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Guinea Pig bloat?

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Okay tomorrow I will get the proper syringe, but with the syringe I have now, how much should I fill it up? I mean I did take her to the vet about a month ago & they said everything was okay with her & her poops were pretty much the same they were now. They’ve changed quite a bit but I did say it was because my piggy was only devouring pellets & barely grass. But I haven’t given her any pellets today other than syringe feed.
 
ilovepeggy said:
Okay tomorrow I will get the proper syringe, but with the syringe I have now, how much should I fill it up? I mean I did take her to the vet about a month ago & they said everything was okay with her & her poops were pretty much the same they were now. They’ve changed quite a bit but I did say it was because my piggy was only devouring pellets & barely grass. But I haven’t given her any pellets today other than syringe feed.
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I don’t know what would be a safe amount to put in the syringe because Ive never tried to use a big syringe. I personally wouldn’t fill it more than about 1ml Though and would then just be careful not push any air into piggiy’s mouth
You need to cut the thin end off the syringe though as it won’t work with pellet mush through the tapered section

A month ago is too long ago to be useful to the situation now. As I said earlier, a piggy can get ill within a matter of a couple of hours, teeth can overgrow in a couple of weeks, so there may be health issues now which werent issues then.

Yes her poops will be abnormal now because she isn’t eating the right diet or the right amount of hay.
Its hay she needs to eat most of, not grass. Fresh grass is fine in the diet but only if their digestion is used to it
 
Is sesame seeds in pellets good or should I not give her that either?

Here’s a picture I captured of her yawning
This was less than 2 days ago
 

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ilovepeggy said:
Is sesame seeds in pellets good or should I not give her that either?

Here’s a picture I captured of her yawning
This was less than 2 days ago
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No she should not be eating any seeds. They are very unhealthy and risk causing a piggy to choke or the seeds get stuck in their teeth.
The only part of those muesli mixes which is fine is the small plain brown sticks (the pellets). Nothing, other than the plain brown pellets, in the muesli mix packets is good for them
 
Ohh okay I gotchu, I would take a clearer pic of her teeth but she doesn’t let me get near her mouth or she’ll bite me, but does her teeth look overgrown?
 
ilovepeggy said:
Ohh okay I gotchu, I would take a clearer pic of her teeth but she doesn’t let me get near her mouth or she’ll bite me, but does her teeth look overgrown?
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Its absolutely impossible for us to tell anything. Only a qualified vet with specialist tools (and a sedated piggy), can check the teeth (including the molars - they are too far back for any owner to be able to see clearly) and their alignment.
 
Ahh okay I understand, I really just think it was the pellets that caused her stress & well now this is what’s been happening because Of that, cause in two of the pellets I’ve used there’s hay in the pellets so that should help with her intake of grass. I think also because since she stopped eating greens everyday, & then she got them back pretty much at the same time of those pellets started messing up her hay intake.
 
the h
ilovepeggy said:
Ahh okay I understand, I really just think it was the pellets that caused her stress & well now this is what’s been happening because Of that, cause in two of the pellets I’ve used there’s hay in the pellets so that should help with her intake of grass. I think also because since she stopped eating greens everyday, & then she got them back pretty much at the same time of those pellets started messing up her hay intake.
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The pellets haven’t caused her stress, they could have caused her diet to go out of balance but there could also be other medical reasons. The amount of hay in the pellets is far too minimal to help at all.

When did she stop eating greens?

how much of that muesli mix have you been giving her? Do you fil her bowl up and leave her with it all day?

Veg is one cup per day, pellets is one tablespoon per day.
They should never be given access to so much veg and dry mix that they fill up on it

do you throw huge handfuls of hay into her cage every day?
 
Well good sign is, I separated the bad stuff & just gave her the parts that have fiber & she seems to be eating them with no problem.
 
ilovepeggy said:
Well good sign is, I separated the bad stuff & just gave her the parts that have fiber & she seems to be eating them with no problem.
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The reality is, she needs to be eating enough hay to get her fibre intake, not pellets.
Pellets alone are nowhere near enough, they should only have one tablespoon of plain pellets per day and that only equates to 5% of the daily food intake

(although while syringe feeding pellets, those normal rules to keeping pellets to one tablespoon doesn’t apply as you need go get as much syringe feed as possible into a piggy who isnt eating hay)

When did she stop eating greens?

how much of that muesli mix have you been giving her? Do you fil her bowl up and leave her with it all day?

Veg is one cup per day, pellets is one tablespoon per day
They should never be given access to so much veg and dry mix that they fill up on them and stop eating hay

do you throw huge handfuls of hay into her cage every day?
 
So as I’ve mentioned I live with other people so the guy would feed my Guinea pig a handful of parsley in the morning & at night but it stopped around late June because his bunny passed away, I’m not sure when he started giving her greens again because he wakes up way before I do & well I barely see him. Lately he’s been giving her romaine lettuce in the morning. I believe I’d give her a 2-3 handfuls a day of pellets because she spills them. I give her grass about 2-3 times a day.
 
I believe that is why she barely ate grass because she was more focused on her pellets, but since I won’t be giving it to her as much & I’m taking away all the sugary stuff away, that should increase her intake of grass. Also is it okay if I continue giving her digestive support tablets? Or should I stop giving them to her?
 
ilovepeggy said:
So as I’ve mentioned I live with other people so the guy would feed my Guinea pig a handful of parsley in the morning & at night but it stopped around late June because his bunny passed away, I’m not sure when he started giving her greens again because he wakes up way before I do & well I barely see him. Lately he’s been giving her romaine lettuce in the morning. I believe I’d give her a 2-3 handfuls a day of pellets because she spills them. I give her grass about 2-3 times a day.
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Grass or hay?

