Smokey's Poorly :-( Help Please

[Wiebke]

If he is not keen on Recovery, have you considered feeding either mushed up pellets or a mix of recovery food and pellets? Please be aware that putting him on strict fibre and no veg is going to speed up his recovery/rebalancing of the guts; if you continue to feed veg, it is going to take a lot longer. Also make sure that you have some rough carboard or toilet roll inners for him. If you have got other healthy piggies, you can soak some fresh poos from them in a bit of water and syringe this to help re-introduce all the right things into his guts. it is a bit gross, but most ill and recovering piggies love it!

A lot of hand feeding is down to practice. The first time is usually the worst; a bit like learning how to cut nails! The trick is to not to let him wiggle out of it, get the syringe in behind the front teeth and not overfill it; one third to one half of a small 1 ml syringe is about one mouthful. Our hand feeding guide is showing you with pics how to best go about it.
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/complete-hand-feeding-guide.115359/

 

[smokeysmummy]

I'm afraid my little guy is my only piggie, so 'poop soup' unfortunately isn't an option :-( I'll get some cardboard ready for him and will try the recovery later. He's been eating mushed up pellets in his bowl freely, so I don't have to worry about that at the moment xx

 

[smokeysmummy]

Had to take Smokey back to the vets as he had gas build-up again on Monday evening......he's been much brighter at the vets, being syringe fed every 2 hours overnight; they are giving him a break to see how he does on his own - eating reasonable amounts of hay but no pellets. He is still having 'some' fresh food - cucumber, peppers and herbs but very little. He is still on:
0.66ml emeprid twice daily; 0.2m ranitidine twice daily; 6 drops Metacam once daily; until yesterday he was on 0.1ml vetergesic 3 times daily (but thats stopped now)....whilst he's being syringe fed, the poops are a cometh - he's not been syringe fed this morning and the number of poops have reduced - but he's still getting through his hay and fresh bit, but absolutely no pellets. The vets have checked and double checked his teeth and say they are perfect, no issues there.
What's happening to my little boy? Does he just need a bit more time being syringe fed regularly by them? I'm speaking with the vet again shortly to discuss - what else should I be asking? I don't know exactly what's caused this gut motility issue this time OR why he doesn't seem able to stand on his own little pawsies at the moment?
Help again :o( I'm sooooo depressed, upset and concerned about my little boy x

 

[Lady Kelly]

I think maybe @Wiebke earlier post about giving him no veg at all and only introducing it very gradually when he has recovered might be a good start as something is definitely not right for him at the moment. Sending kisses and love to help him recover!

 

[Wiebke]

Please keep on syringe feeding and stay off all veg until things have stabilised - wait at least 2 days after the poos are fine and he is back on eating by himself and keeping his weight until you start re-introducing vet VERY slowly.

It is going to take time, and you need to be patient. Right now, it is back to square one. Guinea pigs whose digestion is off kilter can be very selective as to what they are eating, so don't freak about that. Hay is making around 80% of the normal food intake anyway, so he won't suffer badly if he doesn't get veg or pellets right for a bit.

If anything, the digestive tract takes TIME to settle down - weeks rather than days. Bloating can be a bit of a nightmare to get through. I have got an elderly piggy with a very iffy digestion, so I feel for you.