Post op piggie help

[Rivendellelf]

Hi, I just needed some advice on my piggie who had an op on Thursday to remove an abscess. Thursday night, I syringe fed her through the night. She made it through and then began to start tiny amounts of food herself on Friday. Ate quite well and I stopped the syringe feeding.
Saturday- she had another vet appt to have the wound flushed and then went a little off her food again.
This morning she has eaten pellets and some lettuce/cucumber soaked in water. The only thing is, I’ve not seen her drink and she’s not eating as much as she normally would do. She’s on antibiotics and pain meds and her poops were mushy this morning. I’m just worried I’m not doing everything right and is there anything else I could be doing?

She’s getting more and more stressed every time I have to give her meds and she’s not the best piggie to be handled anyway. So feeding cc would be a massive struggle.

Thanks in advance

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m sorry to hear she isn’t well.

Please do read the green links I’ve added in below as they provide further information

As she has mushy poops you should stop giving all veg to allow her poops to normalise and the gut to rebalance. Antibiotics can upset the digestive system and it is advisable to give a probiotic to a piggy who is on antibiotics

Digestive Disorders: Diarrhea - Bloat - GI Stasis (No Gut Movement) And Not Eating
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links

If she isn’t eating hay for herself then you must syringe feed her. Hay and fibre needs to be 80% of their daily food intake so while she isn’t eating enough hay for herself, this needs to be replaced with the critical care.
You can’t stop syringe feeding until she is eating enough hay to maintain her weight. Nibbling at bits isn’t enough unfortunately.
Weigh her every day, at the same time each day, so you can be sure she is getting enough. If her weight drops, then she needs to be syringe fed more.

Tips For Post-operative Care
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Weight - Monitoring and Management

 

[weepweeps]

I hope she starts to feel better soon and begins to eat more for herself.

 

[Betsy]

Mine aren't keen on cc but do love the Science Selective Recovery Plus. It's important to get the Plus because it has added Vitamin C and my vet said that it aids in the recovery. I also like to add a bit of grated carrot, apple or oats to it for a bit of variety of taste. Hope your piggie recovers well.

 

[Merab]

Mine love Oxbow Critical Care - aniseed flavour, especially if there’s a bit of mashed banana mixed in.
I leave a ramekin dish of the mix in the cage to encourage eating for themselves.
True - the other piggies always help.
Hope your piggy recovers quickly.

 

[Rivendellelf]

Unfortunately Gingy gave up her fight tonight. She was doing so well but took a massive turn for the worse today . She’s just died in my arms. Not really sure what to do now. 1. What do I do with Gingy? And 2. What do I do with my piggie who is now alone?

 

[Black piggies]

So sorry you've lost Gingy after all that care you gave her
I show the lost piggy to their friend for a few minutes, they might react strongly or ignore. Then as I haven't a garden, I wrap them in a blanket to take to the vet for cremation. If you have a garden you could bury her in the ground or a big pot.

Recommended rescues in this guide can help you bond your piggy to a friend: Rescue Locator

 

[Rivendellelf]

Th

So sorry you've lost Gingy after all that care you gave her
I show the lost piggy to their friend for a few minutes, they might react strongly or ignore. Then as I haven't a garden, I wrap them in a blanket to take to the vet for cremation. If you have a garden you could bury her in the ground or a big pot.

Recommended rescues in this guide can help you bond your piggy to a friend: Rescue Locator

Thank you. I’ve just shown her to my other piggie who gave her a quick sniff and then carried on eating hay. She’s now all wrapped up in her pet carrier

 

[Xmolxlie]

Unfortunately Gingy gave up her fight tonight. She was doing so well but took a massive turn for the worse today . She’s just died in my arms. Not really sure what to do now. 1. What do I do with Gingy? And 2. What do I do with my piggie who is now alone?

I’m so sorry for your loss. I hope you know you did everything you could for Gingy and I’m sure she loved you so much.

I recently had a bereaved piggy Kovu and what I did was I left her friend in their cage with her for a few hours in a fuzzy bed that I then put back in the cage after I’d taken Foxy out so it still had his scent on it, and I didn’t change any of the bedding in the cage for a few days after he passed away so she had that comfort of his scent, I buried him in a flowerbed after taking him out of the cage. The hardest thing with losing a piggy is the fact you have to get them a new friend pretty much straight away, I definitely struggled with it and felt a lot of guilt. I’d look for rescues nearby you that have a piggy bonding service to see if you could bond your pig with one of theirs, unfortunately I found I couldn’t find a rescue nearby that had pigs available. What I did is I searched listings online for people who’s pigs just had an accidental litter, instead of necessarily going to a pet shop and supporting them instead. I managed to get two 10 week old girls off of preloved’s website who were only about 20 minutes away from me. I got the same gender as Kovu as I didn’t want to have to wait to get them neutered (she was paired with my neutered male previously) as she hadn’t been alone for over 3 years of her life. I also chose to get two girls because Kovu herself is 4 1/2 years old, she’ll be five early next year, and I didn’t want to have to go through this process with a bereaved piggy again any time soon, as I really struggled with guilt having to get new pigs very quickly. Hopefully Kovu has a good few years of life left, but I wanted to make sure one of the babies wouldn’t be left alone. I found bonding with two babies and an older pig very easily, as there’s not the fight for dominance as it’s established naturally with the age gap, and Kovu had also had an accidental litter before I got her, so her motherly instincts kicked in pretty much straight away, and the babies have given her a new lease of life, they absolutely adore her!

For the bonding process, if done at home and not at a rescue, I’d recommend a playpen as a neutral territory, no hides or anything just a big pile of hay in the middle, and see how it goes, with a towel nearby to throw over them if there’s any fighting. There’s some great bonding guides on here! I also didn’t put any hides that didn’t have two open ends that they could get out of into their cage for a couple weeks after placing them together just incase!

 

[Bill & Ted]

I’m so sorry you lost Ginge, sending big hugs at such a sad time x
Sleep tight little lady

 

[Merab]

So sorry for your loss.
You did everything possible for Ginge and filled her life with love and care.
Be gentle with yourself as you grieve