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Has Anyone Got Tips On Teaching A Guinea Pig To Eat Hay Again After An Illness?

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Stewybus

Stewybus

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As a lot of you will know, Minky has been ill for over 2 months with head tilt which got worse 2 weeks ago & she couldn't eat. We've got her back on the way to recovery & she is presently being fed Critical Care & as much veggies as we can get down her.

The trouble is, when you try to hand feed her hay she grabs it and can't or won't put it in her mouth to eat in the normal way. If anyone else has experienced this can you please let me know how I can teach her to eat hay again.
 
furryfriends Excellent Adventure Sanctuary said:
Starting to eat hay again can take a while. It's still very early days and I wouldn't worry very much if she is eating everything else ok. Is she still on Zithromax?
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Hi Debbie, Yes she's still on 1.0ml of Zithromax per day, she gets it in the evening. I'm feeding her Critical Care but she's strongly objecting to it & barely getting more than 1 mix made of 1 tablespoon of CC powder + water + I add 1/3 of a packet of Bio-Lapis to this. She has been eating a few veggies but nowhere near enough & she's not eating dried foods such as pellets , porridge oats or readi-grass. She's pooing And weeing a lot more now though the poos are still very small & her wee is a strong yellow. She's roughly getting 1 syringe of water to 2 syringes of CC. When I give her hay she grabs it as if she's going to eat but then it's on the floor. I've just put her in with her 2 companions for a while. I don't know whether to put her back with them full time but I'm hesitant to do that until I know she will eat her fair share otherwise if she's slow with it the other 2 might get it before she has a chance. I bought a bird feeder today & I've stuffed strips of carrot, cucumber, melon, pepper & celery. She had a little nibble out of the carrot. She's not losing weight so I suppose that's one good thing. Not having experience in this, I'm still learning a lot so any tips will be really appreciated.
 
Abi_nurse said:
Be patient, it may take a while. Try some super tasty hay (if you haven't already) like oxbow varieties.

x.
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She's had 21ml of Critical Care since 8.30 this morning. I've also given her some fresh green grass that she loves & she ate that for about 20 minutes but very slow with the intake. I suppose it's a case of getting her eating then progressing to hay. A bought her a bag of Oxbow hay, cost more than I spend on a large bail of what's she's used to but still she couldn't eat it even though she was interested. I'll see how she is by tomorrow & I'm seriously thinking of booking her an appointment with Simon at Northampton if she's no better tomorrow. It's a 2 1/2 hour journey but I want what's best for her.
 
Stewybus said:
She's had 21ml of Critical Care since 8.30 this morning. I've also given her some fresh green grass that she loves & she ate that for about 20 minutes but very slow with the intake. I suppose it's a case of getting her eating then progressing to hay. A bought her a bag of Oxbow hay, cost more than I spend on a large bail of what's she's used to but still she couldn't eat it even though she was interested. I'll see how she is by tomorrow & I'm seriously thinking of booking her an appointment with Simon at Northampton if she's no better tomorrow. It's a 2 1/2 hour journey but I want what's best for her.
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Keeping everything crossed for Minky x
 
I can't really help with the hay situation, but did the massage pad arrive?
 
Glad to hear Minky is getting better :) When Petal was poorly I would give her Timothy hay as usual, but I would pick out the softer bits & put them gently into the corner of her mouth so she could "Take up" the pieces gradually. I would do this in between the syringe feeds just to keep her interest in hay & it worked, eventually she picked up bits herself & started eating. I would put her in with her friends, she may be missing them & a little competition may actually encourage her eating, just carry on with syringe feeding as well though.
 
helen105281 said:
I can't really help with the hay situation, but did the massage pad arrive?
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Yes thanks, it arrived on Friday morning but Minky's bloat/wind/colic had gone by then. It will be a welcome addition to my piggie first aid kit!

Minky's has been eating fresh grass for the last hour, not much but steady munching. I wouldn't normally give my piggies grass at this time of the year but it's Minky's favourite food & it is quite mild round here at the moment. It's taken ages to sort the rubbish out from the good because I cut it after it was dark. There was also some baby dandelion leaves in it & she loved them too. Her weight for the last week has been either level or rising most days making a gain of about 100 grams since last Sunday. I'm going to try and book an appointment with Simon at Northampton & take her on the long trip on Wednesday if I can get an appointment.
 
Poppy'sMum said:
Glad to hear Minky is getting better :) When Petal was poorly I would give her Timothy hay as usual, but I would pick out the softer bits & put them gently into the corner of her mouth so she could "Take up" the pieces gradually. I would do this in between the syringe feeds just to keep her interest in hay & it worked, eventually she picked up bits herself & started eating. I would put her in with her friends, she may be missing them & a little competition may actually encourage her eating, just carry on with syringe feeding as well though.
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I'll try that tomorrow with some Oxbow hay I bought specially for her. As she's not really eating when she's in her cage I'll try her back with Minnie & Rex tomorrow morning. She did have them visit her while I cleaned their run out today. After I'd done theirs I put Mitch, Mother & Mousey with her while I cleaned their cage out so she's had plenty of visitors today. I managed to get a full tablespoon mix of Critical care down her between 8:30am & 10:30pm. Sue is going to start another batch off over night.
 
