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Tiny little Dink

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Lisajazz

Lisajazz

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I recently took in a free to a good home baby. She is apparently 6 weeks old. Shes had a cold when first born I believe and has got better from that BUT she is very small. She weighed 170g 2 days ago when I went and got her.
That's apparently what a 2 week old can weigh.

She was in with a load of others - I am not sure how much of her weight issue is down to lack of food if she was last in the cage to get any.

Over the last 36 hours she has put on 20g and now weighs 190g.

I want advice from you experts on how to make her well and thoughts on what I am doing for her.

She has a probiotic in her water now, it's changed every day and the bottles scrubbed. I am reluctant to syringe her anything as she's just a baby. She seems to like the probiotic and is drinking alot.

She has alfalfa hay as well as other types - does this fatten up? Is it good for tiny ones?

She is on a complete pellet and I have seen her eating it.

Her poop is tiny - is this normal for a tiny one?

I give her fresh food, grass etc - she doesn't eat much of it though but she is having a go - esp at the corn.

I today put a ml of metatone in a spoon and she drank it. Is that okay? It's got lots of b vits so I am thinking it will be good for her in small quantities. I was going to do this twice a day for her.

She wont touch oats neither alone or in goats milk.

I think that's all I can think of.

She seems shaky but I can't pinpoint any ill symptoms just puny, weedy and weak. She does come out and eat throughout the day and isn't on deaths door, she's just not thriving right now.

Does she have a chance?

Here she is

dinkcloseuphand12thmay10.jpg
 
i had a guinea pig come in from logiebear a few weeks ago who was aged around 2wks and not thriving i fed goats milk via little kitten bottle then moved onto a ml syringe for 1 week and gave plenty high cal foods he soon doubled in weight with in 2 wks and was rehomed a week after that and is now a little fatty xx
id say your doing every thing right xx
 
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You are doing a lot already. I would stop the alfalfa when she reaches ca. 300g and switch to the normal hay.

If you want to help her gaining weight, you can feed her some oats mixed with full fat goats milk for a week. Just put it out in a dish and let her eat the mush. I would stop when she reaches 300g, even though that is still on the lower limit, but you do not want to fatten her up too much on protein. From there, she should be able to catch on soon with your good care and normal nutrition.
 
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clairelove said:
i had a guinea pig come in from logiebear a few weeks ago who was aged around 2wks and not thriving i fed goats milk via little kitten bottle then moved onto a ml syringe for 1 week and gave plenty high cal foods he soon doubled in weight with in 2 wks and was rehomed a week after that and is now a little fatty xx
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What high cal foods did you give?
 
Wiebke said:
You are doing a lot already. I would stop the alfalfa when she reaches ca. 300g and switch to the normal hay.

If you want to help her gaining weight, you can feed her some oats mixed with full fat goats milk for a week. Just put it out in a dish and let her eat the mush. Stop it when she is reaching 300g. Your little girl will catch on soon with your good cage and nutrition.
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She wont eat the oats and goats milk - tried it.

Any way I can make her like it?
 
i just gave normal veg,sweetcorn,oats and bread soaked in full fat goats milk and the pellets i also noticed once he started using the water bottle i put another one on and put goats milk in it has he wheeked when it was goats milk time he drank it out of the bottle but i still put a water bottle up too,after a few days he know longer wanted the goats milk and took to the water xx
 
Try corn, if she eats that - once she starts eating veg properly, there won't be any stopping her, anyway! You can try and sprinkle oats into her pellets; perhaps she'll eat them that way?
 
If she doesn't like goats milk, another alternative is a 50:50 mix of evaporated milk and water. You could soak this in some chunks of stale bread.
I myself have never tried this, but has been recommended to me by my local GP rescue.
 
Thanks everyone. She is quite active this afternoon which is nice. She is eating quite alot for her size I guess and if I put something in front of her she will usually have a go at it which is very cute.

I have sprinkled oats about the place (in the hay, pellets) hopefully she will eat some of them and she does already love Corn.

X
 
Bless her, lovely to see a pic of her. She does come across as very young - younger than 6 weeks or the runt of the litter.

