Bloat

[Lazw]

Hello all,

I first noticed my 2 year old piggy Holly had softer poops of irregular shape on Sunday and appeared slightly uncomfortable so I took her to the vet that day. I was told she had mild bloat which i suspected and that it should correct itself on its own, so I started critical care and metacam that day as I'd noticed she was playing with her hay but not eating it. In hindsight I wish I'd asked for cisapride and emeprid then but I was reassured being told it was mild I think.

Anyway, her poops started to go back to normal with the critical care and by yesterday I was happy enough that I took her off the syringe feed. Her weight hasn't changed at all despite everything going on but probably because I started the cc immediately. Today I came home and her poops have gone back to how they were and possibly are looking a little worse, her tummy is definitely more firm than usual but she doesn't seem to be on any pain and is eating. I emailed our usual piggy vet who I wasn't able to see on Sunday as it was an out of hours appointment and Holly has now been prescribed cisapride and emeprid and she's started both this evening. She has a 7 day course of both and I've been told to keep her on the metacam and keep syringe feeding critical care. I also started her on fiberplex this evening too and I'm really hoping to get on top of this. Vet wants to see her once the course of meds has ended if things aren't better to do further investigations.

My question is, is there anything else I can do or that you'd suggest? Or has anyone got any idea what could have triggered it? It's come out of nowhere and has been a bit of a shock as she's been lovely and happy until now! I don't know what could have started it off. Her friend Bramble is ok but I'm keeping an eye on her now too as I've seen a couple of suspect poops, however I'm now on high alert so this might not be anything. I've been massaging her tummy when she's allowed it but I'm aware I'm working most of the time and much as I'd love to take her with me, I can't . Neither of them has had any fresh veg since last week just to be on the safe side. They have lots of hay, I'm going easy on the pellets but not sure if I can give these with bloat?

Thanks in advance

Laura.

 

[Swissgreys]

You have done everything right so far - bloat can come on suddenly and the cause is not always obvious.

My own personal experience with my own pig Lucy (who never had bloat as a young pig) was that she started to have episodes of this as she got older.
I don't think there is any science to back it up, but our vet did mention that she sees more older piggies (3+ years) with it, and did wonder if it becomes more of an issues as their digestive tract changes with age?

Anyway what worked for us was keeping to a very basic few items of fresh veg, and just keeping Lucy's environment as calm as possible with very few changes.
The forum has an excellent guide that might be helpful:
Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)

 

[Wiebke]

Hi

Hi

Pellets are not a problem with bloat.

Have you tried probiotics and 'poo soup' (i.e. fresh healthy gut microbiome transfer from a healthy companion not on antibiotics to help get the gut microbiome back on track?
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links (the link also includes how to make poo soup so it is as effective as possible; if done correctly, it can work better than probiotics and it is for free...).

The problem with gut meds is that there are no perfect gut meds for guinea pigs. Throwing lots of medication at guinea pigs with mild bloating can rather cause more problems than solve them.
They have their place with severe bloat, when you really need to throw the kitchen sink at it because you are dealing with a life or death emergency situation or once your piggy has actually been diagnosed with a chronic gut problem (which is not always easy; especially older piggies can develop a tender digestion) but - having/having had several piggies with IBS like symptoms and thickened parts of the gut that needed regular gut med - it comes with long term side effects.
Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)

Please see a vet again if the probiotics and several applications of poo soup have not worked either and the problem persists. Then is the time to start thinking about further steps as it is obviously not just a little tummy upset.
All the best!

 

[Lazw]

You have done everything right so far - bloat can come on suddenly and the cause is not always obvious.

My own personal experience with my own pig Lucy (who never had bloat as a young pig) was that she started to have episodes of this as she got older.
I don't think there is any science to back it up, but our vet did mention that she sees more older piggies (3+ years) with it, and did wonder if it becomes more of an issues as their digestive tract changes with age?

