Hi everyone, I have a sad end stage dysbiosis/possible IBD piggy who I’m currently supporting with palliative care. I hoped you all might be able to help me with some suggestions to slow down her weight loss. This has been going on for several months but weight loss has accelerated in the last couple of weeks.
Poos are currently quite dark, soft but formed, and sometimes sticky with mucus. She will not eat hay independently but sometimes eats a bit when hand fed. She won’t eat any nuggets. She will eat veggies, which I am trying to restrict due to her digestive system being dodgy!
She is having approx 100ml critical care daily in lots of small 10-12ml feedings. She also has fibreplex, bio lapis and poo transplant from my healthy piggies. For pain relief she is on tramadol and calpol and gabapentin. She goes downhill whenever we reduce the dose of tramadol. She always has a very gurgly loud tummy but we have been lucky to avoid any severe episodes of bloat this far.
She is under the care of a specialist vet team at an exotics hospital, and I know that it will soon be her time to pass, but she is actually quite lively still and is so excited for her veg! So it doesn’t feel quite right to do that yet. She currently has some romaine, coriander or parsley, and some bell pepper every day.
I just wondered if there is anything I can feed her that will be bland enough not to upset her stomach further, but might contain enough calories to slow her weight loss.
I’ve considered or tried:
- adding emeraid intensive care to her critical care - might it be more digestible and nutrient dense? But I don’t want to reduce the fibre content of the syringe feed?
- readigrass - but she turned her nose up! And I was worried it might be too rich anyway
- oat hay and other hays - she likes for about 12 hours then goes off them
- carrots etc but I was worried the sugar content may trigger diarrhoea
- pea flakes - she won’t eat, despite having loved them previously
I haven’t tried porridge oats yet - I did offer dry and she won’t eat them willingly. Might they be suitable for her? I know it’s not a balanced diet but it’s really just palliative care at this stage. I could possibly mix them in with her critical care.
Thank you for all your help. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a miracle answer to give me more time with her!
Poos are currently quite dark, soft but formed, and sometimes sticky with mucus. She will not eat hay independently but sometimes eats a bit when hand fed. She won’t eat any nuggets. She will eat veggies, which I am trying to restrict due to her digestive system being dodgy!
She is having approx 100ml critical care daily in lots of small 10-12ml feedings. She also has fibreplex, bio lapis and poo transplant from my healthy piggies. For pain relief she is on tramadol and calpol and gabapentin. She goes downhill whenever we reduce the dose of tramadol. She always has a very gurgly loud tummy but we have been lucky to avoid any severe episodes of bloat this far.
She is under the care of a specialist vet team at an exotics hospital, and I know that it will soon be her time to pass, but she is actually quite lively still and is so excited for her veg! So it doesn’t feel quite right to do that yet. She currently has some romaine, coriander or parsley, and some bell pepper every day.
I just wondered if there is anything I can feed her that will be bland enough not to upset her stomach further, but might contain enough calories to slow her weight loss.
I’ve considered or tried:
- adding emeraid intensive care to her critical care - might it be more digestible and nutrient dense? But I don’t want to reduce the fibre content of the syringe feed?
- readigrass - but she turned her nose up! And I was worried it might be too rich anyway
- oat hay and other hays - she likes for about 12 hours then goes off them
- carrots etc but I was worried the sugar content may trigger diarrhoea
- pea flakes - she won’t eat, despite having loved them previously
I haven’t tried porridge oats yet - I did offer dry and she won’t eat them willingly. Might they be suitable for her? I know it’s not a balanced diet but it’s really just palliative care at this stage. I could possibly mix them in with her critical care.
Thank you for all your help. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a miracle answer to give me more time with her!
