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Any advice for syringe feeding?

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Lucinda

Lucinda

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It may seem like a strange question as I have had pigs for many years and done my fair share of syringe feeding, but I have never felt I am any good at it.

At the moment I am trying to syringe Nigel. He is being very difficult. I have tried giving metatone before food to no avail. When I offer the syringe he shoves it away; if I shove it in, he lets all the liquid dribble out the side of his mouth. I don't feel I am getting any in.

I wrap him in a towel, and either hold him or put him on the table. I use a 1ml syringe with the end cut off.

Can anyone suggest anything I could do to ensure food goes in? Thanks.
 
When I hand feed I give pigs 1/2 of a 1ml syringe during each "force" of food then wait for a few seconds (or until chewing has stopped) before giving the next.

I don't burrito my pigs, but I do tend to sit cross legged on the couch with them between my legs and I come in from an upward angle, inserting the syringe behind the incisors and then pushing it back until I can feel it touch the molars (or around that area) so it's quite far back into the mouth so he can't spit it out as easily.

I then inject a small amount into the mouth and withdraw the syringe.

You could be giving him too much, force feeding DOES take ages and it takes an insane amount of time to get 20mls into a pig (when I was feeding Patches it took me about an hour to get 15mls into him).

I have to give two pigs medicine each day, if you want I can record myself giving them their meds tomorrow so you can see roughly how far back I push the syringe?


Oh, forgot to mention: I DO get some spit back despite my "fail proof amazing method" of shoving stuff down their throats. I do despair when they do it - but, you know, you *are* forcing an animal who doesn't want to eat to eat so I guess it's something which is gonna happen. Just keep going - you WILL be getting some into him, especially if he's still pooping.
 
You're right: it does take ages. It's been a while since I last did it (Rocky who died in July) and I have probably forgotten what hard work it is. I think I must have got some into Nigel. Rocky lived for about a month on only syringe food before starting to eat properly again, so I must have been doing all right then. I think I get stresesd when feeding before work, for example, knowing I have little time to get food in.

Thanks.
 
I understand, it is stressful: it takes ages, you feel like you're getting nothing in - they hate it, you'd rather not have to do it but you know you need to and you're not always 100% sure that the outcome will have a rainbow and gold in it.

I want to tell you that you could try getting up hours before work so you have time to dedicate to feeding him, but I know that feeding on top of working is absolutely exhausting so I don't blame if you can't. It's like trying to meet a deadline: you have to get xml of food into your pig, because if you don't get xml into your pig then he'll go t-time before you can next feed him. There is a huge pressure to do this and your pig isn't going to make it easy on you.

I remember one night I fed Patches then went to work. My shift was only 10 - 2 so I was already stretching the time you're "supposed" to have between feeds especially when he wasn't eating at all. The guy who does payroll made a huge mistake... he told me to work on until 5am and when I said no he began to try and force me. I went absolutely ballistic: i was tired, I was stressed, the feeding before work had gone badly and I was keen to dedicate more time to getting more food into him.

It's not one of my proudest moments - but I understand.
*hugs* If you need to talk, or someone to vent to about the stupidity of pigs who won't eat, I'm here :)

The only solution to the force feeding problem is to get a force-feeding buddy. Susie_q and I have a mutual agreement that if one is feeding a sickly pig and breaking then the other will be happy to come over and help. It may not be something you can do, though.
 
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