Carla&Glitch
Junior Guinea Pig
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- Mar 8, 2017
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Recently two of my gorgeous piggies have died because of a mysterious bloating. I would appreciate any advice or experiences that might help save my last remaining piggie. This has been the most horrible month.
I'll give you some background on how we keep our pigs and what has happened since February.
All 3 guinea pigs live in a 5x2 (+ 2x2 loft) C&C cage. They are indoor piggies but have a large run outside for the summer months. They haven't been on the grass for a number of months now as it is freezing. The loft has a base of back-2-nature pellet things to soak up wee and they sleep on unlimited hay. They also have a constantly stocked hay rack and usually a number of things to hide under. I change the hay they sleep on every day and clean out any wet corners each day. Of course, we also do a full change regularly. They eat the Excel nuggets, have fresh water every day available. They don't get treats (only a piece of fruit occasionally) and they got a big bowel of veggies every day. Usually this is mostly different types of lettuce (not iceberg) and some other veggies (we variate this). Favourites include broccoli, carrot, celery, spinach, cucumber etc etc etc. They are (were) particularly vocal about receiving the veggies and always come out of their hiding places screaming for food when there are people around.
It's very quiet in my house now.
It started about a month ago. Millie (approx 3 years old) had been 'a bit off' for a week. She'd been very quiet, still eating but not as keen to run around or come out of her hiding places for food. She then, on a Friday, went downhill really fast. I noticed when I got back from work that she'd probably been in the same place all day. The vets was closed, so I thought that we'd take her in the morning first thing. The Saturday morning I got up really early to find her limp and whimpering. We rushed her to the vets and after an x-ray and some painkillers the vet could see there were 3 huge pockets of gas in her tummy. They were pushing on her lungs, she could hardly breath. There was no obvious blockage. She was in a lot of pain, limp, cold. The vets tried warming her up, getting some fluids in her but it wasn't hopefully. We had the horrible decision to help end her suffering. We feel very guilty for not taking her in earlier, as we are normally much more attentive to possible illnesses.
Ginny (approx 4 years old) was very quiet after this. This was her best friend (we had got them both from a rescue centre). She started getting all snotty and her nose crackled when she breathed. Clearly a URI. So off we went to the vets again where we were prescribed Baytrill.
Of course, Glitch (6) then also became sniffly so she too started on the Baytrill. After a week there was no improvement. So we moved them onto Sulfatrim. Glitch seemingly got better after a week but Ginny hadn't made much improvement. Off we went to the specialist vet for a second look. He said she was doing fine, just needed another 2 weeks on Sulfatrim.
Ginny still seemed better but not recovered. Glitch was crakly again, so the vet had said to start her back on the Sulfatrim. We also gave Glitch Fibraplex twice a day because her tummy was rumbling. Can I add, at this point both piggies were eating hay and drinking water fine and we had cut out/down their veggies dramatically to not upset their little tummies. On the Sunday night both guinea pigs enjoyed a really long cuddle and both left us a mountain of poos in our laps to clear up.
Then on the Monday (of week 4 antibiotics) Ginny took a turn for the worst. She didn't drink or eat all day and she hadn't produced a single poo. Considering yesterday she had pooed completely normally this was worrying. We started put her on a vibrating pad and gave her a little critical care and some water. Off we went to the vets again. An x-ray confirmed she was also full of gas. Three pockets. After a cocktail of injections and oral medicines, including things to get her gut moving, pain relief, infacol, critical care and our vet talking to the specialist vet to make sure everything was covered. She stayed at the vets all day and they hand fed her and made she she moved about regularly. She was uncomfortable but still moving around. She was shaking. Her face seemed very long and drawn.
We took her home that evening to hand feed her critical care every hour (which we did religiously all night) and a drop of infacol and another medicine once in the night (name not to hand at the moment). No poos. A bit of diarrhoea and the smallest poo at 11pm. She is now dragging herself around when forced to move and looked very uncomfortable. We tried the vibrating pad again for short periods of time and tried to keep her moving. The next day she went back to the vets for the day, this time with Glitch who has now begun to have short and smelly poos. Glitch seemed visibly upset. At this point I've stopped the antibiotics. The vets did the same procedures as the day before, but xrayed both pigs. Still no poos from Ginny. Glitch is pooing fine and chomping on hay happily.
On arrival at the vets she took us through the x-rays. Ginny has now become visibly worse, she looked awful, her eyes were running, she couldn't breath very well. Her stomach is huge still nothing is working. The xray shows the pockets have become larger. Glitch's xray showed one huge pocket of gas. She had also been treated all day for that gas. There was not much else the vet felt she could do for Ginny and that now we need to concentrate on finding out what is wrong and save Glitch. We once again, had to decide that Ginny shouldn't suffer any further.
The vet operated on Ginny afterwards to see what had happened inside. It was a torsion. But we don't know if that caused the gas or if the gas cause the torsion.
So here we are, today is the day after Ginny died. Glitch is a bit glum, but she never liked the other pigs much anyway. She's eating the good bits of the hay (if I pick them out for her) but she's not got much interest in doing much, although she has been storming around the floor after a cuddle. She now has a wet bottom (I think from staying in the same place all night). She's still pooing but they are irregular. I can feel the huge pocket of gas and I've tried vibrating it to help. She's quite happy to sit and be vibrated. The vet says to give her a drop of infacol and fibraplex is continuing. We are waiting on stool sample results.
What/where can we go from here? How can we save Glitch?
