Just lost my gorgeous Piggie to bloat

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bellatodd

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Just here for some support as I feel horrible and so so guilty.

Lost our gorgeous 4.5 year old Piggie last night to bloat. We caught it early and took him to the vet and he was xrayed and it looked like a build up of food rather than gas. The vet gave a hopeful prognosis, gave pain relief, subcutaneous fluid etc and sent us home with painkillers (0.6ml dog Metacam twice daily), critical care feed and instructions to keep a close eye on him.

Despite nursing him all day and into the night he passed away and by the end was really struggling - it was horrible. It was 1.30 am so I could do nothing but hold him.

Our piggies are part of the family and we have always tried to give them the best. They spend all day in a run during the summer and we feed lots of hay, mixed veg, grass and herbs. We thought we were giving them the best life and we loved them to bits. However the vet told me when I was in the in the surgery that the greens and grass I was feeding had caused the problem and piggies fed just hay and pellets are far healthier and can live til 12!

I now feel horrific that I caused this and feel awful for syringe feeding him right up until 10 mins before he died. I was following vets advice but I now feel that I just added to his distress and in my heart I knew we were losing him.

Just feel desperately sad 😢 and guilty and am questioning everything I did.

For now his companion is eating, but I will need to post again for advice on what to do moving forwards
 

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I’m so so sorry for your loss.

I want you to rest assured that while hay absolutely does need to form three quarters of their diet, that giving veg is absolutely recommended and fine. There are some veg which need to be limited but it is fine to give them veg and grass.
It’s actually pellets which are the one thing that do not need to be fed at all. Pellets contribute quite a lot of calcium into the diet which can be unhealthy.
A hay based diet can add a couple of years to their life but feeding a dry diet as only hay and pellets is not going to make a piggy live to 12 and feeding a completely dry diet may actually lead to bladder issues.

So please do not blame yourself. Your piggy sounded to have a great diet and life and sadly bloat (gas) or an actual blockage can strike out of the blue. You certainly didn’t cause it.
 
I'm sorry you lost your beautiful piggy! I understand feeling guilty and questioning yourself because I mostly did that too, but it's not true - you're not to blame. Apparently, the more we love our piggies, the more we question ourselves, so it's part of the grieving.

:hug:
 
My heart goes out to you I am so very sorry for your loss and the distress you are in. It is natural to blame ourselves especially when your vet has said what they did to you. As far as I'm aware as long as any new veg or grass is introduced gradually it is fine. You clearly loved your guinea and he will have felt that love throughout his time with you, during his final moments and he will have taken that love with him as he crossed The Rainbow Bridge 🌈
 
I'm so sorry for your loss, it absolutely would not have been the veggies or grass and it certainly wasn't your fault.

Rather than criticising your diet, the vet should have prescribed motility medication to get your piggies gut moving. Feeding is the absolute best thing you can do for bloat and stasis, next to motility medication. Without food, the gut doesn't move, so the nursing you provided likely offered a great deal of comfort to your piggy in the end of their life.

Treating bloat is absolutely horrible, and I've lost a couple to it myself in spite of jumping into action almost immediately.

I currently have one at the moment who is bloated, we're on day 4.. she gets one of four medications, probiotics or a feed every few hours.. my schedule currently is "something" being done at 4am, 7am, 10am, 12pm, 2pm, 4pm, 8pm, 10pm and 12am. Its absolutely brutal and even with all that, she is still at risk of crashing and passing away at any time. Sometimes, biology just doesn't work in our favour in spite of everything, and everything you did was correct. You took them to the vet, you nursed round the clock, unfortunately it seems your piggy was one of the ones who just got dealt the hand of not being able to be turned around. Which isn't very comforting in the moment, I know. But I just want to really emphasise that you should not be blaming yourself or feeling any guilt, you did a great job.
 
Very sad, you clearly loved him very much. I'm sure it wasn't anything you did. Bloat can strike very suddenly and severely. Sleep sweetly over the bridge little one 🌈
 
I’m so sorry you have lost your piggy. You’ve done everything right so please don’t feel guilty. You have given him the best life possible. Then as soon as you noticed something was wrong you took him straight to the vets. Sometimes the call to the bridge is just too strong. Sending you massive hugs. ❤️
 
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