Need advice for syringe feeding & feeling overwhelmed with new dental issue

[wheekly]

Hi everyone,

I’m so overwhelmed.

My guinea pig stopped eating hay completely (she eats everything else), was having trouble chewing, was barely pooping, and lost over 60g of weight so I took her to the emergency vet. They found that one of her back teeth is slightly overgrown which is causing a small lesion on her tongue. They believe the pain from this can explain why she does not want to eat hay.

For reference, she is a 5 year old female and currently weighs 657.8 grams.

I got prescribed dog strength meloxicam 0.22 ml once a day and metoclopramide 0.32 ml twice a day until normal eating & pooping returns. I was told that she’ll likely have to undergo a sedated oral exam and get her tooth shaved down in the future so I’m looking into getting that done.

However…I’m having so much trouble giving her the medicine and the critical care. I have syringe fed guinea pigs many times and I have never had this much trouble. I honestly think it’s because she has 100% of her energy since she’s not sick. My guinea pigs in the past were sick so they didn’t fight so much.

I don’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything and every way of holding her, I burrito wrapped her, I mashed banana in with the CC, I made a pellet mash…nothing works. I know how to restrain her paw movement with the burrito wrap but how do I get her to stop thrashing her head? She headbutts my hand up and away no matter how firmly I hold her and I’m at my wits end. I just want her to eat. It’s only day 1 and I’m already so overwhelmed.

I’ve also never had a dental piggie before so this is all so new and overwhelming to me. I don’t have the money realistically to do all of this but I’m doing it because I love her and I’d do anything for my pigs. I’ll do whatever’s necessary to help her. It doesn’t make the finances any less stressful though.

It’s been 10 hours and I’ve only managed to give her about 3.5-4 ml of CC. I can’t stop crying; I don’t want to fail her.

I’m grateful that she’s still eating her veggies and pellets and drinking water. That way, it’s not just the CC she’s relying on. At least there’s that. She also ate an Oxbow vitamin C supplement that I gave her.

I do want to give her enough CC though…it’s so difficult and seems impossible.

She has the appetite, she just needs help with the pain. I’m worried that the meloxicam won’t be enough to get her to eat hay again. I had a piggie on meloxicam and she got a higher dose, twice a day. 0.22 ml once a day seems a bit low to me, even if it is dog strength…

And then I’m worried about the fact that the longer she goes without eating hay, the longer the tooth will grow. I don’t know how fast or how much, and I’m worried she will stop eating all together before she gets to have the procedure.

And then there’s the fact that I’ll have to syringe feed her after the procedure and I can’t get her to stop thrashing her head…

Ugh, sorry for the long post. Just feeling very defeated & overwhelmed about everything.

 

[Chickensmom]

I’m not the most experienced in this topic, but my advice is to gently pull back the lips with your thumb and index finger, then put the medicine in their cheek so they don’t spit it out.
The 3 times I’ve had to give my piggies medicine it’s worked, however it did help that they had chill personalities.
Below is a picture of how I normally do it, it looks a bit harsh but I promise it’s not.

 

[wheekly]

I’m not the most experienced in this topic, but my advice is to gently pull back the lips with your thumb and index finger, then put the medicine in their cheek so they don’t spit it out.
The 3 times I’ve had to give my piggies medicine it’s worked, however it did help that they had chill personalities.
Below is a picture of how I normally do it, it looks a bit harsh but I promise it’s not.

Thank you for your reply! That’s what I’ve been doing, but I can’t get her to stay no matter how firm I am. She thrashes her head back and headbutts me away.

 

[Chickensmom]

Do you have anyone else who could help you?
I’ve had to give my cat medicine via a syringe and he’s a MENACE. He will literally avoid it as much as he can, biting and scratching in the process. Whenever I have to give him medicine, I pry open his mouth and my dad squirts it in his mouth. Maybe something like this could work for you.

 

[wheekly]

Hi all,

I finally found a way to get my piggie to take the critical care. It still takes some time, but it gets done! I was able to do 10ml in one sitting.

She currently weighs 1.45 pounds. Does anyone know how much that would equate to in terms of how many ml of CC she needs in 24 hours?

My plan was to do 4 feedings a day: 10 ml every 6 hours, for a total of 40 ml per day.

Not sure if that’s too much.

Thanks!

