Handfeeding For Extended Amounts Of Time

[Pigsarefriends]

Hi everyone well let me first start this by telling you my piggy is 3 years old. He wasn't eating properly and i seen the signs of a wet chin, i took him to vets because i know the signs of dental problems. The vet has since done x 2 surgery on his back teeth. Nothing happened, my piggy still cant eat and the vet cant see why.

After the second surgery my vet said he give my piggy the best chance, i was given antibiotics and he was given an injection and we were sent home to wait, the same thing happened and my piggy still could not eat.

My vet basically told me that was it and sent me home and told me to think of the animal and to put him to sleep. I know in my heart the vet is missing something, because my piggy acts happy within himself and i can see him excited about food but he does mouth movements like he is chewing on glass and he just cant even get the food in his mouth or chew anything.

He gives up and runs away because he knows he cant eat it. I decided i was going to handfeed my piggy and see if anything improves on its own, it has now been around 3 months of me purely handfeeding. My piggy used to be at least 1500grams, i am now struggling to keep his weight on. I seem to hang around 600g then i get him to 750g, the most i have got him to was 860gs

He is starving but he isn't suffering, he screams at the top of his lungs for food when he is hungry, he acts excited and makes happy noises, he still does popcorns after i feed him and he runs away satisfied. He has a brother guinea pig who is like his rock, in the cage together he is always pressed into him like a cojoined twin. Its almost like hes vicariously eating through his big brother eating.

The critical care is costing me a fortune and i have come to the point where i can't keep it up. I feed him as much as i can to keep up his strength, it takes me hours and hours every day. I have lost count how much critical care i am using, at first i was buying the small bags but then i had to buy the larger ones because he still could not eat. At a guess i would say the large one is lasting me 7 days? In Australia i am getting charged $77 for this food. I cant afford to go on much longer but i am disgusted within myself because i can see my piggy still has life in him.

I keep praying for a miracle to happen for me, for him to be able to eat. To make it worse, because he cant eat on his own at all his front teeth are growing fast and they slanted to the side.. i had to pay $80 to get them trimmed. The other surgerys were $400 each x 2 and the food i have lost count of the amount of money i have spent, i have also had several other vet trips and all the pain killers and antibiotics which were through the roof on prices. I also had to buy 100 pack of 1ml syringes and 10ml syringes which all adds up.

It is frustrating me because i see this critical care for sale on amazon for $20 but they wont ship to me in Australia. I guess I'm just looking for peoples opinions and signs of hope. It is hard for me to handfeed every day, 1 feeding session can take me 1.5hours and i am doing this 3 times a day or more. If i were to do it 6 times a day i wouldnt be able to even put him down for the day because it takes so long. I get anywhere from 40-90cc into him at a time. 1cc at a time. I feed him until he turns around and then i know he is done. It all started with me only being able to get him to eat 10cc and i have built on that pushing him to eat 1 more mouthful each time.

I tried to get him to eat another brand of critical care made in Australia, because it is so cheap i found that i could of purchase 10 kilos of it for $100 + postage, but he wont eat it for long, when i relied upon it he just stopped eating. Going from eating 7x 10cc syringes to not even wanting to eat, so i had to get the critical care again asap and he returned to eating. He likes the aniseed one.

Has anyone ever handfed or heard of someone handfeeding for this long? I can't handle the thought of putting him to sleep when i know i could give him more life. It is absolutely heartbreaking because he is so close to his brother. All this handfeeding has made me love him even more, he has the cutest personality!

Thank you in advance for anyone who reads all this, the reason i am posting here is because i know anyone i ask in real life will just think i am a fool, they don't value guinea pigs lives and think because they cost $5 to buy that they aren't worth effort and money to keep alive, even my vet told me i have done way more than anyone else would of

I am sick thinking of how all this is going to end

 

[sport_billy]

I am really sorry you are going through this. It does sound like there are dental issues at play here. We have a few Australian members on the forum, as I can see from your IP you are OZ based it seems. I am hoping they can recommend a cavy savy vet who knows dental issues. Whereabouts are you located?
@Kylie80 @Glynis
I am also tagging in our dental expert on the forum @furryfriends (TEAS) Dental problems are heartbreaking and it is awful to see piggies struggle to eat.
Sending lots of love

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

I really hope you can find a vet who is experienced with dental issues. Dental issues don't have to be a death sentence but without proper treatment, you can't continue, as the situation will just get worse.

