Please Help! my 5 day old orphaned guinea pig refuses to eat

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ellissian

Post   » Tue Jan 23, 2007 5:25 pm


I have been watching them all day and I havent noticed them feeding from her

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Tue Jan 23, 2007 6:01 pm


Then you must handfeed them.

If they're 'sleeping a lot' then you are going to have to be very aggressive if they're going to have a chance at survival.

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Topaz

Post   » Tue Jan 23, 2007 8:56 pm


Do you think a vet visit is in order? I mean, is it at that point that they're "not looking good"? Maybe that would be your best bet...just a thought. I'm worried about these babies.

Laura

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ellissian

Post   » Wed Jan 24, 2007 8:32 am


Ive just found out the babies have forgot how to suckle, Ive been trying to latch them on for ages. Ive even tried putting a little bit of milk on her teats but they still wont latch on. Help!!!! what else can I do

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SylvesterPiggie

Post   » Wed Jan 24, 2007 9:22 am


I'd take them to the vet. They can at least show you how to get them handfed properly.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Wed Jan 24, 2007 9:24 am


I did suggest handfeeding - you really have to do this.

As others have said, a vet visit is in order now.

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ellissian

Post   » Thu Jan 25, 2007 5:04 am


Good News!!! Three of the babies are eating solid food now so hopefully they will be ok. Little pixie however is still off her food though I am managing to get a small amount of food into her, hope she pulls round! Does any one know of any food that increases a guinea pig appetite?

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barb5417
For all Wonkys & Winkys

Post   » Thu Jan 25, 2007 8:23 am


I"m glad that some of the babies are eating.
However, why do you keep asking for advice,

"Does any one know of any food that increases a guinea pig appetite?"

when you haven't taken the advice of all the people that are trying to help you? Mum has stated right from the beginning that you must learn to handfeed, and yet you just ignore their very knowlegeable advice and do what you want.

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ellissian

Post   » Thu Jan 25, 2007 8:49 am


erm how do you think the babies have survived this long!!!

I have been hand feeding them since day one. I have never met a bunch of people who claim they care but obviously they dont I am tired of all this snide remarks and speech commas.

I promise I will never vistit this forum again, I have visited other ones that have been very helpful and understanding.

One last thing can I ask why if this site is so against baby guinea pigs drinking human formula milk does it have a link for weak babies endorsing its use. I rest my case. Thank you

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SylvesterPiggie

Post   » Thu Jan 25, 2007 9:54 am


Oh dear. You need to chill out. People are really just trying to help you out. When you are not taking their good and first hand advice and knowledge, its kind of useless for them to keep posting to help you. They do it anyways, because they don't want the rest of the babies to die.

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Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Thu Jan 25, 2007 10:10 am


I have been hand feeding them since day one
You have never actually handfed them, as you yourself said. Giving them food from a spoon is not what I was talking about, as you know from the link I gave you.

I also, along with many others, told you very early on that human milk replacer is totally inappropriate for guinea pigs. Information found in links is not something that can be controlled from here - you may find SOME useful information on other sites, but you need to be able to glean the good and leave the bad.

There are plenty of other forums you're welcome to visit. However, if you want medical advice be very careful what you listen too.

If you're going to continue to have baby guinea pigs then you'd better learn how to handfeed - and with a true handfeeding formula made specially for herbivores, which I doubt you're actually using.

I too am at a loss as to why you keep asking for information and then discounting it. If you simply want people to sympathize with your woes or agree with your incorrect methods, then by all means don't bother to post here again.

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twofinepigs

Post   » Thu Jan 25, 2007 11:04 am


I can see where someone would think that human formula at least has calories in it, and therefore would be worth something. The problem with this thinking is that the form of the calories is useless to guinea pigs and can actually be harmful.

Guinea pigs are strict herbivores and have a digestive tract - from teeth to anus - that is designed to extract nutrition from plant matter. Its gut needs plant matter to function.

Milk formulas contain absolutely no fiber, which is necessary to keep an herbivorous gut functioning. In addition, I would expect that the guinea gut does not produce the enzyme required to break down lactose for digestion - which means, from my reading, that there will be too much lactose in the large intestine, drawing in water and allowing an overgrowth of bacteria - this can cause bloating, diarrhea, gas, and so on.



It's sort of like feeding human babies dirt - hey, baby worms eat it and thrive, why not baby humans? Because we're significantly different from worms, we can get no value from dirt, and it will probably harm us. Guinea pigs are NOT humans and do not have a human infant's digestion.

Critical Care is specifically designed to meet the needs of herbivores. If you're already feeding Critical Care and think you can add a little human formula on the grounds that it won't hurt, then you have to realize that the forumula itself, for the above reasons, may STOP gut function so that the pig can't get any good from the Critical Care either!

Edited to add: I don't actually know if worms eat dirt, but I was looking for a good simile and that's what I thought of. Different species have different nutritional needs!

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