Anyway what worked for us was keeping to a very basic few items of fresh veg, and just keeping Lucy's environment as calm as possible with very few changes.
The forum has an excellent guide that might be helpful:
Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)

Thanks so much for sharing your experience of this, I find it so stressful when either one of them becomes unwell and it's really helpful to hear from others! She had very wet poop this morning and a firm belly almost to the point I thought about taking her off the meds, but I've come home this evening to poops that are vaguely resembling her usual so we will continue I think! Her tummy feels a little softer too and she's started popcorning again for the first time in a week which was so lovely to see. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed.

 

[Lazw]

Hi

Hi

Pellets are not a problem with bloat.

Have you tried probiotics and 'poo soup' (i.e. fresh healthy gut microbiome transfer from a healthy companion not on antibiotics to help get the gut microbiome back on track?
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links (the link also includes how to make poo soup so it is as effective as possible; if done correctly, it can work better than probiotics and it is for free...).

The problem with gut meds is that there are no perfect gut meds for guinea pigs. Throwing lots of medication at guinea pigs with mild bloating can rather cause more problems than solve them.
They have their place with severe bloat, when you really need to throw the kitchen sink at it because you are dealing with a life or death emergency situation or once your piggy has actually been diagnosed with a chronic gut problem (which is not always easy; especially older piggies can develop a tender digestion) but - having/having had several piggies with IBS like symptoms and thickened parts of the gut that needed regular gut med - it comes with long term side effects.
Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)

Please see a vet again if the probiotics and several applications of poo soup have not worked either and the problem persists. Then is the time to start thinking about further steps as it is obviously not just a little tummy upset.
All the best!

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with this, I can't tell you how much it helps with the anxiety of dealing with a poorly piggy! I will try the poop soup tomorrow with the other piggies poop and thanks for directing me to the relevant information on here so I can find it.

Would you stop the cisapride and emeprid? She seems to be tolerating it at the moment and we've had slightly more defined poops than we've had in a little while today, but I don't want to overmedicate her just because I'm anxious about stasis! I had this with a piggy who passed away not long after and it was absolutely horrible .
She is on metacam too but I've reduced the dose of that today as she is looking more comfortable.

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with this, I can't tell you how much it helps with the anxiety of dealing with a poorly piggy! I will try the poop soup tomorrow with the other piggies poop and thanks for directing me to the relevant information on here so I can find it.

Would you stop the cisapride and emeprid? She seems to be tolerating it at the moment and we've had slightly more defined poops than we've had in a little while today, but I don't want to overmedicate her just because I'm anxious about stasis! I had this with a piggy who passed away not long after and it was absolutely horrible .
She is on metacam too but I've reduced the dose of that today as she is looking more comfortable.

No, not if they have been prescribed by your vet. You keep giving them as directed. Unlike your vet, we cannot access your piggy (nor are we qualified to). If your vet has been prescribing them, then they have a good reason for it.

Please take a deep breath. Stasis is NOT a complication to bloating; it is usually the other way round. You do not have to worry about it in the current situation. Acknowledge that you have a bit of trauma in that area but that it doesn't apply to what you are dealing with right now.
Sadly, full-on out of the blue stasis can be a killer, especially if there are underlying causes/weaknesses - but you now have the guide link to know better what you can do. Hopefully, you'll never need it again.

 

[Lazw]

No, not if they have been prescribed by your vet. You keep giving them as directed. Unlike your vet, we cannot access your piggy (nor are we qualified to). If your vet has been prescribing them, then they have a good reason for it.

Please take a deep breath. Stasis is NOT a complication to bloating; it is usually the other way round. You do not have to worry about it in the current situation. Acknowledge that you have a bit of trauma in that area but that it doesn't apply to what you are dealing with right now.
Sadly, full-on out of the blue stasis can be a killer, especially if there are underlying causes/weaknesses - but you now have the guide link to know better what you can do. Hopefully, you'll never need it again.

