Chronic bloating

[stef.trg]

Hello everybody,

I haven‘t been on here in forever so big apologies for my absence. I could really use some advice with my Pewter (2,5 years old).

A little backstory: About a year ago I took her to her annual MOT where the vet mentioned that she seems to be fairly gassy (This was something our previous vet in the UK had already noticed a year prior). She was there for 2 days to investigate and the outcome was that her digestion is for some unexplainable reason slower than normal. As there wasn’t anything else wrong with her, the vet thinks it‘s a genetic thing.

The slower digestion leads to her always being a bit bloated and having a slightly distended stomach. You can also often hear little rumbling sounds coming from her belly. She usually never seems to be uncomfortable or in pain, eats like a trooper and holds her weight. As she was completely fine other than the slightly distended tummy, the vet said to just keep doing what we‘re doing but to steer clear of any gassy veg. She gets exactly the same food, same amount every day and we have been completely fine with that.

Until yesterday. Yesterday morning she gobbled down her breakfast veggies. When I left at around lunchtime she was still happily sitting in her hay tray munching. I got back around 4:30pm and started spot cleaning. She didn’t come out of her cuddle sack to have a nosey which is very untypical for her. Didn’t think much of it in that moment and just finished cleaning. I started getting suspicious when I topped up their hay and she didn’t come out. Tried rustling the pellet bag, lettuce packaging, the hay in the box - all to no avail. So I got her out and could already see that her belly looked much bigger as it usually does. She was very lethargic and just snuggling down wherever I put her. Took her to the emergency vet where they did an ultrasound and gave her some Metoclopromide mixed with a different medication that I didn’t see. This did the trick and she was eating again pretty much instantly after we got home and has been fine and not at all bloated since. She also never stopped pooping or peeing.

I really do not know what‘s caused it. She had everything she usually gets minus the lettuce because I didn’t buy any so figured I‘d feed them their lettuce in the evening. But since bloat is quite unpredictable anyways I‘m not too bothered about the exact cause for this episode.

My real question is, how do I help her with her constant gassy tummy? The vet yesterday suggested that I should try giving her 0,3-0,5ml of Sab Simplex (German version of Infancol) twice a day and see how we go with that. I‘m not a massive fan of simethicone because of the whole one big gas bubble thing but I really don‘t know what else to do. She gets some veg that‘s good against bloating (mainly fennel) every day. The vet also mentioned syringing her fennel tea twice a day and see if that helps. I‘m a bit at a loss and would just love to help her so every suggestions or insights are greatly appreciated.

 

[piggieminder]

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

Hope this helps until an expert comes along.
Just gone through a case of bloat and stasis, horrible to experience. I hope your girl is okay and she doesn't suffer this again.

 

[Little Ones]

Both my senior piggies became easily bloated once they hit about 7 years old, the best thing I found is 1.0ml twice a day of emeprid, 0.1ml twice daily of cisapride too if you can get it. Then once I don’t hear tummy noises for a couple of days I stop the cisapride and drop the emeprid to 0.4ml twice daily. If the piggy gets soft poops then I also add in fibreplex, sometimes it takes two tubes, and that also helps. Of course alongside staying away from certain vegetables, ones prone to give gas are a no go but certain veggies don’t agree with certain pigs. One of mine loves cucumbers but every time he has some, his tummy starts! The 1.0ml of emeprid is really what has made the biggest difference. We always found 0.4 didn’t do much help, but Simon an extremely piggy savvy vet said emeprid can be given very safely at a 1ml dose. Hope that helps?

 

[Pound Shilling & Pig]

Hi, I wouldn't give her infacol type meds, for the reason you say. Emeprid could quite well help but you would need to discuss dosage with your vet. Emergency vets aren't always the most knowledgeable when it comes to piggies so it would be worth making an appointment with your regular vet

 

[stef.trg]

Sorry for the long silence, we’ve been fighting through recurring bloat episodes (3 fairly severe ones where she stopped eating altogether, 2 close ones where she was still eating but ballooned up pretty badly). After a lot of trial & error we‘ve managed to come out the other end. Turns out, little girl has a few intolerances that cause her to bloat - the main one being bell peppers. We‘ve cut put everything that led to even the slightest gurgle in her belly & combined with 1ml of gripe water a day she‘s been fine. Fingers crossed it stays that way!