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Beautifulmess

Beautifulmess

Adult Guinea Pig
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Most of you know, Africa is unwell and is being treated for mites and from what I gathered a resperory infection. He was 790g's when I took him into the vets on the 6th of September, he then went down to 770g the next time I took him in (last Monday) he's was 790g yesterday and is now 759g. I just don't know whats normal or how to make him eat more, he eats and drinks but obviously not enough.

Any suggestions? mallethead
 
Weight can vary about 30g just due to a full/empty bladder/tummy.

Thankfully, even though Africa is a smallish boy, his weight loss is not worrying yet; but it is good of you to keep a close eye on him. either condition, mites and URI can cause some loss of weight. You are looking for either a dramatic loss of weight or a slower continuous downwards trend over several days.

Here is a good guideline about when to worry about weight loss:
http://www.guinealynx.info/weigh.html
 
I kinda consider his as major weight loss because he used to be near the top end of his bracket (adult bours) I even classed him as over weight at some point, had the fatty pouch under his chin/neck. Anyways he's skin and bone now, and I'm glad he isn't in a red light area but I would like to do something now. Boyfriends going to get fruit baby food tonight, apple and banana, apple and mango and stuff like that. Anything else I can try him on thats high in fat (good for weight gain) ? xx
 
i gave mine dried, he loved them, but i wouldnt give a lot normally as i think they are fatty x
 
Hi
My vet advised me to feed Millie baby food through a syringe when she was ill recently, but to avoid anything with meat or dairy so the veg or fruit ones should be ok. :)
 
I gave him some porrage oats but he wouldn't eat them dry so i mixed a little cold water in them, he ate half a spoon in a mad rush then said no-more mummy. So I put some hay in his bedroom area and put him down for the night. I've got to give him medicine at about 10pm so I'll try some more then. Boyfriend isn't in till 12am so I won't get to give him baby food tonight. How often should I feed him? Whenever he'll take it? x I think I need a bigger syringe!
 
i think i would try often and give him as much as he will take, is he still eating normal stuff or not? maybe you could make a mash of the pellets by soaking them? i also got timothy hay and pepper ate loads and loads of it! i think if he is interested in food its half the battle, good luck x
 
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All paws and fingers crossed for Africa xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>xx>>>
I fed every 4hrs, but see if he'll take it on his own offer it on a plate too, this encourages them to keep eating
Try also doing a slushy of fruits or veg and syringing this too, just gives a variety for them :)
Cut up all foods into thin strips or smaller pieces to make it easier for him to nibble or you to pop in his mouth
Has his toofies been checked?
 
Yes, both back and front have been checked and are fine. He eats normally, dry food and fresh and water just not enough, normally he'd eat everything I give him and now it's a few bits then he stops and ignores it all. I gave him 70ml of mushed up fruit last night from the babyfood stuff. Where do I buy timothy hay? Pets@home? x
 
I would just bear in mind a warning when giving him lots of plain baby food, it could have the same effect as feeding extra fruit and veg, may lead to soft poops. Especially as it's mainly fruit, high in sugars so more likely to upset the tum. I've fed a couple of non-fruit baby foods, the sweet potato is safe and contains a lot less sugar than the fruit jars:

Organix Sweet Potato & Carrot
Ella's Kitchen Organic Sweet Potato, Broccoli & Carrot
Ella's Kitchen Organic Sweetcorn, Pumpkin & Peas

It would be more ideal to make a pellet mash (soak plain nuggets in hot water, let them cool and mash them up) and then mix the baby food into that. It will help a lot more with weight gain too. I can email a syringe-feeding factsheet across to you with more tips if you wish. :)
 
It wasn't 70g's it's a 1ml thing so 7 of those makes 7g?
I'll note those down and get a batch >< I bought way too much fruit babyfood now haha Well the boyfriend did, don't think he's too pleased. I didn't ask for packs of 4 though.

They are on the mixed stuff atm, not pellets. So I don't know how I'd mash that up, the alfafa bails I bought were too hard so I soaked one and he ate that. :) He has taken another 7g tonight and half a syringe of water (think he gets enough) I'll swap him to veg stuff tomorrow (taking him my moms in Cheadle) I'll keep giving him fresh greens and dry food. It goes down, but really slowly and some of the fresh is just left to rot ¬_¬ so I obviously remove it.

Yes, that would be lovely. x
 
It wasn't 70g's it's a 1ml thing so 7 of those makes 7g?
I'll note those down and get a batch >< I bought way too much fruit babyfood now haha Well the boyfriend did, don't think he's too pleased. I didn't ask for packs of 4 though.

