Syringe feeding two piggies.

eileen

eileen

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I'm feeling exhausted,I've been syringe feeding one piggie for 9 weeks,one for 3 weeks.
Both have had bloat,together for last week.
My day seems to be filled with syringe feeding.no time for myself.
Everyone seems to think they can come to my house as I've no body living with me.
I've still needing to syringe 6 ,15mls syringes into each piggie.i will need to do this when friends visit.I'm not trying to be antisocial.but I need to put my piggies 1st.
 
Sending you hugs. I know how tiring syringe feeding is. I had months of it last year, an occasional walk round the block was an achievement between feeds and nebulising up to 5 piggies. I am anti social, at most I'd be carrying on with what I had to do with people here, although I'd tell anyone that phoned I was going out and if someone called by unexpectedly tell them I was just going out. Someone knocked the door when I was upstairs one morning, I hid until they had gone!
My partner has retired and he has problems with family, neighbours and friends asking him to do things for them. He moans at me saying he's got enough of his own things to do without anyone else's jobs. He's finally learning to say no!
 
Enjoy a nice relaxing bath, you deserve it.
It's amazing what we do for these piggies and the adjustments we make to fit everything in when they are ill. I bought a kitchen timer, while one was in the nebuliser I'd be feeding another and I was afraid I'd forget about the one being nebulised!
 
I'm very sorry that you have to support feed two piggies at the same time. One is hard enough, but worrying about two at the same time.. :(
I hope they will start to feel better soon and that you can relax a little bit.

I'm much better off than you are, but with Billie's chronic bumble foot (and therefore having to keep them on fleece) and hand feeding Odi everything veggy in stripes, I struggle sometimes myself.
 
You are doing a great job @eileen hang in there, it’s such an exhausting rollercoaster, do try and make some time each day to chill out and relax x
 
I’m so sorry you are supporting two poorly piggies. True friends will help you feed them. If I was closer I’d be over in a shot to help. Don’t answer door to anyone you don’t want to see. Take care ❤️
 
Hang on in there, you are doing your best for the piggies even though you are exhausted. I too would help if I could. When I had to syringe feed one poorly piggie it was tiring, so feeding 2 must be taking its toll. I hope everything settles very soon and both piggies get back to their normal happy selves. Sending hugs x
 
Sending hugs. I've never had two to syringe feed at the same time, but i found just one sick pig needing to be fed, massaged etc is exhausting, mentally and physically. I'm so sorry you're going through it. Take care of yourself too.
 
Dakota is much better,the bloat has resolved and she's eating on her own,just needing top up feeds ,this takes the pressure off.
Serena is needing 90mls feed a day just to maintain the weight,but having one that not so poorly lightens the load.
Thanks so much for all the words of support.
 
Well done to you and Dakota. Her improvement is down to your hard work. I hope you can get a little more time for yourself now.
 
Hello I just have a question, what is the reason for you having to syringe feed your piggies?

We have a four-year-old female right now that had overgrown rear teeth and a small sore way in the back of her mouth which needed antibiotics. Before any of this we did what everybody else does and fed them ( we had 5 ) all kind of fruits and veggies in proportion to whatever the dietary requirements claim to be. My wife and I have been on a 3 week crash course and trying to figure out how to keep this little girl alive and also figure out how this happened. Since day one we were told 80% hay 20% pellet healthy treat mix. Did we ever follow that.... I'm not going to answer that question on the grounds I would definitely incriminate myself.

After 7 days of antibiotics are little girl would look at her food but would not eat it. Force feeding her tube after tube of critical care and watching her getting skinnier was heartbreaking. The vet decided that possibly the antibiotic wasn't working and prescribed a different one that they give small children except the dosage was about four times as much. I gave her the same doses the first antibiotic and maybe after three times my wife and I decided to stop all antibiotics and the pain med. As far as people go it could take up to 2 months to get our GI flora back in proper working order the only difference is these little animals weigh around 2 lb and when they're not eating or drinking water that can drop to 1 lb really fast.

The back of that Sherwood packet caught my attention and it made a lot of sense because I'm on something called the carnivore diet which basically cuts all that same stuff out. ( I do a dirty carnivore because I can't give up chocolate and Italian bread :) Lol

I've also read these little creatures need 80 to 100 mL of water alone a day which a person needs about half their body weight in water in ounces. Sorry you'll have to convert. Everything you would do with a person you have to do with these little babies because of their size they go down incredibly fast.

This past day and a half there has been a ring of hope because she's starting to eat on her own again and she's drinking a lot of water. My suspicion is some antibiotics are stalling out their digestive systems and it can take up to a month after stopping the antibiotics to get everything back in order again.

Aside from the antibiotics just check out the back of that packet and decide for yourself what's best.

Pics below are Pinky Brown and her big sister Pinky Pink... It's the ears lol

Regards from the USA and good luck with your little piggies :)

Brian
 

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BrianPaul1969 said:
This past day and a half there has been a ring of hope because she's starting to eat on her own again and she's drinking a lot of water. My suspicion is some antibiotics are stalling out their digestive systems and it can take up to a month after stopping the antibiotics to get everything back in order again.
Click to expand...
Most antibiotics have a negative impact on appetite and will eliminate both good and bad bacteria in the gut, so they absolutely do disrupt digestion, and yes, it can take time to get the fauna and flora back to normal. This is true of piggies and humans and is why many doctors will prescribe a probiotic along side antibiotics to try to mitigate the disruption from the antibiotic.
Glad to hear your girl is eating some on her own. Pinky Pink and Pinky Brown are very cute.

eileen said:
Dakota is much better,the bloat has resolved and she's eating on her own,just needing top up feeds ,this takes the pressure off.
Serena is needing 90mls feed a day just to maintain the weight,but having one that not so poorly lightens the load.
Thanks so much for all the words of support.
Click to expand...
Glad Dakota is doing better and Serena is maintaining weight, even if it is through syringe feed.
What was the treatment they received for the bloat? Do you know what caused it?
 
Princess Dustmop said:
Most antibiotics have a negative impact on appetite and will eliminate both good and bad bacteria in the gut, so they absolutely do disrupt digestion, and yes, it can take time to get the fauna and flora back to normal. This is true of piggies and humans and is why many doctors will prescribe a probiotic along side antibiotics to try to mitigate the disruption from the antibiotic.
Glad to hear your girl is eating some on her own. Pinky Pink and Pinky Brown are very cute.


Glad Dakota is doing better and Serena is maintaining weight, even if it is through syringe feed.
What was the treatment they received for the bloat? Do you know what caused it?
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It's really funny you mentioned the probiotic because so far the vet never told us about it. My wife was doing some research and found these probiotic syringes BENE-BAC plus we just started using. There's just so much to learn uhhhh...
 
eileen said:
Serena is now taking 30mls of syringe feed in one sitting.She seems to like the critical care.
So things are getting easier.
I will take Serena to Simon in the new year,I'm thinking I need to get her teeth checked.
Click to expand...
It's really such a wonderful feeling when they start to eat again and I'm so glad to hear Serena is bouncing back. We are thinking the same thing with routine dental check-ups because it seems those chompers can get out of control pretty quick.
 
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