You're doing everything you can, fingers crossed she continues gaining weight. xx
 
Hi Lisa. What a real sweetie Dink (is that her name?) is. Bless her little heart. Sounds good regarding what you are doing for her, and you can rely on the advice given on this forum too. I hope she picks up and starts gaining some weight. Lovely pic of her too. Aww..............^)
 
Monkeynutz said:
Hi Lisa. What a real sweetie Dink (is that her name?) is. Bless her little heart. Sounds good regarding what you are doing for her, and you can rely on the advice given on this forum too. I hope she picks up and starts gaining some weight. Lovely pic of her too. Aww..............^)
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yes she's called Dinky but Dink to me.

I have fingers and toes crossed but it's not nice the way she looks so fragile. It's freaking me right out!
 
Now for some good news after Dolly's not so good.

Dink is coming along nicely so far (touch wood) she's started coming for veggies! Where as she was so dopey before I would have to fish her out from under the hay rack and plop her infront of them - then she may or may not nibble on them. She has started coming toward them when they are put in the cage. She still isn't eating a great deal of them but she is eating them as soon as they arrive and seeking them out. Progress.

Going to weigh her in a mo.

OH and yesterday when I was givin her metatone she was quite a little scamp. She ran off when I went to get her - that's new she's normally been so dopey and still. Then she wasn't as cooperative on my lap although she does love metatone.

Going to weigh her in a mo.
 
Aw thats great news! I'm so pleased she's getting better! I hope she continues to improve :)
 
Did I say I was going to weigh her in a mo in my last post LOL :(|)rolleyes

Okay she hasn't gained over the last 2 days which isn't brilliant. But she' eating well and eating dry oats too so hopefully that will change.

Going to try bran next
 
Thanks I am pleased too. She just seems more with it and was very pleased to have Dolly back - she went over to see her straight away.

She licked all the metatone off the spoon today again so I know she's getting her vitamins.
 
208g weighed at the same time of day as the last weigh in.

So far she's put on 38g since being here!
 
Their weight can vary quite a bit depending on gut contents, so she may have put on flesh even though she weighed the same for a couple of days.
 
A friend of mine who have nursed quite a few sick and tiny piggies have given them something called Fortimel off a spoon or a syringe. It's a high cal nutition drink that you can get from pharmacies here. I know a lot of people here use it. Maybe worth a try asking your pharmacy about something like it? It usually have fruit or berry flavours and the piggies like it. You can mix in rolled oats too, if you want the piggy to eat it from a bowl. They usually look like a mess around the mouth when done :)
 
I'm using something like that called Metatone - it's a tonic that has vitamins, fruit red colour and she takes it off the spoon. I am off to check the one you recommend - see if it's any different.
 
I often use complan for babies that dont seem to be thriving properly. Mix it up as it says on the packet (for humans) and soak a little wholemeal bread with it - dont make it sloppy it needs to be more like a thick porridge - I've found the strawberry flavour goes down particularly well :)

Good luck with the little lady - she looks a real poppet x)

Teresa xx
 
Okay we have a setback. She's been gaining wonderfully and also getting much more 'alive'. Last couple of days she's been wonderful, totally full of life and much more interested in her food. Problem is she's taken a much bigger interest in eating veg too and I think it's given her runny and soft poop. It's not running diarrhea but she has some runny and some soft. BUM

I have given her this mornings veg and a small amount of grass today before noticing. I could kick myself.

She seems happy enough, it still interested in her pellets and hay. Should I just make sure she's off veg for a few days?

Any other advice?
 
HHMMMM maybe some probiotics might help settle her tum? or is she too little for them? I know in humans it helps for both types of tummy trouble. maybe try to cut down the veggies for a bit it might encorage her to eat more pellets? :{
 
Aw poor Dink, yeah I would cut down on the veg too, and leave her with the hard feed and hay. Maybe start small with the veg so her tum gets used to it and gradually build up to a proper sized portion.
 
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Yes shall do. I didn't give any more veg than before its that she's started eating it alot more - where Dolly would get the lions share before she started taking a fairer share last couple of days and I think she's just over done it.

I can see her now taking probiotic water so she's happy enough, she started wheeking about an hour ago when thebowls clanked together when I was washing them. rolleyes
 
Aww, bless little Dink. She is trying sooo hard and so are you. You are doing it all right aswell. I know what you mean by kicking yourself, cos you didn't see it happening. It's a right nuisance. I'm sure the runny poo will diminish once she's eating more of the hay and/or heeding to other advice to remedy it too. She's a little trojan. XX
 
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