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Bladder Stones

Does anyone have experience with probiotics, gut stimulants etc? Ollie doesn’t hardly poop during the night or
while I’m at school, and he keeps getting a little bit bloated by the time I am able to come home. After I rub out his stomach for a while, he started pooping and acting normal for the rest of the day. I am afraid that the baytril may have thrown his gut out of balance. I can’t find any vets near me that specialize in guinea pigs so I don’t know what to do😭 Does anyone have experience with gripe water for babies? I leave school in about two hours and I really want to figure out what to do by the time I get home.
 
olliesmom9 said:
Does anyone have experience with probiotics, gut stimulants etc? Ollie doesn’t hardly poop during the night or
while I’m at school, and he keeps getting a little bit bloated by the time I am able to come home. After I rub out his stomach for a while, he started pooping and acting normal for the rest of the day. I am afraid that the baytril may have thrown his gut out of balance. I can’t find any vets near me that specialize in guinea pigs so I don’t know what to do😭 Does anyone have experience with gripe water for babies? I leave school in about two hours and I really want to figure out what to do by the time I get home.
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BeneBac is the commonly used probiotic in the US. Give a dose to him 1-2 hours before or after a dose of antibiotic (the UK and US recommendation differs but either one is fine).

Are you syringe feeding him?
Are you weighing him daily?

Reduced poop output can be down to lack of food intake so it’s essential he is syringe fed enough in each 24 hour period to keep his weight stable at each weight check.

Gripe water can be given to help with bloating but gut stimulant medication (cisapride etc) is needed to deal with bloat

Digestive Disorders: Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating
 
Piggies&buns said:
BeneBac is the commonly used probiotic in the US. Give a dose to him 1-2 hours before or after a dose of antibiotic (the UK and US recommendation differs but either one is fine).

Are you syringe feeding him?
Are you weighing him daily?

Reduced poop output can be down to lack of food intake so it’s essential he is syringe fed enough in each 24 hour period to keep his weight stable at each weight check.

Gripe water can be given to help with bloating but gut stimulant medication (cisapride etc) is needed to deal with bloat
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Do you think that his gut could be out of wack from last Saturday? The antibiotics were stopped on Saturday night because he was losing his appetite. Could I still give him probiotics now when he’s not on the antibiotics anymore? When I sit with him he will eat and drink a bunch, but when I’m not up there he isn’t eating or drinking as much, although he still is some. His stomach isn’t really hard, but it seems a bit larger than normal. I’ve been weighing him and he hasn’t lost too much weight in the past week (about 15 grams). Can you get BeneBac at the store or does a vet have to prescribe it?
 
olliesmom9 said:
Do you think that his gut could be out of wack from last Saturday? The antibiotics were stopped on Saturday night because he was losing his appetite. Could I still give him probiotics now when he’s not on the antibiotics anymore? When I sit with him he will eat and drink a bunch, but when I’m not up there he isn’t eating or drinking as much, although he still is some. His stomach isn’t really hard, but it seems a bit larger than normal. I’ve been weighing him and he hasn’t lost too much weight in the past week (about 15 grams). Can you get BeneBac at the store or does a vet have to prescribe it?
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It can take a while for their guts to get back to normal following antibiotics.
Yes you can still give probiotics even if he isn’t on antibiotics anymore.
Probiotics can be bought from a pet shop or Amazon. They are not a prescription product.

Did the vet tell you to stop the antibiotics?
Has he been vet checked since stopping the antibiotics?

If he is suffering from bloat, then he needs to see a vet for medication.

If his weight is stable each day then he must be eating something while you are not there.
 
Piggies&buns said:
It can take a while for their guts to get back to normal following antibiotics.
Yes you can still give probiotics even if he isn’t on antibiotics anymore.
Probiotics can be bought from a pet shop or Amazon. They are not a prescription product.

Did the vet tell you to stop the antibiotics?
Has he been vet checked since stopping the antibiotics?

If he is suffering from bloat, then he needs to see a vet for medication.

