Oxbow Critical Care

[Guineapigmama96]

Hi, I have a 2 year old Guinea pig that won’t eat or drink. He’s been given an antibiotic for URI. And was given fluids under his skin. I was told by my vet to give him oxbow critical care.

I had some, but it was for OMNIVORES. My vet said that was okay, but the bag doesn’t have a Guinea pig on it. I stupidly gave my guinea pig some (about 2 mL). I googled and I need it for herbivores, which I ordered instead.

So, I’m terrified that I’m going to make him sicker or even die because of my screw up. He’s doing okay for now, but I’m very concerned because of my stupid mistake.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Eriathwen]

Hello! Try not to panic, for now while waiting for the herbivore critical care to arrive you can soak and mush up your piggies food pellets to make a make shift syringe feed for him

Rest assured, 2ml of the omnivore food will not do him any harm, there are no ingredients in there that I can see that will outright do immediate harm and while there are certainly some ingredients they shouldn't be eating (the soldier fly larvae for example) we should remember that out on the lawn eating grass, or while eating veggies, it's inevitable that they will sometimes accidentally ingest some kind of insect, as they would do in the wild, at least once in their lives. So while not ideal, nor nutritionally beneficial, they're designed to cope with the occasional insect hitch hiker in their dinner! The dried egg is found in a fair few rosewood treats and doesn't seem to cause any harm, while again not being ideal to feed. The only other iffy thing would be the honey but if he's poorly and not eating then honestly a little sugar boost may not actually be the worst thing in the world.

So while not ideal and certainly not something to continue feeding, this little blip in his diet is unlikely to have caused him any harm at all, please don't beat yourself up over it!

I'll link the forums syringe feeding info in case you need it, there's lot of other helpful links among the thread too. I hope your piggy is feeling better soon.
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre

 

[Merab]

Hope your boy recovers soon.