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GP Lover
My home, ruled by pigs!

Post   » Thu Mar 21, 2002 7:31 am


What an ordeal you are going through Sonia...I really hope that your piggie makes it. It´s great that your vet is working with you to make her better.

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Sonia

Post   » Thu Mar 21, 2002 11:26 am


Piggie is fighting less with the Critical Care than with the slurry. She has also urinated a couple of times. Can I feed more Critical Care than 0.5cc every hour. ??? The dose says for a 2lb Piggie then 45cc is recommended spread over 4-5 feeds, do you think that it would be okay to feed 8cc every time until the 5 feeds is over and the other feeds kick in ??? I am still feeding every hour. On top of that she has 2.5ml fluids and some grass, cucumber and a bit off a leaf of Romaine Lettuce. She still refuese hard feed, liquidised, or nuked.

Peace, Love, and Happiness, Always
Sonia

Evangeline

Post   » Thu Mar 21, 2002 11:31 am


I usually give them as much as they want. You need to put more food in her, as she doesn,t seem to poop enough.

Josephine
Little Jo Wheek

Post   » Thu Mar 21, 2002 11:35 am


I usually try to get at least 5-10 cc total into a pig at a single feeding. It depends on how often you are force-feeding and the cooperation of the pig, but I think 10 cc is reasonable. I try to keep sick animals force-fed every 2-4 hours. If they are not eating anything at all, I feed more often, but in smaller quantities. If the animal is willingly taking the Critical Care, I give them as much as they will take.
Last edited by Josephine on Thu Mar 21, 2002 11:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

pigpal

Post   » Thu Mar 21, 2002 12:45 pm


Glad to hear you´re both keeping up the fight.

You asked about pineapple juice. As Pinta said it´s commonly used to prevent hairballs/gastric stasis in rabbits, the theory being that the enzymes in the pineapple and papaya help digest the hair blockage.

However, this is from www.rabbit.org, copied from an article debunking popular rabbit myths:


"Pineapple juice, papaya and/or enzyme products are helpful in treating hair-balls in the rabbit."

Because the rabbit can not spit, it ingests a lot of hair when grooming. It is commonly thought that this ingested hair leads to gastric hair-balls ("gastric stasis," see above). For at least three decades rabbit owners have treated this problem with a host of digestive enzyme products including pineapple juice, papaya, or papaya tablets (all of which contain the digestive enzyme papain), or a number of pharmaceutical enzyme products including Prozyme, Viokase and many more. Several well performed scientific studies have shown that these products neither correct nor prevent the accumulation of hair, nor will they dissolve the accumulation of food and hair that forms in the stomach of the rabbit. We have found, however, that pineapple juice may have some positive effect in the rehydration and return of normal stomach acid levels in the stomach contents of rabbits with gastric stasis.


Seems like it has a similar positive effect on guinea pigs. Oxbow Hay offers Pineapple/Papaya tablets as a digestive aid for rabbits, but I would think the juice is much better as you get the hydrating effect too.

Good luck, Sonia.
Last edited by pigpal on Thu Mar 21, 2002 12:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Evangeline

Post   » Thu Mar 21, 2002 5:11 pm


Any fresh news?

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Sonia

Post   » Thu Mar 21, 2002 5:35 pm


Update time: Piggie just weighed in at 935g...Yay ! and while she is still fighting me, she is not fighting as strongly as she was with the slurry, although I am using Brocoli wedged into her sides, under a towel as it is the right shape for her, to keep her corralled ( as suggested by Lynx) and a rolled up towel behind, to stop her side stepping and backing away. In the past three hours she has produced several softish poops, which remind me of light baby slugs, but they are now firming up. She is also now producing urine more regularly, although still not as much as she used to, but then it is early days yet. I am still feeding every hour but for no more than 15 minutes, as I don´t want to exhaust her, and at the same time I give about 2.5ml of bottled Evian water ( which she always had as a treat and loved ). She is taking around 8ml of Critical care at every second hour, before she starts that stubborn look again, and a battle to get the fluids in her starts. However every alternate hour I do feed her the slurry ( about 2.5ml ) and 2.5ml of water. The colour has returned to her ears and her eyes are bright, but the lovingly stubborn little madam still won´t eat on her own. Has anyone any ideas on how long hourly feeds can go on for, a week, a month ??? I am slowly getting used to getting up every hour to feed, and sleeping in my breaks, but how long is it reasonable to expect to continue like this...if I have an idea then I can re-schedule work and things for however long it takes.

Bramble is eating anything put in front of her. I am going to slow down on the grass and greens for a short period, as her droppings are a little softer than I am happy with, and she wolfed back 2.5ml of Critical Care that I´m giving her three times a day to sort her gut out. She even climbed into the glass to lick it out...mad but none the less cute Piggie !!! Other than that she seems in excellent health and is a totally reformed cavy after her Spay. The wound is looking great and everyone is delighted with her progress.

Oh, and how much is a good weight for a healthy adult Guinea pig ???

Phew...talk about an emotional rollercoaster this week !!!

Peace, Love, and Happiness, Always
Sonia

pinta

Post   » Thu Mar 21, 2002 6:17 pm


Is Evian distilled water? I don´t know anything about it but would want to be sure by giving it you aren´t throwing anything out of whack.

It can take a long time before they go back to regular eating habits. Or a short time - depends on the pig. As she gets stronger you can put a longer gap between feedings.

Sometimes the transition to regular food is easier if you offer pellets softened with water. Is she eating hay?

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Sonia

Post   » Thu Mar 21, 2002 6:53 pm


Evian is natural Mineral Water...if you think it would be better to stick to tap water then I will. I just thought it would be easier as I know it is something she loves, and our tap water is well, yucky to say the least...too much chlorine I think. I have been on Evian bottled water for years now, as it´s meant to be one of the purest and cleanest waters, as I kept getting ill on tap water, and then started getting allergic reactions to it.

I feed the pellet mash every alternate feed, and there is always some in here cage which is weighed in and out, every feeding time, to see if she has eaten any, and then replaced with fresh stuff. She hasn´t touched it. She has hay available and Readi Grass in there too, but hasn´t touched it yet, she just chews it down into small segments and spits it out again. She has just taken about three blades of freshly plucked grass though and eaten them so I shall monitor the food very very closely to see if she decides to feed herself.

Peace, Love, and Happiness, Always
Sonia

pinta

Post   » Thu Mar 21, 2002 7:00 pm


I don´t know anything about mineral water. Maybe someone else does? We´re blessed with great tap water although bottled water is doing a thriving trade (never mind a study that found some brands of bottled water to be more contaminated than tap).

I´m guessing it won´t hurt her but again, I know nothing about it.

Try feeding her little bits of hay. It´s important that her molars keep getting a workout.

The most important thing is to get her into full recovery from the surgery. And it does sound like it´s happening.

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Alfie

Post   » Thu Mar 21, 2002 7:12 pm


Evian´s pretty pure - I think it comes from glacial springs, for what that´s worth (I suppose it´s better than some which are just bottled out of someone´s backyard). Some bottled waters have strange mineral levels which might cause problems but Evian´s good. Luckily we, like Pinta, have excellent tap water, but in some areas bottled water is a much better option. I´d stick with it, Sonia.

It´s good she´s taking the grass. I hope she continues to do so.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Mar 21, 2002 7:15 pm


I think as long as you do not use distilled water (seems I´ve heard that causes problems), you´re probably okay.

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