• PLEASE NOTE - the TEAS facebook page has been hacked, take extreme care when visiting the page, for further information visit here
  • Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Has anyone got experience of feeding Emeraid?

valsie

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Sep 7, 2012
Messages
120
Reaction score
77
Points
270
Location
Chafford Hundred Grays Essex
So I decided to order a packet of Emeraid Intensive Care to supplement Treacle as he is very underweight and seemed to be getting fed up with Critical Care.
I just wondered if anyone has used Emeraid and advise me what consistency it should be when made up. I made it up using the directions on the packet which states one part powder to one part warm water. This made a liquid which I drew up in a syringe to feed him. I just wanted to check that it should be a liquid feed rather than a “gloopy” consistency like CC.
 
So I decided to order a packet of Emeraid Intensive Care to supplement Treacle as he is very underweight and seemed to be getting fed up with Critical Care.
I just wondered if anyone has used Emeraid and advise me what consistency it should be when made up. I made it up using the directions on the packet which states one part powder to one part warm water. This made a liquid which I drew up in a syringe to feed him. I just wanted to check that it should be a liquid feed rather than a “gloopy” consistency like CC.

Hi!

Please follow the advice on the packet. You can also feed a mix of emeraid and Critical Care if that is going down. Critical Care has more fibre but Emeraid tastes better and accepted more easily.
You need to feed 40-60 ml over the course of 24 hours to any guinea pig completely off their food and not happy to eat anything; that is ideally every 5-10 ml (or as much as you can) every two hours during the day and once or twice during the night, depending on how critical your piggy is in order to keep the gut going.
Any piggy that is willing to take on syringe feed or is still nibbling/partially eating on their own you feed 60-90 ml in 24 hours, ca. 10-20 ml per session. Every 3 hours and once in the night at the lower end you get in per session, 3 times a day with no need to get up at night when your piggy is happy to take it and you get 90 ml or more.
You also monitor the weight by weighing first thing in the morning (lowest weight) and try to adjust your feeding regime accordingly. Unlike poos which usually lag a day or even two behind, the scales will give you the status and can also tell you whether and how much your piggy is eating for themselves.
Your main aim at this stage is to stabilise the weight in the first place and then gradually up it as any medical treatment kicks in. How successful you are, depends on the nature of the health problem and its treatment and to a degree also on the age; so without knowing what your boy is being treated for, I cannot comment. Without treating the underlying problem directly, you are generally rather looking at slowing down the weight loss caused by its progression rather than getting your piggy back up to the previous healthy weight.

PS: I have merged your separate threads on the same issue. Please be aware that this forum doesn't run like social media where you start a new conversation all the time. In order to help us to you help, we are asking all members to please keep any ongoing case with the necessary background information to a single support thread so we can tailor any advice to your specific situation for as long as needed and avoid confusion with two threads running in parallel; but in order to do this, we need to be able to refer back and keep it all in one place. otherwise you will end up just with getting our general basic advice.
Please accept that we are doing this for free in our free time, which can be rather variable. When we online, we are jumping between lots of threads in a day and will not necessarily have the time to read everything, not to mention remember what has been said some time ago.
 
Thank you very much Wiekbe, I really appreciate you taking the time to read and reply. I understand that everyone who takes the time to reply is doing so in their “free” time and I do appreciate this.
Treacle is under the vet but we’ve yet to get to the underlying problem of why he’s lost so much weight. He’s 5yrs old and last week his weight was low but stable at 725g but this morning he was down to 690g which is why I’m so keen to start him on the Emeraid. I think I will try and combine it with the CC as well.
 
Thank you very much Wiekbe, I really appreciate you taking the time to read and reply. I understand that everyone who takes the time to reply is doing so in their “free” time and I do appreciate this.
Treacle is under the vet but we’ve yet to get to the underlying problem of why he’s lost so much weight. He’s 5yrs old and last week his weight was low but stable at 725g but this morning he was down to 690g which is why I’m so keen to start him on the Emeraid. I think I will try and combine it with the CC as well.

Mushed up pellets can also work although you need to cut off the syringe tip just before the syringe widens in order to allow the rougher fibre through but keep the plunger in; whatever he prefers!

All the best with working out the problem. 'Mystery weight loss' is my least favourite symptom because it is such a wide field. :(
 
My Ted much preferred Emeraid Sustain (blue packet) than Oxbow when he was being syringe fed
 
Sadly poor little Treacle is still very unwell so I’ve made the decision to make the long journey up to Northampton to see Kim Maddock on Saturday. It’s about a 2 hour drive each way but I think this is his best (and perhaps last) chance of getting the correct treatment for whatever is wrong with him. I feel I owe him this one last chance as he’s been such a little fighter.
Until Saturday I will continue with the Critical Care and Emeraid feeds to keep his strength up. Yesterday I had to give him a little bath as he was covered in diarrhea 😢. I love my little boy sooo much ❤️.
 
Sadly poor little Treacle is still very unwell so I’ve made the decision to make the long journey up to Northampton to see Kim Maddock on Saturday. It’s about a 2 hour drive each way but I think this is his best (and perhaps last) chance of getting the correct treatment for whatever is wrong with him. I feel I owe him this one last chance as he’s been such a little fighter.
Until Saturday I will continue with the Critical Care and Emeraid feeds to keep his strength up. Yesterday I had to give him a little bath as he was covered in diarrhea 😢. I love my little boy sooo much ❤.