For now feed little and often and hopefully this will buy you a bit of time while you find a vet who can help.

Don't worry about using Critical Care. Here at TEAS we mush up normal guinea pig nuggets and they are generally preferred over Critical Care. Just put some nuggets into a cup, add boiling water and mix with a fork. Allow to cool and then feed. Often the piggies prefer them warm, but just make sure they aren't too hot.

 

[Freela]

I'm sorry you are going through this... it sounds as though you are giving him the best possible chance to get through! For what it's worth, to save some money it's possible to not use critical care and simply to mush up normal guinea pig pellets with water to make a paste and then to syringe-feed that instead. Are there any other vets in your area? I know it can be very hard to find a vet who is knowledgeable about guinea pig dentistry in some locations (I know you said Australia, I'm in Canada and it's the same here! I did finally find a vet who did good work when I had a dental pig... I live in fear of when he retires because, although there are other pets at the practice who treat pigs, he is far and away the one with the most knowledge!)

 

[Glynis]

Hi I'm really to hear what you both are going through.
Can you let us know where in Australia you are located.
I'm from Victoria.
As Debbie from TEAS said mushed up pellets are great.
I have hand fed for very long periods with dental piggies do understand what you're going through.
Keep offering finely cut or grated veggies and grass and small pieces of hay to tempt him.

All the best xxxxxxxxx

 

[Pigsarefriends]

Thanks everyone for the replies, i tried to feed him the mashed pellets but he wont eat it. The critical care is the only thing he will eat. I prefer not to say my exact location in aus because i am paranoid maybe my vet reads this forum and he won't want to help me if he thinks i have been speaking bad of him. Where i am he is the only choice of vet i have. The other ones haven't got a clue about guinea pigs. I tried to buy critical care at the one closer to me and he didn't have a clue what it was. Over here guinea pigs are considered exotic pets and not many vets treat them, and if they do they don't usually have a person wanting to spend money to keep treating them, so they don't get used to all the problems.

My plan was to try and fatten my piggy up and get him looking respectable and beg my vet to try again. He has put him under 2 times. The first time he said it was one side of his mouth that looked overgrown, the second time he couldnt see what the problem was but he still filled a back tooth down. He was proud of himself and said he even looked in with a torch. I asked him about xrays and he said they dont do that with guinea pigs only rabbits.

What i have is all i have to work with. My vet always tells me that people drive from far away to see him because he is good with guinea pigs. I can't anger my vet because then i will have nothing. Its frustrating having no answer. I dont think his tiny body can handle to go under again only to have him find nothing. He's only 600g now.

I'm getting so upset because i cant get him to gain weight, its a battle to get him to maintain any weight. He wants to eat so bad! I see him trying to get banana in him but he cant, one day after i bathed him i went back later and his whole face and chest and legs were all pink, i freaked out and then realised he was covered in watermelon, he must of tried with all his might to get some in his mouth and he used every part of his body to do it

I don't understand what it could be! He acts like its his teeth bothering him, it has to be his teeth but the vet cant see it

I was going to buy a buccal pad separator myself to look in with a torch until i read a horror story about a lady doing that and getting it stuck in her piggys mouth and then it also pierced his jaw! She had to rush him to the vets and have it cut out

I would love to hear from anyone who has done handfeeding for a long time, how long did you do it? Did your piggy gain weight? How many times a day did you feed and how much

One thing i dont want to do is see my piggys life end at the vets, he hates going to the vets now. If he has to pass it should be in his bedroom with his brother, warm and safe. I believe that small animals like this would die easy if they didn't have the will to live. It wouldnt take much for him to refuse all food and give up his will to live, but he hasn't.. he is the one chasing me for food, he SQUEALS like a siren and when I'm putting him in my lap hes jumping up like a dog and trying to eat my fingers as i load the syringe. A piggy with such a good nature and strong will to live deserves every day i can give him, its hard to explain this to the vet I'm sure he just thinks I'm an insane guinea pig lady