*please help* diet>soft poo> open sores

[Dusty_bugs]

Hi guys,
I've been pretty prolific these past few days posting with Q's and I would have loved to combine all these problems on one post for Leeland but there has been a quietness of late and things are getting worse for me so please bear with me.

Recently we lost one of our girls, the remaining girl is in a bad way. She had a tongue op a few weeks ago and we have just got her back into food.. mostly veg. Her interest in hay is short lived and needs changing completely twice a day (though I have bought several varieties to keep her going).

She developed bumblefoot as she has been underweight for some time despite giving her the max allowance of critical care per kilo (despite being 850gms), plus softened crunchies, plus the veg she will eat.

She is now experiencing very soft poos which completely plaster her feet every couple of hours. Her poos are of a good size, but smell like diarrhoea and are sometimes clumped. She sometimes makes sounds when passing the bigger ones.

She is on probiotics to counter the long term antibiotics she was on, but the antibiotics were stopped a few days ago to counter the resistance which may have developed in the bacteria/fungal causing the bumblefoot. We are changing to septrim today for the feet.

SO the question is: Do I take her off the veggies to firm up her poos, to enable her bumblefoot to keep clean quicker? OR do I keep her on the veggies to make sure she has a chance of keeping her weight considering how it's not going up. She has a passion for dandelions and spinach right now but all other things she will only entertain once and you have to give it a break for a few days before she will try it again.

Please advise... I'm sick with worry that I'll lose Leeland aswell.

p.s. my new vet is very good but I've spent over £1000 in 2 months on ops, biopsies, diesel, medication, check ups and new consultations for new problems. This is normal during bad times I know, but if I can keep the costs lower by getting back up info here first before approaching my vet then I will have more funds to buy better hay for her. So please be patient with my arm wavings I'm very sorry for posting so much.

p.p.s - I've been on guinealynx and trawled alot of - my guinea has diarrhoea and is underweight stuff. They generally say keep up the hay! which doesnt help me. I can't put the hay in her mouth and use jedi powers to chew it for her. The crit care is a good source of fibre anyway..and she's on all she is allowed.

 

[sport_billy]

Poor Leeland and poor you. What an awful time you are having at the moment

When Piggie's have wet poo's it is recomended to take them off all veg so their poo's firm up. But i can totally understand your dilemma...
Have you tried some Fibreplex [ame="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Protexin-Fibreplex-Rabbits-Small-Rodents/dp/B0039ZBWDC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351249060&sr=8-1"]Protexin Fibreplex for Rabbits & Small Rodents 15ml: Amazon.co.uk: Kitchen & Home[/ame] as a probiotic? It has extra Fibre in it.

Megan has wet poo's and the only veg she can have once a day in small amounts we have found through trial and error are Parsley, Green Beans, Savoy Cabbage and Spinach... We are attempting carrot at moment to mixed results.

Huge hugs to you and lots of healing vibes to Leeland. x x

 

[Amanda1801]

I understand your dilemma. Have you tried very soft hay? I find that the oxbow meadow grass is very good for getting them back into eating hay. It's very soft and green, more like dried grass than hay (I know that hay is dried grass rolleyes ) if she's able to eat veg, then she's capable of chewing. The softer hay may help. You could also try readigrass as that smells a lot, is higher in sugar (ie more calories for her) and is also soft. Not too much readigrass though due to sugar and calcium content.

How much water are you putting with her critical care? I tend to make mine as a thick paste and offer it in a bowl, reducing the water content may help a little with the wet poos.

What nuggets is she on? The smaller burgess black currant and oregano ones may tempt her to eat them again. Again, if you're softening them, try gradually reducing the water content.

What veg is she eating?

I second what The sport billies say with the fibreplex. It's good for bulking up poos due to it being a Pre & probiotic but also the texture of it.

 

[Dusty_bugs]

Thanks guys, this is really good advice. I guess she'll eat hay.. but only when she's 'out the house' as it were.

When she is in the cage she sits in a corner and sticks her head in a load of hay and sleeps. I think she's obviously grieving. When I took her to the vet she ate loads of hay! Just wish I could be home more to get her eating. I'll be doing another shift tomorrow and have to rely on the good will of my partner to be in to help her out.

I'll try find some softer hay. I've also planted some timmothy hay grass! So that should sprout through in a few weeks I hope.

As for her critical care, I go for slightly runnier than a dry paste. It's makes the max amount go further and as she was so thirsty when she was on marbocyl it gave her a bit more water at the time. She's off the marbocyl now so I've reduced the water.

She'll eat kale, spinach and lettuce salad bags, a tiny bit of carrot. She's big on cherry tomatoes and she might have some apple too. I also try celery and cucumber but she wont have either.

I've been given a few poops from a nice lady who lived near the vets from her healthy pigs. I've added it to the crit care along with some probiotics and vit C.

I can try get some of that fibre stuffs that you mentioned. I might see how she does with some better hay and the poos first... save buying loads of stuff and pumping her with new things. If things look worse I've been told by the vet I can start her on an antibiotic.. he didnt end up using septrim. :/ Gave me a dental adhesive instead to cap the feet!

 

[Amanda1801]

There is really no "maximum amount" of critical care - let her eat as much as she wants! Try making it a bit drier, and offering it in a bowl or from a spoon.

I'd also try offering her veg with less of a water content - I'd avoid things like tomato, cucumber, apple etc. You could offer her some banana - when Maggie had sloppy poos, I offered her a small amount of banana (she loved it!) and banana can cause consipation if given too much, so I figured it might help! It seemed to (unless it was another of the 200 things I was doing!).

Best bet re: the fibreplex as you really need it ASAP, is to phone around your local vet surgeries tomorrow. You're bound to find one that has it in stock, but beware that most will close at midday tomorrow.

 

[Ant and Dec]

Just wanted to send you some hugs, I don't have any advice to offer really.

Although if you think readigrass would tempt her (I don't know about fiber or anything like that in it or anything, maybe it would make things worse than better, I'm not sure)

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I just had a 15kg bag of readigrass delivered, so I have loads and would be happy to send you some for free in the post xx

 

[Dusty_bugs]

Ant and Dec you are a sweety! I will give her 2 more days and if it's not looking up I may give you a tickle.. though I wont expect it for free! let me know what you want for it.. incidentally I'm in liverpool so sending it may not be easy depending on where you are :/

but all the same xoxoxoxo (from me and Leeland!)

And regarding the crit care max thing, the packet of oxbow says 3tbsp per kilo per pig in 24hours. I was worried that with it being PACKED with vits/mins/etc etc that her kidneys/liver and thyroid would take a smack if I pumped it up too hard. Her pee is already a brown colour when dry (comes out clear/cloudy..dries orange to brown).. havent seen her do that since she was a bambino.
We were offering mushy nuggets (and as of last night we crushed some oats in too.. boyfriend went a bit nuts with it but she loved it) to make up the feed.. We hear 30mls is the recommended amount per feed but we find Leeland will manage 20 of feed, then she asks for about 6 mls of water and 1 or 2 of orange. then she will have a go at some fruit, or cabbage, spinach , lettuce or herb.. she'll also look at the hay if I put forage mix in .. and we give her 5 feeds a day. All this and she still lost 50 gms in 4 days..

something is blocking her uptake.

 

[Ant and Dec]

Just let me know

Don't want anything if you do want some, like I say, I have loads so it's no trouble and if it would help leeland I'm happy to

I'm in Cheshire, so shouldn't be too difficult to post it to you

 

[Dusty_bugs]

good lord that is close! Happy days! haha