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Foods for weight gain?

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Hello! I'm new to this forum, but I just have a few questions.
I've had my guinea pig, Pinto, for about four years now. About two years after I first adopted him form a rescue shelter, he developed a very large tumor on his right shoulder, which was soon removed. Pinto seemed to recover very well and not have any problems at first. About a year since the initial surgery, they tumor on his right shoulder came back, but this time, it grew much larger and deeper. Pinto was then diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (I can‘t remember exactly what it was), and the vet said surgery this time would be too risky and would most likely paralyze his right side, since the tumor was wrapped around a bundle of nerves. He assured me that Pinto wasn’t in any pain at this point, but told me he probably only had about five or so months to live. My vet also prescribed a daily dosage of Prednisolone to slow the growth of the tumor. Since he has been on this medicine, he has had significant weight loss. I can feel his spine and pelvis bone and when I hold him! Currently, I am feeding him and my other pig, Austin, a bowl of sliced red bell peppers and cucumber every night, as well a vitamin C tablets, unlimited hay, and Oxbow pellets. I was wondering what other foods I could give Pinto to help him gain weight? Any other care suggestions would be welcomed too!
 
I'm sorry to hear about Pinto. :( You could ask your vet for some critical care. It's powdered food that you mix with water and then syringe feed to your piggies. When I was feeding one of my girls with this I mixed in some baby food (ones that were made with just fruit and veg) with the critical care paste and it really helped her weight. I've heard oats are also good for gaining weight but my girl wasnt interested in them.
Good luck getting him to put on some weight, hopefully some more experienced people will be along to give you some more advice.

You could buy critical care here if you struggle getting some from your vets. [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oxbow-Critical-Care-Herbivores-Pack/dp/B001KUTR9O/ref=pd_sim_petsupplies_2"]Oxbow Critical Care for Herbivores (Pack Size: 141g): Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home[/ame]
 
Hi. Oxbow Critical Care for Herbivores is brilliant. It comes in a powder type food and mix it with water. Critical Care has all the nutrients that a piggy needs so is a really good thing to keep in stock as a "just in case" I syringe this to my piggies when they are poorly and their weight is down. You will find it online. I buy the 454g bag. If you cant get hold of this for a couple of days you could soak some Burgess Pellets in some warm water and mash it down and syringe it into your piggy.

I would suggest that you use 1ml syringes (you can get these on line - I use terumo ones - without the needles) and cut the ends off to make it easy for your piggy to feed. I have also got some of my syringes from pharmacies - you might have to pay a little more for them than buying in bulk, but it might see you through until you get some delivered.

You need to be getting 120 mls of Critical Care into your piggy a day. I tend to do 25mls a time when I am doing it. One of my piggies was very poorly recently and I was doing this for about a week. It might be worth weighing your piggy daily to make sure that the weight is going on.

Hope that it all goes ok for you. Debbie from Excellent Adventure is brilliant at syringe feeding and is a real expert so it might be worth looking her up on this forum.

Hope this information helps you. Good luck - will be keeping my fingers crossed for you. Syringe feeding is hard work but is so worth it.

xx
 
I'm sorry to hear of your piggie and that you are in this postition. I'm afraid with the cancer weightloss is enivitable and will be a very hard battle to fight. I agree with others that have metioned critical care. I would also try oats and barley rings too which may help.

x.
 
Thanks so much for your help! I offered Pinto oats, and he didn't seem interested in them at first, so I mixed it with vegetable baby food, and he likes them! I'll feed him this until my order of Critical Care comes in. Thanks again for the support and advise!
 
Hi and welcome to you and little Pinto to the forum :)
oh i'm really sorry to hear about Pinto's health :...
My girls love their oats, you can also slightly moisten them too.
Try blitzing up some veggie that he likes and make this like a slushy mix and syringe this too, you can add fruit to this to make it easier to blitz.
Off his veggies cut up into strips or even grated, he might find that different and interest him.
Whee wish you and little Pinto all the very best, if you get time it would be lovely to see a pigture of him...whee have a stories/photo section for these x)

Glynis, Velvet and Onyx x
 
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