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How soon to feed after dental work?

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greenlion

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Looking for some advice with my very sick pig. First took her to the vet on Wednesday and was given critical care and an antibiotic for handfeeding (she's not eating or drinking on her own) until they could get her in today (Friday) for dental work. She ended up having sharp points on both back molars. They also gave me an anti-inflamatory to start using tomorrow.

My question is - when should I start syringe-feeding the critical care again? The vet advised waiting until tomorrow, as apparently she had a load of the critical care just sitting in her mouth from when I'd fed her nearly six hours prior to being brought to the vet's! While she's definitely interested in food (and has access to hay and pellets), and has taken a few licks at her water bottle, she's still far from being able to eat on her own and I'm concerned about letting her go so long without anything. She's very weak and lethargic at the moment, as she has been for the past two days - to be honest, I'm a bit amazed that she's still alive given how miserable she looks.

Any advice would be really appreciated; I'm at a bit of loss as to what to do.
 
hi Yes you need to feed her asap. Guineas need food every 4 hours to keep their gut going. Give her water too. It may be a good idea to give daktarin oral gel as her mouth may be sore. Please contact Laura at guinea pig helpline for advice tomorrow but in the meantime syringe feed at least 15ml critical care every 4 hours. Check her Poops too Hope she's ok lots of love x x x
 
Not all pigs like Critical Care. You can also feed her some mushed up pellets. Add boiling water to pellets in order to soften them and make a thick paste - best leaving them to soak and absorb the water for about five minutes before stirring and mashing! It's definitely not wise to leave her so long without eating. You can give 1ml of food in one go and then wait for her to swallow it. If she normally likes to eat her pellets then she might find the soggy version much more appealing than CC. It will also be wise to try and syringe some water into her too, to keep up her fluid intake.

What was the anti-inflammatory? If they have prescribed Metacam then I would get this into her ASAP as it will help her with any pain she may be having.

Just out of interest, whereabouts are you?
 
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Yes, the anti-inflammatory is Metacam. They gave her some immediately after finishing her teeth I believe.

I tried to feed her some critical care just now - quite slowly - but just when I thought she was successfully swallowing it she began coughing and choking, which she hasn't done up to this point. I stopped as I don't want to cause her any further unnecessary distress. I'll try offering some mashed pellets but I'm really afraid she's nearing the end :(

I'm in Southern California - Orange County, to be more specific.
 
Ah, OK. Kind of limits me with options of recommended vets then!

Sorry she is so poorly. I would give her a dose of Metacam every 12 hours or so, just to keep her ticking over. Their metabolism works so quickly that medications go through their system so fast.

How thick are you making the CC? The thicker the better really. If she is showing an interest in food, then you could try giving her some of the pellet paste from a small bowl (allowing it to cool first of course!).

Right about now, I would try syringe feeding her some water slowly to see if that would help her clear her mouth.
 
Yeah, 12 hours was what the vet recommended as well.

It was pretty thick - a bit thinner than toothpaste I'd say? I'll give the pellet paste in a bowl a try asap, as well as some water.

Thanks for your help :)
 
One last thing - if you have a blender or similar then try blending up some of her favourite veggies to a puree type mix, otherwise chop things very finely and see if that will tempt her. If you can get hold of some grass, piggies find that very tempting too.

If she does pick up and start trying to eat for herself, then it may be worth sticking to softened food for a while, but try to encourage the grass, even if you have to chop it up. If she has lost weight then normal porridge oats are a good food. If she will eat them dry then all well and good. If not, then once again, add some boiling water to soften. Adding some pureed favourite veg can also entice.:)
 
Unfortunately no blender. I did give grass a try, she was really interested in it and nosed over but just seems too tired/weak to actually try and eat anything - she'll have little bursts of activity, i.e. sniffing/nosing the grass or her waterbottle, but then she goes back to laying stretched out with her head down. Boiling water for pellet mash at the moment, hoping that will tempt her.
 
Yes it is a 1ml - I'll try cutting the end off. Pellet mash is cooling by the cage, her sister seems quite excited by the smell of it haha. And yes I'll add some grass, I hadn't thought of that.
 
Just cutting the pointy bit off the end (how technical am I?!) makes the opening bigger so the spirt into her mouth isn't quite so intense. Add anything you like to a mix that might entice her. Anything to get some food into her really! You might find that giving her some Metacam before trying to feed her will help too as if she has any pain then it will take the edge off it.

Good luck with the pellet mush - let me know how you get on. Will check when I get up in a while. Only came down for a drink! :))
 
She was interested in the pellet mash and licked/nibbled a bit at the spoon, but as soon as she got some in her mouth she coughed/choked again. I'm almost wishing I hadn't tried to give her the critical care earlier, seems like she must have gotten some down her throat.
 
Yes, I tried some plain water maybe fifteen minutes after she coughed/choked on the critical care and she had the exact same reaction - hunching forward, coughing, etc.

I just went to check on her and her breathing has become clearly audible - not quite a wheeze but there's definitely a wet sound to it. I'm wondering if it might be best to just leave her in peace?
 
The noisy breathing could be caused by food collecting towards the back of her mouth. Why this is happening is hard to know. Would she take some food off a teaspoon instead of using the syringe? Is she still looking interested in the food? You could try cleaning her mouth using a moistened cotton bud but I'm a bit worried about hurting her mouth that's already very sore. how long since she had the metacam?
 
I'm not sure how much metacam she got, the vet gave it to her before I came to pick her up. She's doing very poorly, worse than when I first brought her home about five hours ago - she's currently just laying stretched out on her stomach with her head resting on the floor. She just gave a great big sneeze/cough, I'm wondering if she's having trouble breathing. She'll occasionally sniff something if I put it right in front of her nose but is really just lying there working to breathe :/
 
Yes, she was given GA. Thank you anyway for trying to help, I really appreciate it.
 
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