Treating unexplained chronic bloat

[OM91]

Hi everyone.

We have a little piggie called Angus who's suffering from chronic bloat. We have noticed that his stool frequency dramatically reduces during bloat episodes. Stools tend to be small, end with a tail and have an odour of fermented hay.

It's been ongoing for four weeks.

He's currently on:
- 0.11 ml cisapride twice a day
- 0.59 ml emeprid twice a day
- 1ml fibreplex twice a day
- 5ml DualCare liquid feed three times a day.

We've also been using gripe water and belly rubs to treat the bloat, which tends to be twice a day as we monitor him regularly through the day. As we catch it early, it's mostly quite minor bloat.

Even when he's bloated, he still eats hay and his behaviour is normal (running around, grooming, etc)

He's been to the emergency vet three times and none of them can find a cause.

We have an appointment with Trinity (guinea pig specialist vet) on Thursday, but we wondered if there's anything else we can do or should be concerned about in the meantime to keep him safe and as well as possible.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Several questions for some more background which would be helpful to know:

How old is he?
In older piggies chronic bloat can become an issue because the body just doesn’t work as well as it used to.

Have you removed all veg from the diet? Important that this is done during a bloat episode. It may then be that one or several veggies which could be setting things off so you may need to investigate by only adding one veg back in at a time and doing so very slowly

Are you weighing him daily to ensure he is getting enough syringe feed to keep his weight stable each day?

You can also give poop soup from a healthy companion to help boost the gut bacteria.

Wiebke's Guide to Tummy Trouble
Digestive Disorders: Not Eating - Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement)
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/weight-monitoring-and-management.171577/

 

[sport_billy]

Sorry to hear this, we had a bloaty piggy. In the end we had to work out which veggies set her off.

They are on some good gut stimulants there, so it should keep stuff moving. Cisapride and Emeprid work on different parts of the gut so good the vet is gibing these.
I would suggest trialling each veg at a time to see if there is a cause. With one of our girls it was cabbage that set her off.

 

[OM91]

Thanks for the replies everyone. He's approximately 4.5 years old. We've removed all veggies.

His weight is pretty consistent, between 1.17 and 1.21 kg.

 

[sport_billy]

Thanks for the replies everyone. He's approximately 4.5 years old. We've removed all veggies.

His weight is pretty consistent, between 1.17 and 1.21 kg.

How long has he been off them?

When it settles. re-introduce one at a time monitoring carefully see if you can identify what is setting him off

 

[OM91]

How long has he been off them?

When it settles. re-introduce one at a time monitoring carefully see if you can identify what is setting him off

He's been off them for around 3 weeks now. And he's not happy about it

Thank you for this. This is good to know.

 

[Piggies&buns]

So this has been going on for four weeks and he’s been off veg for three weeks; and he is still bloating without veg?

Have you tried poop soup made from the poops of a healthy companion?
Otherwise you are doing everything you can

 

[OM91]

So this has been going on for four weeks and he’s been off veg for three weeks; and he is still bloating without veg?

Have you tried poop soup made from the poops of a healthy companion?
Otherwise you are doing everything you can

Yes, that's right. Even without the veg, the bloat reoccurs.

The poop soup is an interesting one. I'll give that a go.

Thank you for the support. I really appreciate it.

 

[Piggies&buns]

This guide explains poop soup (live microbiome transfer)

Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

 

[OM91]

This guide explains poop soup (live microbiome transfer)

Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

This is really helpful! Thank you!

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone.

We have a little piggie called Angus who's suffering from chronic bloat. We have noticed that his stool frequency dramatically reduces during bloat episodes. Stools tend to be small, end with a tail and have an odour of fermented hay.

It's been ongoing for four weeks.

He's currently on:
- 0.11 ml cisapride twice a day
- 0.59 ml emeprid twice a day
- 1ml fibreplex twice a day
- 5ml DualCare liquid feed three times a day.

We've also been using gripe water and belly rubs to treat the bloat, which tends to be twice a day as we monitor him regularly through the day. As we catch it early, it's mostly quite minor bloat.

Even when he's bloated, he still eats hay and his behaviour is normal (running around, grooming, etc)

He's been to the emergency vet three times and none of them can find a cause.

We have an appointment with Trinity (guinea pig specialist vet) on Thursday, but we wondered if there's anything else we can do or should be concerned about in the meantime to keep him safe and as well as possible.

Many thanks in advance.

Hi

Bloating can unfortunately be very persistent if the gut microbiome is unable to resettle. Has your vet considered that the bloating could be a secondary complication to another problem impacting on the gut, either through pain radiating into it or a mass of some sort pressing on it?
Wiebke's Guide to Tummy Trouble

Has Trinity got a companion who could donate totally just dropped fresh, healthy poos to help settle the gut bacteria by life gut microbiome transfer ('poo soup'). It mimics natural behaviour of recovering guinea pigs and is - when really freshly made - more effective than commercial probiotics.
Try this twice daily by syringing 3 ml of the water in which 3-5 just dropped, totally fresh poos have been soaked shortly. The process should ideally not take much more than 5 minutes between dropping the poos and syringing as the gut bacteria will die off quickly outside the gut. It's not a miracle cure but it can make a difference in some cases.
Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

All the best!

 

[OM91]

Thank you so much for this. He hasn't shown any signs of pain unless we've massaged the bloated pouches to relieve the gas.

He does have Bunny, another piggie who will donate some stool.

We'll definitely try the poo soup. Thank you!

He's just back from the vet after diarrhea. It seems the meds may have cleared him out quite brutally.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you so much for this. He hasn't shown any signs of pain unless we've massaged the bloated pouches to relieve the gas.

He does have Bunny, another piggie who will donate some stool.

We'll definitely try the poo soup. Thank you!

He's just back from the vet after diarrhea. It seems the meds may have cleared him out quite brutally.

I hope that the poo soup will help to speed up the microbiome recovery. It takes a while for it to grow back; that's where the poo soup helps because he will be inoculated with exactly the right stuff for a piggy gut.

 

[OM91]

I hope that the poo soup will help to speed up the microbiome recovery. It takes a while for it to grow back; that's where the poo soup helps because he will be inoculated with exactly the right stuff for a piggy gut.

Thank you so much! I hope so, too.

Whatever we need to do for him, we'll do.

I really appreciate all the feedback and support.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you so much! I hope so, too.

Whatever we need to do for him, we'll do.

I really appreciate all the feedback and support.

I hope that it can help you.

Chronic bloat can be so difficult to treat. Sometimes, all you can do is to try and manage it because it may never get fully right again. I hope that you do not fall into that extreme category.