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Weight watching

Jess565

Jess565

Junior Guinea Pig
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I'm sure some of you will have seen my posts about my poor Bruno who had a bloat / tummy issue last we, he stopped eating and drinking an was rushed to the vets. Well he has made massive improvements but is still not 100% with his food and feels very light so I've bought some scales to keep my eye on his weight. He has gained a little from last week but only a few grams he's now sitting at 947g but my post is about my shock of Harolds weight, I thought I would weigh him too, 1552g omg! He filled a mixing bowl! No wonder Bruno seems small! Also I see some people feed their guineas porridge oats, is this wise after a bloat incident? I'm trying to make sure he's eating enough?
 
Jess565 said:
I'm sure some of you will have seen my posts about my poor Bruno who had a bloat / tummy issue last we, he stopped eating and drinking an was rushed to the vets. Well he has made massive improvements but is still not 100% with his food and feels very light so I've bought some scales to keep my eye on his weight. He has gained a little from last week but only a few grams he's now sitting at 947g but my post is about my shock of Harolds weight, I thought I would weigh him too, 1552g omg! He filled a mixing bowl! No wonder Bruno seems small! Also I see some people feed their guineas porridge oats, is this wise after a bloat incident? I'm trying to make sure he's eating enough?
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After bloat its tricky, you want your piggy to gain weight but have to be careful with the veggies! Anything you give to try tegain the weight should be in very small portions accompanied by lots of hay. Do you have any readigrass or hay cookies that are entirely hay based treats? Usually portidge oats and grated sweet potato are my top weight gain foods, but I wouldnt give too much to a bloat recovery piggy as you never know what triggered the bloat... some people find its root veg, or grains, more usually its leafy veg... if you still have some bloat meds left just in case and he's been stable for a few days you might try porridge oats with a bit of grated sweet potato or apple (like a teaspoonful) and see how he goes...
We found that Puggle was very cautious with her veg herself after her acute bloat, like she'd nibble a bit then think about it and leave her veg to eat a big pile of hay... it took her about 3 months and another 6 more minor bloat episodes begore she started gaining weight- she's a small piggy anyway and had just topped 800g when the bloat first hit, she dropped to about 720g and it took about 3 months for her to completely bounce back and for both her and us regain confidence with feeding and eating! A year later she weighs 980g (I dont ever think she'll quite be a stable 1kg) but acute bloat recovery does take some time...
As for your larger boy, check his heft (how much fat he has over his ribs) and maybe adjust his pellets and veg down a bit to account for him stealing his pal's dinner if he doesnt have much appetite! We found when Puggle lost weight due to bloat her cousin/rival Piggle bulked up no end, she gained every gram Puggle lost plus a bit!
 
PigglePuggle said:
After bloat its tricky, you want your piggy to gain weight but have to be careful with the veggies! Anything you give to try tegain the weight should be in very small portions accompanied by lots of hay. Do you have any readigrass or hay cookies that are entirely hay based treats? Usually portidge oats and grated sweet potato are my top weight gain foods, but I wouldnt give too much to a bloat recovery piggy as you never know what triggered the bloat... some people find its root veg, or grains, more usually its leafy veg... if you still have some bloat meds left just in case and he's been stable for a few days you might try porridge oats with a bit of grated sweet potato or apple (like a teaspoonful) and see how he goes...
We found that Puggle was very cautious with her veg herself after her acute bloat, like she'd nibble a bit then think about it and leave her veg to eat a big pile of hay... it took her about 3 months and another 6 more minor bloat episodes begore she started gaining weight- she's a small piggy anyway and had just topped 800g when the bloat first hit, she dropped to about 720g and it took about 3 months for her to completely bounce back and for both her and us regain confidence with feeding and eating! A year later she weighs 980g (I dont ever think she'll quite be a stable 1kg) but acute bloat recovery does take some time...
As for your larger boy, check his heft (how much fat he has over his ribs) and maybe adjust his pellets and veg down a bit to account for him stealing his pal's dinner if he doesnt have much appetite! We found when Puggle lost weight due to bloat her cousin/rival Piggle bulked up no end, she gained every gram Puggle lost plus a bit!
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Jess565 said:
I'm sure some of you will have seen my posts about my poor Bruno who had a bloat / tummy issue last we, he stopped eating and drinking an was rushed to the vets. Well he has made massive improvements but is still not 100% with his food and feels very light so I've bought some scales to keep my eye on his weight. He has gained a little from last week but only a few grams he's now sitting at 947g but my post is about my shock of Harolds weight, I thought I would weigh him too, 1552g omg! He filled a mixing bowl! No wonder Bruno seems small! Also I see some people feed their guineas porridge oats, is this wise after a bloat incident? I'm trying to make sure he's eating enough?
Click to expand...

