Home from the vet. Critical Care question.

[piglet_and_rogers_mama]

Just got home with George from the vet. It was a new place a tried out, and I was pretty impressed. They said his toe is infected, like we suspected, and gave us a course of baytril. I asked for probiotcs, but they didn't have any for guinea pigs. She suggested that i supplement his diet with critical care in lieu of probiotics...does this make sense? i mean i certainly can supplement it with cc, but i just wasn't sure if that is a useful alternative. What do you think?

 

[missbrittany]

Critical care has all the nutrients the piggies will need if they start going off their food, but without the probiotic the guinea pig may not want to eat at all. I've had a pig on baytril before and she stopped eating for a little while because it messes with the natural bacteria in her gut. Since you live in the *.S. if there is a Petco near you I'm pretty sure they sell benebac, which is a probiotic for animals. I've seen it at the Petco near me. It may not be as good as the stuff a vet would give you but at least it's something. You could always pick some up and then call your vet and see what they say. The vet I see has prescribed my piggy prescription strength benebac and it seemed to work for her. All the best of luck with George, hope he recovers soon!

 

[piglet_and_rogers_mama]

thanks for the great suggestion. we do have cc on hand if i need it. the vet did suggest that we could also supplement him with poop soup, but tbh i can't really tell the difference between the regular poops and the caecal (is that right?) ones that they "recycle." and we do have a petco kind of near me, so if it is really dire we can go on a field trip. george is a pretty hearty eater (we call him fatty for a reason!) so i hope everything will be ok. thanks for your help!

 

[Amanda1801]

Cc is good to offer when unwell as it is high in vit C - their vit C requirements increase x10 when unwell

 

[Stewybus]

I find that the best probiotic is Fibreplex. On the box it says for rabbits but first got this from my vet last year. I now always have some in because usually just one or two doses gets a piggy that's not eating back on track. In the UK you can buy this without prescription from Vet UK but you'll probably be able to find a supplier of the same or similar in the States.

 

[Wiebke]

Poop soup is actually quite effective, if rather gross; unlike probiotics, it contains the perfect gut flora and fauna for guinea pigs. It will certainly do for the moment until you can get hold of a probiotic.

You can often see recovering piggies shoving their faces up their friends' bums for exactly that reason. Please only use fresh poos, soak them in a bit of water and either syringe the water or let the ill piggy lap it up.

At the worst, p@h also sell a probiotic to tidy you over until your ordered probiotic arrives, in case of an emergency.

 

[piglet_and_rogers_mama]

do i have to mash the poop up for it to be effective, or just soak it and give him the water it was in?