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Is Long Term, Daily Syringe Use Safe?

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Claire W

Claire W

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This is going to sound like a really stupid question so apologies for that.

Anyway, Emma has been and will continue for may be the rest of her life to have a dose of Cystease and metacam daily for IC / bladder problems.

Emma is medicated via syringe and she is thankfully good at taking the syringe but I have recently been concerned whether daily syringing could cause damage to the inside of her mouth including her tongue and teeth?

Sorry for the silly question but I know there are a few members with piggies who are on long term meds.
 
Claire W said:
This is going to sound like a really stupid question so apologies for that.

Anyway, Emma has been and will continue for may be the rest of her life to have a dose of Cystease and metacam daily for IC / bladder problems.

Emma is medicated via syringe and she is thankfully good at taking the syringe but I have recently been concerned whether daily syringing could cause damage to the inside of her mouth including her tongue and teeth?

Sorry for the silly question but I know there are a few members with piggies who are on long term meds.
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In short - no it won't if done carefully. There is a wide gap between the incisors and the premolars and molars. You insert the syringe into that gap. Unless the tip of the syringe is very jagged from biting on it, there is no danger of injury to the tongue.

Don't give more then 0.2 - 0.5 ml at once (that is a mouthful depending on the size of your piggy) to prevent things from going down the wrong way.
If they like their meds, syringe feed or water, you squeeze it out very slowly, so they can suckle rather than get it injected. If they don't like it, you are better of giving it fairly quickly, followed by something they like much better, but be careful to not overfill the mouth!

PS: Nerys has been on daily meds (cystease/glucosamine and for the last years metacam for the arthritis, too) for over 5 years now! She is coming up to 8 years now, so it has quite obviously not hurt her! ;)
 
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