Piggie with URI. Still losing weight. Help.

[Chottsy92]

Hi lovely people,

(Sorry weight is spelt wrong, can't seem to work out how to correct it in the title)

My 5 year old little dude has been diagnosed with a respiratory infection. He has been on baytril (0.6ml once a day was the advice) for 5 days but doesn't seem to have made a difference and he is still breathing heavier than I would like/his normal.

He has almost completely lost his appetite and although I am syringe feeding he is still losing weight overall. I have tried both Science Selective Recovery and Oxbow Critical Care and he is less resistant to being fed the critical care but still not very interested. He will pick at veggies and grass but loses interest quickly. He ate a lot more grass yesterday but still dropped about 10g of weight since then.

He has also been on a probiotic but doesn't seem to be improving his appetite. He was on the Vetark one to begin with, he is now on Bio-Lapis but neither has made any difference to his appetite.

He is pooing regularly and although poos are a little small, they are now a better colour and less dry than they were when he was first poorly.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give all the information.

What else can I be doing to help him more?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I would go back to the vet if you aren’t seeing any improvement, particularly with the weekend now upon us. It can take a while for antibiotics to work, but sometimes a different antibiotic is needed etc if there isn’t any improvement after a course of treatment.

How much and how often is he being syringe fed in a 24 hour period? If he is losing weight, then he isn’t getting quite enough.
Does he have a healthy companion? If so then you can make poop soup from his companions poops as that can help restore the gut bacteria.

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

 

[Chottsy92]

I would go back to the vet if you aren’t seeing any improvement, particularly with the weekend now upon us. It can take a while for antibiotics to work, but sometimes a different antibiotic is needed etc if there isn’t any improvement after a course of treatment.

How much and how often is he being syringe fed in a 24 hour period? If he is losing weight, then he isn’t getting quite enough.
Does he have a healthy companion? If so then you can make poop soup from his companions poops as that can help restore the gut bacteria.

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

Thank you. I was considering going back to the vet anyway so thank you.

I am essentially feeding him as much as I can get him to eat before he gets stressed. Normally 5-10ml each session roughly every 3 hours or so. As he has lost a little more I'm now doing what I can every 2 hours ish if I can.

I don't currently have another pig. He lost his friend a little while back, tried to bond him with other boys (adults and babies) and he was having none of it. The plan was to neuter and find him a girlfriend then lockdown hit and put it on hold. This is still the plan but I need to get him better again first.

Thank you so much for your advice.

 

[Chottsy92]

I have a vet appointment for tomorrow to get him seen. Any advice to try and help either maintain his weight or help him out some back on. I'm syringing as much as I can every 2 hours but it's still not enough to maintain his weight. He is drinking independently (topped up when syringe feeding) but isn't eating anything himself. He's getting 40ml-50ml a day at the moment. I am trying to get closer to 60ml± but even getting a couple of ml of food in is challenging as he wants nothing.

Probiotic doesn't seem to make any difference. I've ordered some Emeraid as some of you have said lots of guinea pigs prefer it but fastest delivery I could find and won't be here until Wednesday.

I just want my little man to feel better. He is such a sweetheart and I just want to be able to click my fingers and fix it.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I have a vet appointment for tomorrow to get him seen. Any advice to try and help either maintain his weight or help him out some back on. I'm syringing as much as I can every 2 hours but it's still not enough to maintain his weight. He is drinking independently (topped up when syringe feeding) but isn't eating anything himself. He's getting 40ml-50ml a day at the moment. I am trying to get closer to 60ml± but even getting a couple of ml of food in is challenging as he wants nothing.

Probiotic doesn't seem to make any difference. I've ordered some Emeraid as some of you have said lots of guinea pigs prefer it but fastest delivery I could find and won't be here until Wednesday.

I just want my little man to feel better. He is such a sweetheart and I just want to be able to click my fingers and fix it.

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

What have his last few days worth of weighs in been? If you could give us the actual figures over the last few days then we can help further. You are going to see fluctuations but it’s knowing whether you are dealing with fluctuations or a general downward trend which is useful for us to know to be able to advise you further.

Are you weighing at the same time each day?

The only way to maintain weight is to get as much syringe food into them as possible though.