Gassy Senior Pig

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User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:15 pm


I could use an opinion or two. We adopted a senior male (at least 4 years old, possibly older) last month who had been a 'classroom pig' his entire life. The teacher was no longer able to care for him over the summer, and surrendered him to our area rescue. Rescue described him as active, friendly and "eats anything and everything...green leaf, cucumber, green pepper, you name it." We got him on a Friday afternoon (he is an absolute love-bug), and he seemed perfectly fine. I fed him about a half cup of green leaf lettuce along with a little shoe-string carrot, green pepper and cilantro that night, which he enthusiastically ate, along with a small amount of Oxbow pellets and unlimited hay.

Next morning, Saturday, same thing: fed him a mix of green leaf, small amount of carrot, green pepper, and I think a small bit of zucchini or cucumber plus pellets. Ate it; no problem. In retrospect, I should have been a little more careful with a new pig's diet, but the rescue (which had only had him a couple of days) had said that he could eat practically anything.

Saturday evening, however, same general foods but he wouldn't touch them at all and looked uncomfortable. Upon picking him up, I realized that his belly was distended and there were no fresh poops. I didn't have Reglan on hand at the time, but gave him a warming pad, fed Critical Care, pushed fluids and gave stomach massage. A couple of hours later he started producing poops again and got his appetite back.

After that episode, I asked our vet for Reglan. A few days later there was a repeat of the gas/distended stomach, but a dose of Reglan and a few minutes of stomach massage did the trick.

Since then, I have had him on a lower, daily maintenance dose of Reglan. We upgraded his cage and started giving him floor time every night, which seemed to help. He is doing better, but if I inadvertently skip a dose of Reglan, feed one too many veggies, or fail to give him floor time, he develops a sizeable gas bubble again and stops eating.

I'm a little at a loss as to what could be causing this. I'm currently trying an 'elimination' diet, just feeding him green leaf for a day or two and then gradually adding the other veggies back in to see if there's a clear trigger food, but this just seems odd to me. Does anyone have any other suggestions? He eats a ton of hay and stays well-hydrated, and his poops are large and healthy-looking.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:21 pm


I was going to suggest the elimination method - glad you are trying that. Any way to get in contact with the original owner and find out what the diet was? The rescue may have been giving less vegetables and a different selection than you have and jumped to the conclusion that he would eat anything.

Have you tried simethicone for the gas?

I am very glad you are so observant. I hope you can find a diet that works well for him.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:29 pm


Thanks. I did ask the rescue if they knew what the original owner fed him, but they have a weird thing about contacting former owners. Not sure why. I'd be very interested to know what he ate. My vet had an interesting theory that maybe, as a classroom pet, he was fed a lot of treats and crap over the years by the kids and has developed a sensitive stomach.

I'm not too sure about simethicone in this case. I've had some bad experiences with it in the past and would hate to make things worse. I know it works by reducing surface tension but also by combining multiple gas bubbles into one large one, and I sometimes wonder if this would actually be more uncomfortable when a guinea pig already has a large bubble to begin with. I'm open to others' thoughts on this, though.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Aug 09, 2019 9:33 pm


Good point with the simethcone. I had hoped it would help him pass gas more easily.

Lisa12

Post   » Sun Aug 11, 2019 10:26 am


I can tell as you know we had a lot of issues with this kind of stuff. Irie cant even handle pepper,salad,fresh grass together. He gets pepper in the morning than grass at like 11 if you know what i mean..and salad in the afternoon when he goes for running on the floor so he can poop easily.
In the meantime he is eating hay. And a bit of pellets in the morning and evening

I dont know about yours, but maybe is something smiliar. What helps is ias crazy as it sounds i dry vegetables there aint no drop of water with hair drier, sometimes when he has soft poops. Hope it helps:)

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sun Aug 11, 2019 12:37 pm


Actually, when his poop is soft, you'd do better to cut out the vegetables than to dry them with a hair dryer. The extra water isn't what's causing the soft poop.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sun Aug 11, 2019 12:45 pm


Lisa12, I appreciate the suggestion. He is being given a very small salad in the morning (for now, only consisting of green leaf and a bit of carrot; I'm trying to rule out any trigger foods) and a small quantity of Oxbow pellets; unlimited hay. Even so, he's developing gas. I don't know what to make of it.

No soft poops, fortunately. They are large, moist, healthy-looking poops for the most part.

It's just very puzzling. I emailed my buddy at the rescue again, asking if she'd be willing to ask the former owner about his previous diet. She relented and tried to call the lady, but got a message saying it is a non-working number. Rescue does remember that he came to them with a bag of Kaytee pellet with all of the seeds and colored bits in it. Could a life-long crappy diet account for his sensitive stomach now?

I also contacted Sherwood Animal Health the other day with a question about their pellets. They claim that, because their pellets do not continue molasses, grains, etc., they are easily digestible and therefore ideal for gas/bloat-prone guinea pigs. The downside is that this is an alfalfa-based pellet. That's all he needs at this stage of his life -- bladder stones. I'm really reluctant to try the sample they sent me.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sun Aug 11, 2019 8:16 pm


I had a thought today. Harold likes chewing on paper. Although I haven't actually seen him eating his paper bedding, could it in theory cause this kind of gastric upset if he's chewing on it and ingesting too much of it? I don't recall seeing any cases of it here, but maybe others will recall.

I'm tempted to switch him to fleece for a few days to see if that makes any difference.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sun Aug 11, 2019 8:27 pm


I would.

Mine ate paper regularly, but without any gastric problems.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sun Aug 11, 2019 8:50 pm


Are you giving lots of probiotics? I wonder if he has some sort of bacterial imbalance with too much gas producing bacteria.

User avatar
Sef
I dissent.

Post   » Sun Aug 11, 2019 9:20 pm


No, I honestly hadn't thought about probiotics. I guess I assumed that if he had a flora imbalance, I'd tend to see small, or odd-shaped poops whereas his poops are all very large and healthy-looking. There are just a lot fewer of them when he gets gassy and distended. It might be worth a try, though. Can't hurt; might help! I just ordered a bottle of Garden Acidophilus the other day, so I think I'll mix it with his food in the morning.

Remind me...was Cisapride taken off the market in the US?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sun Aug 11, 2019 10:58 pm


I do think we can't get cisapride here.

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