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Help! Can Anyone Help With How To Help A Dental Piggy To Get Back To Feeding.

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helen105281 said:
In which case if you see no improvement after a few days with the Zithromax mention this to your vet and ask about treatment with Panacur, alongside the Zithromax (assuming that they would not affect each other but best to check).
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Thanks for that information, if anyone reading this thread has used those 2 together please let me know.
 
helen105281 said:
Is she still pooing ok?
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I have seen hardly any poo but I'm going to have a good check now. At present she's in her strawberry house with a puppy pad on the carpet in from of it.
 
Ok, she could be eating them as when they are not eating they eat more of their poos to get the goodness from them (or my Millie does anyway) but it could be that things are not passing through as she is not having enough food. If you don't find any can you check if she feels bloated at all, if you tap her sides, do they sound hollow?
 
Is it the rabbit one though? I routinely use Panacur to worm my pigs but use the sheep one.
 
I don't know if it helps but as none of mine likes Critical care I use Science Recovery for syringe feeding, or if you can get a bag of Harrington's fine pellets, soak them in a little cool boiled water leave to cool for a bit then use that. I sit the pig on my lap & stroke the head right down to the back, as the stroking seems to distract them from the syringing, I use a 1ml syringe with the end cut off & the bung removed. Fingers crossed for her, I love the Rex/Aby combo in piggies, their personalities are very different, that's what I have now, 2 Rexes & an Aby x
 
helen105281 said:
Ok, she could be eating them as when they are not eating they eat more of their poos to get the goodness from them (or my Millie does anyway) but it could be that things are not passing through as she is not having enough food. If you don't find any can you check if she feels bloated at all, if you tap her sides, do they sound hollow?
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I've been with Minky since my last post 2 hours ago & she's had 7 ml of CC plus at least 20 ml of water. With the water I just put the syringe in front of her & she grabs it straightaway. I just press the syringe without even having to hold her & then her head's up again asking for more. I've put her back into her hospital cage & tidied her things away. Went back to her and she's done at least 6 poos. After all the water she should be weeing a lot too. Sue will be up through the night & give her another feeding & watering session between 2 am & 4 am then I'll be back down with her at about 7 am. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but she is looking a lot better than earlier on this evening.
 
Poppy'sMum said:
I don't know if it helps but as none of mine likes Critical care I use Science Recovery for syringe feeding, or if you can get a bag of Harrington's fine pellets, soak them in a little cool boiled water leave to cool for a bit then use that. I sit the pig on my lap & stroke the head right down to the back, as the stroking seems to distract them from the syringing, I use a 1ml syringe with the end cut off & the bung removed. Fingers crossed for her, I love the Rex/Aby combo in piggies, their personalities are very different, that's what I have now, 2 Rexes & an Aby x
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I tried Minky on Science Recovery Plus first & she wasn't keen, but she's exactly the same with Oxbow Critical Care. Either way you have to be cruel to be kind but it's getting easier all the time. I don't have any Harrington's but I do have Vet UK's own brand pellets which look the same & seem to have similar ingredients. I'll maybe try mushing some of them up as a Sunday treat for her. I was also talking to Debbie from the Excellent Adventure Sanctuary & she suggested some porridge. It isn't normally recommended to give guinea pigs cooked food but with porridge just being oats & water with nothing else then this will be OK for a poorly piggy like Minky. I'll let you know what she does with it in the morning but will probably end up syringe feeding it.
 
sharonS said:
Keeping my fingers crossed for poor Minky.
You know you can get Panacur from P@H.
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I'll get in touch with Debbie at the Excellent Animal Sanctuary tomorrow & see if she has used it. I'm getting most of my advice from her at present as she has dealt with lots of poorly piggies like Minky.
 
Claire W said:
Do you mean Minky or Rex? I remember seeing Minky and she is beautiful.

