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Advice needed about piggie care after surgery!

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Cherriesxo

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I'm a new poster here so I dunno if I've posted this correctly, hopefully I have.
I noticed a lump on my guinea pig Cookie on Monday, it was on the right side of her face and it was quite large. Took her to the vets on Wednesday who arranged surgery on the Friday. Cookie had surgery and stayed overnight at the vet's, we picked her up yesterday morning (saturday). The lump was an abscess and was removed successfully. She has stitches now.
We were given antibiotics, painkillers and Critical Care to feed her. So since yesterday I've been mixing up this critical care with water and feeding her, but truth is I'm not sure how much to give her. I've been using 1 tablespoon critical care with 2 tablespoon water, but it's very watery and lasts for ages. I'd be there for an hour feeding her it all! I'm not sure what the dose is, so can somebody advise me?
Also, she hasn't been eating/drinking on her own. There's hay in the cage which she won't eat, and she can't reach the water bottle (even when I give it to her, she doesn't attempt to drink it) so we've been advised to syringe feed her. Again the amount wasn't mentioned, so I was wondering if anyone could tell me how much water I should feed her? Since feeding her again with cc about an hour ago she was pooping really regularly and eating them, but when I put her back in her cage she isn't eating them anymore. They're black and quite soft, some look deformed.
Thank you for any help
 
Hello and welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear your little girl isnt well.

You need to ideally feed your pig every 4 hours or so at the very least. If you are home a lot, every couple of hours may be better. She will need about 120mls in a 24hour period to keep her going. This should keep her adequatly hydrated also but you cant give her too much water so you can always syringe down a few syringes worth of water with each feed. Make sure that you weigh her every day to ensure that she is not losing any weight and if need be feed her a bit more. Make sure that she always has access to hay. Offer her pellets/mix (whichever you feed), offer lots of fresh foods (cut up small), critical care in a bowl if she wishes to have a munch on it. You could also trying giving her a bowl of water if she doesnt want to use the bottle. It may be easier for her to lap it up rather than put her mouth around the bottle.

Did your piggie have any dental work done at all? Having an abscess on ther side of her face is very likely to be caused by dental problems. (although sometimes bite wounds can cause them too). If your vet did not check her teeth she needs to have them looked at as this could also be a reason why she is not so willing to eat. Out of interest what pain relief is she on and how much? Piggies in pain will not eat well. As for the poos. This may well be because she is not eating enough.

If you need anymore advice please feel free to ask, there are a lot of experienced people on her and many of us are willing to help you out with these kinds of things.

x
 
In terms of how watery to make the critical care, the thicker the better. I aim for toothpaste consistency (as much thicker and I struggle to get it in the syringe), but if she is willing to eat it direct from a spoon or bowl then a little bit thicker.

If one of my guinea pigs is not eating on their own at all, I try to syringe between 15 and 20 mls of toothpaste consistency critical care every 2 to 3 hours. If they are eating some hay etc, then I will maybe only do about 10 mls every 2 to 3 hours as a top up, but really does depend on how much they are eating unaided.

If she will take some veg, then wash it first and give it to her wet. This, combined with the water content of the critical care mix should help keep her water intake up, but I also tend to syringe feed a few mls of water after each critical care feed too.
 
Abi_nurse said:
Hello and welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear your little girl isnt well.

You need to ideally feed your pig every 4 hours or so at the very least. If you are home a lot, every couple of hours may be better. She will need about 120mls in a 24hour period to keep her going. This should keep her adequatly hydrated also but you cant give her too much water so you can always syringe down a few syringes worth of water with each feed. Make sure that you weigh her every day to ensure that she is not losing any weight and if need be feed her a bit more. Make sure that she always has access to hay. Offer her pellets/mix (whichever you feed), offer lots of fresh foods (cut up small), critical care in a bowl if she wishes to have a munch on it. You could also trying giving her a bowl of water if she doesnt want to use the bottle. It may be easier for her to lap it up rather than put her mouth around the bottle.

Did your piggie have any dental work done at all? Having an abscess on ther side of her face is very likely to be caused by dental problems. (although sometimes bite wounds can cause them too). If your vet did not check her teeth she needs to have them looked at as this could also be a reason why she is not so willing to eat. Out of interest what pain relief is she on and how much? Piggies in pain will not eat well. As for the poos. This may well be because she is not eating enough.

If you need anymore advice please feel free to ask, there are a lot of experienced people on her and many of us are willing to help you out with these kinds of things.

x
Click to expand...

Hi, thank you for the responses! Just confirming, is 120mls the amount of water she should have a day, or the critical care feed? At the moment she isn't eating or drinking very much at all on her own, feeding her last night was a struggle (she kept turning her head away/turning round) and she looks like she's in pain all the time. :... She's on 0.5ml antibiotic a day and 0.2ml (twice) painkiller. She hasn't had any dental work done, and it's a bit odd how she got an abscess because she lives alone, the vet suggested that she had perhaps cut herself on some food so she got the abscess that way. Last night I ruffled the packaging of the parsley and she went crazy over it, squeaking like there's no tomorrow - so that's the only food she is enthusiastic about eating! But I'm worried about giving her diarrhea - how much veg should I give her? Thank you so much for responding :)
 
Little Pig said:
In terms of how watery to make the critical care, the thicker the better. I aim for toothpaste consistency (as much thicker and I struggle to get it in the syringe), but if she is willing to eat it direct from a spoon or bowl then a little bit thicker.

If one of my guinea pigs is not eating on their own at all, I try to syringe between 15 and 20 mls of toothpaste consistency critical care every 2 to 3 hours. If they are eating some hay etc, then I will maybe only do about 10 mls every 2 to 3 hours as a top up, but really does depend on how much they are eating unaided.

