Hi. I have a 6 year old who developed bloat a week ago. After some improvement she seems to be worse over last couple of days. I’m not sure my vet has set the correct dose for the meds . She’s on 0.15ml every 8 hours of emeprid and 0.3ml metacam. Once daily. (For cats.) She was on infacol but as mentioned on this forum it didn’t help. I am giving critical care but not much as she was eating hay but will now up this to 60ml a day. Can anyone tell me if emeprid and metacam dose seems right. It seems low to me. Can I use gripe water? She is 870g. Thanks.
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Bloat - dose of meds
- Thread starter Snowlie
- Start date
Hi
What is her weight? The dosages are on the low side but they are also weight related.
With the bloating still going on please have her re-checked. It could be caused by another underlying problem.
I will have her rechecked. There seems to be a small amount of gas build up which after I’ve cleared it with tummy rubs she’s back to eating hay. I believe her gut bio is out of sync. That’s why I wondered if I should try gripe water. Is there anything in Woodwards gripe water that is toxic to guinea pigs?
Hi
Gripe water will disperse gas but it won't do anything for the gut microbiome. And it should never be taken for the long term because one ingredient can become harmful.
The best thing for the settling the gut microbiome is a live healthy gut microbiome transfer from a companion who is not on antibiotics or other heavy-duty medication. You can do that 2-3 times a day in addition to any probiotics (whether standard or enhanced).
Here is how to do it (look for 'poo soup' - i.e. the water in which very freshly dropped poos have been very shortly soaked). If done properly, it is more efficient than any probiotics: How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency
If problems persist, please see your vet again. the gut in older piggies can become more tricky as the body, including the gut, no longer work optimally.
Thank you. I will try to make some ‘poop soup’.
I will try to have her checked this afternoon. I’m concerned she may have developed a UTI as she squeaks when passing urine. She is not on antibiotics currently.
Where I live our vets aren’t that cavy savy so forums like this one are invaluable to me. Thank you.
You could ask for the emeprid and especially the metacam dosages to be upped; especially the metacam which is the absolute minimum and as far as guinea pigs are concerned, cosmetic rather than helpful. Emeprid is around 0.3 ml for a 1 kg piggy twice daily.
With a full-on urinary tract infection you are preferably looking at 0.75 ml cat metacam twice daily for a 1 kg piggy and that is still in the moderate range of what piggies tolerate since they metabolise metacam differently and don't get kidney damage even on long term high metacam for things like arthritis the way other pet species do.
All the best.
Hi
Had Poppy checked at the vets who believes she has bladder sludge (there has been evidence of this in an x-ray she had taken in April.)
She has upped Metacam to 0.3ml twice a day and given Baytril (in case any infection there.)
I gave the incorrect info Emeprid doseage, she is actually on 0.5ml every 8 hours.
I’m only giving meadow hay and will probably ease off the pellets (Burgess Excel.)
Any tips on how I can help try flush sludge through? I’m giving her lots of water by syringe atm.
Thinking she should have another xray.
Thank you.
Had Poppy checked at the vets who believes she has bladder sludge (there has been evidence of this in an x-ray she had taken in April.)
She has upped Metacam to 0.3ml twice a day and given Baytril (in case any infection there.)
I gave the incorrect info Emeprid doseage, she is actually on 0.5ml every 8 hours.
I’m only giving meadow hay and will probably ease off the pellets (Burgess Excel.)
Any tips on how I can help try flush sludge through? I’m giving her lots of water by syringe atm.
Thinking she should have another xray.
Thank you.
Hi
There is nothing you can do at home to flush out the sludge. It will either have to be operated out or - if it is not too tightly packed - flushed out. The latter process needs an experienced vet because if it is done too forcefully, urine can back up into the kidneys with fatal consequences.
Please make sure that your water is filtered; the UK is a hard water country and most calcium in the diet comes from there. Reduce the pellets to 1 tablespoon per piggy per day or replace with the same measure of dry forage. The same weight even of no added calcium pellets still contains quite a bit more calcium than the veg highest in it, kale. Pellets are thankfully the one food (apart from treats) that you can drop. But what you cannot do is cutting any calcium out of the diet.
It frankly doesn't matter whether you are feeding meadow, timothy or orchard hay. There is a sweet spot in the diet you need to find.
Too high or too low can both land you with stones or sludge. That sweet spot is a little different wherever you are but it is less about
Here is the link to our very detailed diet guide with more information: Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
The other point is that diet is pretty much our only way of preventing the build-up of stones/sludge but that it usually takes several contributing factors for stones to develop, like a genetic disposition, something going wrong in the complex calcium absorption process, not being a good natural drinker etc.
PS: Be careful to not over-water our piggy; over-hydration can be fatal.
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That’s a very tiny Emeprid dosage. Our vet doses at 0.5ml to 1ml twice daily.