Can I give my guinea pig juiced veggies?

[Kenziee]

This morning my guinea pig stopped eating for the most part. He seemed to be eating okay yesterday but now he turns his nose up to everything. He only ate a tiny piece of lettuce and two small treats and now he refuses everything. I know he’s sick but I can’t make a vet appointment until tomorrow since they’re now closed. Can I juice some veggies and add some hay to syringe feed him? I can tell it’s more than likely upper respiratory related so I gave him some baytril to help a bit.
His name is Hugo, short haired piggie and he’s about 4.

 

[Black piggies]

I'm not sure but do you give him nuggets / pellets? I give them soaked in warm water to form a mush, as a syringe feed, as my pigs don't seem to like the critical care recovery food. Nuggets are mostly made of hay, which is what you want to get into a piggy who's not eating. Some people add a little bit of pure fruit puree, such as apple. Giving a lot of juiced veg I think could lead to diahorrhea and dehydration. Hope things go well at the vet.

 

[RedLoredAmazon]

Hi! Welcome to the forum. I'm sorry that your Hugo is not feeling well. Most of our members here are based in the UK and so they have gone to bed for the night and they won't be on here for a few more hours.

I don't think you should juice veggies for your piggy. I know syringe feeding is what people do normally. I have attached the syringe feeding care guide and the not eating guide. Let us know how Hugo is and when he gets in to the vet.

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

 

[Piggies&buns]

Please dont give juiced veggies.
A piggy needs 80% of the diet to be fibre/hay so a piggy who isnt eating hay for themselves needs to be syringe fed a fibre rich recovery feed or mushed up pellets.
Veggies make up such a small proportion of the diet so filling him up on veg at this point when he isnt eating hay means he is missing a huge proportion of the fibre intake he needs to keep his gut functioning.
Switch from the routine weekly weight checks and instead weigh him daily (at the same time each day) so you can more closely monitor his syringe feed intake. In a piggy who isnt eating any hay at all, you will be needing to get in excess of 60ml (anything up to around 120ml) of fibre recovery feed or mushed pellets into him in a 24 hour period. This is where your daily weight checks are essential - if he loses weight then he needs to be fed more
Please also dont give medications until you have seen a vet

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Weight - Monitoring and Management

 

[Kenziee]

First off thank you for the advice and I won’t give him juiced veggies. I mashed up pellets and added some extra Timothy hay based treats but I wasn’t able to give him more than a drop or two. I’ll try to give him more and some water though. But he took a bite out of some lettuce and he ate a few pea flakes ! And luckily he seems to be a little more alert after he had the medicine which I won’t give anymore of until he sees a vet. Hopefully I can get an appointment today but thank you for the extra tips on how to help him and I’ll be sure to come back after the vet

Here’s how he’s looking as of last night and the second is how he was in the morning

 

[VickiA]

Please do have him seen by a vet as soon as you are able to do so. I agree with the above posts about weighing and syringe feeding. As a bridging measure until you can see the vet, using your pig's own pellets, mushed in warm water is definitely preferable to giving juiced veggies.

 

[Wiebke]

This morning my guinea pig stopped eating for the most part. He seemed to be eating okay yesterday but now he turns his nose up to everything. He only ate a tiny piece of lettuce and two small treats and now he refuses everything. I know he’s sick but I can’t make a vet appointment until tomorrow since they’re now closed. Can I juice some veggies and add some hay to syringe feed him? I can tell it’s more than likely upper respiratory related so I gave him some baytril to help a bit.
His name is Hugo, short haired piggie and he’s about 4.

Hi!

Please see a vet as soon as possible and switch from the normal life-long once weekly weigh-in to weighing daily at the same time; I prefer to weigh first thing in the morning when the weight is lowest to have a good comparison. Normal cheap kitchen scales are perfectly adequate for the job.
How To Pick Up And Weigh Your Guinea Pigs Safely

What your piggy needs is hay/grass fibre, which makes 80% of the daily food intake and for which the entire digestive process is laid out for. Veg and pellets together should make only about 20% and replace the role of supplementary wild forage. You cannot judge the crucial hay intake by eye. Your initial aim with support care is to slow down and ideally stabilise the weight loss. Be aware that your measures are only supportive and that any medical care will take time to kick in. Keep in mind that pellets and recovery formula are all enriched with vitamin C.