If she will take some veg, then wash it first and give it to her wet. This, combined with the water content of the critical care mix should help keep her water intake up, but I also tend to syringe feed a few mls of water after each critical care feed too.
Click to expand...
Hi thanks for your response. I gave her 14ml of the critical care this morning and it was such a struggle feeding her, she didn't want it at all. I also syringe fed her 14ml water, which she happily took. There's always hay with her, but she'd eat maybe one strand and then stop. There's nuggets on the cage floor too but she won't eat them. The only thing she eats on her own atm is tiny strands of hay and some parsley if I give her some (concerned about diarrhea) and she spends most of her time in the corner of the cage sitting still with her eyes half closed. I hate seeing her like this :... She was absolutely fine before the surgery (she had no symptoms with the abscess) so I keep thinking she must recover from it.
 
Cherriesxo said:
Hi, thank you for the responses! Just confirming, is 120mls the amount of water she should have a day, or the critical care feed? At the moment she isn't eating or drinking very much at all on her own, feeding her last night was a struggle (she kept turning her head away/turning round) and she looks like she's in pain all the time. :... She's on 0.5ml antibiotic a day and 0.2ml (twice) painkiller. She hasn't had any dental work done, and it's a bit odd how she got an abscess because she lives alone, the vet suggested that she had perhaps cut herself on some food so she got the abscess that way. Last night I ruffled the packaging of the parsley and she went crazy over it, squeaking like there's no tomorrow - so that's the only food she is enthusiastic about eating! But I'm worried about giving her diarrhea - how much veg should I give her? Thank you so much for responding :)
Click to expand...

It's 120ml of critical care a day. The amount of water they need is 100ml per kg in weight in a day. But remember the critical care food is full of water too. Try wrapping her in a towel to syringe feed her. I know it seems very mean to keep forcing it into her but without eating your piggie will go downhill very quickly. Maybe you should consider taking her back to the vets for a check and/or seeing a different vet for a second opinion about teeth etc. I wouldnt worry too much about giving her diarrhoea, i doubt you will, and its more important that you get her eating again. Try picking some fresh grass for her? Try also mashing down some pellets she may like to have a munch on.

So sorry she isnt picking up. Get well soon piggie. :(

x.
 
This is an excellent guide on syringe feeding:

http://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html

You need 1 ml syringes, the ones for food you need to cut the nozzle off the end & file the edges smooth before using, the ones for water just leave intact. Always syringe slowly, point the syringe inside towards the cheek, not directly to the back of the throat & let the piggy swallow between each mouthful. It is a slow process but you must be careful to do it slowly in case it causes aspiration of the fluids (they can go down into the lungs if you aren't careful) Hope that helps. :)
 
Abi_nurse said:
It's 120ml of critical care a day. The amount of water they need is 100ml per kg in weight in a day. But remember the critical care food is full of water too. Try wrapping her in a towel to syringe feed her. I know it seems very mean to keep forcing it into her but without eating your piggie will go downhill very quickly. Maybe you should consider taking her back to the vets for a check and/or seeing a different vet for a second opinion about teeth etc. I wouldnt worry too much about giving her diarrhoea, i doubt you will, and its more important that you get her eating again. Try picking some fresh grass for her? Try also mashing down some pellets she may like to have a munch on.

So sorry she isnt picking up. Get well soon piggie. :(

x.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'll definitely ring the vets if she isn't improving on Wednesday, because days after that I won't have much time to feed her throughout the day, so I'll have to feed her double in the morning and then in the afternoon to make sure she doesn't get hungry. One question I have - we were running out of critical care so my dad went to a vet hospital who gave him some more for a small price, in a small jar someone labelled 'critical care' however it's white and powdery! Do I still mix this in the same way? I'm confused, since the other cc was green! ?/

Poppy'sMum said:
This is an excellent guide on syringe feeding:

http://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html

You need 1 ml syringes, the ones for food you need to cut the nozzle off the end & file the edges smooth before using, the ones for water just leave intact. Always syringe slowly, point the syringe inside towards the cheek, not directly to the back of the throat & let the piggy swallow between each mouthful. It is a slow process but you must be careful to do it slowly in case it causes aspiration of the fluids (they can go down into the lungs if you aren't careful) Hope that helps. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks! the link was really helpful . I've got 2 1ml syringes. I've been feeding her food through it with the nozzle still intact! Ooops..:{
 
The white powder wont be the herbivore critical care. It is probably this stuff...http://www.vetark.co.uk/pages/Critical-Care-Formula-CCF_1.aspx
Go back and ask for oxbow or science selective critical care for a guinea pig, not this stuff. Ive only ever used it on replites and birds. Ask for a refund of the powder. For now, if you dont have much left then soak some pellets and mash them up into a paste like the critical care.

x.
 
Abi_nurse said:
The white powder wont be the herbivore critical care. It is probably this stuff...http://www.vetark.co.uk/pages/Critical-Care-Formula-CCF_1.aspx
Go back and ask for oxbow or science selective critical care for a guinea pig, not this stuff. Ive only ever used it on replites and birds. Ask for a refund of the powder. For now, if you dont have much left then soak some pellets and mash them up into a paste like the critical care.

x.
Click to expand...

Ohh, I'm really glad I asked on here now! We're getting some more critical care today. She seems to be eating better today, when I got her out to feed her some water, I put some hay near her on the towel, and she ate a few strands so I stopped and waited for her to finish. She isn't eating quite enough as she should though, but it's definitely an improvement. She still isn't drinking by herself even though I put a bowl of water in the cage, which is a bit worrying, but she's taking it fine by syringe. Thanks for your help :)
 
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