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Dental Hand feeding hay guide?

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quicklies

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Hi, is there any guide on how to hand feed pieces of hay to guinea pigs? I was told to do this after a dental. Sadly he still isn't eating hay. I try to place the pieces of hay in his mouth but he treats it like poison, just grabs it from me and throws it away.

I forgot to add that he's had metacam 0.5ml (dog one) in the past hour so he should not be not wanting to eat due to pain.
 
You need to syringe feed a recovery feed or mushed pellets if he isn’t eating hay for himself. It’s absolutely fine to hand feed strands of hay but given hay is 80% of the daily food intake and you aren’t likely to be able to handfeed enough strands to match that, syringe feeding must be done. Syringe feeding directly replaces hay intake when a piggy isn’t eating hay for themselves
Alongside that, you also need to weigh him daily so you can be sure you are getting enough syringe feed into him in each 24 hour period. Your aim is 60ml of syringe feed but you may need to do more than that depending on what the daily weight checks tell you

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
 
I am syringe feeding 60-80ml every day for the past week but was told not to following today's dental because he won't be motivated to eat hay if his belly is full. And was told to hand feed thicker strands of hay, hence me asking for tips on how to do that.
 
quicklies said:
I am syringe feeding 60-80ml every day for the past week but was told not to following today's dental because he won't be motivated to eat hay if his belly is full. And was told to hand feed thicker strands of hay, hence me asking for tips on how to do that.
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A piggy who can eat, will eat - syringe feeding wont stop them from eating, its usually the opposite - they will begin to refuse syringe feeds once they are getting enough hay independently. Make sure lots of hay is present in the cage at all times, but if you stop syringe feeding and he doesnt have confidence back yet to eat for himself following the dental (it can take some time before that happens), then he will quickly end up in trouble. The alternative is to leave a bowl of critical care in his cage so he can nibble at it when he wants to but you still need to be weighing daily so you know he is actually eating it and stepping back in when necessary
Use your daily weight checks as your guide as to when you can ease off on the syringe feeding.

If you are going to handfeed hay, which is fine to do, then it is literally just offering strands of hay. There is no guide for that and syringe feeding needs to take precedence when a piggy is not yet able to eat hay for themselves.
 
He has fresh crau hay and timothy from Happy Hay, as well as timothy blend from Hay Box always present and replaced multiple times a day. But he only eats the short bits of timothy blend (~2 cm long) which do not work his teeth properly. The vet today recommended hand feeding more difficult strands of hay but I was not able to get him to eat even one. :(

As for the syringe feeding, I am just saying what I was told today. If the guinea pig is satiated through too much critical care, he won't have motivation to give hay a go.

My other guinea pig eats mountains of hay every day and let me tell you he's definitely not refusing syringes of CC when finishing off for his neighbour.


I understand, but I was also told that the dental today will be a waste if he's still on syringe feed as the teeth will just get bad again.
 
It is very early days after the dental and he might still have a very sore mouth or be sleepy from the meds. Encouraging hay eating is good, but the same day as a dental operation, may be too soon to expect too much.
Why not cut back on rather than stop the syringe feeding, while monitoring weight, for the first few days- offer maybe 5 mls then offer real food an hour later.
Were you prescribed enough pain medication, loxicom or metacam? Dentals are quite physical in piggies and the mouth may be scratched and bruised for a few days, so pain relief may be needed to proerly get going with hay grinding even if the teeth are ok.
 
Does metacam make them sleepy? I don't think he was given any meds during the dental but I might be mistaken. I was told they usually eat right after the procedure.

Yes I was prescribed to continue the 0.5ml twice a day which I've done for the past week when I visited another vet. He had one dose this morning and one this evening when I returned home from the vet.
 
No metacam does not cause drowsiness, most dentals are done with sedation though. Which vet do you use? Very few do conscious dentals, but some very experienced vets do, we'd be interested to hear where you went. Were molars done or just incisors?
If the vet feels that the teeth should be sorted now and piggy should be eating hay, maybe give them a call if the recovery isnt going to plan.
 
When my Meg refused to eat hay after a dental she would eat grass as it was much softer. Have you access to dog, cat and fox wee free grass? Meg was on grass for a few months before she was confident enough to try hay again.
 
I was at the C&R clinic, Kim did it. She did molars but said incisors were bad due to uneven eating, so I think she did them too.

He's eating fresh grass just fine however that does not seem to be enough, he's been eating fresh grass nearly daily as we have access to safe grass and also we grow some.
 
If he's eating grass that will also wear down the teeth. You have a very good vet there, an expert in dental surgery, so I suggest you contact them if you have any concerns.
 
Betsy said:
When my Meg refused to eat hay after a dental she would eat grass as it was much softer. Have you access to dog, cat and fox wee free grass? Meg was on grass for a few months before she was confident enough to try hay again.
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How much grass were you using daily and did she have to have dentals while she ate grass only?
 
I gave Meg a carrier bag full of hay every day and she just had 1 more dental. She had only one tooth spur that was lacerating her cheek. Each case is different so your piggies may need more dental.
 
How much fresh grass to feed daily weight wise? Also are dandelion leaves helpful? Not sure if they have silica but he finds them enjoyable.
 
quicklies said:
How much fresh grass to feed daily weight wise? Also are dandelion leaves helpful? Not sure if they have silica but he finds them enjoyable.
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Its going to depend on personal situation - he needs to eat enough to maintain his weight.
But you also should not suddenly and dramatically increase the amount of grass he has as it risks causing a digestive upset.
Dandelion is slightly higher in calcium

Has he started to eat some hay independently?
What did this mornings weight check tell you?
Did you syringe feed anything to him?
 
Yeah he already has a little bloat confimed by the vet but not too concerning, I wonder if it's from grass. But he does not really eat hay so I dunno.

He eats short wispy bits of hay, thin ones that probably barely wear his teeth down. (The soft hay from Hay Box, it's the blend but he doesn't eat the thicker strands)
His weight has been steady 1100g since this episode started. His normal weight is 1200g when his teeth are fine.
I gave him 15ml of oxbow fine grind today so far and romaine lettuce. He nibbled at hay. I was told to reduce the critical care to make him hungrier so I am doing that. I will probably give him around 60ml today.

He is able to eat thick hay strands, I managed to put one is his mouth and he ate it with no issues, so his teeth are fine and it seems psychogical now. He's on metacam 0.5ml twice daily.
 
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