 

[Piggies&buns]

EDIT - I have found you made two posts so I have merged the two together.
My reply below was based that there was no background on your second post. I have now found your first post and merged them so there is now more background.
The advice still stands but I can now see that your piggy is not eating any hay. Therefore you definitely do need to feed more often than every six hours and you are aiming for 60ml + of syringe feed each day.

——-

The amount you give depends entirely on how much hay your piggy is eating independently and therefore what the daily weight checks are telling you.

It is essential you weigh your piggy each morning. if she has lost weight compared to the weight check from the day before then you need to syringe feed more the next day.
If your piggy is not eating anything independently then 40ml is only the absolute survivable minimum. If she is still eating a decent amount is hay for herself then 40ml may be ok but you ideally are looking to get 60-90ml into her each day.
Again, if she is not eating any hay then feeding every six hours is nowhere near enough. As she is getting 10ml a time then she really ought to be fed every three hours. If she eats less than 10 ml in a sitting then feeding ought to be done every two hours.

 

[wheekly]

EDIT - I have found you made two posts so I have merged the two together.
My reply below was based that there was no background on your second post. I have now found your first post and merged them so there is now more background.
The advice still stands but I can now see that your piggy is not eating any hay. Therefore you definitely do need to feed more often than every six hours and you are aiming for 60ml + of syringe feed each day.

——-

The amount you give depends entirely on how much hay your piggy is eating independently and therefore what the daily weight checks are telling you.

It is essential you weigh your piggy each morning. if she has lost weight compared to the weight check from the day before then you need to syringe feed more the next day.
If your piggy is not eating anything independently then 40ml is only the absolute survivable minimum. If she is still eating a decent amount is hay for herself then 40ml may be ok but you ideally are looking to get 60-90ml into her each day.
Again, if she is not eating any hay then feeding every six hours is nowhere near enough. As she is getting 10ml a time then she really ought to be fed every three hours. If she eats less than 10 ml in a sitting then feeding ought to be done every two hours.

This was helpful, thank you!

 

[wheekly]

I just weighed her, and she did lose a bit, so today she’s going to get 5ml every 2 hours for a total of 60ml. I may do more to get it more towards the 70-80ml range. Icalled out of work and I have a timer set for every 2 hours. We’ll see where she is tomorrow. Thank you everyone for the advice!

 

[piggieminder]

Sending you my best wishes as support.

 

[Piggies&buns]

I just weighed her, and she did lose a bit, so today she’s going to get 5ml every 2 hours for a total of 60ml. I may do more to get it more towards the 70-80ml range. Icalled out of work and I have a timer set for every 2 hours. We’ll see where she is tomorrow. Thank you everyone for the advice!

Don’t stick to just 5ml, feed her what she wants in each sitting.

 

[wheekly]

Don’t stick to just 5ml, feed her what she wants in each sitti

Don’t stick to just 5ml, feed her what she wants in each sitting.

Understood! Thank you for all of the advice. I’ll do as much as she’s willing to take. On days where I am at work or otherwise not home, would doing a larger feeding before I leave be sufficient to make up for the few hours I’ll be away? Like is it more about reaching the 60-90ml goal by the end of the day, or is it more about doing the sittings every few hours?

 

[Piggies&buns]

You have to be able to sustain it and look after yourself also - it’s not always feasible to be there round the clock!

While it’s more about overall amount each day and what the weight checks tell you, there is also a point at which they can’t take anymore at each sitting! So you may find you need to do many more smaller feedings in the evening when you are back to get enough into her.

 

[wheekly]

You have to be able to sustain it and look after yourself also - it’s not always feasible to be there round the clock!

While it’s more about overall amount each day and what the weight checks tell you, there is also a point at which they can’t take anymore at each sitting! So you may find you need to do many more smaller feedings in the evening when you are back to get enough into her.

That makes sense. Thank you so much for all of the help.

 

[wheekly]

Happy to report that the scale not only showed that my piggie maintained her weight, but it actually went up 18 grams! I was able to get 15-18ml per sitting yesterday. I’m doing her morning feeding and she’s way less fiesty. I think she’s realizing that it’s helping her.

 

[wheekly]

Now she’s even willingly taking the syringe! Feeling pretty good knowing I’m doing it right now!

 

[weepweeps]

Sometimes it takes them a few days to actually realise you are helping them and it tastes nice and makes them feel better. I’m pleased it’s getting easier.