Guinea pig bloat

Hi there. Came across your website today and thought I'd contribute this. Don't know if you're still up and running but thought it worth trying.

 

We've had 3 cases of bloat in guineas so far and have treated 2 successfully after losing the first pig due to our personal and our vets' ignorance. My first piece of advice is to always treat withboth antibiotics and a fungle treatment when confronted with bloat, as it is practically impossible to tell which kind of bacteria is causing it without some intrusivce and dangerous testing. We always use Ceptrin, and Nystatin together. Ceptrin twice a day at 0.6 ml per kilo of weight and Nystatin once a day at 1 ml per kilo of weight. The Nystatin apparently has no side effects as many other fungle infection treatments do so it is a good option. Ceptrin is also much better than Baytril for treating for bloat. I personally don't rate Baytril very highly at all for dealing with any piggy complaints.

 

I aggree that giving Infacol is a great idea, I personally would give 1 ml roughly 3 times a day, to ensure it does it's job well. Keeping them moving is good too. I've never heard of giving olive oil before but am intending to try it out in our latest case of bloat. Also, Buscopan is a good pain killer and helps immensely. The recommended dose I've found online is 1 tablet crushed in about 2 ml of water an syringed to piggy. I also give Metacam too, roughly 0.2 ml per kilo, but you don't want to overload an already struggling system with too much new medication.

 

Also, my main discovery has been the giving of Lactobacillus, one capsule opened up and put in to about 15 ml of water, and then about half of this or more if piggy will take it, given once a day helped immensely with our pigs. I get this from health shops, try to get the dairy free varietty. This bacteria is not usually present in the gut but seems immensely useful in times of crisis. It can be found in Avipro, the probiotic also, but never seems to help in the same way in that form, for some reason.

 

I also recommend not feeding green veggies or fruit when trying to get rid of bloat, it can't help. Just hay and critical care, and leaving some of their regular nuggits around should be enough. Orange seems palitable though and in it's case the vitamin C and natural sugar can give a much needed boost. Personally I wouldn't let my guineas graze on grass when they have bloat, but that's personal choice. I would always recommend a good grass hay like meadow hay, rather than something Alfalfa based or anything like Timathy hay because this may be a bit too rich in ill piggy's systems.

 

Hope this contribution will be of some use to you. Feel free to change lay out or whatever, I realise this is a bit slapdash. Also, piggy owners out there stick up to your vets! Present them with the success of others who have treated bloat and insist they use the correct drugs and the correct doses. I've been walked all over by vets in the past and lost so many dear pigs, but it won't happen again! Their the vet, but your the poor sole who has to sit and watch and feel useless if piggy gets worse and you don't know what to do. Never be left feeling that if only you'd stood up for your piggy they might have given this or that, and because they didn't you're now blaiming yourself! It's not worth the heartache for you or piggy! Be strong piggy owners everywhere! And vets, please get your acts together! We are only interested in our pets' health and well being, not in having a row and hurting feelings!

 

If possible, would you mind sending me a brief message to let me know whether or not this information has been of any use to you and your informative site?

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Kaycee.

Veggie of the Wheek: Chicory

Agent Carrot reporting.

 

As we have been talking about Chicory ( yum yum ) I thought that you might like to see what it looks like when it is growing so here is a picture of a plant in Slave's garden. This is how it looks before it is blanched to make the chicons that we know and love.

 

The leaves have to be cut off later in the year and the plant put somewhere dark and warm so that the chicons can grow.

Veggie of the Wheek: Chicory

Agent Badger reporting.

 

Slave took us outside today to mow the lawn and there was a photo opportunity as the sun was shining..

 

Here is a pigture of our friend Peony demonstrating the art of eating chicory. She is not an agent but Slave thought that this was a good pigture for me to submit. Usually the chicons are broken into pieces but today she used whole ones to bribe us to keep still for the photos. It worked.

 

Yum yum!

Agent Weigh-in

Hello, I finally managed to get my Aunty Loosy to buy some new scales and check it I was weighed. My weight is 2lb 6, 1/4oz (don't forget that 1/4 oz), I'm sad not to be able to join LAPS yet but have a strict eating regime planned over the winter. We also weighed my little sisters, Agent Beefy (2lb 4,1/8 oz) and Agent Marshmallow (2lb 3, 1/8 oz).

Veggie of the wheek: Chicory

Hi fellow veggie lovers,

This is Agent Not-so-lil'Woop. Our all time favorite veggie is chicory!

Here we will tell you more about this vegetable, because we understand many piggies outside the Netherlands have never had this! What a shame, we loooooooooove it.
Some slaves eat it, it's pretty bitter, but it's supposed to be nice with ham and cheese out of the oven.. Yeah right!

According to Guinealynx this is the nutritous value of Chicory per 100 grammes:
Guinea Lynx'
VEGETABLE CHART Endive, Belgian
100 gram portions (Witloof Chicory)
PercentWater 94.52
Energy(Kcal) 17
Protein(g) 0.9
Ascorbic Acid (C) 2.8
Calcium(mg) 19
Phosph.(mg) 26
Ca:P Ratio 0.7:1

How do we eat Chicory?
First all gather around the edge of the cage where the veggies are distributed.

Then after you get a piece there are several options:
You either just eat it in the corner where you got it, this is for confident piggies like me!

Or you hide in the house, and this is important(!), put your butt in the door opening so others cannot get in to take your chicory.

And be sure to stretch for those veggies, like Daisy is showing us here

Do feel free to play a little tug-of-war, and steal your cagemates piece!

And don't forget to have a sip of water after if thirsty, see Chico's demonstration.


And as an extra, for you confident piggies: Eat the chicory out of your slaves hand!
I am the only one who dares to do this at Guinygirlz Mansion.


Please let us know if you ever get Chicory and show us how you eat it!

Squeakers in the Garden

Well you have seen the Squeakers having floor time in the shed, now you can see them having floor time in their purpose built outdoor housing.

There are 2 pens one is 8 foot by 8 foot and the other is 8 foot by 10 foot, they are fox and rat proof, little mice can get in but I dont mind little mice they are kind of cute.

Now lets see the Squeakers in action............




Ghost

Agent Cannonball Weigh-in Report

This is Agent Cannonball and me has been trying very hard to pack on the ounces. Me finally achieved my goal of 3 lbs (1360 grams) and am now able to join LAPS! Here I am being weighed (me overheard that me barely fit on the scale, me is proud) and discussing secret piggy plans.