Guinea pig with URI wont eat critical care

[andrew82101]

So i had my guinea pig ginger to the vet yesterday, she has a URI. She is on 2 antibiotics and eye drops. I am having to feed her critical care as she will not eat at all on her own. But she will not eat from a syringe. I'm only ever able to get at most 5ml of critical care into her every 4 hours, most of the time its only like 1-2ml. She wont eat, drink, or even eat veggies on her own, I'm worried shes not getting enough food and i dont know how to get more in her. I'm super worried about her.

 

[My Piggies]

I'm sorry to hear your girl is not feeling well. Can you try mixing the critical care with a little bit of banana?
Best of luck, sending love and healing vibes

 

[Squiggle]

Try mixing the Critical care with a little baby food, I found my boy likes a pink lady apple puree one, you can also get critical care fine grind which smells a little better so may taste nicer.
My boy is currently syringe feeding too and I'm doing a combo of both critical cares with a pinch of proC mixed to the consistency of soup and then I mix in the baby food. There is a complete syringe feeding guide on here too, well worth a read.
ProC is a probiotic with vitamin C, and is a must if your piggy is on antibiotics, although best to stagger giving it and the antibiotics otherwise the antibiotics will kill off the 'good bacteria'.

Fingers crossed your little one gets better soon.

 

[Piggies&buns]

The need to breathe comes before the need to eat and with a URI if piggy isnt able to breathe then that can make it harder to get food into them.

Please switch to weighing her every day (at the same time each day) as it is the only way to know if you are getting enough critical care into her. The less critical care she takes at each sitting, the more frequently you are going to need to feed. The daily weight checks are the only way of gauging how much to give, but you would be aiming for at least 40-60ml in a 24 hour period to keep her weight stable. If she doesnt like critical care, then it can help to use normal her pellets and mush them up with warm water and either use them on their own or mix it in with the critical care - it can give a more familiar taste.

Antibiotics can affect their gut (some more than others but you dont say which antibiotics she is on) so giving a probiotic is recommended for a piggy on antibiotics. Please do give a probiotic 1-2 hours either before or after an antibiotic dose (the US and UK recommendations vary but in reality it doesnt matter). BeneBac is the recommended US probiotic.
Poop soup can also be given - soak the very fresh poops from a healthy companion in water and the syringe the water to the poorly piggy.

The guides below will help further

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Today's instructional video on our Facebook page - Syringe feeding
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Probiotics, Recovery Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links