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Assistance with hand feeding

Kelly Peterson

New Born Pup
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I took my pig Pickles to the Vet a week ago. She stayed the weekend and received regular every 4 hour critical care feedings for cecum impaction. She was sent home and now my husband and I are having trouble getting her to eat the critical care. We are giving her gas drops per the vet's recommendation to help with the air in her stomach, but even when shes not a balloon we still cannot get her to eat the critical care and also are having trouble getting her to take her antibiotics. We have tried swaddling her but she just wriggles around till she can hide her face and we have tried letting her sit/lay in our laps. Any other suggestions? We just cannot seem to get this pig to eat from our hands, but she didnt mind the vet.
 
Yes, we have read it. Nothing is seeming to work other than backing her into a corner on our kitchen counter. She is so stubborn.
 
Unfortunately with some piggies, you have to be cruel to be kind. I remember when my Shelly needed syringe feeding after a bad reaction to some antibiotics and it was an absolute nightmare, she's the worst piggy ive ever had to syringe feed, but she wouldn't be here now if I hadnt. Basically I wrapped her firmly in a towel, held her against my body with my elbow (imagine a very angry set of bagpipes and you wouldn't be too far off!) then I had both hands free, that left me able to restrain her head briefly which allowed me to get the syringe in and squeeze a little bit of the food into the opposite cheek. To restrain them, you place your palm over the top of their head and pull back the top lips with your thumb and first finger, this /should/ (they dont all read the rule books!) immobilise them for a couple of seconds, long enough to quickly get the syringe behind the incisors, once you've put a little bit of food in, release their head so they can chew and swallow freely and then once they've swallowed, repeat. Offering them some water after every few mls of food will help it go down easier too. It can take more than an hour to get an adequate amount of feed into them, the key is patience, persistence and taking breaks when you need to...it is extremely frustrating, and if you get irritated or worked up about it, they'll pick up on that and it will be even harder so if you need to pop them down for a couple of minutes to collect yourself, do so. Been there SO many times! You can also mix a little bit of vegetable baby food or orange juice into the syringe feed to make it taste nicer, some stop fighting quite so much when it's got something nice mixed in.

This is the kind of hold I mean, although I was trying to get a picture of Brambles teeth so the lips are pulled back further than necessary for syringe feeding but it's the same basic hold and will give you an idea what you're aiming for. This can also be used to get her medication into her mouth if she's reluctant to let you do that, too.

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Oh I also have this video if it helps of giving Leonard a medication that he hates. He's generally a very good boy and doesn't put up too much of a fuss so I didnt need to wrap him up, but once you've burrito'd them and they can't reverse, it makes it much easier. Just remember to be confident, gentle but firm.
 
On a slightly lighter note, the piggy I'm syringe feeding at the moment has worked out I don't try to put the syringe in when he's chewing. He stops chewing so I bring the syringe forward, he sees it and starts chewing again! They are such knowing little devils.
 
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