Thanks so much Wiebke, I really appreciate your input on this. She's stopped on the meds and they seem to be working. Our vet really is great and I'm so thankful to have a piggy savvy vet so close to where we live. In other news, her poops are almost back to normal today for the first time in a week and the swelling in her belly is gone, so I'm going to leave it another couple of days before very slowly reintroducing some fresh veggies.

Have a lovely weekend

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks so much Wiebke, I really appreciate your input on this. She's stopped on the meds and they seem to be working. Our vet really is great and I'm so thankful to have a piggy savvy vet so close to where we live. In other news, her poops are almost back to normal today for the first time in a week and the swelling in her belly is gone, so I'm going to leave it another couple of days before very slowly reintroducing some fresh veggies.

Have a lovely weekend

I am keeping my fingers crossed but glad that the bloating has gone down!

 

[Lazw]

Hello everyone,

So unfortunately Holly's bloat has flared up again with a vengeance the last 2 days with a return of the odd green wet mushy poop at irregular intervals- overnight she produced nothing at all though which was very odd- she's produced throughout today though. The mushy poop was mixed in with very hard small poop earlier which was so odd, now it's just mushy. Her belly today was very full of gas, I could feel it, but I've just checked again and this appears to have improved as she's started pooping copiously the last couple of hours.

She's still on critical care, emeprid, cisapride, metacam but due to finish all her meds tomorrow. I've got enough left over to carry it on if needs be and I've asked the vet for clarity on this whilst I'm waiting for an appointment.

I've tried poo soup so waiting to see if this has any effect, I genuinely thought we were over this as she'd improved so much at the weekend. She's currently got very mushy poop which I'm having to fish out frequently just so she and her buddy don't end up covered in it as they keep standing on it! It's not diarrhoea, just very smelly and mushy.

I think she needs to go back to the vet for some further investigation at this point and as said before I'm just waiting to hear back. I'm at a bit of a loss and we're all sick of it at this point I think, especially poor Holly who must be really fed up.

I'm worried this was set off after I gave her a sprig of coriander a couple of nights ago just to try her on fresh food again as she'd been doing well for days. How long do you normally leave fresh veg after poops have returned to normal? I left it 3 days and she had one piece of coriander, that was it. I don't want to prolong this any longer than needs be, but also don't want her to end up unwell because she's not getting everything she needs from her diet!

My other question is how long can piggies manage without any fresh veg? It will be 2 weeks on Friday since we stopped giving her fresh veg and I want to make sure critical care will still be giving her everything she needs. She's actually put on 20g throughout the course of this so dropping weight doesn't appear to be a concern. She is definitely eating her hay and pellets.

Thanks in advance!

Laura.

 

[Josie_lg]

My poppy got symptoms of bloat may 2021 and we rushed her in at midnight, I honestly thought we were going to loose her it was awful. They x rayed her conscious. And kept her in. It wasn’t until the next day that she had an awful sudden onset on bloody urine and she was diagnosed with cystitis and has struggled with bladder issues ever since then. The bloat ended up being a secondary issue to her bladder issue. It’s worth asking for any scans to be done conscious if possible! My point being sometimes it can be a secondary issue to something else. They can send off a poop sample too to a lab to do an extensive test on to check for anything underlying. Really hope little piggie is feeling better soon

 

[Lazw]

My poppy got symptoms of bloat may 2021 and we rushed her in at midnight, I honestly thought we were going to loose her it was awful. They x rayed her conscious. And kept her in. It wasn’t until the next day that she had an awful sudden onset on bloody urine and she was diagnosed with cystitis and has struggled with bladder issues ever since then. The bloat ended up being a secondary issue to her bladder issue. It’s worth asking for any scans to be done conscious if possible! My point being sometimes it can be a secondary issue to something else. They can send off a poop sample too to a lab to do an extensive test on to check for anything underlying. Really hope little piggie is feeling better soon

Thank you for sharing your story, I hope poppy is doing ok now. I know my vet said they'd be looking at alternative causes if it didn't clear up within a week of the meds so I'm just waiting on an appointment now. She's still chirpy but not quite her usual self bless her.