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Bloating In Guinea Pigs? Causes And Signs.

igor10916

igor10916

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Hi all,
I'm quite new to caring for Guinea Pigs and I joined this forum one year ago today! I have been scrolling through some Health and Illness threads and I have noticed that a lot are about bloating. Sorry if this sounds obvious - but what is bloating in Guinea Pigs. I know I could look it up, but I would just like to be answered by Guinea Pig owners and not Wikipedia! What are the signs and symptoms? What causes it? And also is it life threatening?
Thank you all,
Igor
 
Severe bloating can and often does kill. It usually strikes right out of the blue. You will see your piggy balloon up, the belly (or parts of it) feeling very tight and sounding hollow when you knock against it. The piggy will look and feel off very quickly, as it is very uncomfortable and painful. You need to see a vet as an emergency at any time of the day or night asap. Severe bloat comes in waves and your piggy is at risk with a very tender digestion for several weeks afterwards.

A good hay-based diet with a mix of veg in small quantities can all cause can help lower the risk of being confronted with severe bloat, but it cannot eliminate it. Your vet also needs to check for signs of a blockage, which is much rarer, but requires different treatment. Bloat is treated mainly with anti-bloating, gut stimulating meds (to help work the gas out). Regular massage/vibration can help a lot; half an hour every few hours. The cheapest option is the handle of an electric toothbrush, a car massaging seat or even the vibrations of a car journey to help get the gas shifting.

Make sure that you have got syringe feed/recover formula and probiotics at home and that you have the number of your vet and your out-of-hours contact on your mobile at all times.
 
Wiebke said:
Severe bloating can and often does kill. It usually strikes right out of the blue. You will see your piggy balloon up, the belly (or parts of it) feeling very tight and sounding hollow when you knock against it. The piggy will look and feel off very quickly, as it is very uncomfortable and painful. You need to see a vet as an emergency at any time of the day or night asap. Severe bloat comes in waves and your piggy is at risk with a very tender digestion for several weeks afterwards.

A good hay-based diet can help lower the risk of being confronted with severe bloat, but it cannot eliminate it. Your vet also needs to check for signs of a blockage, which is much rarer, but requires different treatment. Bloat is treated
mainly with anti-bloating, gut stimulating meds (to help work the gas out). Regular massage/vibration can help a lot; half an hour every few hours. The cheapest option is the handle of an electric toothbrush, a car massaging seat or even the vibrations of a car journey to help get the gas shifting.

Make sure that you have got syringe feed/recover formula and probiotics at home and that i haeyou have the number of your vet and your out-of-hours contact on your mobile at all times.
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Thank you so much! I'll make sure I have them! I will revisit the pet shop and check out the hay. It's so sad that this happens:td:
Thank you and I'm glad I'm aware of it now:)
 
I lost my Toast to very sudden and severe bloat. She had dealt with on and off bloat for around a year but it was never severe and she always managed okay with meds and belly rubs. Then out of nowhere, after being well for a long time, it came on very suddenly and so severe that she wasn't responding to anything and unfortunately didn't make it.

Look out for;
  • any unusual poos, small/soft/funny shapes or no poos at all
  • Sides looking swollen/like a balloon
  • Sides feeling tight and sounding like a drum when lightly flicked
  • Sitting fluffed up/Not wanting to move
  • Not eating much or being picky with food
(Obviously some of those symptoms could be signs of something other than bloat too)

I found that when she had mild bloat tummy rubs worked well to get rid of the gas and gripe water/infacol and out of all the meds she had for bloat I found Cisapride and Ranitadine used together worked best to get rid of it. Fibreplex, a probiotic, also worked amazingly to help get the guts back to normal- something to discuss with your vet if the situation was ever to arise. That was for gas bloat though, I think the treatment may be different if it's liquid bloat.

After going through that with Toast and trying to save her, I can't stress enough how serious bloat can be, not to scare or worry you at all but quick vet treatment really can be the difference between life and death if it's severe.
 
Last edited:
Beans&Toast said:
I lost my Toast to very sudden and severe bloat. She had dealt with on and off bloat for around a year but it was never severe and she always managed okay with meds and belly rubs. Then out of nowhere, after being well for a long time, it came on very suddenly and so severe that she wasn't responding to anything and unfortunately didn't make it.

