Return to normal eating after Syringe feeding?

[The Alcotroll]

I had some massive dramas over Christmas with Freya; within days of arriving at my house she had picked up a respiratory infection, was prescribed Baytril and promptly had dihorrea- then stopped pooing alltogether. For the two weeks around New Year I was syringe feeding her antibiotics, recovery food, mashed nuggets and probiotics. Last weekend, the Vet gave her the all clear and I haven't seen any signs of sneezing or snotty noses since.

Over the course of this week I've been back at work, so I haven't had the opportunity to observe her very closely, but while she is more mobile and certainly more noisy than she was during her illness, I didn't think she's eating as well as she should be. Though I see her at the food bowl picking up nuggets and chewing, the bowl isn't going down as much as I'd expect. I also can't interest her in any fresh veg except for red peppers (which she eats voraciously). Carrot, cabbige, cucumber, baby corn, apple and celery are all sniffed, nibbled and then disregarded.

A gradual weight loss on monday was confirmed on wednesday, and has worsened today; she's gone from 400g to 350g since the weekend.

I've started syringe feeding again today (I'd just been giving the probiotics before), and she's so enthusiastic for the syrnge that I don't have to hold her still- she grabs it and starts chewing before I can even depress the plunger. When its empty, she hangs on grimly and I have to pull the thing out sideways to get it back. Even waving a clean, empty syringe under her nose elicits a grab and chew response.

Given how much time I spent at the Vets over the Christmas holiday, I'm reluctant to dash back there again, especially since the Vet examined her thoroughly last saturday and found nothing untoward. She's wheeking, exploring, pooing and chewing, even if she is shedding the pounds, with no sign that her respiratory infection has returned or that her gut flora isn't working.

She's a young Guinea Pig, and I've only had her for two and a bit weeks. Is it possible that she now thinks that food only comes from a syringe? She certainly associates it with food and even wheeks when she hears me preparing it. I see her nibbling at the food bowl, but why aren't the nuggets going down? She can't be eating as many as she needs to be, so how do I persuade her to eat more? Is it healthy for her to continue to syringe-feed mashed nuggets instead of eating them out of the bowl? And why won't she even experiment with fresh veg (except pepper, which she can't get enough of)?

Apologies for all the questions, but having spent my (much needed) holiday nursing Freya through a cold only for Megan to drop dead in my car on the way to the Vet's, I really don't want to lose this one too.

 

[shiny]

I would try putting the pellets mash in a bowl for her to eat herself, that's a kind of halfway measure - maybe she will eat it like that. When we were getting baby Bertie (about 9 weeks old) to eat by himself again after major surgery & jaw muscle problems) we progressed onto leaving small amounts of a suitable organic baby food or made up Critical Care out for him to eat.

A loss of 50g in a 400g guinea is very serious, that is one eighth of her body weight, personally I would go back to the vet.

 

[Pebble]

It's possible that because she has not been eating properly for some time there may now be some overgrowth on the molars so I would suggest her teeth are checked properly by a cavy-savvy vet.

HTH
x

 

[Beautifulmess]

Have her back teeth checked, where is oldham? Is it near Birmingham? My rodentologist sorts my pigs teeth out, a vet can take a look and say, nothing wrong, he takes a look and finds the tinyest shard and then the pigs eating...

My pig stopped eating because of broken teeth, after a bit of a struggle, to get him back onto eating himself, my vet told me to starve him for 2-3 days (no syringe feeding) but keep sloppy food in the cage on a plate. Only put a small amount of pellets in so you can tell easier, favourite fruits/vegs. The first time I put critical care in his cage, it was gone within an hour... just scooping it up, the other pig he lives with, didn't touch it

 

[The Alcotroll]

Well, I really wish I hadn't taken her to the Vet's now.

I'd already tried her on mashed food and she wolfed it down, which got me thinking about whether there was a reason for her avoiding hard food. On closer inspection I found a lump under her chin. I hadn't seen it before, but then it's not an area of a Guinea Pig I'd really considered exploring. Needless to say, I took her on another Vet trip (a different Vet this time), and discovered that it was indeed an abcess.

She stayed in overnight to have it removed, but before the process could be done, the Vet discovered that Freya had a deformity of the tongue, where a strip of flesh had grown over her teeth, preventing her from chewing properly. The Vet didn't think it was rectifiable, and that Freya would never be able to eat properly. Malnourishment from this condition explained her ill health problems. Furthermore, if the Abcess was removed, her chances of recovering from the operation would be poor, given her inability to eat properly, and general ill health. The Vet was of the opinion that the kindest thing to do was to put her to sleep. Having spent so much time medicating her in various ways, I had to agree.

I only had her three weeks, but I'd grown very attached to her. At one point, I was syringe-feeding her recovery food every two hours and she'd become incredibly tame. She used to run up to me, wheeking, or follow me around the room when I let her loose on the floor. Even in her cage she wouldn't run for cover when I approached, but scuttled up to the bars all eagerness and sat there waiting to be picked up. It was hard enough losing Megan so suddenly last week- but I'd convinced myself that Freya was on the mend.

 

[Beautifulmess]

Thats very sad There really wasn't anything he could of done? Pigs can live without teeth you know, like have them taken out completely and be fine as long as everything they eat is soft... My rodentologist currently has a pig with no front teeth and does fine on mush and grated veg.

RIP Freya x