GI stasis

[Andy33335]

Hello,

A have a girl that got bloated on Monday. I did not notice because she is fat anyway but until next morning she got bigger so i ran with her on Tuesday to the vet. She was kept in intensive care for 2 days with fluids and meds. On Friday when i took her home she definetly lost a lot of gas, but not all so we took her home to continue treatment. While at the vet she kind of stopped eating and Friday already refused to chew the syringe food she was given.
When we got home she imediatly started eating hay, not much but like a pinch. That was a victory given she hadn't eaten alone in days, but then she stopped eating. I kept syringe feeding her, like 2-3 ml at a time (she is the worst behaved pig and very hard to handle) and her poops were small and very few. Starting this afternoon she did not poop or pee at all, even tho i kept on feeding her. There are probably like 8h since i saw her peeing and the only poop she does it's a mucus.
I don't understand, i kept feeding her in small batches but nothing is coming out of the other way.
I am running with her in the morning back to vet but what can i do to make sure she survives the night? I don't want to stuck her with more food as i am afraid she might get a stomach rupture

 

[Piggies&buns]

It’s good you are getting her back to the vet tomorrow. In the meantime, please continue to syringe feed her as much as she will take at each sitting and try to feed her every two hours. Please also weigh her daily so you can monitor what is happening with her food intake.

You are aiming for at least 40ml, ideally 60ml+ of syringe feed in each 24 hour period. The less she takes at each sitting, the more sittings you will need to do.

Poop output is behind food intake by 1-2 days (in stasis if can take longer before you see improvement in poop output), so if she hasn’t eaten enough yesterday then you won’t get poops, and she needs to be fed more. This is why poop output isn’t a reliable method to know she has eaten enough so the daily weight checks are so important to give you that real time information on food intake.

Has she been given any medication?

The guides below will explain further

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Digestive Disorders: Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating

 

[Wiebke]

Hello,

A have a girl that got bloated on Monday. I did not notice because she is fat anyway but until next morning she got bigger so i ran with her on Tuesday to the vet. She was kept in intensive care for 2 days with fluids and meds. On Friday when i took her home she definetly lost a lot of gas, but not all so we took her home to continue treatment. While at the vet she kind of stopped eating and Friday already refused to chew the syringe food she was given.
When we got home she imediatly started eating hay, not much but like a pinch. That was a victory given she hadn't eaten alone in days, but then she stopped eating. I kept syringe feeding her, like 2-3 ml at a time (she is the worst behaved pig and very hard to handle) and her poops were small and very few. Starting this afternoon she did not poop or pee at all, even tho i kept on feeding her. There are probably like 8h since i saw her peeing and the only poop she does it's a mucus.
I don't understand, i kept feeding her in small batches but nothing is coming out of the other way.
I am running with her in the morning back to vet but what can i do to make sure she survives the night? I don't want to stuck her with more food as i am afraid she might get a stomach rupture

Hi

Please be aware the poo output reflects what has gone probably a day or two ago in your case.

You need to aim to get ideally up to 60 ml (or as close to 40 ml) into her over the course of 24 hours. However, if she is struggling far in excess of her strength or is too lethargic to swallow much if at all, then it is usually because she is no longer able to to process any food and her body has started to close down. Please try our tricks from the syringe feeding guide below and see whether that works.

Please take the time to read these practical guides here, which you will find very helpful:
Digestive Disorders: Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures (contains tips on how to deal with uncooperative piggies)
Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment (also includes a chapter on how to spot when a piggy is crossing the line of no return and what you can do if that happens)

Unfortunately, all you can do is hang in there and keep trying. Severe bloat is a killing disease that comes in waves, hours, days or even weeks apart. I prefer to liken it to a tsunami that comes in several waves with the biggest wave not necessarily the worst, and all you can do is try to keep swimming...

I am keeping my fingers very firmly crossed for you and your poorly girl!

 

[Andy33335]

Thank you! I cryed my eyes out at the thought i might lose her. Right after i wrote the post she went pee and also some ugly small poo with mucus but i haven't seen a poop in more than 8h so i take it as a victory! Small but makes me move forward. I did not know that her poop right now is the result from 1-2 days ago, i thought their digestive system is faster like eat now, poop in 2-3 hours but i am so happy with your replies that her poops will get better if i keep feeding her
She is on meds right now: medicinal charcoal for the leftover gas in her tummy, probiotics, meloxicam, domperidone to help the food pass through her stocmach and metoclopramide.
For a sick lady she has some straight in her, fighting like crazy when syringe time comes. She is relaxed now, no more hunched. I will keep on feeding her as much as i can and wait for tomorrow's poo.


Thank you again, i was loosing my mind and being disperate

 

[Merab]

Hope she recovers soon.
Holding you in my thoughts

 

[Bill & Ted]

Fingers crossed she picks up soon x

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you! I cryed my eyes out at the thought i might lose her. Right after i wrote the post she went pee and also some ugly small poo with mucus but i haven't seen a poop in more than 8h so i take it as a victory! Small but makes me move forward. I did not know that her poop right now is the result from 1-2 days ago, i thought their digestive system is faster like eat now, poop in 2-3 hours but i am so happy with your replies that her poops will get better if i keep feeding her
She is on meds right now: medicinal charcoal for the leftover gas in her tummy, probiotics, meloxicam, domperidone to help the food pass through her stocmach and metoclopramide.
For a sick lady she has some straight in her, fighting like crazy when syringe time comes. She is relaxed now, no more hunched. I will keep on feeding her as much as i can and wait for tomorrow's poo.


Thank you again, i was loosing my mind and being disperate

Please make sure that you give her all the water she is willing to take; the mucus is a sign of severe dehydration from not having eaten or drunk (or only very little) for a day or two. The longest it took me was 4 days (and basically a week) for the gut moving after a severe GI stasis and then processing the stasis gap.

Try to imagine the digestive system as this big conveyor belt. With severe bloat it will slow down; with GI stasis it will stop completely, or at least parts of it will stop working for a while. What comes out at the other end eventually is reflecting both the input and the gaps in the processing.
The fact there are poos means that the gut is working but it is currently reflecting the stasis/acute bloat phase. The fact that your piggy is peeing means that she is no longer badly dehydrated.

In a normal gut, it takes about a day to break down the full grass/hay fibre in two runs through the gut.
This is the reason why weighing on your kitchen scales is so important because it gives you feedback what is going on now and not feedback of what has happened yesterday or even further back.

Just hang on in there and please read the guide links - you will find them really helpful in managing the crisis and the feeding support.