In addition to @PigglePuggle 's tips of rather using rich freeze dried ready grass and hay cookies as bulking up treats to not unbalance the guts again and to go lightly on veg, I would also recommend to feed your boys separately, but the same stuff - just a pinch of the extras and no more than a tablespoon of pellets for Harold. The more plain hay Harold is eating, the better for his weight! It is normal for the other of a pair to gain weight when the companion is not well and not eating fully.

You can find an explanation of how you exactly check the 'heft' (i.e.the body-size ratio for over- and underweight) around the ribs, what you can do for either condition etc. in this guide here: Weight - Monitoring and Management
 
Thank you about the info about bloat, I was worried he wasn't keen on his veg anymore I thought he was going down hill by not eating it. I have a supply of redigrass in there, medow hay and dandelion & marigold Burgess hay mix, I'm also giving him bio lapis the probiotic on a small piece of cucumber. He did have recovery food but he hates it with a passion.
I only have a very small amount of one of the meds left. I asked the vet if I could get some more and he said he wants me to bring him straight back and not to medicate him on my own 🙄
 
Jess565 said:
Thank you about the info about bloat, I was worried he wasn't keen on his veg anymore I thought he was going down hill by not eating it. I have a supply of redigrass in there, medow hay and dandelion & marigold Burgess hay mix, I'm also giving him bio lapis the probiotic on a small piece of cucumber. He did have recovery food but he hates it with a passion.
I only have a very small amount of one of the meds left. I asked the vet if I could get some more and he said he wants me to bring him straight back and not to medicate him on my own 🙄
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Well if the worst happens and they are ok to see him as an emergency that's ok, it was only on Puggle's last proper bloat episode (7th in 3 months) that the vet gave us 3 months supply of ranitidine as it looked to be a chronic thing- cost £80 for the meds and she's only ever half-bloated once since in the past year!
 
Jess565 said:
Thank you about the info about bloat, I was worried he wasn't keen on his veg anymore I thought he was going down hill by not eating it. I have a supply of redigrass in there, medow hay and dandelion & marigold Burgess hay mix, I'm also giving him bio lapis the probiotic on a small piece of cucumber. He did have recovery food but he hates it with a passion.
I only have a very small amount of one of the meds left. I asked the vet if I could get some more and he said he wants me to bring him straight back and not to medicate him on my own 🙄
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Have you tried 'poo soup' - live gut microbiome transfer from his healthy companion? if done really fresh, it is more effective than probiotics.
Here is the recipe (at the bottom): Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

When introducing veg eventually, please do very slowly and in small quantities to not derail the gut; just one new variety with each meal.
 
I've not tried a poop soup but I have seen him eating Harolds poop on his own, he's also been a bit wild trying to eat paper, he's been nibbling news paper which is not like him and he even ripped off a small chunk of wallpaper (would have been a big chunk if I did not catch him)
 
Jess565 said:
I've not tried a poop soup but I have seen him eating Harolds poop on his own, he's also been a bit wild trying to eat paper, he's been nibbling news paper which is not like him and he even ripped off a small chunk of wallpaper (would have been a big chunk if I did not catch him)
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Eating healthy piggies' poos is what 'poo soup' is imitating. it is typical behaviour for recovering piggies whose gut microbiome has been wiped out by medication or has gone wrong. ;)

The craving for very rough, nutritionally poor fibre to rebalance the gut is also perfectly normal for this stage. A bit of rough brown cardboard will be very welcome!
 
An update on poor Bruno, he has not been well this past week and has lost alot of weight, I have been stressing so much because he wouldn't eat his recovery food and his poop has been non existent. We have been back to the vets and we are trying everything to get him eating properly, he acts like he is starving and tries to eat paper and carpet etc but won't eat his food!? Anyway last night during our struggle to get him eat the recovery we discovered he won't have it from the syringe or a spoon but will eat it like a dip from cucumber and carrot! So instead of wrapping him up and stressing him out trying to force him to eat we have a picnic with Harold and we have recovery dips (yes even Harold's eating it now 🤫) he's nearly eaten a full sachet throughout the day plus what was used as a dip, and he has done some good looking poops! I've never been so happy to see poop! I hope we are going to turn a corner with him now foods going in, he was eating small amounts before but it was a nibble and then he would leave it.
 
