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*****Castration After Care (Eating)*****

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LennyPig

LennyPig

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My new boar has been home from the vets since 5pm (castration) and has not stirred from his bed. The vets did say that he had taken a while to come round from the sedative.

He has not moved at all (apart from the odd very small fidget) and has not eaten.

I do not have Critical Care in the house and want to know what peoples advice is for getting food and fluids into him?

Do I need to be worried yet or should I leave him a little longer?

I can syringe water into him if people think he needs it now but what can I do for food? As I say, I don't have Critical Care... and their normal dried food is Wagg (Guinea Pig Crunch) not pellets so I can't soak this to a paste.

Advice?
 
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when baxter was neutered he didn't feel like doing much for a while
i could see it was painful for him to move around much, poor boy, so he was given fluffy towels to sleep on and kept in a small cage, so he didn't have to walk far to his food bowl.
i'd leave him for a little while to recover, even when my pigs go to the vets for a checkup they often don't feel like coming out of their bedroom much when they get home- he's going to be in pain, maybe still groggy from the anaesthetic, and maybe a bit shocked and confused.
give him some peace and quiet and make sure he's got somewhere to hide. leave him some nice snacks near where he's resting and keep checking up on him. he should recover fine on his own but constantly trying to force him to eat might make things worse; he's obviously not up to it just yet. if you're still worried ring the vet but give him a few hours first until you're sure he's not just worn out and needing some rest.
 
in theory he should have come round from the anastetic as most vets do their ops in the morning, do you know what time he has his op?

yes he is probably in a little bit of pain but if he isnt round and moving by the morning I would be concerned.
 
thanks Gracie.

poor little fella he is. he doesn't like hiding undercover at all, always sits outside of igloos! so his is layed in a cuddle cup at the moment with a little blankie over him to keep him warm.

i shall move a few tempting bits of lettuce/cabbage/carrot etc etc nearer to him.
 
Kirstycc said:
in theory he should have come round from the anastetic as most vets do their ops in the morning, do you know what time he has his op?

yes he is probably in a little bit of pain but if he isnt round and moving by the morning I would be concerned.
Click to expand...

he had the op in the morning. the vet rang around 11am to let me know he'd had the surgery so it will have been any time between 8.30 when I dropped him off and 11am when she rang.

they did ask me to pick him up at 3.30pm but then rang at around 3 to let me know that he was still pretty groggy. he's spent all afternoon having cuddles by the receptionists and they did mention that they had syringe fed him although not sure what time that was.

thanks
 
I'd be alittle concerned as that is a heck of a long time to come fully out of the anathestic. even when I had my boar done, Pluto and saw his op, even after he stopped breating for too long he came round and was up and about at his food dish waiting to be fed within 3 hours. If hes still not himself by the morning I'd take him back, wundering if they maybe used a little to much anastecic-ahh cant spell tonight sorry!
 
I also would be concerned he may have been a long time without fluids so I would at least try and drip some water around his mouth (moving him might be painful) but as the vets syringe fed him I would say it would be wise to syringe feed some fluids you could get some of the biscuits out of the wagg guinea pig crunch boil a kettle and let them soak until totally cool and attack them with a fork until they go in a syringe and maybe see if he will take some if he perks up a bit later.

It does sound a very long time for him to come round, most of ours go in at 9 and are operated on by 11-12 then home at one and all are running around eating drinking and pooping merrily.

I would phone your vet if you have any concerns.
 
I would be concerned at that length of time. With the best gp anaesthetic agent, Isoflurane, and a pain killer before surgery, Rimadyl, recovery time is very short, usually within 30 minutes.
I would now be concerned about the risk of post-operatve shock.
You must get fluid into him, water is better than nothing but rehydration fluid, Dioralyte, is to be preferred.
 
just to update ... I syringed him some water and he happily took quite a bit (3 X 1ml syringe fulls) at around 8.15pm and then a bit more later on. He was resonding to this.

I have been giving him a long cuddle as he is such a people piggy and he happily nuzzeled into me for about half an hour. I then put him back in his cage and he has wandered round abit, eaten some carrot leaves, lettuce, celery, carrot and hay (a small bit of each) as well as a little dried food. He was wandering for around 15 minutes or so and then went and laid back down.

I spoke to the vets at around 9pm and they suggested to keep and eye on him and keep him warm. They said that he was taking longer than ideal to get back to normal but that they thought he'd be ok.

I'll keep you updated.
 
Oh nooooooo sorry to hear :(
You've done well, even perhaps get up a couple of times and offer more water and tit bits for him :)

It is most confusing as to why he'd take so long to come out of his anaes :{ let's just hope that now he's had a little bit to eat and some lovely cuddles x) from you he'll feel like himself again in the morning xxxxxxxxxx
 
Poor chap, is there any news on him this morning? A few pigs are more sensitive to anesthetic than others, but I would query the surgical medications they did use and what routine they followed. As AP said, Isoflurane (or Servoflurane) and a dose of Rimadyl is really all that is needed for guinea pig surgery. Some vets will give an injection of diuretic if the breathing becomes noisy during the operation, but even then, recovery is pretty quick.
 
I was up until 3am with him this morning then up again a few more times just to check on him. I have stayed off work today to be with him.

I took him to the vets this morning just for a check up and they are pleased with his progress all things considered.

This morning, I've been pushing some Supreme Science Recovery into him (same a Critical Care) as he is still not eating properly. He is more or less fully alert now, enjoying a cuddle on my lap. x) I am just trying to get food down him so he is on this, eating it happily which is good, he'll eat hay too. I am also getting some Avipro Plus down him too because his poops are VERY sloppy (sorry, too much info!).

I was a bit concerned that he hadn't pooped and he appeared to have poop stuck so I'm a little worried about impaction although its never been an issue for him before that I'm aware of. He's certainly been pooping fine up to now.. I have helped him, easing it out and there was ALOT there. Don't want to mess too much obviously as he's sensitive already but he is alot perkier now so I think it must have been causing issues for him.

Thanks for the concern guys.

I thought that maybe I could take the oportunity to use this extra day off to do some stff round the house but this little fella has taken all my attention.

EDIT: - Just a thought, can I disolve the Science Recovery and Avipro Plus together? I can't see why not but just checking.
 
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