Supplement senior pig diet with critical care?

[kpigs]

We have a sweet 6+ year old female. She is still pretty spry, spunky and social. Teeth are good. No arthritis. She has been slowly loosing weight - as they are prone to do. She loves her veggies and hay, but her hay consumption has dropped off a bit. We had some critical care on hand so I have been giving her a scant tablespoon mixed with some water (to make a paste/ball) once a day. She gobbles it down. Is there any contraindications for this? Her poops have darkened up since I started this and she seems to be doing well. I just don't want to create any nutritional imbalance but I do want to make sure she is getting the calories she needs. Thank you!

 

[Qualcast&Flymo]

Hallo and

I'm in a similar situation to you - my sow is 6+ years old and has lost weight, down from 1100+g a year ago to about 950 now. She was diagnosed with arthritis in her back legs in the spring, the pain from that was most likely reducing her appetite. It might be worth getting your girl checked over for arthritis and other ailments of the 'elderly '.

Winifred is on Metacam and Tramadol (Tralieve) for the pain, the latter particularly made a difference in that she stopped overgrooming her back legs after she started on that.

She has become quite bony at the rear end though due to the weight loss and inactivity leading to loss of muscle mass. So I'm trying to build her up a bit with a daily helping of critical care. I haven't heard of any reason not to supplement with CC, it is just a food supplement after all. My vet also recommended supplementing with glucosamine in the form of oxbow Joint Support biscuits and/or Cystease.

Hope this helps !

 

[kpigs]

Hallo and

I'm in a similar situation to you - my sow is 6+ years old and has lost weight, down from 1100+g a year ago to about 950 now. She was diagnosed with arthritis in her back legs in the spring, the pain from that was most likely reducing her appetite. It might be worth getting your girl checked over for arthritis and other ailments of the 'elderly '.

Winifred is on Metacam and Tramadol (Tralieve) for the pain, the latter particularly made a difference in that she stopped overgrooming her back legs after she started on that.

She has become quite bony at the rear end though due to the weight loss and inactivity leading to loss of muscle mass. So I'm trying to build her up a bit with a daily helping of critical care. I haven't heard of any reason not to supplement with CC, it is just a food supplement after all. My vet also recommended supplementing with glucosamine in the form of oxbow Joint Support biscuits and/or Cystease.

Hope this helps !

Thank you so much! This is very helpful. I will keep up with the critical care. Thank you for the tips

 

[Wiebke]

We have a sweet 6+ year old female. She is still pretty spry, spunky and social. Teeth are good. No arthritis. She has been slowly loosing weight - as they are prone to do. She loves her veggies and hay, but her hay consumption has dropped off a bit. We had some critical care on hand so I have been giving her a scant tablespoon mixed with some water (to make a paste/ball) once a day. She gobbles it down. Is there any contraindications for this? Her poops have darkened up since I started this and she seems to be doing well. I just don't want to create any nutritional imbalance but I do want to make sure she is getting the calories she needs. Thank you!

Hi

I would recommend to have your old lady checked for a possible pain issue beyond arthritis if you haven't done that yet; loss of interest in hay is often caused by that. It can however not be easy to find out what is causing it when it is not obvious.

Most of my own oldies are on metacam even if the source of pain is not always necessarily known but they do perk up noticeably when on it. Anyway, I do give my own oldies struggling with their weight a bit of a supplementary voluntary top up; their daily comfort is more important for me by that stage of life than whether they live ultimately a few days longer or not.

I take pride in getting the majority of mine (mostly rescue adoptees plus some other intakes) to the upper end of the average life span but right at the sharp end of old age it is all about quality of life and not quantity because it doesn't hurt any less at whatever point you have to say goodbye but it is easier on you when you know that they have had all the comfort they wanted in their old age. When and what they die from is never in your control; it is generally a lottery of what gives first in their small body - the immune system or an organ. Just try to see every new day with your girl as the bonus it is.

 

[kpigs]

Hi

I would recommend to have your old lady checked for a possible pain issue beyond arthritis if you haven't done that yet; loss of interest in hay is often caused by that. It can however not be easy to find out what is causing it when it is not obvious.

Most of my own oldies are on metacam even if the source of pain is not always necessarily known but they do perk up noticeably when on it. Anyway, I do give my own oldies struggling with their weight a bit of a supplementary voluntary top up; their daily comfort is more important for me by that stage of life than whether they live ultimately a few days longer or not.

I take pride in getting the majority of mine (mostly rescue adoptees plus some other intakes) to the upper end of the average life span but right at the sharp end of old age it is all about quality of life and not quantity because it doesn't hurt any less at whatever point you have to say goodbye but it is easier on you when you know that they have had all the comfort they wanted in their old age. When and what they die from is never in your control; it is generally a lottery of what gives first in their small body - the immune system or an organ. Just try to see every new day with your girl as the bonus it is.

Thank you - yes. I totally agree that her quality of life at this point is the primary focus. She gets lots of attention and extra oat hay and I will continue to give her the bit of daily critical care. Going to the vet has historically been extremely traumatic for her and it takes her many days to recover. I just can't put her through that without any obvious injury or pain (I know...they can hide it well). She is eating hay, just not as much although last night I changed the presentation and she ate a lot more overnight. This girl really likes variety! Pic included for cuteness

Thank you for your reply.