How much non-emergency support feed is too much?

[poggle]

Not sure of the correct sub-forum for this query, please bob me along if there's a better fit.

After Noella died I started adding a little dish of critical care to the cage, at first to support minor weight loss and then just because the bag's open and it may as well be used. There wasn't ever a clear medical reason to support feed; just a little boost just in case. I'm now offering one scoop as part of their bedtime routine 'til the bag runs out.

And Nixie loves it. Despite the usual amount of food going into the cage (one cup veg each, one tbsp pellets each, the usual bottomless hay pile with maybe some forage on top depending on the day), Nixie is still eating the whole thing. Really quickly. I put the bowl in ten minutes ago and just came back to find only dregs left.

I don't want to displace much/any hay in her diet so it got me wondering, is there an accepted cut off point for this? Does anyone have any experience with these longer-term top-ups? I don't think this is something I'll be continuing beyond the end of the bag in any case, just curious.

Edit: For context, Nixie is a teeny tiny lady. Even after her heartiest breakfasts she's never been above 750g (although I am curious to see whether there'll be a change now that the herd political structure has changed).

 

[Seven7]

My Finn has always had a very big appetite so I give him whatever he wants to eat. My boy Finn is 7 yo this year, so I didn’t do so bad despite giving him as much as he wants to eat. I should add that he has always been very health.

Finn gets his daily romaine lettuce, occasIonal fruits and other veggies along with Oxbow pellet daily. He has always had continuous Oxbow hay, which probably help him with healthy teeth and healthy digestive system.
Finn recently started on Senior Oxbow pellet due to his advanced age, and he just loves eating it.

Finn has Bear his buddy, and baby Ben as friends but his buddies are much younger than him.

 

[Viennese Furbabies]

I usualy don't do top up feeding, except for old piggies who loose a lot of weight and like the support food. Younger ones usually do as long as they don't need it. When they get sick, it's usualy a different story.
I think that as long as it's only a small amount and Nixie eats her usual amount of solid food it won't do any harm. But she needs to still eat enough hay so you don't risk any teeth problems. For this reason my specialist vet is opposed to top up support feeding for any piggy who is eating on itself. But I know that different vet have different opinions on this subject.

 

[Merab]

Like you @poggle I had an open bag of the favourite Critical Care and occasionally Pop a dish in the cage.
Mine like a bit of banana mashed in and will carefully pick out the banana before eating the CC .
I look on it as an occasional treat that won’t hurt them.

 

[poggle]

Thanks for your input everyone! It sounds like there isn't an agreed limit for this kind of feeding beyond common sense regarding overall hay intake.

We're nearly at the end of the bag now so I'll probably continue to offer the odd scoop until it's gone (waste not!). It's always nice to know that this flavour is popular should we ever need to step in with syringe feeding