Bloat and “Bladder Sludge”?

[Seagroves]

My little guy Georgie who is in between a year and a half and 2 years old is soooo not feeling well. I woke in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and I always speak to him when I pass his cage and he speaks back. Every time. This time he didn’t and I noticed he didn’t seem to want to move. I tried to feed him his favorite foods and he wouldn’t eat or drink. I got him out and he seemed to be in a LOT of pain. I took him to the vet. They gave him pain meds and done x-rays. She said he had some “sludge” in his bladder which she though was the primary illness and a lot of gas trapped. She wanted to keep him for the day so she could give him meds and retake the x-rays after a few hours to see the progress. The x-rays that came back the second time were much worse. When I went to pick him up she said she didn’t think he would make it but giving him the meds and monitoring him closely was our best shot so that’s what I’ve been doing. I’ve never had to deal with this before and it’s going to break my daughter’s heart (and mine too) if he doesn’t make it. She sent him home with Metacam for dogs for the pain only once a day, Baytril-1ml, twice a day and Metronidazole-0.25ml, twice a day. I’ve been seeing people say to give bene-bac as well. Should I? His stomach has become less hardened over the past 12 hours or so. He will eat a bite or 2 at a time and then no more. The doc told me as long as he’s eating a bite or 2 on his own that’s fine and not to try and feed him more but focus on hydration. I’ve been giving him water/pedialyte via syringe every fee hours cause he won’t drink anything at all on his own. He just lays there and rests. Any advice on what I can do further to help him? He has to come out of this thing, he just has to. Thanks in advance for any help. I really appreciate it.

 

[Piggies&buns]

He absolutely must be syringe feed a fibre rich recovery feed. A piggy who is not eating is in trouble and for your vet to tell you not to feed him is bad advice. If a guinea pig does not have fibre constantly going through the gut, then the gut shuts down and that can be fatal. Keeping his guts going with syringe feeding every two hours is as important as medicine. The medicine will not stand a chance if his gut shuts down due to lack of food. Water will not be enough to keep him going.
If you do not have any Oxbow Critical Care, then please mush his normal pellets with water and syringe that paste to him.

Please weigh him daily, syringe feed him a fibre rich recovery feed, giving him as much as is necessary to keep his weight stable in each 24 hour period.

Please read the guides linked in below. The first has a section on bloat and the others explain the importance of syringe feeding and switching to daily weight checks

Digestive Disorders: Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Weight - Monitoring and Management

 

[Seagroves]

Thank you so much. I just got him to eat quite a bit of hay and spray bundles. I’ve kept the green veggies out since he’s been sick (that’s what I’ve been told to do). As long as I sit him in my lap and talk to him he will eat. The moment I stop talking to him, he quits eating. So I just sat here with him for a good 10 minutes while he ate and he ate the whole time. Of course I’m having to lay everything right in front of him because he doesn’t want to get up and move around. But at least he’s eating. I’m going to go to the pet store tomorrow and get the Oxbow and the bene-bac and start give him those things. From what I’ve read, they certainly can’t hurt.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Thank you so much. I just got him to eat quite a bit of hay and spray bundles. I’ve kept the green veggies out since he’s been sick (that’s what I’ve been told to do). As long as I sit him in my lap and talk to him he will eat. The moment I stop talking to him, he quits eating. So I just sat here with him for a good 10 minutes while he ate and he ate the whole time. Of course I’m having to lay everything right in front of him because he doesn’t want to get up and move around. But at least he’s eating. I’m going to go to the pet store tomorrow and get the Oxbow and the bene-bac and start give him those things. From what I’ve read, they certainly can’t hurt.

Please don’t wait until tomorrow - mush his normal pellets with water right now and syringe that to him. It is the emergency equivalent when you don’t have critical care in stock. You will need to syringe feed him every 2 hours aiming for at least 60ml as a minimum in each 24 hour period. The closer you can get to 90-120ml the better. Please weigh him every day so you can be sure he is getting enough food. Nibbling hay is very deceptive and while it’s great he is eating some, you cannot know he is getting enough to keep gut function and his weight stable. Regular and sufficient syringe feeding is literally life saving

 

[Wiebke]

I fully agree with @Piggies&buns - just water is not enough to keep a piggy alive. Unlike larger meat eating pets, guinea pigs rely on a steady influx of hay/grass fibre, which makes about 75-80% of their daily diet. You need to get at least 40 ml; ideally 60-90 ml of syringe feed into them over the course of 24 hours, whether that is formula or mushed up pellets in a pinch (cut the syringe tip off just before it widens with pellets so the much rougher pellet fibre can pass through, but the plunger can't). You need to feed every two hours during the day and - if you really struggle to get any feed in at all, once or twice during the night. A healthy piggy eats up to 120 ml in a day.

I am very sorry; the battle for life or death is going to be very draining and taxing on you. You have to act NOW; by tomorrow it may be already too late.

PS: A bladder packed with sludge requires an operation by a vet preferably experienced with small animal operations - which your vet doesn't quite sound like.

All the best!

 

[Seagroves]

Please don’t wait until tomorrow - mush his normal pellets with water right now and syringe that to him. It is the emergency equivalent when you don’t have critical care in stock. You will need to syringe feed him every 2 hours aiming for at least 60ml as a minimum in each 24 hour period. The closer you can get to 90-120ml the better. Please weigh him every day so you can be sure he is getting enough food. Nibbling hay is very deceptive and while it’s great he is eating some, you cannot know he is getting enough to keep gut function and his weight stable. Regular and sufficient syringe feeding is literally life saving

I surely will. I read somewhere else that I can make the “poo-soup” from my other, healthy guinea pig’s droppings and that will help. Is that true? Should I mix it with the mushed pellets as well and feed that?

 

[Piggies&buns]

I surely will. I read somewhere else that I can make the “poo-soup” from my other, healthy guinea pig’s droppings and that will help. Is that true? Should I mix it with the mushed pellets as well and feed that?

Poop soup (using the poops of a healthy piggy) can help in the case of a digestive upset as it directly replaces the gut microbiome.
The poops from the healthy companion must be very fresh and just produced. Pop the healthy piggy into a box, feed him/her their favourite snack and wait for poops to be produced. Immediately pick the poops up, soak them in qayer and then syringe the water to the poorly piggy

 

[Seagroves]

Awesome. Thanks so much. I did go ahead and syringe feed him a good bit this morning after you all suggested that i do so. He is now eating quite a bit on his own but i will continue to syringe feed him. He still doesn't want to move around much but he's moving around much more than he has since the beginning of this. I truly appreciate all of your advice and help!
**I added photos of the x-rays for you all to see the swollen intestines and the gas bubbles that are quite large. These are the second ones they took.