Critical Care

[Zorro1]

My piggy is not eating much veggies and not eating any hay. I don't have Critical Care at hand. What can I use in the meantime and what is the best brand of Critical Care to buy?

 

[A Guinea Pig]

My only advice is to use pellets as an emergency feed until you can get your critical care. You just add water to them until it's the consistency needed. I personally use Emeraid since Critical Care is extremely hard to come by. Hopefully, this helps a little bit.

How to Improvise Feeding Support in an Emergency

 

[Hannah_xx]

As above, You can soak pellets to use in place of critical care until you can buy some.
I hope your piggie starts eating soon

 

[Zorro1]

Thanks for your helpful replies. Very much appreciated.

 

[Piggies&buns]

Please switch to daily weight checks and step in with syringe feeding to stop his weight loss through not eating hay.

Please also see a vet - syringe feeding is very important but finding out why he isn’t eating hay is essential.

Probiotics & Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe

 

[Zorro1]

He has lost a lot of weight. We are trying to book an appointment at the vets, and we are waiting for some Critical Care to arrive in the mail. I tried soaked pellets in water, but they are too fibrous and will not fit through the syringe.
He is eating a little bit of finely chopped capsicum and a little bit of corn. I highly suspect that the issue is with his teeth as he seems to want to eat but has a hard time chewing -sometimes spitting food out.

 

[Zorro1]

I've heard that guinea pig can eat oats. Should I try feeding him oats to help him gain weight?

 

[Piggies&buns]

He has lost a lot of weight. We are trying to book an appointment at the vets, and we are waiting for some Critical Care to arrive in the mail. I tried soaked pellets in water, but they are too fibrous and will not fit through the syringe.
He is eating a little bit of finely chopped capsicum and a little bit of corn. I highly suspect that the issue is with his teeth as he seems to want to eat but has a hard time chewing -sometimes spitting food out.

Yes, it is too fibrous for a syringe so that is why you have to cut the tapered end off the syringe to get mushed pellets through. The guides explain.

It’s so important that you do not wait for the critical care and you get the mushed pellets into him right now. Significant weight loss is very concerning. How much has he lost? You step in at 50g of loss so if he has lose more than that then you really can’t for the mail to arrive.

Eating pepper and corn is nowhere near enough as it isn’t the fibre his gut needs.

I've heard that guinea pig can eat oats. Should I try feeding him oats to help him gain weight?

Oats are not what he needs at this point. He needs significant amounts of mushed pellets and critical care at this point.
Weight gain will not occur until his medical issue is dealt with and he is back to eating hay properly for himself - it takes weeks after the issue is fixed for weight gain.

A small amount of oats (a tablespoon) a day can be given after the issue is fixed but it does not replace syringe feeding during the illness. It is also not necessary after as it’s hay that will help him regain weight rather than oats.
A small amount is Oats are useful for elderly piggies who are healthy but could do with a boost. I give a pinch a day to my 6 year old piggy in winter to help keep weight on him while it’s colder.

 

[Zorro1]

I am a little embarrassed to admit that I haven't done daily weight checks, so I don't know how much weight he has lost. We know he has lost weight because his heft is very thin.
We took him to the vets just a few hours ago and they found what the issue is:
Because his jaws are naturally (slightly) misaligned, his incisor teeth have slowly grown incorrectly. Also, food has gotten stuck in the back of his mouth which has caused a few ulcers. We were prescribed a painkiller (Meloxicam) and we will need to get his front teeth filed.