[Gpdd] HEALTH: gas buildup

Cazza177 cazza177 at ntlworld.com
Wed Feb 3 20:55:51 EST 2010


Hi Cindy
I am sorry to hear Tumbleweed has gassy problems. This is trickey as it 
sounds as though you are already doing the right things to help. I don't 
know if you have baby gripe water in the US, but that is useful and should 
help break up the gas so Tumbleweed can eliminate it. 1ml twice a day.

The things Sandy said are all great ideas.

You are already doing the massage and that's a good helper. I wonder if you 
might want to consider getting a urine sample from Tumbleweed for anaylsis, 
espeically as you say he seems to be making sounds when going to the loo --  
I am guessing you mean when he urinates, If you mean when he poops, this 
could be discomfort from passing gas, although if you've cut back so much on 
certain foods, it is difficult to see it being that.

Despite the x-ray, I personally wonder about the posibility of a stone, but 
I of course did not see the x-ray.

Does Tumbleweed sound gurgly at all? As he is walking around, are you 
hearing any fluid-type sounds?

If you are not sure whether it is the pooing or weeing that causes 
Tumbleweed to makes these sounds (and I found this really hard to tell in my 
own gp whp had a similiar gas problem), a urine sample could perhaps reveal 
something, such as tell you that his kidneys and bladder are functinoning 
properly. 'Specific gravity' on a urine reading in gp's should be mid-scale 
and the pH balance should be 8 to 8.5. ALL other readings should be 
NEGATIVE. (Vedra gave me this information when I was trying to help someone 
else with their gp.)

You can obtain the urine by having your piggy on a clear flat surface that, 
once it has been urniated on, can be tilted to pour into a sample pot. 
Please be ultra-cautious if the vet obtains the urine, as I have heard two 
stories on the Digest of vets obtaining this where their methods have done 
harm to the piggies. Discuss with your vet that he knows what he is doing 
first BEFORE he takes any urine -- if he tells you his going to do it by 
squeezing Tumbleweed, DON'T let him!

I have a link here to what Peter Gurney says about gas: 
http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/bloat.htm

I hope Tumbleweed will be ok.

Kind regards

Carole 





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