barrypetuniajones
New Born Pup
Hi!
I have a 17 month old male guinea pig, Barry. For the past 4 months, Barry has been experiencing chronic bloat. Barry had been neutered in September of 2021. For 3 months after that procedure, he had recurring abscesses in his scrotum. In December of 2021, the cause had been found to be an infected piece of fat that the vet had been able to successfully remove. No issues regarding that since then, but a week after that procedure, the bloating started. I have had guinea pigs before and I currently have another guinea pig along with Barry, but I have never experienced anything like this. Barry seems to go back and forth with intense bloating. His stomach ranges from slightly bloated to extremely large and completely full of air. He is NEVER not bloated. I have noticed that as the bloat becomes more severe, his poops will also change. The larger the bloat, the smaller the poops become and have that "teardrop" shape. Other than those two issues, Barry's personality doesn't usually change. He still runs and plays and eats. Of course we've had several vet visits and have tried several things. He is currently taking 0.5 of metochlopramide three times a day, everyday. If I am being completely honest, I don't know if this medicine has had any impact on whatever is going on. We originally started this medicine back in December at 0.35 twice a day and I really don't know if there has been any difference. We have also tried gas drops (simethicone), gripe water, and cisapride. Neither the gas drops nor the gripe water seem to make a difference. We've tried the cisapride once and it immediately gave him intense diarrhea that led to him having to be hospitalized. The last medicine that he's taken is meloxidyl for pain. I don't give it to him often since he doesn't always seem like he's in pain. At most, I've given it to him maybe three times a month and it definitely helps with those few days where he seems uncomfortable. As I said, he's been to the vet several times regarding these issues. He's had several hospital stays, several X-rays, and several attempts at trying to figure out what the cause of this is. I've only had him stay at the hospital when the bloat has led to extreme pain and diarrhea, but even after being there for a few days, he's still bloated. All X-rays have shown nothing in his system besides just large amounts of air. With his diet, it feels as if we have tried everything. I've limited the variety of veggies and took out veggies completely and that hasn't seemed to make a difference. We've tried grain free pellets and eliminating all pellets from his diet, also seems to have not made a difference. With hay, he has access to it unlimited. We've tried Timothy hay and orchard hay. I haven't noticed much of a difference with that either.
I'm reaching out to this forum out of desperation. I feel as if I have no control over Barry's health and I hate that he's having to deal with this. I don't really know what else to do. He just looks uncomfortable and is constantly going back and forth with pooping issues. I have read almost every single post I could find regarding these issues and haven't been able to find anything helpful. I'm curious as to if anyone else has dealt with anything like this or if anyone has any suggestions for things I haven't tried.
I have a 17 month old male guinea pig, Barry. For the past 4 months, Barry has been experiencing chronic bloat. Barry had been neutered in September of 2021. For 3 months after that procedure, he had recurring abscesses in his scrotum. In December of 2021, the cause had been found to be an infected piece of fat that the vet had been able to successfully remove. No issues regarding that since then, but a week after that procedure, the bloating started. I have had guinea pigs before and I currently have another guinea pig along with Barry, but I have never experienced anything like this. Barry seems to go back and forth with intense bloating. His stomach ranges from slightly bloated to extremely large and completely full of air. He is NEVER not bloated. I have noticed that as the bloat becomes more severe, his poops will also change. The larger the bloat, the smaller the poops become and have that "teardrop" shape. Other than those two issues, Barry's personality doesn't usually change. He still runs and plays and eats. Of course we've had several vet visits and have tried several things. He is currently taking 0.5 of metochlopramide three times a day, everyday. If I am being completely honest, I don't know if this medicine has had any impact on whatever is going on. We originally started this medicine back in December at 0.35 twice a day and I really don't know if there has been any difference. We have also tried gas drops (simethicone), gripe water, and cisapride. Neither the gas drops nor the gripe water seem to make a difference. We've tried the cisapride once and it immediately gave him intense diarrhea that led to him having to be hospitalized. The last medicine that he's taken is meloxidyl for pain. I don't give it to him often since he doesn't always seem like he's in pain. At most, I've given it to him maybe three times a month and it definitely helps with those few days where he seems uncomfortable. As I said, he's been to the vet several times regarding these issues. He's had several hospital stays, several X-rays, and several attempts at trying to figure out what the cause of this is. I've only had him stay at the hospital when the bloat has led to extreme pain and diarrhea, but even after being there for a few days, he's still bloated. All X-rays have shown nothing in his system besides just large amounts of air. With his diet, it feels as if we have tried everything. I've limited the variety of veggies and took out veggies completely and that hasn't seemed to make a difference. We've tried grain free pellets and eliminating all pellets from his diet, also seems to have not made a difference. With hay, he has access to it unlimited. We've tried Timothy hay and orchard hay. I haven't noticed much of a difference with that either.
I'm reaching out to this forum out of desperation. I feel as if I have no control over Barry's health and I hate that he's having to deal with this. I don't really know what else to do. He just looks uncomfortable and is constantly going back and forth with pooping issues. I have read almost every single post I could find regarding these issues and haven't been able to find anything helpful. I'm curious as to if anyone else has dealt with anything like this or if anyone has any suggestions for things I haven't tried.
