ml in 24 hours. My vet recommended to downsize it to 40 ml but ever since i did that he is losing weight everyday. He always had the steady weight of 1110 grams. The first few days of being sick he lost weight and only weighed 996 grams. I fed him 60 ml critcare everyday. He gained 30 grams from that and remained steady on that weight for some days. When i downsized it to 40 ml, he went from 1029 grams back to 996. So probably have to get back to 60 ml a day..,
 
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