I had noticed my piggy being lethargic and not eating, so I took him to the vet and fortunately it wasn’t at a too serious stage. I was sent home with some medicine, but I was just wondering that when it comes to syringe feeding, should I switch between poop soup and mushy pellets? I’ve bought some oxbow critical care, but I had to get it shipped since it’s sold out where I live. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
-
Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement
Acute gut stasis in my piggy
- Thread starter gdiaz982
- Start date
I’m sorry to hear this.
No, you don’t switch between poop soup and mushed pellets. They are two different things with two different purposes.
Mushed pellets or critical care is fibre rich food and is what is needed to replace the lost hay intake and keep the gut functioning. He needs be fed every 2 hours through the day. You need to aim for 60-90ml per day but an absolute minimum of 40ml for survival.
Weigh him every morning so you know you are feeding him enough each day. You need to keep his weight stable each day.
Poop soup is simply gut bacteria transfer from a healthy piggy to a poorly piggy to help replace lost digestive bacteria. It is not food and will not keep him alive through stasis. You can give it a couple of times a day.
To make it you put your other healthy piggy In a box and give him some snacks. As soon as he produces poops, immediately put them in water. It has to be immediate because the bacteria start to die off as soon as the poop is produced. Leave the poops to soak in the water for five minutes. Then discard the poops and syringe the water to your poorly piggy.
I hope he is ok
No, you don’t switch between poop soup and mushed pellets. They are two different things with two different purposes.
Mushed pellets or critical care is fibre rich food and is what is needed to replace the lost hay intake and keep the gut functioning. He needs be fed every 2 hours through the day. You need to aim for 60-90ml per day but an absolute minimum of 40ml for survival.
Weigh him every morning so you know you are feeding him enough each day. You need to keep his weight stable each day.
Poop soup is simply gut bacteria transfer from a healthy piggy to a poorly piggy to help replace lost digestive bacteria. It is not food and will not keep him alive through stasis. You can give it a couple of times a day.
To make it you put your other healthy piggy In a box and give him some snacks. As soon as he produces poops, immediately put them in water. It has to be immediate because the bacteria start to die off as soon as the poop is produced. Leave the poops to soak in the water for five minutes. Then discard the poops and syringe the water to your poorly piggy.
I hope he is ok
I appreciate it! So mushed pellets is what I should aim for every 2 hours? Are there any other alternatives that are good as well since I have no critical care?I’m sorry to hear this.
No, you don’t switch between poop soup and mushed pellets. They are two different things with two different purposes.
Mushed pellets or critical care is fibre rich food and is what is needed to replace the lost hay intake and keep the gut functioning. He needs be fed every 2 hours through the day. You need to aim for 60-90ml per day but an absolute minimum of 40ml for survival.
Weigh him every morning so you know you are feeding him enough each day. You need to keep his weight stable each day.
Poop soup is simply gut bacteria transfer from a healthy piggy to a poorly piggy to help replace lost digestive bacteria. It is not food and will not keep him alive through stasis. You can give it a couple of times a day.
To make it you put your other healthy piggy In a box and give him some snacks. As soon as he produces poops, immediately put them in water. It has to be immediate because the bacteria start to die off as soon as the poop is produced. Leave the poops to soak in the water for five minutes. Then discard the poops and syringe the water to your poorly piggy.
I hope he is ok
Yes he needs to be fed recovery feed/mushed pellets often to get his gut back up and running. Give him as much as he will take at each sitting. The less he takes at each sitting the more sittings he needs.
The guides I linked in have the full details
Mushed pellets are the emergency alternative to critical care.
They are just a bit lower in fibre than critical care but are definitely sufficient until you get the critical care.
What medicines have you got for him?
Great advice by @Piggies&buns above. The guides linked are very informative and I’ve often referred to them when I’ve had a piggy with stasis. It’s often a few steps forward them a few back with stasis but your support feeding is critical. Good luck. We will be thinking of you.
He was sent home with some pain meds, a prokinetic, and some antibiotics since he had a bit of an upper respiratory infection (not too serious tho)
Its only been a day, but he seems to be doing ok. I’m still worried obviously when it comes to him not eating as much and still being not as active. I know it’ll take time, but it’s still tough since in the past I’ve had pets get sick and I was always too late. I really wanna take care of him and make sure he gets through it
You’re doing great.
Keep going with the syringe feeding. It’s essential you don’t stop even when he appears to be eating more.
You must continue until he is fully back to normal amounts of independent hay intake and can maintain his own weight.
Stasis recovery isn’t a straight line so it can take time
Keep going with the syringe feeding. It’s essential you don’t stop even when he appears to be eating more.
You must continue until he is fully back to normal amounts of independent hay intake and can maintain his own weight.
Stasis recovery isn’t a straight line so it can take time
I appreciate the words <3. Update: he seems to be doing a lot better today, eating more and moving around a little more. I know to keep syringe feeding him, but I’ve been doing it every two hours, should I keep feeding him at the same pace? Or maybe every 3 hours? I’m not too sure. Luckily, the critical comes in today, so that’ll help him recover maybe a bit faster
He will naturally start to refuse feeds when he is eating more hay. So if he is still taking the feeds at the 2 hours when you give them to him then he isn’t ready to reduce/stop them.
Also you need to use each morning weight check as the guide.
Update: my piggy is doing ok, not as active in the morning, but I know it’s gonna be a bit of a rollercoaster to get him better. I’m still very anxious because I tend to assume the worst, even if he’s a little less active, but still eating as much as he can, with syringe feeding every hour or two. Sorry for all the questions and thoughts, but it definitely helps hearing from you guys, especially since I’m a new owner and get probably way too attached to my animals.
Maeneth
New Born Pup
Goodmorning! Sending loads of healing powers on this end, I hope he recovers quickly! <3
Just hang in there. You’re doing everything right. When he’s eating more for himself he will need fewer syringe feeds.
You are doing great. It just may take some time, so don't forget to take care of yourself too. I understand how you are feeling as my Mylo got sick in the first month I got him and I didn't know what to do. The forum was godsend, to educate myself, but also to ease my anxiety.
Sending more healing vibes and wishing him speedy recovery
Sending more healing vibes and wishing him speedy recovery
Feed him as much as he will take at each sitting.
What have his daily weight checks been showing? That is your guide as to what you need to do next
Ramia
Adult Guinea Pig
My pig's name is stripe, too!
The best thing I have is a food weight thing. I put it in grams and it says he’s 808g, don’t know if that’s too underweight or anything
A set of kitchen scales is exactly what you need to weigh him.
What you are looking for at this point is that his weight is either stable or with a slight increase each day.
The number on the scales tells you whether he is eating enough. It doesn’t tell you whether he is underweight, overweight or just right. This is because there is a huge range is healthy adult weights - an adult pig can weigh between 600g and 1800g and still be perfectly healthy.
The only way you can know if he is a good size for himself (over, under or just right) is by checking his heft.
This guide explains