Soft poop: what the vet said

Post Reply
User avatar
somechick

Post   » Thu Oct 12, 2006 10:42 am


rshevin - I've been searching around the forums and just read your past thread about GI upset in Piggy.

PC *is* pooping, it's just not normal looking and not as frequent as my others. The vet gave me Reglan so I'm assuming he doesn't believe it would harm her. Should I get an x-ray anyway? Keep this Reglan/Simeth combo up until next Friday's visit?

User avatar
lisam

Post   » Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:03 am


In guinea pigs, a blockage is not bloat. I suppose it can cause bloat, but it's not the same that we are talking about here. If your girl is pooping at all she's not blocked.

Simethicone is a very benign drug. Giving not enough isn't doing any harm, but then it's not doing very much good, either. I believe that people here have used varying dosages--your vet certainly prescribed more than what's here on GL--
https://www.guinealynx.info/motility.html#simethicone

I think she's louder because she doesn't like the way the vet grabs her tummy!

User avatar
rshevin

Post   » Thu Oct 12, 2006 11:37 am


somechick,
I'm glad PC is pooping. That's definately a good sign. Before Piggy totally stopped pooping, he had oddly shappen, soft poos that seem to be similar to how you describe PC's.

There was one incidence about a year ago where he started getting funny poos and I aggressively treated with simethicone, 0.2mL 3xday and he returned to normal without becomming blocked. Depending on the concentration your vet gave you, it may or may not be more than is recommended on GL. I gave slightly more than recommended because I noticed 0.1mL wasn't really working. (What, you don't commit all pig medicines, contrations, dosses to memory? Teasing of course. I can't remember that stuff either.)

I do like to give Piggy the simethicone about 30 minutes before a GI stimulant (cisapride in my case). The idea is that something forcing GI movement with gas could be painful. I have NO evidence, scientific or anacdotal, that this is a good idea. It's something I made up but "it seemed like a good idea at the time."

I also agree she doesn't have full bloat. I had a very, very ill rescue pig develop bloat post-tooth trim and it was terrible. I think it's one of those awful things that's so bad you know it immediately when you see it. If you aren't positive, it isn't and that is a good thing.

There's some indication that PLAIN kaopectate can help with soft stools as well (https://www.guinealynx.info/motility.html#kaopectate) but I don't know about your situation. I'd be wary of giving too many meds. Hopefully the reglan will get things moving through correctly.

Try to encourage lots of movement and exercise as well.

User avatar
luvmypigs2

Post   » Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:21 pm


I've used Reglan alone for what your describing and has worked everytime I've used it.

When Tess had a full body xray and it showed that she had a lot of gas, the vet prescribed Cisapride, which she believes is the drug of choice. The problem with Cisapride is that it has to be sent out to a compounding pharmacist which can take a day or two to receive.

User avatar
rshevin

Post   » Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:49 pm


Cisapride also may (or may not) be somewhat difficult to obtain since it has been withdrawn from the human drug market except in cases of "documented need." Whatever that means. My vet seens a LOT of exotics of all different species so they keep it on hand. I suppose I'm lucky. I have no idea what flavor they compound it with, but that pig sucks that stuff down like candy at Christmas. I can hardly get the syringe back!

User avatar
somechick

Post   » Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:21 pm


Ok. I also called the vet and he said it's definitely not "bloat" as I'm reading it here. He actually thinks her case is quite mild. She's definitely gassy, but he isn't concerned that she's not going to make it or anything. He also said he doesn't think an x-ray is needed becase, like you said lisam, she is pooping so were not dealing with something major.

I'm sure shes louder because the vet is making a balloon out of her sides. Poor thing.

I'll check the concentrate of the Simeth. when I get home. The reason I've only been doing it 2x/day is because I thought his recommendation was high. But maybe PC is REALLY gassy. I'll also try the gas-med then reglan and see if that makes any moves.

And I hope I never HAVE to commit dosing to memory! After this past month I'm done! :)

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:32 pm


Read over the dietary advice on the diarrhea page. Some things will promote gas. You want to avoid them.

www.guinealynx.info/diarrhea.html

klynne

Post   » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:37 pm


Mum said:

"Klynne, I can appreciate your dismay to find that the cure was causing the problem with your pig, but I think it's risky to throw simethicone out of the medicine cabinet."

I posted, above, and prior to, Mum's post:

"Somechick, I would not discontinue Simethicone as directed by a vet; I'd just try to find an alternative brand."

User avatar
Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:43 pm


Klynne, sorry, my post wasn't disagreeing with you - rather, I was discussing the issue (as you know I sometimes like to do)!

User avatar
somechick

Post   » Thu Oct 12, 2006 6:27 pm


Yes, I'm keeping an eye on the Simethicone anyway just to see if it's relieving any of the gas. I don't want to make the issue worse.

I don't see dietary advice on the diarrhea page. I mean, I see it says not to feed milk and yogurt, but that I'm not doing.

User avatar
Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Thu Oct 12, 2006 6:34 pm


No veggies until the problem has cleared up.

User avatar
rshevin

Post   » Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:10 pm


There are some veggies that can cause gas so after her poops are back to normal, still don't give things in the cabbage family like kale, broccali, brussle sprouts, cabbage (duh). Generally the same things that cause gas in humans.

Post Reply