They are on the mixed stuff atm, not pellets. So I don't know how I'd mash that up, the alfafa bails I bought were too hard so I soaked one and he ate that. :) He has taken another 7g tonight and half a syringe of water (think he gets enough) I'll swap him to veg stuff tomorrow (taking him my moms in Cheadle) I'll keep giving him fresh greens and dry food. It goes down, but really slowly and some of the fresh is just left to rot ¬_¬ so I obviously remove it.

Yes, that would be lovely. x
 
mushed pellets how to make!

get x2 egg cups full of burgess excel blackcurrant and oregano pellets tip into a bowl or cup, pour boiling hot water on to them covering the pellets with the water, leave for 15 mins add more water if the pellets have soaked all the water up, leave for another 15 mins, mix the pellets up with a fork until you have a smooth paste..

leave to cool down...

using a 1 ml syringe...

push the syringe onto the bottom or the bowl or cup pull up on the plunger to form a suction still pushing the syringe onto the bottom then release the syringe off the bottom of the bowl or cup and the paste will then be sucked into the syringe....

put the syringe into the mouth just behind the front teeth into cheeks and empty the content of the syringe into the mouth i do it in 1 go but dont squirt with force... syringe 5 mls water after each syringe feed to flush away any remaining paste in the mouth...

i aim at 30mls to 40mls in 20 mins approx, feed every 3-4 hours in guineas unable to eat and offer water (probiotic) in between,

you can also liquidise veg up and mix it into all the paste you will use in a day, just the normal amount of veg you would feed in a day....

hope it makes sense?

you can also blend sweetcorn up but mix it with water so it will form a paste and syringe some of this too or even mix it to the mushed pellets..

sweetcorn is fattening anything full of fat can be blended up too and this can be mixed into the mushed pellets too...


mixing the muesli up will be too hard you need the pellets i have said as they also aid digestion too and are great for guineas needing syringe feeding..
 
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I was away at my moms this weekend. I took Africa with me and fed him on the baby food suggested. Saturday he wasn't too bothered about eating it but Sunday he ate in the morning, afternoon and evening, lots of it and feels fatter. I'm going to weight him today. he drinks enough water. Are salt licks bad for pigs?

Thank you for the information, I will buy pellets again soon, I'm not paid until next Saturday and really can't keep asking Daniel for money, think he's running low and has so much more money then me >.<!
 
Good to hear Africa has taken to the new flavour of baby food, I wish my Nooshi would, only thing she likes the flavour of (and this is a very new liking) is Daktarin Oral Gel. Trust her to pick a medication and not a food that she actually wants to take by herself.

Anyway back on track, I do hope Africa is a little heavier now, just baby food won't take him as far as mushed pellets or anything along those lines but hopefully it has made a bit of difference. If you still wanted a copy of the syringe feeding factsheet to read through, if you can drop me a PM with your email address, I'll get it sent today, apologies for not getting back sooner on that.

Salt licks are unnecessary at best, there is just no need for them and as such, I wouldn't give my pigs one at all. (And yes, when I started out I gave my pigs salt licks, removed them five years ago now though.)
 
Ah ok. Yes I'll message you. I have no way of getting pellets at the moment, Daniel might be able to buy me some tomorrow when he comes around from pets@home or tesco. Is it normal food pellets (the combinded stuff) or is there something else and where to get it? He's at work until 5pm. I don't get paid until next Saturday. Africa gets his second treatment for mites next Monday, I've booked Kenya in because he has a fungal infection but realised they've just given us 2 appointments so does anyone have any ideas what I can treat a fungal ear infection with? The cream from gorgeous guineas took a long long time? Is that still the best? xx
 
Any normal plain nugget feed should be fine, I've used Science Selective, Wagg Optimum, Burgess Excel, and Burgess Blackcurrent & Oregano. Only one I struggled to get mashed up as well is Oxbow Cavy Cuisine. The P@H own brand should even work out ok, not used it myself and I will buy a bag just to check myself, but they're made up very similar to the Burgess pellets.

I pay around £3 for a 2kg bag of Burgess Blackcurrent & Oregano.

Fungal infection on the ear, if you are sure it is that, can be treated with cream from the chemist. Daktarin Cream, Daktarin Gold Ointment, or Canesten 1% are all safe and usually effective treatments. The cream would be applied 2-3x daily, and would be applied for at least 3-5 days after the symptoms have cleared up.
 
It's crusty and almost every pig I've had it, Corly had it all over his head :S lol but usually it's on the tops of ears. Flakey, makes the ear hardish?

I use Wagg usually :)
 
Certainly sounds enough like fungal to treat with any of the creams I mentioned, should help. :)
 
I made some oats but it was not good test and then I dry it and mixed a little cold water in them, it was very good and best for eating. This is very good food and best for eating also maintains health.
 
He seems to be begging for food today :) Even though he's eaten, shall I still weight him, I forgot to do it before I fed him? He was 781g yesterday. x
 
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