Refuses to drink for himself - dependant on syringe feeds?

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missy

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Hi all,

Not sure where to post this but hopefully it's ok here.

My guinea pig has been treated for the last couple of months for stubborn cystitis-like symptoms. As a result, he's been syringe-fed various meds and copious amounts of fluids every day. He's never been a big drinker but, prior to this new treatment regime, would occasionally drink from his water bottle, of his own accord.

Since I've been syringing his fluids he's stopped getting his own drinks of water. He always has a fresh supply and it's the same bottle he used to use no problem (albeit rarely) but now he completely ignores it. He gets a bit of water from his veg but apart from that he only has the fluids I give him (orally) by syringe.

I'm really worried that when I stop the syringing he'll still not drink for himself and will get dehydrated. I can understand him not being thirsty for most of the day, as I give him lots to drink then, but he goes through the whole night without me giving him anything and still he's not tempted by his bottle. (I've checked and it never goes down at all)

At the moment I'm managing ok, as I'm home all day, but at some point soon I'll hopefully be back to work and I really worry about him being left all day without drinking. Until I'm confident that he'll drink on his own then I can't go out for more than a few hours at a time!

Don't know if it sounds silly but is it possible that he's got so used to me giving him fluids by syringe that he simply can't remember how to use the bottle?! Anyone else had a piggy who suddenly refused to drink on their own?

I should add that, although he does still have some ongoing health problems, he's ok in himself and importantly has a very healthy appetite for food....it's just fluids he doesn't want. The bottle itself definitely works ok and I've tried adding things to his water to make it more appealing and also put his water in a bowl, instead of the bottle, but he won't touch any of it.

Any ideas please? Thanks!
 
Vikki had a guinea who was reliant on drinking from a syringe, and I think she got her gradually weaned off it by syringing her through the bars of the cage to start with, then getting closer to the water bottle bit by bit until the piggy started to drink again.

You can sprinkle water on his veg to increase his intake and feed watery veg like cucumber. Will he drink from a bowl? Maybe worth a try.

They can certainly get 'hooked' on syringe feeding, whether it's food or water - my boys who were found in a layby and were syringe fed - Zippy still will go for a syringe now if he can!

Sophie
x
 
As long as you still give him extra fluids during the day, he won't need any throughout the night. Make sure that his diet consists on a fair percentage of watery veg, and you need not worry that he'll dehydrate.

Water intake can vary enormously among guinea pigs. Some will never drink (I had a bladder stone piggy that stoutly refused to drink), while others are regular guzzlers.
 
Vikki had a guinea who was reliant on drinking from a syringe, and I think she got her gradually weaned off it by syringing her through the bars of the cage to start with, then getting closer to the water bottle bit by bit until the piggy started to drink again.

You can sprinkle water on his veg to increase his intake and feed watery veg like cucumber. Will he drink from a bowl? Maybe worth a try.

They can certainly get 'hooked' on syringe feeding, whether it's food or water - my boys who were found in a layby and were syringe fed - Zippy still will go for a syringe now if he can!

Sophie
x

Thanks Sophie.

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who's had this problem!

The thing is I don't think he wants to drink. I've tried putting the syringe through the cage bars but he won't take it. He won't drink from a bowl (already tried it) but I am adding extra water to his veg, so I know that he's getting a bit extra there. I'll keep doing that after I (hopefully!) manage to wean him off the syringe as even at the best of times he didn't drink much.
 
As long as you still give him extra fluids during the day, he won't need any throughout the night. Make sure that his diet consists on a fair percentage of watery veg, and you need not worry that he'll dehydrate.

Water intake can vary enormously among guinea pigs. Some will never drink (I had a bladder stone piggy that stoutly refused to drink), while others are regular guzzlers.

Thanks Wiebke.

Amongst his 5 portions of veg he always gets romaine lettuce and cucumber every day, for this very reason, so hopefully that covers it.

So even when I stop all the syringe-fed fluids, assuming that he still drinks nothing at all from his bottle, do you think he'll still be getting enough water with the daily lettuce, cucumber and extra water in his veg bowl?

I'm wondering also if he'd be encouraged to drink more if he had a friend who drank from a water bottle. (Not sure how much pigs like to copy eachother?)

Yossi's been on his own since his cagemate, Totti, died in Feb. I've been wanting to get Yossi a friend for a while now, but have been waiting for him to get better first before putting him through the stress of introductions (although this illness is very stubborn and I imagined that he'd be better by now). Do you think that a guzzling friend might perhaps remind Yossi that the bottle is there for drinking from and not just for decoration?!
 
This may be a bit of an "off the wall" suggestion - but I have two sizes of water bottles and two sizes of spouts. One of my piggies cannot manage the larger spout so he always get a (smaller) water bottle with a small diameter spout. I also leave a water bowl in his cage (which he will now drink from).

He was syringe fed for quite a time owing to illness and it wasn;t until he had a dental done that he started drinking from the water bottle again. Might be an idea to get your piggies teeth checked if he's been on syringe feeds for a time as his molars might not have been worn down properly during that time

HTH
x
 
Thanks Pebble.

I was thinking of trying him on the water bottles with a really long spout (Savic Biba I think they're called). The spout width seemed ok for him before but I wondered if a more intrusive longer spout might encourage him! (I figure he can't ignore it if it sticks in his face!)

If that fails, I'll try a smaller width spout too, as that may be why he never drank much even when well. Before long I'll have probably tried every bottle on the market! I'll keep putting a water bowl in too if you think they perhaps don't always take to them straight away.

I'm thinking of getting his teeth checked anyway, just because he's never had them checked before, but he's never actually had his food syringed, only his fluids. Don't think he has a dental problem as he eats fine but it might be worth it anyway.
 
I hope that you can get your boy to drink properly again; I just wanted to take away the fear that he'll go ill from not drinking at all.

I ended up soaking all of Minx' veg in cranberry juice as she was terrible with a syringe as well. :(
 
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