Advice needed on getting weight on a poorly pig

[Amy Westland]

Hi Guys so my skinny pig Eddie has his fair share of Health problems. He has an enlarged heart (so basically heart disease/ heart failure), arthritis in his knees and dental issues (he has weird tooth roots so his back teeth grow funny). He goes for regular dental checks and dentals (he has a dental every 1-2 months ) and he also has his heart checked. He’s on long term vetmedin, frusol and metacam.

He is doing well on his heart meds but his dental issues are causing a right problem he will only eat Critical care and mushed up pellets and oats… he’s right off his veg and hay. Which is causing his teeth to grow quicker as he isn’t grinding them down and his weight is fluctuating and he is deffo on the skinny side.

My question is how do I get weight on him, I syringe feed him and he also has access to the mushed pellets and critical care 24/7 which he will eat out of the bowl on his own but his weight is still shocking. What foods are good for guinea pigs with dental disease that will help them put weight on ?

Sorry for the long post

 

[Wheekallweek]

I was going to say oats but I see you're already offering him those! Have you tried grating his veggies, and offering him some herbs?
It would be worth weighing him daily, at the same time as well so you can keep an eye on his weight fluctuations

 

[SallyM79]

I have a dental piggie too that has treatment every 1-2 months. After her first treatment, Kim advised that we had to use the next 24 hours to teach her that it wouldn't hurt to eat anymore and stop/limit critical care during that time. She advised getting stalky veg like kale and slipping it into her mouth behind her front teeth so she would realise there was no pain and would start to eat. It took a couple of times and we had a pile of hay there too and she did start eating.

Obviously every case and piggy is different so this may not be the right path for you but thought I would share what the C&R clinic advised and what worked for us.