2-3 handfuls of pellets or muesli mix is way too far beyond what she should be having and will be contributing to poor health and poor hay intake. Doesn’t matter if she spills then, it’s one tablespoon only.
Please don’t allow anybody else to feed your piggy inappropriately.

Suddenly giving lettuce again after months without it will undoubtedly have caused digestive problems. Any new reintroduction of veg must be done very slowly, very controlled and very carefully.

so now you’ve clarified this, I highly suspect it is in fact all the sudden reintroduction of veg which has caused it all. The fact you feed a muesli is isn’t healthy and not eating enough hay will most certainly not help but an overgrowth of the wrong gut bacteria will also be caused by suddenly feeding too much veg.

Lettuce is very low in nutrients so on its own won’t provide a balance of nutrition. She can be fed lettuce, cucumber, bell pepper and coriander/cilantro daily as this contains a good variety of vitamins. Any introduction of those veggies needs to be done slowly.
but for now, she needs to not have any veg at all so her gut can rebalance . It can then be slowly reintroduced slowly once she is feeling better again
 
Sorry hay, I get confused about the two, I give her hay. I told him not to give her anymore.
 
I’m not sure if you answered my question but I also been giving her digestive support tablets, should I stop giving them to her? It’s only one tablet a day. How do you reintroduce veggies slowly?
 
ilovepeggy said:
I’m not sure if you answered my question but I also been giving her digestive support tablets, should I stop giving them to her? It’s only one tablet a day. How do you reintroduce veggies slowly?
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There will be no harm in giving them, but if money is tight for you, they are not necessary for you to buy. A good diet is better than any supplement

You reintroduce slowly by just giving a very small amount of one type at a time. A couple of days with just half a lettuce leaf. Then a few days later introduce the other half so she can have a whole lettuce leaf. Then leave it at that for a few days. Then a few days later add in a thin slice of bell pepper, and leave it at just somd lettuce and bell Pepper for a few days. Then a couple of days later add in a small amount of coriander and so on until she is fed one cup of a variety of veg per day without it upsetting her digestion.
if at any point during the slow reintroduction soft poops occur, then you have to stop all veg again and go back to just hay until things resettle and then start again slowly reintroducing veg.
 
Ohh okay, thank you so much for explaining it throughly to me. I understand much better now. I really appreciate your help & everyone else whose helped as well.
 
We must add further and to be clear though that none of this replaces a vet check. If there are other health issues, syringe feeding and getting her on a good diet will not cure any current medical issues. It will support her but will not, on its own, make her better.
 
Okay so I gave her 4 syringe feeds of 1mL with only the fiber part & she cooperated, she’s eating her grass but there’s bit of a delay there. She’s drinking water too.
 
ilovepeggy said:
Okay so I gave her 4 syringe feeds of 1mL with only the fiber part & she cooperated, she’s eating her grass but there’s bit of a delay there. She’s drinking water too.
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Did you manage to get a scale to weigh her? That’s the only way to know how much syringe feed to give.
If she is not eating enough hay independently to maintain her weight then I’m afraid 4ml of syringe feed in a day is nowhere near enough - she needs somewhere between 40 and 100ml a day but it depends on those weight checks .
 
No I understand that, I haven’t gotten her scales yet I’m waiting for my mom to get home from work so I can go get them. I just wanna be on the safe side & not over feed her if that’s the case.
 
I’m also afraid cause the syringe Isn’t the right measurement & I don’t wanna end up giving her too much. I also did cut the end
 
ilovepeggy said:
No I understand that, I haven’t gotten her scales yet I’m waiting for my mom to get home from work so I can go get them. I just wanna be on the safe side & not over feed her if that’s the case.
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You will not be able to overfeed. A piggy will refuse if they don’t want anymore. I would give a minimum of 40ml a day particularly as you aren’t sure what is happening with her weight at present, but 4ml won’t do anything for her.
However, underfeeding can pose a huge problem if she isn’t eating enough herself. She will lose weight rapidly
 
Ohh okay I understand, I did notice though when I give her syringe feed her appetite becomes better & she starts eating more grass
 
Do you mean grass or hay? It’s good if she appears to be eating more. But the scales will be the best way to tell you whether she really is.

When was her last weigh-in? I would weigh tomorrow morning and every morning (at the same time) after that. Note down the weight.

In terms of feeding, I would give her as much as she will accept every 2 hours. Another way could be to put a bowl of mushed pellets in her cage. That could be for overnight.
 
A question though so you said she may need to be fed 40-100ml a day but do I feed her those portions at once? Or did I break them apart feeding her every 2 hours?
 
ilovepeggy said:
Ohh okay I understand, I did notice though when I give her syringe feed her appetite becomes better & she starts eating more grass
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That’s good.
As I say though, only a vet can make her better if there is something else going on.
Once you’ve got the scales, then put her in a small container and weigh her in grams (not lbs). Then weigh her again tomorrow . You can post ber daily weight checks here and we can have a look at them. The only thing is because you haven’t been weighing her up until now, it is going to take a little while to get enough weight readings to gauge
 
ilovepeggy said:
A question though so you said she may need to be fed 40-100ml a day but do I feed her those portions at once? Or did I break them apart feeding her every 2 hours?
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Not at once - she will not take that amount in one go. It is the required amount during a 24 hour period
How often depends on how much she needs (which you can only tell from the weight checks) and how much she takes at each sitting - she may take around 10-20ml at a time (very poorly piggies may only take a couple of ml) but it all depends on what is going on with her and any medical issues
 
You can feed every 1-2 hours. As much as you can get into her in one sitting. If, say, you wake up at 8am, first feed can be 8:30. Last feed can maybe be 11pm depending on when you go to bed. So you try and get as much into her in that time period you’re awake.
 
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