Look out for;
  • any unusual poos, small/soft/funny shapes or no poos at all
  • Sides looking swollen/like a balloon
  • Sides feeling tight and sounding like a drum when lightly flicked
  • Sitting fluffed up/Not wanting to move
  • Not eating much or being picky with food
(Obviously some of those symptoms could be signs of something other than bloat too)

I found that when she had mild bloat tummy rubs worked well to get rid of the gas and gripe water/infacol and out of all the meds she had for bloat I found Cisapride and Ranitadine used together worked best to get rid of it. Fibreplex, a probiotic, also worked amazingly to help get the guts back to normal- something to discuss with your vet if the situation was ever to arise. That was for gas bloat though, I think the treatment may be different if it's liquid bloat.

After going through that with Toast and trying to save her, I can't stress enough how serious bloat can be, not to scare or worry you at all but quick vet treatment really can be the difference between life and death if it's severe.
Click to expand...


Hi,
First of all I must say that I'm really sorry for your loss! It's so sad that piggies experience it and it is so common! Thank for the info - I will definitely use it to mine and piggies benefit. Igor, Gus and me are very grateful:)
Thank you and RIP Toast❤️❤️
 
igor10916 said:
Hi,
First of all I must say that I'm really sorry for your loss! It's so sad that piggies experience it and it is so common! Thank for the info - I will definitely use it to mine and piggies benefit. Igor, Gus and me are very grateful:)
Thank you and RIP Toast❤️❤️
Click to expand...
Thank you. I've noticed on the forum lately that bloat seems to be quite common right now, I'd hate for anyone to go through that. X
 
My little Bramble had a small case a couple days ago, I found a teaspoons worth of paste type poos in the case, checked both pigs over and found she had a mucky bum. After id given her a wash I was holding her in the towel and could hear her farting... we were able to treat her at home luckily, having fibreplex and critical care on hand is really helpful and you can buy it online, 2 things id always reccommend is kept in your piggy first aid kit along with some syringes. Shes back to normal now but I suppose its something I will have to keep an eye on from now on as I expect shes more prone to it than the others although its the first time ive had to deal with it in 16 years of having piggies!
 
Wiebke said:
Severe bloating can and often does kill. It usually strikes right out of the blue. You will see your piggy balloon up, the belly (or parts of it) feeling very tight and sounding hollow when you knock against it. The piggy will look and feel off very quickly, as it is very uncomfortable and painful. You need to see a vet as an emergency at any time of the day or night asap. Severe bloat comes in waves and your piggy is at risk with a very tender digestion for several weeks afterwards.

A good hay-based diet can help lower the risk of being confronted with severe bloat, but it cannot eliminate it. Your vet also needs to check for signs of a blockage, which is much rarer, but requires different treatment. Bloat is treated mainly with anti-bloating, gut stimulating meds (to help work the gas out). Regular massage/vibration can help a lot; half an hour every few hours. The cheapest option is the handle of an electric toothbrush, a car massaging seat or even the vibrations of a car journey to help get the gas shifting.

Make sure that you have got syringe feed/recover formula and probiotics at home and that you have the number of your vet and your out-of-hours contact on your mobile at all times.
Click to expand...
Hiya
My beautiful girl Florence had bloat once due to her eating too much kale. The poor thing mist have been in so much pain . Every time she tried to move she would cry. I took her to the vet who gave her some meds to break up the wind in her tummy costing £50 although i think she had already done a £25 fart on the way to the vet. She is great now. I have read that you can give infacol to a pig with bloat.. The signs of bloat is lack of movement, a hard swollen tummy which if you tap lightly sound hollow like a balloon. X
 
Ali007 said:
Hiya
My beautiful girl Florence had bloat once due to her eating too much kale. The poor thing mist have been in so much pain . Every time she tried to move she would cry. I took her to the vet who gave her some meds to break up the wind in her tummy costing £50 although i think she had already done a £25 fart on the way to the vet. She is great now. I have read that you can give infacol to a pig with bloat.. The signs of bloat is lack of movement, a hard swollen tummy which if you tap lightly sound hollow like a balloon. X
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From personal experience, I do no longer recommend infacol. It collects the gas into one big bubble. Which is fine if the bubble moves to the right end of the guts, but not fine at all if doesn't! In those cases, it makes the bloat worse instead of better.