That’s good! Very innovative if you. The important thing is he’s eating and keeping his guts moving. Fingers crossed for more poops
 
Jess565 said:
An update on poor Bruno, he has not been well this past week and has lost alot of weight, I have been stressing so much because he wouldn't eat his recovery food and his poop has been non existent. We have been back to the vets and we are trying everything to get him eating properly, he acts like he is starving and tries to eat paper and carpet etc but won't eat his food!? Anyway last night during our struggle to get him eat the recovery we discovered he won't have it from the syringe or a spoon but will eat it like a dip from cucumber and carrot! So instead of wrapping him up and stressing him out trying to force him to eat we have a picnic with Harold and we have recovery dips (yes even Harold's eating it now 🤫) he's nearly eaten a full sachet throughout the day plus what was used as a dip, and he has done some good looking poops! I've never been so happy to see poop! I hope we are going to turn a corner with him now foods going in, he was eating small amounts before but it was a nibble and then he would leave it.
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Hope Bruno has turned a corner, bloat issues can be a long drawn out thing and just when you think there's recovery it happens again, then the poor piggy gets nervous about eating... our bloaty Puggle would never syringe feed either, she always had a panic attack and started shaking, then choking- so she would lick recovery food off cucumber and carrot sticks! Puggle sends kisses to Bruno and says she hopes he gets better, her bloat kept coming back for about 6 months then it went away and she gained 200g in weight but left us all with PTSD about feeding her leafy veg! X
 
He's been sending me crazy! I don't want him to become too weak to fight it, but he's not sat puffed up today and yesterday which is an improvement, I've been trying everything I've even got them some of the grain free pellets that he's been choosing over the normal food, he has both in there and oats and two types of hay and redigrass and even shredded paper for him to eat!
 
Sending hugs and healing wheeks! Its very tricky because if he's starting to associate food with feeling bad you can't really force things too much... but he needs to eat!
My personal opinion is, within reason trust his instincts as long as he is eating some and pooping... Puggle had and still has great instincts about what to eat and when, and when to walk away and just nibble a bit of hay. Although that's just my opinion, other people equally or more knowledgable than me may take the approach of lots of proactive syringe feeding... as none of us ever know really what gut abnormalities might cause acute and recurrent bloat, I think its an open question as to how much feeding is right if eating might hurt.
You know your boy best, and you're clearly taking good care of him and doing everything you can to encourage eating- I think all you can do is make sure you have ranitidine and emeprid and pain relief when he needs it, and feed him enough that he keeps pooping and doesnt go into gut stasis x
 
I tend to agree. You know your boy best. You know what stresses him out and you’ve found a new way to get what he needs into him without stressing you both too much. All sounds positive. Bloat can be so difficult to manage. It wanes then reappears. All you can do is what you’ve been doing - offering him everything he needs and letting him make his choices.
 
Me again and Bruno again! We are battling on with the recovery feeding but I have got home from work tonight to find he has eaten most of Harolds back end hair! Leaving the poor thing with a buzz butt cut! Is this cause for more concern or is this part of Bruno's digestive issues? I really don't want Harold to be bold! I feel like I'm loosing control of this situation 😞 we have every type of food available for him but it's not what he wants!
 
Bloat is about managing; it is a condition that lasts for several weeks and that comes in waves. During an acute wave, you may have to syringe feed to keep your piggy's guts going; especially when you are dealing with full-on severe life or death bloat and the acute waves are very close together.

In the troughs when your piggy is feeling better in itself you play it by ear; especially when the troughs are getting wider and are lasting longer. Then you treat your piggy not as an emergency but as a recovery and allow them to set the pace as to how much support feed they want to accept - in whichever form they like best, whether that is from a bowl, a spoon or from veg. As long as companion is not butting out the ill piggy and it is eating enough under their own volition, they can do this together in the cage. Otherwise I let the companion have a little recovery feed while my ill piggy is stuffing themselves. this means that both mouths smell the same and there is no jealousy and barbering. ;)
 
Well we have had a set back and were at the emergency vets last night with Bruno and me a blubbering mess, I honestly thought that was the end.
I got home from work to find him laid on his side in pain and very weak. He was fine in the morning but must had gone down hill during the day.
The vet wanted to keep him in but I am a bit too over protective and wanted him home incase it was the end, he was very dehydrated and his gut was in stasis again so she gave him fluid under his skin and gut mobility meds and he was back in this morning for another appointment. He is looking alot brighter this evening and has even put some weight back on.
The vet thinks Harold is stressing him out and not letting him eat. I'm not sure that's the case Bruno is not a push over but I will keep my eye on them.
I am so happy he is still with us and battling this illness!
 
