Post Stroke Food Advice Please!

[Elliegirl]

My 9 month old gig girl had a large stroke just over a week ago, she is now much more upright but I am still sure she has limited if any vision.

She is happily tucking into her fresh foods, hay and readigrass (I have seen her wolfing it down) I've also been giving her oats as she dropped a tiny bit of weight. She wolfs these down too, she won't however really touch her excel nuggets, they are the small blackcurrant ones which she has always eaten happily. Watching her eat I wonder if she's having a bit of trouble chewing them being a tad wonky. Are the oats enough (she's eat them all day if I let her!) or do I need to work on the nugget side? I'm happy she's getting enough of the other foods.

Thanks in advance

Tracy

 

[Wiebke]

My 9 month old gig girl had a large stroke just over a week ago, she is now much more upright but I am still sure she has limited if any vision.

She is happily tucking into her fresh foods, hay and readigrass (I have seen her wolfing it down) I've also been giving her oats as she dropped a tiny bit of weight. She wolfs these down too, she won't however really touch her excel nuggets, they are the small blackcurrant ones which she has always eaten happily. Watching her eat I wonder if she's having a bit of trouble chewing them being a tad wonky. Are the oats enough (she's eat them all day if I let her!) or do I need to work on the nugget side? I'm happy she's getting enough of the other foods.

Thanks in advance

Tracy

Hi! I would try to mash your pellets with boiled, cooled or hand-warm water and see whether that is going down better, but you may want to consider syringe feeding if necessary.

I would consider speaking to your vet if the stroke is interfering with her being able to chew evenly; spurs on pre-molars can grow very quickly. check whether her front teeth are even or whether the edge is slanted; that is often a good indicator of something not right at the back.

Hopefully, vision is going to return again at some point.

 

[Elliegirl]

I'm on the teeth thing but was worried that she's picking at the nuggets not really committing, off to make nugget soup now, have recovery on standby too! Any thoughts on other nuggets? I don't know of any other smaller sized ones I could try? Is harringtons small size?

Yes I have everything crossed for a sight improvement. I have had a middle age boar have a stroke so bad we thought he was dead, he was totally blind and collapsed. He made a quick and full recovery and lived another 3 years so I never give up hope. The others have been looking after her so well but I have now separated her so can monitor the nugget situation better.
Thanks as always for your help xx

 

[Wiebke]

I'm on the teeth thing but was worried that she's picking at the nuggets not really committing, off to make nugget soup now, have recovery on standby too! Any thoughts on other nuggets? I don't know of any other smaller sized ones I could try? Is harringtons small size?

Yes I have everything crossed for a sight improvement. I have had a middle age boar have a stroke so bad we thought he was dead, he was totally blind and collapsed. He made a quick and full recovery and lived another 3 years so I never give up hope. The others have been looking after her so well but I have now separated her so can monitor the nugget situation better.
Thanks as always for your help xx

I would try mushed up pellets or switch to syringe feeding. Those are the smallest pellets around.

 

[Elliegirl]

If she's eating everything else how vital are the nuggets, I know she needs some but how much is some?Thank you xx