Please also take the time to read these practical and informative guide links here in addition to the ones in the first answer:
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre (one-stop emergency care tips and information guide)
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Instead of juicing veg (which can upset the digestive system if overfed), you'd better order recovery formula (like timothy based fine grind Critical Care) and feed mushed up pellets soaked in warm water in the meantime. With a piggy totally off their food, you need to aim to get the equivalent of 40-60 ml into them over the course of 24 hours; if you get only 5-10 ml into them in one sitting, you need to feed every 2 hours during the day and at least once during the night - little but often does it. Never squirt a full syringe into the mouth; it can go down the wrong way if it is more than a piggy can actually hold. Very ill or weak piggies can process only 0.1-0.3 ml at once and you need to be careful to wait until this has gone down. A healthy adult piggy can hold about 0.5 ml at once.
Also offer a little water every now and then, but only as much as piggy will take.

Please be aware that if your piggy is no longer able to swallow or fights the syringe well in excess of their weakness, then they are generally no longer able to process food and their body has started to close down. You can find more detailed practical information to help you work out whether your piggy has crossed the line and what you can do for them if they are dying before you can be seen by a vet in the last chapter of the emergency guide, which also contains lots of practical tips on how you can improvise in an emergency until better care stuff can arrive.

Fingers very firmly crossed!

 

[Kenziee]

Hi thank you for the advice again! In terms of critical care I have a quick question. Would the critical care I showed be a good one? I read through everything and it seems to be good. Until I get it I’ll be giving him mashed up pellets with water
Oxbow Animal Health Critical Care Premium Recovery Food [Anise Flavor]

https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Pre...are+oxbow&qid=1625656968&sprefix=criti&sr=8-8

 

[Wiebke]

Hi!

If you can find this pouch available (Oxbow Herbivore Critical Care fine grind), then experiences have shown that it is much better accepted than the aniseed flavoured one.

Here is a UK link, just to show you what product to look out for: Oxbow Critical Care Fine Grind 100g

 

[Kenziee]

Hi, Hugo did actually get a vet appointment today and he’s currently in there. They said they were gonna take a chest X-ray which makes me really nervous and I hope there’s nothing extremely wrong with him. Thank you again for all the help and advice

 

[Kenziee]

Hi again so Hugo is back and they said that he did have pneumonia but they gave us more of the baytril and some anti inflammatory stuff. They said it was good that I gave him some of the medicine already so I’m really glad about that. It should last about 2-4 weeks so I really hope that he’ll get better quickly

All of your advice has really helped me so far and it’ll help me again if this happens again in the future.

Here he is again after his appointment

 

[Wiebke]

Hi again so Hugo is back and they said that he did have pneumonia but they gave us more of the baytril and some anti inflammatory stuff. They said it was good that I gave him some of the medicine already so I’m really glad about that. It should last about 2-4 weeks so I really hope that he’ll get better quickly

All of your advice has really helped me so far and it’ll help me again if this happens again in the future.

Here he is again after his appointment

Hi!

Not great news but you now know where you stand and can take it from there. Pneumonia is survivable; your seeing a vet promptly and stepping in which support care straight away will give you an advantage.

Please keep up with syringe feeding support as needed, as the medication will take a while to kick in. Antibiotics build gradually up over several days until they reach optimal efficiency, so you need to cover that period.
The need to breathe comes before the need to drink and only thirdly the need to eat; this means that serious respiratory illness go hand in hand with loss of appetite and then thirst. The scales will tell you how much feeding support you have to provide. Your aim right now is to get enough food into him to keep him going; then to stabilise the weight and food intake. Try to encourage him to eat on his own with offering a little fresh herb like parsley or cilantro/coriander in between syringes with fibre; especially when he starts perking up again as the medication is kicking increasingly kicking in over the coming days.