I'm so sorry you are having this long hard battle with bloat, it's clear that you and the vet are doing all the right things, does he have bloat medication and pain relief orally at home now too? Having oral ranitidine and metacam/loxicom at home can make all the difference between repeated emergency vet trips and managing his gut problems at home as soon as you see the first sign of discomfort, with a routine vet trip the next day if if things dont resolve with the medication in the next 6 to 12 hours... healing wheeks for poor Bruno, it sounds like there is something going on with his gut completely unrelated to his pal stealing his food, hope you can manage his condition for now and he can make a good recovery in the future- it can be a long process with bad bloat, and being able to treat him at home at the first sign could be a lifesaver x
 
Jess565 said:
Well we have had a set back and were at the emergency vets last night with Bruno and me a blubbering mess, I honestly thought that was the end.
I got home from work to find him laid on his side in pain and very weak. He was fine in the morning but must had gone down hill during the day.
The vet wanted to keep him in but I am a bit too over protective and wanted him home incase it was the end, he was very dehydrated and his gut was in stasis again so she gave him fluid under his skin and gut mobility meds and he was back in this morning for another appointment. He is looking alot brighter this evening and has even put some weight back on.
The vet thinks Harold is stressing him out and not letting him eat. I'm not sure that's the case Bruno is not a push over but I will keep my eye on them.
I am so happy he is still with us and battling this illness!
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HUGS

Finger firmly crossed!
What medication have you been given?

Please follow the tips in our GI stasis guide:
Bloat, GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

You can keep the boars with a divider if you are really worried and if it helps to ease your mind but personally I would rather suspect that there in an underlying issue that may not have been identified and may be very difficult to find. Bloat is unfortunately a long time game that takes weeks or several months to stabilise; it can hit again out of the blue after quite a long time. :(
Keep on monitoring Bruno daily and keep on offering him extra support feed even after he has bounced back.
 
We've not been given any medication other than recovery, she gave him an injection of something to get his gut going but how he is this evening is very promising and he is pooping for Briton tonight and good healthy poops we've not seen this in nearly 3weeks he's also eating more hay and his dry food than we have seen in weeks. My other half keeps reminding me that he could relapse but he looks like normal feisty Bruno tonight 🤞 I don't think Harold is an issue for him they love each. The vet thought because Harold is so big compared to Bruno that he was dominating the food, but I've never seen that, but they've always had two of everything.
The vet checked his teeth, all his tummy even his bladder today and said there is no other evidence that it's anything other than gut stasis, but they will x-ray if it continues, but she didn't think it was right to sedate him for an x-ray until this was ruled out.
I am still feeding recovery to make sure he is getting enough and the vet stressed about not giving too much veg because we do spoil them.
 
Jess565 said:
We've not been given any medication other than recovery, she gave him an injection of something to get his gut going but how he is this evening is very promising and he is pooping for Briton tonight and good healthy poops we've not seen this in nearly 3weeks he's also eating more hay and his dry food than we have seen in weeks. My other half keeps reminding me that he could relapse but he looks like normal feisty Bruno tonight 🤞 I don't think Harold is an issue for him they love each. The vet thought because Harold is so big compared to Bruno that he was dominating the food, but I've never seen that, but they've always had two of everything.
The vet checked his teeth, all his tummy even his bladder today and said there is no other evidence that it's anything other than gut stasis, but they will x-ray if it continues, but she didn't think it was right to sedate him for an x-ray until this was ruled out.
I am still feeding recovery to make sure he is getting enough and the vet stressed about not giving too much veg because we do spoil them.
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Please DO NOT overfeed on veg; it is bad for their digestion that is not laid out for fresh food, can cause digestive problems like bloating, GI stasis etc. through overfermentation (dysbiosis - when the bad bacteria take over the natural fermentation process and derail it) and it is ultimately life shortening.

Spoiling on veg and pellets, which are more of a daily treat and not the mainstay of the diet means that your piggies will inevitably eat less hay with long term consequences on their health (teeth, which are ground down by the silica in the hay they eat), digestive problems, build up of yellow fat around the organs (risk factor in any operations) etc.

Rather than on overfeeding concentrate on a reduced but balanced small selection of veg and only 1 tablespoon of pellets per piggy per day. Turn the normal feeding time into fun and enrichment - that gives them what they need for a healthy life but still provides you with the satisfaction of 'spoiling' your piggies. Just in a more sustainable way in which you actually create wonderful memories for yourself. ;)
Includes information on overweight and treats and how to tackle the issue: Weight - Monitoring and Management
Contains a sample veg diet picture: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Gives you lots of ideas on how you can enrich your piggies' lives and make normal feeding time more interesting without risking their health: Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs
 
Hi guys just an update, Bruno passed away Monday evening. We are beyond heart broken and finding it very hard to deal with. Just trying to stay strong for each other and Harold at the moment.
 
So sorry to hear this, possibly he just had some gut abnormality that no amount of medicine could fix- you definitely did everything you could to help him... sending hugs for you and Harold x
 
BIG HUGS

I am so very sorry!

Severe digestive issues are unfortunately life-threatening and you can't always win the battle even with the best support possible. Please do not blame yourself; you did your very best and have NOT failed Bruno! :(

Here is what you can do for Harold in the coming days and weeks: Looking After a Bereaved Guinea Pig

And here are information and resources for the grieving process for yourself. You may hopefully find this guide helpful: Human Bereavement: Grieving, Coping and Support Links for Guinea Pig Owners and Their Children
 
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