I am very sorry that your problems are continuing.

All the best! It is still an hour or more for me each way to get there but I consider it worth it when my local vets struggle or with any operation/specialist knowledge that exceeds my local vets.

Unfortunately when it comes to digestive problems, the range of possible meds to give guinea pigs is very limited as they cannot have steroids. But I hope that Kim will have more ideas as to what could be the matter with your very poorly boy! If he still has bad diarrhea then he should be seen by a vet anyway.
 
So we made the road trip up to see Kim today. She said it’s definitely his teeth that’s causing all his problems. He’s got a hole at the top on the right hand side where a tooth has come out and is infected. His jaw is misaligned and his teeth needed filing down again (had them done by another vet about 3 weeks ago) which she did without anaesthetic. She said the diarrhoea is caused by him not eating enough hay (because his mouth is painful). So he’s got antibiotics and painkiller which I’m hoping will kick in soon and enable him to start eating more hay. She did say that his problems can’t be fixed but just managed by keeping his teeth filed every 3/4 weeks or so. We won’t be able to keep going all that distance to see Kim every 3/4 weeks but thinking my own vet (who is very good but uses anaesthetic to do the teeth) will be able to do it. Not sure if Treacle is up to having repeated anaesthetic though tbh so we will have to make a decision what to do. Not something I want to think about atm.
Anyway, just wanted to update on Treacle’s visit to Kim at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic and confirm what so many other people have said about her (and Simon) ...they definitely know their stuff and I’m very glad I took him there.
 
So we made the road trip up to see Kim today. She said it’s definitely his teeth that’s causing all his problems. He’s got a hole at the top on the right hand side where a tooth has come out and is infected. His jaw is misaligned and his teeth needed filing down again (had them done by another vet about 3 weeks ago) which she did without anaesthetic. She said the diarrhoea is caused by him not eating enough hay (because his mouth is painful). So he’s got antibiotics and painkiller which I’m hoping will kick in soon and enable him to start eating more hay. She did say that his problems can’t be fixed but just managed by keeping his teeth filed every 3/4 weeks or so. We won’t be able to keep going all that distance to see Kim every 3/4 weeks but thinking my own vet (who is very good but uses anaesthetic to do the teeth) will be able to do it. Not sure if Treacle is up to having repeated anaesthetic though tbh so we will have to make a decision what to do. Not something I want to think about atm.
Anyway, just wanted to update on Treacle’s visit to Kim at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic and confirm what so many other people have said about her (and Simon) ...they definitely know their stuff and I’m very glad I took him there.

Thank you for the update. Simon and KIm are both great vets; a pity that there are not more of them because they are very busy due to the high demand...

We all wish there would be more vets considering doing conscious repeat/regular maintenance dentals because the Maddocks have clearly proven that they are key to correcting teeth that can be brought back to normal and as a support for guinea pigs with chronic dental problems that still have a good life expectancy with regular dental support.
Unfortunately conscious dentals have been brought very much into disrepute by Rodentologists, so there is this ideological barrier. The Maddocks are proper vets and are using veterinary skills to treat teeth, they just do it without sedation whenever possible.
 
Does anyone have experience with the painkiller Loxicom? Do you know if it makes piggy drowsy at all? Treacle is on 0.3 ml twice daily and after I’d given him his dose this morning just before breakfast he seemed to get very sleepy while I was feeding him his Critical Care.
 
Does anyone have experience with the painkiller Loxicom? Do you know if it makes piggy drowsy at all? Treacle is on 0.3 ml twice daily and after I’d given him his dose this morning just before breakfast he seemed to get very sleepy while I was feeding him his Critical Care.
I’ve never found it does. Is he eating for himself at all? x
 
I’m so upset tonight, I think Treacle is getting ready to go to Rainbow Bridge 😭. Today he hasn’t eaten anything by himself, not even fresh grass which he loves. I’ve managed to get some Critical Care into him by syringe, this is the first day he hasn’t eaten it from a spoon. His poos are really tiny, as if his body shutting down. I think he’s just given up now, he is so frail and only weighed 640g this morning. He’s been such a little fighter in the last few weeks but I think he has no fight left in him now. I’m in bits as I’ve tried so hard to keep him going but it’s just his time now I think. He’s 5.5 yrs old and I know he’s had the best life I could give him but it’s still so hard knowing I’m going to lose him. I’m not expecting him to survive the night 😭.
 
I was going to sit and cuddle him all night but I’ve decided to leave him under his igloo snuggled with his companion, they are really closely bonded and Ziggy has been lying next to him nearly all day. They live in the spare room where they have the run of the whole room and have lovely soft fleece to sleep on so I know he will be warm and comfortable when he passes ❤️
 
Does anyone have experience with the painkiller Loxicom? Do you know if it makes piggy drowsy at all? Treacle is on 0.3 ml twice daily and after I’d given him his dose this morning just before breakfast he seemed to get very sleepy while I was feeding him his Critical Care.

Loxicom is another brand name for metacam (active ingredient meloxicam). I assume that you have been given dog strength as cat strength is three times weaker and the dosage would be very low in that case.

Adverse reactions to metacam/loxicom in guinea pigs are very rare but drowsiness can be a side effect. I have never had this in a piggy of mine, and I have now had over 70 piggies in my life. Many of them have needed metacam sooner or later; some of them even longer term.
 
Back
Top