Legend's Medical Thread - Not Eating

Talishan
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Post   » Thu Jun 29, 2017 5:00 am


Ditto daveandtiff's "pipeline" suggestions.

Pulling some Critical Care into a syringe, then some juice, then maybe more Critical Care, then maybe some Pedialyte, then swishing or wiping off the syringe with a paper towel has worked for us.

We call this "pipeline" because when petroleum producers transport different fuel grades (diesel, gasoline, etc.) through a pipeline to a distributor/tank farm, this is how they do it, in chunks or parcels. We've had some success getting more CC into unwilling eaters when it's 'chunked' or pulsed in the syringe like that with water, juices, Pedialyte, baby foods, etc.

Re: gabapentin -- all I have to say is that I was given that once for a back injury and it knocked me flat on my a**. Slept for hours and hours, could barely wake up or get out of bed.

If it's helping them with any pain, that's good and it's important. But if it's making them lethargic, zonked and sleepy I would not be surprised.

We used gabapentin with one pig and while it did NOT affect his energy level, demeanor, etc. it seemed to be of minimal help with comfort -- maybe helped a bit, but not a lot. Hopefully it'll be of more help to yours.

groundbeef

Post   » Thu Jun 29, 2017 8:12 pm


Much better day today. They were perky and eating this morning. Napped in the afternoon. Perky and eating again this evening.

They were so lethargic yesterday that I was afraid we screwed up their medications - so I skipped their noon Gabapentin. Since they were so much better today, combined with what Talishan just said, the wheels in my brain started turning. So I'm cutting their Gabapentin in half today. Looking for good things tomorrow.

It's time again to refill the Cisapride, so I spoke to the vet first. She said since their poops are looking OK, we should try taking them off it and see what happens. We're going to go ahead and get a new bottle just in case, but we skipped it tonight and we'll see how things come out (pun intended) tomorrow.

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daveandtiff

Post   » Thu Jun 29, 2017 8:26 pm


Oh, that is fantastic news!! Let's hope for everything to continue in this positive direction. Wheels in head are there for a reason :)

Talishan
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Post   » Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:36 am


My gut hunch was to suggest you give a smaller gabapentin dose and see what happened, but since humans and guinea pigs have significantly different metabolic mechanisms, I kept my mouth shut.

I'm glad you've tried adjustments and more glad that they seem to be working. You have excellent wheels, keep using them. :-)

Also glad to hear you got a cisapride refill. Do see how things come out. Hopefully they'll be fine. But if things seem to stop up a little, give a *smaller* dose of cisapride and taper it down to zero as they fully normalize rather than just stopping it outright.

Keep us posted!

groundbeef

Post   » Fri Jun 30, 2017 8:50 pm


Another good day today. I don't think they were quite as enthusiastic as yesterday, but still very good.

Their weight was up this morning, so we cut back the CC some more.

The Dr. talked me out of refilling the Cisapride. I hope that is the right decision. There seems to be plenty of poop today. They're still taking the lactulose, so that probably helps.

Talishan
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Post   » Sat Jul 01, 2017 5:30 am


I can't blame the vet too much on this one. Cisapride is a pretty powerful med, at least in my experience, and probably should not be used real freely.

All that said, pigs that have had a stasis/ileus/bloat/general gut slowdown episode tend to be a bit more susceptible to another. Don't be scared or paranoid about it, but do be watchful for any early indicators of another incidence.

The lactulose should indeed continue to help. See if the vet will let you just keep some of that on hand on a regular basis. It's a more benign and gentle substance, and can generally be used a little more freely than cisapride.

If you can keep something "light-duty", like lactulose or Reglan, on hand, you'll have it available to give immediately if something like this starts to look like it's reoccurring. Nipping it in the bud can *really* help a minor slowdown keep from becoming a full-blown problem. And I guarantee you if they develop a minor slowdown down the road, it WILL happen at 2 a.m. on a Saturday of a holiday weekend. Guaranteed. :-p

The more your vet trusts you to keep on hand, the better.

Hope they continue to improve, and please keep us posted.

groundbeef

Post   » Sun Jul 02, 2017 1:08 am


Still going OK. Not back to normal eating, but getting there. Carrots and peppers are disappearing pretty quickly. Proportions of hay and lettuce are moving in the right direction. Overall amount still less than normal.

Tomorrow will be the last of the Lactulose, so hopefully they'll be OK without it. Next time we're at the vet, I'll try to get a supply for emergencies. (They're very squirmy pigs, so we take them in periodically for toenail trims. The tech remarked to me that he always wonders why people bring them in for nails, but he understood for these guys.) I might try to get some sooner, but it was a no refill prescription, which means I've got to get the Dr. to do it, rather than just pick some up.

We are down to 7.5 cc's of CC per feeding for Legend and 6 for Little One. My intention is to keep dropping it by 1.5cc's (1/2 syringe) per day until they're off. Their weight seems stable or up over the last 4-5 days, ignoring some day to day variance. My mathematically precise planning is somewhat complicated by the fact that they get fed a little more when I'm not the one doing it. Of course, the pigs and the scale are really in charge.

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daveandtiff

Post   » Sun Jul 02, 2017 4:43 am


Their weights being stable and the increase with being interested in eating more on their own is very good. Awesome!

Talishan
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Post   » Sun Jul 02, 2017 7:11 am


Excellent news. Keep going. You're doing all the right things, doing good planning, and going in the right direction.

groundbeef

Post   » Sun Jul 02, 2017 9:32 pm


Still good. We're tapering the meds off as they start to run out. I think they are probably eating nearly enough to not need CC anymore, but we don't want to change things too abruptly. Hopefully this will all be concluded in the next three or four days.

Talishan
You can quote me

Post   » Mon Jul 03, 2017 9:30 am


Excellent. You're doing all the right things. Tapering in my experience works best for many meds (with the exception of antibiotics).

I wish more cavy owners were like you.

groundbeef

Post   » Sat Jul 08, 2017 1:30 pm


Sorry for the lack of updates. I've just been exhausted.

They were doing so well on the 3rd, that we cut back on the feeding a little too much, and they had a fairly large weight drop on the 4th. We took a step back and tried to taper off again. Working better now. They are down to two feedings/day, which is helping us. Only meds are a reduced dose of meloxidyl and simethicone. They probably aren't necessary. And Little One gets her Poly Citra. (Question - I understand she will be getting that from now on. True? She's getting .08mL twice daily. Will it be possible to go once daily in the future? Obviously I'll confirm with the vet.)

Just a review of weights: A month or so before this started, they were around 940g and 1250g. At our first vet visit, they were 938 and 1141. They got as low as 899 and 1099. This morning, they were 945 and 1153. That's her highest, and his highest was 1162 yesterday. You don't want to know how much we spent at the vet. They inspired an article at the Motley Fool - search for "Pet Insurance" on Fool.com. Buy a newsletter subscription while you're there. Or not.

We're past the three week mark on this now. Fortunately, there are two of us. I don't think I could have done it by myself. And thanks again for all the help from the Talishan and the rest of the forum.

I'll be going out of town for a week or so, but I'll try to do one (hopefully) final update when I return.

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