Should I Still Give My Guinea Pig Recovery Liquid If She Hasn't Went Off Her Food?

[Karis]

I adopted 3 guinea pigs from a rescue centre i volunteer at on Thursday.. One is the mum called Tilly and she has two babies who are 8 weeks old, a wee girl called Belle and a boy called Peanut.. Anyway back to what I'm not sure about.. I noticed one of Tilly's back toes was swollen and red so i took her to the vets today, and the vet said it was a nail bed infection.. So she gave us antibiotics to give her but also a powder substance thats called "Recovery liquid feed for recovering small herbivores" from Supreme science.. Which the vet said i had to give her.. Because the antibiotics can cause pain in the stomach and put them off their food, so I've gave her some already today but she is actually eating her hay and vegetables, dried food and drinking absolutely fine, so do i still need to give her the recovery liquid? If anyone could help me as soon as possible that'd be great, thank you.

 

[helen105281]

I would keep it on standby, the main thing you need to give her is probiotics (did the vet give her Baytril?). You can get them from the vets or online - brands include Fibrplex, Avipro Plus, Bio Lapis, but Pets at Home sell Vetark Pro C which is also good and may be easier to get hold of. This means you are giving her friendly bacteria to replace what the Baytril will strip away. Probiotics are best given at least an hour after antibiotics. You may find that over the next few days she may go off her food in which case you would need to step in with the recovery. Are you ok with syringe feeding? I would also weigh her daily while she is on the antibiotics.

Welcome to the forum, please could you confirm your location?

Is Peanut living separately?

 

[Karis]

Yes it is Baytril the vet gave her, but the vet gave her Recovery liquid feed to syringe feed her with, do you know if this contains the bacteria to replace what the Baytril will strip away? The vet mentioned something about that.. I'm sure thats what the Recovery liquid is for as well as to replace food. Yes I'm absolutely fine with syringe feeding, i have to give her the Baytril by syringe and I've already feed her some of the recovery liquid earlier today.
Thank you, Peanut is living separately until he gets neutered.

 

[helen105281]

I just looked it up and it does seem that the recovery plus has added probiotics but not the ordinary one. If you can get probiotics aswell that would be good as it can only help.

Bless little Peanut.

 

[Karis]

Okay i will purchase some probiotics tomorrow, do you know if I should give Tilly the recovery liquid now or should i only give her it if she goes off of her food? thank you so much for your help
Peanut keeps doing the mating dance wanting to get through to them, poor wee thing but it is quite funny, he is such a character.

 

[helen105281]

Happy to help. You need to strike a balance between encouraging her to eat for herself but stepping in if needed. You could always give her 10ml or so, and increase it if she stops eating for herself or starts losing weight.

Poor Peanut, some people suggest giving lone baby boars a soft toy (one suitable for babies).

 

[Karis]

Okay that's what i'll do, thank you
I did think about putting a soft teddy in for him, now that you've said it i think i will, Thank you so much.

 

[GPTV]

I'm no expert & cant really add anything to, but agree with helen105281's advice.
But Welcome to the Friendly Furball Forum & healing vibes for your little one. xx

 

[Karis]

Thank you Tilly's toe is looking a lot better today.

 

[BonBon2010]

Biscuit had a Polar bear cuddly toy, he humped it to death He did love him though, used to sleep with him

 

[Karis]

Aw lol, i think Peanut will do the same when he gets one