Wow that really is a long way for you but Simon is the very best regarding dental problems. It could be that she may have oral thrush or something or her teeth have overgrown, my vet checked Petal every visit to look at her teeth. Simon can do a check using bucal pad separators from what I gather, without sedation. Or it could be a dental problem linked to the head tilt, maybe an abscess within her jaw or an elongated tooth root. If you can do the long journey then it will be worth it. It might be an idea to let Debbie from Excellent Adventure Sanctuary know you are heading that way if you do get an appointment with Simon, as she will be able to advise you as to what to do next x
 
First and foremost...it sounds like she was an outdoor guinea but is now indoors. Also - she is coming out of the woods with her recent problems.

YAY = GOOD STUFF - WELL DONE


Given her illness it's good she is now inside..however do not try and attempt to move her back outdoors until summer next year......and you will need to do that gradually.

Full vibes ot you and Minky
xx
 
Poppy'sMum said:
Wow that really is a long way for you but Simon is the very best regarding dental problems. It could be that she may have oral thrush or something or her teeth have overgrown, my vet checked Petal every visit to look at her teeth. Simon can do a check using bucal pad separators from what I gather, without sedation. Or it could be a dental problem linked to the head tilt, maybe an abscess within her jaw or an elongated tooth root. If you can do the long journey then it will be worth it. It might be an idea to let Debbie from Excellent Adventure Sanctuary know you are heading that way if you do get an appointment with Simon, as she will be able to advise you as to what to do next x
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I got Minky an appointment with Simon on Wednesday morning at 11.20 which is an ideal time for me as I can get the other piggies fed & my post done before leaving here between 8 & 8:30. I'm contacting Debbie & will try to pop in and see her while I'm down there. She has been a great help when I've phoned her for advice. At present Minky is eating fresh grass between syringes of CC. It's about the only thing she is eating but her weight is steady which is a good thing.
 
Pebble said:
First and foremost...it sounds like she was an outdoor guinea but is now indoors. Also - she is coming out of the woods with her recent problems.

YAY = GOOD STUFF - WELL DONE


Given her illness it's good she is now inside..however do not try and attempt to move her back outdoors until summer next year......and you will need to do that gradually.

Full vibes ot you and Minky
xx
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Minky has been an indoor piggy since we got her & Mousey in September 2011. They were only about 3 months old & during the summer holidays they had been in a petting centre at Easingwold Maize Maze near York. They were kept in an outdoor run but inside a large marquee tent.
 
when ches was poorly and couldn't, and then didn't, want to eat, i offered him a plate of food after his medicine times. it had small bits of a variety of food, and also chopped up pieces of hay. the smaller pieces were more manageable and seemed less effort i suppose and it was something that really worked well for him. could be worth a try? we also found that putting some herbs in water tempted eating aswell. the stems were sticking out of the bowl and both ches, and my bunny matt, have loved this when nothing else seemed to be tempting them. x
 
Hope Simon can help you Stewybus, you have been struggling through for long enough now, I hope you get some answers.
Will look in again tomorrow to see what your update is after seeing Simon.
 
Good luck for tomorrow matey, let us know how it goes. Hoping for some good luck for your little girl.
 
Hope your little one's doing better, will be looking out to see how you get on tomorrow. Good Luck :)
 
Well the long journey from Teesside to Northampton brought results. It took almost 3 hours & 185 miles to get there but I'm glad I took Minky to see Simon. He found that Minky's mouth was badly ulcerated probably due to all the antibiotics she's taken over the last 2 months. It's a type of fungal thrush & he's prescribed a 14 day course of medicine. He checked her teeth & they are perfect, so that's one thing less to worry about.

After leaving the vets, I took Minky for a visit to Debbie at the Excellent Animal Sanctuary where we were warmly welcomed. I gave Minky the Critical Care I had mixed at home plus the first dose of her new medicine. After having a cup of coffee I had a look round Debbie's rescue which is nicely set out & a good asset to Northampton. Also at Simon's was another forum member, Pebble who also visited Debbie while her 2 piggies were been given x-rays by Simon.

I couldn't stay too long as I had get back home to post a couple of urgent orders which I hadn't had time to wrap before I left this morning. I left at 1.30pm & despite a couple of slow patches on the M1 got back home at 4.20pm in time to get my post done. I've just given Minky her second feed of Critical Care since I got back home & I'm going to give her some water before putting her back in her cage. I'm shattered so having my earliest night for nearly 2 weeks.

Thanks to everyone who's enquired about Minky. Hopefully she'll be back to eating hay in a few days time.
 
Poor thing, oral fungal can be very painful. I would think it is Itrafungol he has given you. Glad you got to meet Debbie and Pebble too.
 
helen105281 said:
Poor thing, oral fungal can be very painful. I would think it is Itrafungol he has given you. Glad you got to meet Debbie and Pebble too.
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Yes, it's Itrafungol at a dose of 0.55ml per day. I'm hoping it will kick-in by the weekend & we may be able to get her to eat some proper food!

She's just had a second dose this morning. Instead of Critical Care I mixed 2 tablespoons of Vet UK pellets (similar to Harrington's) with water then mushed it up so I could feed it by syringe. She's just had about 15ml. She's off to the vets this afternoon then I'll give her another feed.
 
Aww poor Minky, hope the Intrafungal kicks in in a couple of days so that she can eat normally again. Is your own vet now in contact with Simon about on going treatment? What does the thrush look like have you been able to look, and will you be able to get repeat meds if necessary? Good news that her teeth are ok.
 
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