Millie hadn't been on any antibiotics so what could have happened there? Could it be the antibiotics that have caused the bloat?
Any advice or comment welcomed.
I'll give you some background on how we keep our pigs and what has happened since February.
All 3 guinea pigs live in a 5x2 (+ 2x2 loft) C&C cage. They are indoor piggies but have a large run outside for the summer months. They haven't been on the grass for a number of months now as it is freezing. The loft has a base of back-2-nature pellet things to soak up wee and they sleep on unlimited hay. They also have a constantly stocked hay rack and usually a number of things to hide under. I change the hay they sleep on every day and clean out any wet corners each day. Of course, we also do a full change regularly. They eat the Excel nuggets, have fresh water every day available. They don't get treats (only a piece of fruit occasionally) and they got a big bowel of veggies every day. Usually this is mostly different types of lettuce (not iceberg) and some other veggies (we variate this). Favourites include broccoli, carrot, celery, spinach, cucumber etc etc etc. They are (were) particularly vocal about receiving the veggies and always come out of their hiding places screaming for food when there are people around.
It's very quiet in my house now.
It started about a month ago. Millie (approx 3 years old) had been 'a bit off' for a week. She'd been very quiet, still eating but not as keen to run around or come out of her hiding places for food. She then, on a Friday, went downhill really fast. I noticed when I got back from work that she'd probably been in the same place all day. The vets was closed, so I thought that we'd take her in the morning first thing. The Saturday morning I got up really early to find her limp and whimpering. We rushed her to the vets and after an x-ray and some painkillers the vet could see there were 3 huge pockets of gas in her tummy. They were pushing on her lungs, she could hardly breath. There was no obvious blockage. She was in a lot of pain, limp, cold. The vets tried warming her up, getting some fluids in her but it wasn't hopefully. We had the horrible decision to help end her suffering. We feel very guilty for not taking her in earlier, as we are normally much more attentive to possible illnesses.
Ginny (approx 4 years old) was very quiet after this. This was her best friend (we had got them both from a rescue centre). She started getting all snotty and her nose crackled when she breathed. Clearly a URI. So off we went to the vets again where we were prescribed Baytrill.
Of course, Glitch (6) then also became sniffly so she too started on the Baytrill. After a week there was no improvement. So we moved them onto Sulfatrim. Glitch seemingly got better after a week but Ginny hadn't made much improvement. Off we went to the specialist vet for a second look. He said she was doing fine, just needed another 2 weeks on Sulfatrim.
Ginny still seemed better but not recovered. Glitch was crakly again, so the vet had said to start her back on the Sulfatrim. We also gave Glitch Fibraplex twice a day because her tummy was rumbling. Can I add, at this point both piggies were eating hay and drinking water fine and we had cut out/down their veggies dramatically to not upset their little tummies. On the Sunday night both guinea pigs enjoyed a really long cuddle and both left us a mountain of poos in our laps to clear up.
Then on the Monday (of week 4 antibiotics) Ginny took a turn for the worst. She didn't drink or eat all day and she hadn't produced a single poo. Considering yesterday she had pooed completely normally this was worrying. We started put her on a vibrating pad and gave her a little critical care and some water. Off we went to the vets again. An x-ray confirmed she was also full of gas. Three pockets. After a cocktail of injections and oral medicines, including things to get her gut moving, pain relief, infacol, critical care and our vet talking to the specialist vet to make sure everything was covered. She stayed at the vets all day and they hand fed her and made she she moved about regularly. She was uncomfortable but still moving around. She was shaking. Her face seemed very long and drawn.
We took her home that evening to hand feed her critical care every hour (which we did religiously all night) and a drop of infacol and another medicine once in the night (name not to hand at the moment). No poos. A bit of diarrhoea and the smallest poo at 11pm. She is now dragging herself around when forced to move and looked very uncomfortable. We tried the vibrating pad again for short periods of time and tried to keep her moving. The next day she went back to the vets for the day, this time with Glitch who has now begun to have short and smelly poos. Glitch seemed visibly upset. At this point I've stopped the antibiotics. The vets did the same procedures as the day before, but xrayed both pigs. Still no poos from Ginny. Glitch is pooing fine and chomping on hay happily.
On arrival at the vets she took us through the x-rays. Ginny has now become visibly worse, she looked awful, her eyes were running, she couldn't breath very well. Her stomach is huge still nothing is working. The xray shows the pockets have become larger. Glitch's xray showed one huge pocket of gas. She had also been treated all day for that gas. There was not much else the vet felt she could do for Ginny and that now we need to concentrate on finding out what is wrong and save Glitch. We once again, had to decide that Ginny shouldn't suffer any further.
The vet operated on Ginny afterwards to see what had happened inside. It was a torsion. But we don't know if that caused the gas or if the gas cause the torsion.
So here we are, today is the day after Ginny died. Glitch is a bit glum, but she never liked the other pigs much anyway. She's eating the good bits of the hay (if I pick them out for her) but she's not got much interest in doing much, although she has been storming around the floor after a cuddle. She now has a wet bottom (I think from staying in the same place all night). She's still pooing but they are irregular. I can feel the huge pocket of gas and I've tried vibrating it to help. She's quite happy to sit and be vibrated. The vet says to give her a drop of infacol and fibraplex is continuing. We are waiting on stool sample results.
What/where can we go from here? How can we save Glitch?
Millie hadn't been on any antibiotics so what could have happened there? Could it be the antibiotics that have caused the bloat?
Any advice or comment welcomed.