Depending on the antibiotic and personal sensitivity, it can also impact on the digestive bacteria in gut microbiome and act as an extra appetite killer. If you can, please get hold of some bene bac to help support the gut. Your home support can in these cases make the difference between life and death. Your boy needs the vital fibre supply to keep the gut going and to give him the energy to fight the infection in his lungs. The US recommendation is to give probiotics 1 hour before the antibiotic and the UK recommendation is for 2 hours after. Either way works about the same. Alternatively, you can mix the probiotic into the syringe feed.
More information on gut support in this link here: Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

You can also see whether a bowl of steaming water next to his cage helps to ease the breathing and perk him up. Nebulising is not always helpful, so you should do a tester first before considering it and never conduct a full session just on spec, as it can make your piggy worse instead of better.

All the best!

 

[Kenziee]

Thank you I just got some Bene bac and the critical care recommended

 

[RedLoredAmazon]

Glad to hear that Hugo was able to see the vet today. I'm sorry to hear that he is sick, but at least you have a plan now and with the good advice given by the specialists above, hopefully Hugo will be feeling better soon.

 

[Merab]

Well done getting such a prompt vet appointment but sorry for the diagnosis.
Hope that with the meds and your care he pulls through quickly.

When I’ve had a sick piggy I use the Oxbow Critical Care Aniseed flavour. Mine all love it.
I usually mash a bit of banana in as well.
I offer a little dish of the mush, plus a dish with grated carrot or sweet potato and raw oats to help weight and encourage eating.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you I just got some Bene bac and the critical care recommended

If your piggy doesn't like the taste of bene bac, then please mix it with a little syringe feed; that usually does the trick!

All the best for getting your boy through the rough bit. We are here for any questions you have. Please continue to use this thread, so we have all relevant information together and can refresh our memories if necessary to give you exactly the level of support you need. Unlike social media, we do not run on the number of new threads or posts and can offer tailored support for our members over longer time spans - but having that access to what has happened before really helps us as we jump between lots of threads in a day.
You can pick up this thread at any time via the 'Find Thread/Your threads' button by the top bar or via the search function by the top bar.

 

[Kenziee]

If your piggy doesn't like the taste of bene bac, then please mix it with a little syringe feed; that usually does the trick!

All the best for getting your boy through the rough bit. We are here for any questions you have. Please continue to use this thread, so we have all relevant information together and can refresh our memories if necessary to give you exactly the level of support you need. Unlike social media, we do not run on the number of new threads or posts and can offer tailored support for our members over longer time spans - but having that access to what has happened before really helps us as we jump between lots of threads in a day.
You can pick up this thread at any time via the 'Find Thread/Your threads' button by the top bar or via the search function by the top bar.

Hi I had another question about that
Is the bene bac meant to be given at the same time as his medicine or after?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Hi I had another question about that
Is the bene bac meant to be given at the same time as his medicine or after?

Probiotics should be given 1-2 hours before or after antibiotics (the US and UK recommendations are slightly different but either one is fine), but not at the same time as antibiotics.

 

[Wiebke]

You can give them anytime but not at the same time as the antibiotics. The US recommendation is 1 hour before and the UK recommendation 2 hours after the antibiotic; there is nothing in it. You can also give it during your normal feeding sessions.

In my experience, it doesn't make any difference as long as you do not coincide with the antibiotic - because it will kill the stuff in the gut support, too so you have to give the antibiotic space too to do its work.

I hope that your boy is hanging in there and that you have been able to slow down or even stabilise the weight loss?

 

[Kenziee]

You can give them anytime but not at the same time as the antibiotics. The US recommendation is 1 hour before and the UK recommendation 2 hours after the antibiotic; there is nothing in it. You can also give it during your normal feeding sessions.

In my experience, it doesn't make any difference as long as you do not coincide with the antibiotic - because it will kill the stuff in the gut support, too so you have to give the antibiotic space too to do its work.

I hope that your boy is hanging in there and that you have been able to slow down or even stabilise the weight loss?

I’ve been able to slow down any weight loss with his critical care and he also started eating a little bit on his own He has also started drinking water on his own