Guinea Pig Won't Eat Pellets!

[carrotsalad]

My guinea pig, Cabbage (Male), will not eat pellets at all. He has recently been taken off of antibiotics after an infection on his jaw, and now he will literally eat anything but pellets. Hay, fruits, veggies, anything. Even the critical care he needs. He will not drink water either, and his poop is wet and mushy, not normal. We have consulted the vet on this, but they said just feed him less until he starts to eat, which is not working because he will starve himself! Please I need help!

 

[Wiebke]

My guinea pig, Cabbage (Male), will not eat pellets at all. He has recently been taken off of antibiotics after an infection on his jaw, and now he will literally eat anything but pellets. Hay, fruits, veggies, anything. Even the critical care he needs. He will not drink water either, and his poop is wet and mushy, not normal. We have consulted the vet on this, but they said just feed him less until he starts to eat, which is not working because he will starve himself! Please I need help!

Hi!

Please do not worry about the pellets; they should make only about 5% of the daily food intake at the most. Piggies can live perfectly well without them.

Please weigh your piggy daily; you cannot control the hay intake, which should make 80% or more of the daily food intake otherwise. Do not give fresh food if the poos are slushy, and please never overfeed fruit. The latter is a twice weekly treat if at all. Your piggy is obviously not drinking if it is eating proportionally too much fresh food as it is getting its fluid from there.
Put your piggy on hay while syringe feeding him as much as he needs to hold his weight. A course of fibreplex may help to rebalance the guts. Until then, add plenty of probiotics to his syringe feed. If you have a healthy companion, you can also try to syringe 'poo soup', water in which you have soaked some fresh poos from a healthy companion. Even if they are not the redigested poos, they still contain the gut bacteria to help restock the guts.

Don't re-introduce veg until the poos have been back to normal for 48 hours, and then go back slowly, adding one more veg per meal. Do not worry about vitamin C; your syringe feed formula, the probiotics and the fibreplex are all enriched with it. Hay also contains it.

Complete Syringe Feeding Guide (includes information on fibreplex, which is available online)
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diet


Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

 

[carrotsalad]

Hi!

Please do not worry about the pellets; they should make only about 5% of the daily food intake at the most. Piggies can live perfectly well without them.

Please weigh your piggy daily; you cannot control the hay intake, which should make 80% or more of the daily food intake otherwise. Do not give fresh food if the poos are slushy, and please never overfeed fruit. The latter is a twice weekly treat if at all. Your piggy is obviously not drinking if it is eating proportionally too much fresh food as it is getting its fluid from there.
Put your piggy on hay while syringe feeding him as much as he needs to hold his weight. A course of fibreplex may help to rebalance the guts. Until then, add plenty of probiotics to his syringe feed. If you have a healthy companion, you can also try to syringe 'poo soup', water in which you have soaked some fresh poos from a healthy companion. Even if they are not the redigested poos, they still contain the gut bacteria to help restock the guts.

Don't re-introduce veg until the poos have been back to normal for 48 hours, and then go back slowly, adding one more veg per meal. Do not worry about vitamin C; your syringe feed formula, the probiotics and the fibreplex are all enriched with it. Hay also contains it.

Complete Syringe Feeding Guide (includes information on fibreplex, which is available online)
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diet


Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Hi! Okay, so I don't really feed him fruit anyways, but I can't say the same for my fiancee because he feeds him A TON of just whatever is in the fridge. I've told him to stop though so he has, but did eating that isn the past effect how Cabbage behaves now? Also if we don't feed he his favourite veggies he screams and screams which is a problem because I have to work from hone and it gets really loud.... any suggestions? Thanks so much!

 

[Tiamolly123]

He's spoilt. He will have to have what you give him
Please don't feed fruit more than Twice a week or he will develop cheilitis,which are very painful mouth sores, it takes ages to clear up. Tell your OH if he keeps over feeding your guinea pig it will get fat, & you don't want your pig to have a heart attack.

 

[carrotsalad]

He's spoilt. He will have to have what you give him
Please don't feed fruit more than Twice a week or he will develop cheilitis,which are very painful mouth sores, it takes ages to clear up. Tell your OH if he keeps over feeding your guinea pig it will get fat, & you don't want your pig to have a heart attack.

Ok, I told my OH and he's stopped, but is there ANY way to stop his screaming or to make him eat more of his dry food? Much appreciated! Also, his poops aren't wet anymore, but still clumpy and unnatural. I'm really worried because I don't know if he's getting better or not...

 

[Tiamolly123]

i wouldn't worry about dry food the amount of people that like me are trying to get there piggies off of it. Offer. 40g a dry dry pelletts a day & see if he was

Hay is the most important food. In the wild they only have poor quality hay. When you say screaming do you mean loud wheeking. The fresh water you give should be filtered. With no additives
Regarding his poops I can only think that one of hes veggies is upsetting him or your giving him to much. It takes a while to regulate them

.

 

[carrotsalad]

i wouldn't worry about dry food the amount of people that like me are trying to get there piggies off of it. Offer. 40g a dry dry pelletts a day & see if he was

Hay is the most important food. In the wild they only have poor quality hay. When you say screaming do you mean loud wheeking. The fresh water you give should be filtered. With no additives
Regarding his poops I can only think that one of hes veggies is upsetting him or your giving him to much. It takes a while to regulate them

.

Okay thanks for the advice. Should I give him less vegs or none at all?

 

[Wiebke]

Okay thanks for the advice. Should I give him less vegs or none at all?

I would see whether things calm down with none at all and then introducing them slowly.

Guinea pigs are attention seekers. You have to sit out the screaming for a few days, as hard as it is. Once your boy realises that he's not getting anywhere, he'll stop and he'll eat what he gets (or go hungry). The more hay, the better. If he is an adult, 10-20g max on pellets a day.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diet

Use some piggy whisepering tricks to tell him in piggy language that you still love him, but that you are the top pig, so what you says goes. That should cut down on the screaming.
Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering And Cuddling Tips

 

[carrotsalad]

I would see whether things calm down with none at all and then introducing them slowly.

Guinea pigs are attention seekers. You have to sit out the screaming for a few days, as hard as it is. Once your boy realises that he's not getting anywhere, he'll stop and he'll eat what he gets (or go hungry). The more hay, the better. If he is an adult, 10-20g max on pellets a day.
Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diet

Use some piggy whisepering tricks to tell him in piggy language that you still love him, but that you are the top pig, so what you says goes. That should cut down on the screaming.
Understanding Prey Animal Instincts, Guinea Pig Whispering And Cuddling Tips

Thanks! The article was very helpful. This is the first time that this had happened to me so I do apologize of I sound rather stupid!

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks! The article was very helpful. This is the first time that this had happened to me so I do apologize of I sound rather stupid!

Guinea pig keeping is a life long learning curve for us all; there is always new stuff to learn. How you do think we have found out? Usually be making all the mistakes ourselves and working out a solution the hard way!

We are here for all the 'stupid' questions; we keep our forum a friendly place by intent, so you have somewhere you can ask exactly all those questions that we all have without feeling embarrassed.

 

[carrotsalad]

My guinea pig had a breakthrough this morning and started eating his hay, pellets and drinking water again! His poops are starting to go back to normal as well!