Hello everyone,
I am a new guinea pig owner. I have been wanting guinea pigs for quite some time and been researching on them...so I thought. Last Sunday afternoon (almost a week ago), I got two female guinea pigs from an ad on craigslist. I did not want to get any from a petstore and there are none for adoption (from what I could find online) around me. The family who gave them to me seemed to really care about them and gave them and their tiny cage, food (pellet and hay), leftover bedding, and hut to me for free. They said they had them for 2 and 1/2 years and that they did not have time for them and felt bad for them. They still wanted updates about them if that was okay.
They used carefresh paper bedding for them but I had wanted to switch them over to mainly fleece bedding. I moved them into my bigger cage and got accessories like wood chews, corner litter pan, and straw tunnel.
The family had told me they fed them veggies like bell paper and lettuce so i assumed this was on the regular. Should have specified. I fed veggies from what I saw on I think guinealynx to be safe and not gassy.
Sunday night, and then Monday morning and evening I fed them sliced (yellow and or red) bell peppers, butter lettuce (had some red leaf in it), cucumber, and literally one half of a cherry tomatoe to each guinea pig (ONE time only). About a cup in morning and a cup in evening. They loved it and acted like yeah I thought it was time to be fed.
The pellet food they had been getting was from wild harvest and had all kinds of seeds and colorful bits to it. Yes I know this was not a good pellet to feed them but I also thought I would wait it out to switch over pellets to oxbow later since there was so much food left (about 1/2 cup a day because on package it said about 1/4 a cup per guinea pig and yes they did leave a lot of the plain pellets). They also had Timothy hay from Kaytee brand which I supply as much as they want all the time.
I noticed Peppa (who eats constantly and drinks a lot of water) getting bigger, which at first I assumed was fat but then it just looked odd to me and I researched bloat online and was really worried. The other one Pippa (eats but is very skittish and not nearly as food crazed) was a tad bit bigger but not like Peppa. I stopped with the veggies completely and saw on a lot of forums to give gripe water or gas drops/ simethicone. Some were iffy about simethicone because of blockage so I went with gripe water at first starting either Tuesday evening or Wednesday afternoon timeframe of giving .5ml of it to Peppa every few hours minus 8 hrs at night. She still seemed to get bigger so I got the gas drops and did .3ml of it on Thursday a few times throughout that day. I was very worried so had been looking for a decent exotic vet.
Friday evening I got an appointment at 830pm and brought both in but only had Peppa seen. She ended up getting ultrasound and they did find gas (the vet felt at first before ultrasound that she felt a lot of fat...but then Peppa would squeak :( every time she poked her on the side). She sedated her so she could aspirate with a needle and said she got most of it out and she looks a lot better but still she said there is still some left but gave me metoclopramide .5ml 2x a day for a week to help with motility and to give her .5ml of olive oil 2 days a day (she said olive oil will help break up the gas and to do for 3 days and anytime she starts getting bloated again). She said gripe water wouldnt hurt and to keep doing it throughout if I wanted to. She will check up on her again in about 5 days.
The vet said to slowly switch her pellet food because I told her it has that stuff in it and I wanted to feed them oxbow and she said to slowly introduce in quarters for about a week and then 1/2 amount and so forth. Also I got a large timothy hay bag from oxbow today as well. Still have some kaytee brand left but thought it may be higher quality? (do I need to switch over in a special way?)
Sorry for so much to read and thank you if you did but my questions are:
Does this treatment plan sound right? I did not see olive oil in many forums about bloat (maybe one time).
What recommendations to prevent bloat from coming again? Food/diet (what veggies and when to introduce slowly), medications?
Thank you again!
P.S. Yesterday and Today Peppa has been doing well and taking her medicine happily. The spot they shaved her and put needle in looks good (no redness or swelling). She does seem sluggish at times but then perks up at other times. Could be her new med?
Peppa-New Guinea pig-Bloat
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Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
I think he is thinking the olive oil will work like the simethicone.