I really do hope she recovers soon for you x
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Minky's been on here dozens of times but we got Rex as a foster piggy over 3 months ago. He came with extremely long and twisted nail and had a sebaceous cyst. These were sorted out & he was neutered in the first fortnight I was looking after him. We were then to foster him till safe to be put with females but we fell in love with him & decided to give him a forever home. He's also had anal impaction but this seems to have gone completely since he started to live with Minky & Minnie. He's the most expensive guinea pig I've ever got as I agreed to pay all the vet's fees that occurred while I was fostering him, but he's more than worth it.
 
helen105281 said:
I use the generic version too as my vets don't stock it, it usually works well and the effects can be seen fairly quickly. Keeping everything crossed for Minky. If you can get more food in that would be good as they need at least 120ml in 24 hours if they are not eating at all but I know it is difficult.
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Well I suppose it's like getting Paracetamol instead of Panadol. Sorry if I've been answering these in the wrong order, it's just the order that I've rad them. The first batch of CC I made is almost gone and that was supposed to be enough for a piggy of over 1 Kilo, Minky was about 1.089 Kilo this morning. So far she's had just under 60 ml with probably only about 15 ml left. That will be used overnight then any left will be thrown away & a fresh batch made up ready for her first session which may not be till the afternoon as I'm trying her with porridge then mushed pellets in the morning.
 
Glad about the poos that's great. You may find mashed pellets tempt her more. I mashed some the other day as needed a photo of them and my lot leapt on the bowl.
 
You must be exhausted, so I hope you manage to get a decent nights sleep.

Minky is really blessed to have you as owners with the level of care you are giving her. I'm thinking of you all and really wishing for a positive outcome.
 
guineaguy said:
You must be exhausted, so I hope you manage to get a decent nights sleep.

Minky is really blessed to have you as owners with the level of care you are giving her. I'm thinking of you all and really wishing for a positive outcome.
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I will when I get to bed. I'm an on line retailer & I'm now busy listing on Amazon some of the items I should have done earlier. Who says it's cushy being your own boss. haha
 
I've been with Minky for the last 2 hours & managed to get down her another 5 ml of CC + 6 ml water. I did a home made mix of one tablespoon of pellets, one tablespoon of porridge oats topped with hot water & mixed. I then added to this some grated carrot, melon & red pepper. I let this cool down while I had breakfast then in about 50 minutes gave her 18 ml of this mix which she seemed to prefer to the CC of Recovery+. I'm weighing her every morning after feeding her so I get a true idea of weight loss or gain. I've just weighed her & she's now 1126g up from 1089g yesterday. I'll feeling a little more optimistic today but I know we've got a way to go yet. She'll be getting her second dose of Zithromax tonight and I'm hoping it will kick in soon if hasn't done so already. Please keep your healing vibes coming, she needs all the help she can get.
 
Lots of love to Minky, she has been through so much it is so unfair. I really hope she starts to turn the corner Stewy. Love and healing vibes to her
 
sport_billy said:
Lots of love to Minky, she has been through so much it is so unfair. I really hope she starts to turn the corner Stewy. Love and healing vibes to her
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Him Lee, I got another 18 ml of my home made mix down her earlier this afternoon & I'm just about to start another feeding session. I just hope this new drug kicks in soon and she turns the corner.
 
flintstones said:
Hope Minky starts improving soon. :)
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Minky seems to have wind at the moment, there's sometimes a gurgling noise. She won't take the syringe & fights like mad when I try to even give her just water. I managed to give her 0.3 ml of painkiller & 1 ml of Zithromax at about 7:15 but on the instructions that come with the Zithromax it says not to give any indigestion meds 2 hours either side of taking it. So I really don't want to give her ant treatment for the wind/indigestion until after 10.30 tonight. Anyone know of anything I might have in our medicine cabinet that will be good to treat this. We've got most of the human treatments but it's doseage that I'm not certain about. I'll do a bit of googling to see it I can find any info.
 