Severe bloat is and remains an emergency that needs to be seen by a vet and not just treated at home.
 
Oh i didnt know that. It's just what I had read Thank you for telling me. The vet is always the best option. X
 
Ali007 said:
Oh i didnt know that. It's just what I had read Thank you for telling me. The vet is always the best option. X
Click to expand...

Zantac (ranitidine) and emeprid or metoclopramide, which work on different parts of the guts are best, but you get them from a vet.
Gripe water or another herb based baby colic tonic can better at dispersing gas especially in mild cases. However severe bloat is a very different kettle of fish.
 
I have just realised that I have been massively over feeding my guinea pigs. I have been giving them a handful of lettuce three or four times a day as they are always asking for food. I’m worried now they might have bloat. I’ve only had them a week. They have a small amount of nuggets, lots of hay and veg.
 
Spamvicious said:
I have just realised that I have been massively over feeding my guinea pigs. I have been giving them a handful of lettuce three or four times a day as they are always asking for food. I’m worried now they might have bloat. I’ve only had them a week. They have a small amount of nuggets, lots of hay and veg.
Click to expand...

Hi!

You can't miss bloat as your piggy is literally ballooning up, but if that ever is happening, you need to see a vet as an emergency as soon as possible. ;)

Have a look through our diet guide. We feature a sample diet, which you can use as blue print to start out from. Lettuce is not the most nutritious of veg, to the honest. You can vary it with other veg for interest throughout the week.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
 
Wiebke said:
Hi!

You can't miss bloat as your piggy is literally ballooning up, but if that ever is happening, you need to see a vet as an emergency as soon as possible. ;)

Have a look through our diet guide. We feature a sample diet, which you can use as blue print to start out from. Lettuce is not the most nutritious of veg, to the honest. You can vary it with other veg for interest throughout the week.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Click to expand...
Thank you. I have been giving them other foods to see if they like them. Tried some celery today but both refused to eat it. I see from the picture that it’s best to give a mixture rather than one type of veg at a time like I have been doing.
 
Foods that have caused bloat in my past pigs are.

Kale
Spinach
Parsley

I fed too much when i was a new guinea pig person
 
We have a bloat-prone piggy and our vet definitely advised against infacol or gripe water- it collects the gas in one place and piggies guts could literally burst :(
Acute bloat is life threatening and the piggy would be in obvious extreme pain with a hard round painful swollen tummy. Emergency vet job always. Ranitidine and pain relief prescribed help a lot. Acute bloat can be so painful it needs opiate injections, to stop piggy going into shock- thats what our piggy had and it saved her life.
Bloat can recurr in susceptible piggies but there might be diet triggers you learn to avoid (our piggy couldnt have coriander for a long time, which is an unusual trigger food, often its cabbage or kale or spinach). Hopefully it wont happen to you but its good to know just in case, and not give too much of any one veg!
 
One thing I've found with bloat is that injected meds are so much more effective as the initial treatment compared to oral meds.

As their digestive system is comprised oral meds could just sit in their stomach whilst injected meds get straight to work.

So even if I have meds like Emeprid and Zantac at home I always go to the vet for at least one dose by injection.
 
Wiebke said:
Hi!

You can't miss bloat as your piggy is literally ballooning up, but if that ever is happening, you need to see a vet as an emergency as soon as possible. ;)

Have a look through our diet guide. We feature a sample diet, which you can use as blue print to start out from. Lettuce is not the most nutritious of veg, to the honest. You can vary it with other veg for interest throughout the week.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets
Click to expand...
I always thought that, but one of my girls didn't poop for 48 hours and refused to eat or drink. She eventually got better with lots of belly massages, rinse and spins ontop of the washing machine lol, ranitidine, fibreplex and critical care but she really wasn't that noticeably bloated at all which made me and the vet kind of confused at first. It was a strange one lol
 
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