If his weight is stable each day then he must be eating something while you are not there.
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Okay thank you. Me and my mom stopped the antibiotics on Saturday because he looked horrible. The vet didn’t open up until Monday at 8am. Monday and Tuesday he was doing amazing, poops all day long, so we didn’t call the vet. Wednesday and Thursday he was doing okay but not quite as good, but he was still eating and drinking. Yesterday (thurs) his stomach felt a little bit larger than usual, but he started pooping and it felt better after I rubbed it. This morning I massaged his stomach before I went to school because it felt a bit larger than usual, and he pooped about five pellets. I actually have a camera on him to watch him while I’m not there. Looking at the camera, he looks bloated but I can’t tell if he is or if it’s shadows because the lights are off😭 I want to leave to go take care of him, but I literally can’t as I have used all of my absences. I don’t know how much knowledge the vet that he’s going to has about guinea pigs, because he mentioned nothing about a probiotic with the antibiotics.
 
You need to speak to a vet both about the fact you stopped the antibiotics and about potential bloat.

As you have stopped the antibiotics then its possible the bad bacteria have taken hold again and are making him feel unwell. This is why antibiotics should never be stopped without the say so of a vet.
Its not uncommon for antibiotics to cause a reduction in appetite but this can be combatted by regular syringe feeding to enable you to complete the antibiotic course.
Some antibiotics are worse for causing reduction/loss of appetite than others, so speaking to a vet before stopping a course is important because they can give a different type of antibiotic.

Is he on painkillers?

Its quite normal for vets to never mention probiotics because they are not a medication.
 
Piggies&buns said:
You need to speak to a vet both about the fact you stopped the antibiotics and about potential bloat.

As you have stopped the antibiotics then its possible the bad bacteria have taken hold again and are making him feel unwell. This is why antibiotics should never be stopped without the say so of a vet.
Its not uncommon for antibiotics to cause a reduction in appetite but this can be combatted by regular syringe feeding to enable you to complete the antibiotic course.
Some antibiotics are worse for causing reduction/loss of appetite than others, so speaking to a vet before stopping a course is important because they can give a different type of antibiotic.

Is he on painkillers?

Its quite normal for vets to never mention probiotics because they are not a medication.
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My mom tried to talk to the vet yesterday, and they had already left for the day. The vet tech said that the vet would call her back this morning, but he has yet to call (1:29pm). The only thing that the vet gave us was the baytril for a little bit of inflammaton in his bladder from his stones. His pee is no longer bloody, so I guess that’s one positive thing. My mom was going to talk to him about the possible bloat, the antibiotics, pain medicine, and probiotics. We are started to get really aggravated about having no calls from the office.
 
The vet called back finally and he gave a prescription for some pain medicine. He gave us 1.5mg/ ml loxicam at 0.3ml once daily. Is that an okay dose? I have not heard of giving dog metacam, only cat so I’m kind of concerned. Do y’all think it’s okay?
 
Dog metacam is absolutely fine (one of my rabbits is on dog metacam for arthritis for the rest of his life). It’s the same as cat metacam but is three times stronger
 
We used to get prescribed dog metacam all the time until cat strength actually got licensed for guinea pigs here - then newer vets particularly stuck to cat metacam only as this was what they'd been taught. I recently had a dog-owning neighbour dose my arthritic boy while I was away and had to really reassure her that yes, it was the same dose for a portly little fuzzball as for an 8 kilo dog (although this is split for morning and evening) and his current vet doesn't really consider it a high dose! The fact that they also like the sweet taste is a bonus x
 
Free Ranger said:
We used to get prescribed dog metacam all the time until cat strength actually got licensed for guinea pigs here - then newer vets particularly stuck to cat metacam only as this was what they'd been taught. I recently had a dog-owning neighbour dose my arthritic boy while I was away and had to really reassure her that yes, it was the same dose for a portly little fuzzball as for an 8 kilo dog (although this is split for morning and evening) and his current vet doesn't really consider it a high dose! The fact that they also like the sweet taste is a bonus x
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Awesome, thank you! Xx
 
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