If my pig has bloat and seems in pain I give 1 Buscopan tablet and put them on the massage pad. I also give a gut stimulant if I have any in. I think it is best to call your vet though even if you just discuss over the phone.
 
helen105281 said:
If my pig has bloat and seems in pain I give 1 Buscopan tablet and put them on the massage pad. I also give a gut stimulant if I have any in. I think it is best to call your vet though even if you just discuss over the phone.
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Thanks, She had 1 notch of Fibreplex this morning but not tonight. I'm not certain if it's bloat or whether it's just excess air taken in when she's been syringe fed like a baby when being bottle fed. I've massaged her tummy & held her like you would a baby when it's got wind with a gentle rocking motion. It doesn't seen too bad at present but I'll check again in 30 minutes. I'm worried about what to do about syringe feeding her as she's well short of her daily intake. I'm going to mix some more Critical Care at about 9.30 & sit with her for a couple of hours but she's really fighting it & I'm worried I may damage her mouth or gums.
 
It could be air, but also because she is not eating as much as normal the gut may be starting to slow down. I would still try to syringe feed but slowly.
 
helen105281 said:
It could be air, but also because she is not eating as much as normal the gut may be starting to slow down. I would still try to syringe feed but slowly.
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When I use the large syringe that you get with Supreme Science Recovery Plus I'm getting 18 ml into her in less than an hour but with the 1 ml syringe I'm doing about 6 to 8 ml in the same time. I think the small syringe is better for her & give her doses in 3 goes of about 0.3 to 0.35 ml each from this 1 ml syringe. There's also lots less spillage. Last night she was taking lots of water, about 20 1 ml syringes full.
 
I hate the large syringe, if someone is inexperienced in syringe feeding they can aspirate the pig and my friend has heard this done while dealing with a client over the phone, as soon as she told them not to use it, they aspirated the pig and she died within seconds. The 1ml syringe is so much better and you can be more accurate with how much is going in the mouth.
 
helen105281 said:
I hate the large syringe, if someone is inexperienced in syringe feeding they can aspirate the pig and my friend has heard this done while dealing with a client over the phone, as soon as she told them not to use it, they aspirated the pig and she died within seconds. The 1ml syringe is so much better and you can be more accurate with how much is going in the mouth.
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Yes, I'm only going to use the 1 ml syringe from now on. I was very care with the large one but it would be very easy to make a mistake. I've read through some guinea pig reference books & also rang Debbie at the Excellent Adventure Sanctuary because I wanted to get this right. I've given Minky 2 ml of Gripe Water followed by a Rennie's tablet crushed & mixed with water which made up another 2 ml. After this Minky has been running round & eating a little food though she still struggling to get hold of it. I've just mixed another batch of CC & I'm going feed her some over the next hour following by another 2 ml of Gripe Water. She seems a lost easier now but I'm staying with her to make certain she's OK before I go to bed.
 
Hi Stewy,

I hope Minky is feeling better, when my Fred was prescribed Zithromax he became very bloated and went off his food altogether. I don't believe this is a normal reaction to Zithromax it's self a few weeks before Fred was on Flagyl and Baytril. He became so bloated I stopped the Flagyl immediately a few weeks later I had to stop the Baytril because he had the same reaction. The day after starting Zithromax Fred's appetite disappeared and the bloat returned, I kept on with the Zithromax but I also gave gut mobility med's (Emeprid and Zantac) for the full course. I gave him daily massages and continued to syringe feed him, near the end of the course his output was in a ghastly way no formed poo's just black stuff coming out his rear end.

I wouldn't ever recommend continuing with a course of med's when a guinea pig is intolerant like my Fred, but in Fred's case it was essential as he had a very nasty abscess in his jaw bone that we had been battling for about two months previously. I knew the Zithromax was the best chance we had, with the help of my vet, syringe feeding and gut mobility med's we got to the end of the course. We're 9 months on now and Fred is a very happy piggy. Although I suspect he'll have an intolerance now to most medicines.

If Minky's bloat continues, I would consider discussing gut mobility med's with your vet.
 
you are such fantastic piggy people, you couldnt do any more for Minky. I sure hope the little piggie is a bit better, this thread has brought tears to my eyes, my Bertie (avatar) died a few weeks ago. He just stopped eating and pooing, I fed him CC and water but he trotted off over the Bridge before I could get him to a vet. Minky sounds like a fighter xx
 
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