If she has true bloat, I would cut out the vegetables for now until she is stable. Add a single vegetable at a time (per day) and make sure that is tolerated well. You will need to watch her closely.
Read all you can about bloat on the emergency page - follow the links for more info.
www.guinealynx.info/emergency.html#bloat
If she has true bloat, I would cut out the vegetables for now until she is stable. Add a single vegetable at a time (per day) and make sure that is tolerated well. You will need to watch her closely.
Read all you can about bloat on the emergency page - follow the links for more info.
www.guinealynx.info/emergency.html#bloat
Thank you, Lynx.Lynx wrote: ↑Sun Jun 17, 2018 11:33 pm I think he is thinking the olive oil will work like the simethicone.
If she has true bloat, I would cut out the vegetables for now until she is stable. Add a single vegetable at a time (per day) and make sure that is tolerated well. You will need to watch her closely.
Read all you can about bloat on the emergency page - follow the links for more info.
www.guinealynx.info/emergency.html#bloat
So the olive oil should be okay though? The vet didn't seem very fond of the simethicone as much as the olive oil.
Okay I haven't been giving any veggies since I noticed this and I suppose I will give it a good 2-3 weeks before trying to do anything veggie related?
Thank you again Lynx,
Hope you get your electricity back soon. I will try my best to keep track of Peppa. We have another appointment coming up on Wednesday evening to follow up. I also saw people mention using probiotics and GI supplements for their chornic bloat guineas on the link you gave me so I ordered those online and should start that soon (benebac and oxbow brands).
Just an update. I am still waiting for the benebac and the GI supplements to come in the mail but we had our follow up vet appointment, five days after the initial appointment where Peppa got aspirated with needle.
Peppa is still big but the Vet and I both agree she has a lot of fat already but on top of that she probably has some air still but the Vet said her gut sounds good and in motion, she is still eating, drinking and pooping so looks good. If she stops eating, drinking or pooping to come back. She wants me to continue the motility med for the week timeframe and then to do olive oil a couple times a week and she said the gripewater doesnt hurt so I can continue that.
So many people said gripe water really helped so i may continue that daily till I see she has resolved and then do the olive oil 2x a week and gripe water here or there to prevent. I will do the benebac when I get it for probiotics and see about the GI supplement pellets, when it gets here.
Food is still being slowly changed over to oxbow and the old food is still being painstakingly gone through to throw out the seeds and extra stuff. Peppa yells for food all the time...I give them 1/4 a cup of mostly old food and a quarter new in morning and then 1/4 a cup with same mix in afternoon. They have Hay continuously and water continuously and daily changed out (for water).
If anyone has any tips or advice, I would still greatly take any information in. In a couple weeks or so i will see about doing some lettuce in very small amounts and in small bits (saw someone say to cut in small amounts to help guinea pig not swallow down so quickly) and see how that goes.
Peppa is still big but the Vet and I both agree she has a lot of fat already but on top of that she probably has some air still but the Vet said her gut sounds good and in motion, she is still eating, drinking and pooping so looks good. If she stops eating, drinking or pooping to come back. She wants me to continue the motility med for the week timeframe and then to do olive oil a couple times a week and she said the gripewater doesnt hurt so I can continue that.
So many people said gripe water really helped so i may continue that daily till I see she has resolved and then do the olive oil 2x a week and gripe water here or there to prevent. I will do the benebac when I get it for probiotics and see about the GI supplement pellets, when it gets here.
Food is still being slowly changed over to oxbow and the old food is still being painstakingly gone through to throw out the seeds and extra stuff. Peppa yells for food all the time...I give them 1/4 a cup of mostly old food and a quarter new in morning and then 1/4 a cup with same mix in afternoon. They have Hay continuously and water continuously and daily changed out (for water).
If anyone has any tips or advice, I would still greatly take any information in. In a couple weeks or so i will see about doing some lettuce in very small amounts and in small bits (saw someone say to cut in small amounts to help guinea pig not swallow down so quickly) and see how that goes.
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