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What Causes A Bloated Stomach?

WendyK

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One of my guys had a noticably bloated stomach today when I took him out for lap time(his tummy felt like a balloon) - I checked him about an hour and a half later and he seemed much better - what could be the cause of this? Usual veggies are romaine, green pepper and carrot and sometimes tomatoe - the past 2 days they just got green pepper and carrot and some orange wedges. They always have cavy cusine and timothy hay available. Thanks in advance for your input.
 

Ly&Pigs

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From guinealynx.info- https://guinealynx.info/emergency.html#bloat
BLOAT
If your guinea pig appears swollen and the stomach appears distended (a light tap on the side sounds hollow), see a vet immediately. Your guinea pig may have an intestinal blockage (torsion). This condition can be fatal if left untreated.

Also gas can cause bloat and feeding many cruciferous veggies like cabbage, broccoli, etc.
 

WendyK

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No - there is no hollow sound and I just checked again - his stomach is no longer distended.
 

xguineapigrulez

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Maybe you should still see a vet just as a checkup. (?)
 

nonamian_girl

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Maybe he/she just ate a lot?
 

xguineapigrulez

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He should still see the vet. It says on the BLOAT description that it can be fatal if left untreated.
 

twinkies

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Ii have read that they should not have the seeds from the tomatoes. It can cause blockage in their intestines.
 

xguineapigrulez

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In fact, it would be better if they had no seeds from any fruit or vegetables at all. (Unless the seed is on the healthy foods list which I kind of doubt it would be)
 

Ly&Pigs

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Tomato seeds, cucumber seeds and any other very soft seeds in veggies/fruits are not harmful to guinea pigs.
 

xguineapigrulez

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Oh ok, sorry if I provided the wrong information!
 

wheeziemmabigal

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I am in the middle of treating Wheezie for bloat. When she slowed down eating, I did a bad thing by increasing her red pepper thinking she needed the extra vitamin C that red pepper has. Red pepper is one of the leading casues of Bloat, thus making me feel guilty as heck. She is being hand fed 50CCs of Oxbow critical care, 4th day of this today, and she is slowly coming back to normal with her regular eating Hopefully the Xray comes back better this afternoon and shows a belly full of food, and not gas. $500.00 in vet bills later, all because of me being dumb and overfeeding her peppers!!!
 

aqh88

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I've never heard of peppers causing bloat. Where did you hear it's the leading cause? Usually cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli cause bloat. Red pepper is never mentioned as a cause. Bell pepper is also still suggested in several guinealynx threads on bloat. Many people feed a whole pepper to just 2 pigs and have never had problems. Too much fruit and vegetables can help contribute so it's best to feed less of those and more hay while treating bloat but usually they aren't the only cause unless you decided to feed a big pile of something like broccoli or change their diet suddenly.
 

WEAVER

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Because Oreo was not eatting any pellets I increased his amount of peppers, especially red. Now he is getting about 1/4 of the pepper per day split between morning and evening veggies. Is this ok???
 

wheeziemmabigal

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My vet as well as the vet that did Wheezie's spaying said larger doeses of peppers will cause gas. No more than 1/8 of a small pepper should be given at one time. Contact a vet immediately if a guinea pig is not eating and more importantly is bloated. Bloat is deadly and needs to be diganozed properly with a vet. Not eating may have nothing to do with Bloat, and may be a sign of a totally different disease or problem. Wheezie's x-ray showed a belly completely full of gas with almost no food in it, but did not show any blockage. Hand feeding, and still providing her regular pellets, hay and veggies at all times is working. She has started to be again, put on weight (which she had lost) and her belly is not nearlly as bloated as it was.
 

aqh88

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What proof does the vet have? Sorry but I've learned not to trust any 1 vet or vet practice. They make mistakes quite often and there is no other proof saying peppers are bad. Any vegetable given suddenly in too large of amounts when the guinea pig is not used to it can cause digestive upset and bloat but peppers have never been proven to be connected to bloat like some other vegetables.

Under current information and going by guinealynx 1/4th pepper per day is just fine. The only thing with peppers is that they are higher in phosphorous than calcium. Too little calcium can cause weak bones and too much phoshporous can cause phosphorous crystals much like too much calcium causes calcium stones. It depends on the rest of the diet as to whether he's getting the right amount of calcium or phosphorous. If you keep the Ca:p ratio balanced well pepper can be fed in fairly large amounts.
 

wheeziemmabigal

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As I said, I got this info from 2 vets that are not in the same practice...nor do they even reside in the same state. When Wheezie stopped eating, the only thing that had changed in her diet was the peppers. All her blood tests, urine tests, fecal tests, Xrays (other than the bloated belly) came back normal. The only outstanding problem she had prior to this was pea eye which she's had for years, so that can be ruled out too. As I said earlier, I have spent over $500.00 on her in tests and treatments, I have 2 vets that both said to take her off of the peppers, and she is improving since I have done so. You can take all the readings and research and do what you want with it, but I know I will never give any of my girls a lot of pepper again. They will still get some as it does have a huge amount of Vit C. Could it be just her that is sensitive to peppers....sure, but those of us who read this forum needs to know that each pig is different from one another and illnesses are not always black and white.....That's why I still say, if he/she is showing signs of something wrong, take them to a vet immediately.
 

aqh88

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I have no doubt that there is at least 1 pig out there sensitive to peppers. Considering how sensitive the gp digestive tract can be for every vegetable we feed there is probably at least 1 guinea pig that has a problem with it. To say it's a leading cause though sounds very false. Bell peppers have been fed to 100s if not 1000s of pigs with no sign of bloat. If it was so common we'd be seeing it everywhere because I would guess a good portion of the people that post on this forum and guinealynx feed bell peppers either more frequently or in larger amounts than you stated. Now if you showed me 5 or 6 cases where the pig was eating peppers and had either recurring or persistent bloat that didn't respond to treatment until the pig stopped eating peppers I would probably start considering it and mentioning a caution against peppers as well as more restricted amounts. Doing so after only 1 case though seems a bit excessive. I'm allergic to peppers and can't even eat a bell pepper but that doesn't mean all humans should eat less peppers.

If you've had more than 1 guinea pig for more than 1 day you should know they are all different and if you've ever taken animals to a vet you know they all respond to different treatments and the same illnesses can have various causes. Bloat in guinea pigs is much like the colic I've dealt with in horses. You never know what result or cause you'll find when you start examining them. Noone here has said not to take a bloated pig to the vet and most have said to take the pig even after it looks completely recovered. One of the reason it is so suggested to take a bloated pig to the vet is because there are various causes that can't be diagnosed online and it can be fatal if the cause is not found and treated.
 

Ly&Pigs

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I have never heard that bell peppers in large amounts will cause bloat or gas either.

I also have to say that I am completely in agreement with everything that Aqh88 has said.
 
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