Taking Cookie to the vet

[Jane_G]

For the past two days Cookie hasn't been eating very well. She used to shovel her veggies and now she leaves them for hours. She's been nibbling on pellets but really not eating much. She's pooping as far as I can tell, but she spends a lot of time in her house.

Can anyone give a guess as to what might be bothering her? I felt all over her body and didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. She didn't squeal or cry. Her fur is fine and so are her eyes and ears.

The kids are all upset. I hope this isn't serious. Wish me luck!

[relay]

Make sure she is peeing as well and get her to a vet. My piggie started eating less and I didn't think much of it because he did that off and on. It was never really bad and he was still eating all of his hay. Well he got worse and I took him to the vet and it turned out that he had kidney stones. Needless to say he died. After a little simple thing. I don't want to scare you but you should defiantly take her to a vet. It might be nothing but it might be an indicator to something bigger. Good Luck!

[Jane_G]

We are back. Cookie did fine. Her weight is normal at 2.4 pounds and she had no lumps or other skin issues. He checked in her mouth and found that her molars were not grinding down properly. Her tongue is irritated and that's why she has not been eating well. Her front teeth are fine and there are no alignment issues. He said that some guinea pigs have this problem and it is easily fixed.

I have some Critical Care to feed her 4x a day until I can have the teeth fixed. I will call my vet tomorrow.

I am relieved that this is nothing serious. I gave her the first dose of Critical Care and we both were covered in it. Is there a trick to getting the most in their mouths instead of all over their face, chest, feet, and my shirt and hands?

Hopefully I won't have to do this for long.

[sophistic_chick]

When I had to give my pigs antibiotics I was told to put the syringe far back into their mouths and jiggle (until they started to chew on it) and then push in the plunger. That may not work for you, seeing as your piggy had a sore tongue. Also you may want to wrap her in a towel (kind of bib like) to help keep her as clean as you can.

When I have to syringe feed cats at work everyone ends up with a little of the food on us.

[pigsforlife]

I had to handfeed Buttercup after her op to remove her toe to kick start her system, and just recently have been forcefeeding sick little Ella (who I am happy to report is doing fantastically). I have found that they like the CC thick, so I make it as thick as possible - yet thin enough that I can still suck it up the syringe. I fill the 1ml syringe, put it in the pigs mouth, generally to one side and back a bit and slowly push the plunger. If the pig is not chomping, I move it around a bit, change the position of the syringe and slowly begin pushing the plunger again. Handfeeding sessions will get quicker, I promise!