Weight Loss: Syringe feeding

[CritterCraze]

My main question is how much to feed a day of the baby food?

But for more info:

First off Keagan has been to the vet. He has an inoperable tumor. He is not in pain.

He is very skinny though yet he can still stand up and he still shows a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. He seems to be acting normal except for his weightloss. So the vet said it could be weeks or could be months and that we would be able to know when we'd have to bring him in to euthanize him.

Of course I want it to be months not weeks. So I am trying to help him gain weight in a nutritious way. I was told sweet corn is good to help piggies gain weight but it is out of season right now. I was also told that organic baby food can help too.

Also just to note he is eating happily so he hasn't lost his appetite which is great. I'm just trying to get him to a better weight that will strengthen him hopefully so he'll have a longer life.

So I got him bannana oatmeal and sweet corn sweet potato and he loves it. I just don't know how much to give him a day. The syringe feeder I have is marked for weight not mg/ml or what not.

He is on a low calcium diet because the poor thing has cystitis too. During outbreaks I give him non sweetened cranberry juice and I have metacam for the pain.

So his diet is rotating with these vegetables:

Green leaf, Red Leaf, Butter & Romaine lettuce

Chard Red/Green, Cilantro, a baby carrot, cucumber (for viscousness), Red/Green/Yellow bell peppers mainly green though since low in sugar.

And of course unlimited Timothy Hay and Pellets

[wigglesgiggles1]

Poor baby! I am not sure about the amount but if he is losing weight I would give him as much as he can eat. How old is your piggie.

[CritterCraze]

Originally Posted by wigglesgiggles1

Poor baby! I am not sure about the amount but if he is losing weight I would give him as much as he can eat. How old is your piggie.

Thank you. He's about 3 and a half years old.

[Ly&Pigs]

A better choice would be critical care. Baby food by itself isn't really going to help much. You can do critical care with a tiny bit of baby food mixed it for flavoring.

Corn isn't a good choice either. I'd ditch the banana oatmeal baby food altogether. Banana can cause bloat and oatmeal is a poor choice.

Chard and carrots are pretty high in oxalic acid and I'm not sure those are great choices for a cystitis pig. Oxalic acid can bind with calcium to form oxalate stones.

You can order critical care here: Petwerks | Product Catalog

I think there are other places too but can't remember them.

In the meantime, do a pellet mash with a small amount of baby food mixed in for flavoring. Offer as much as he will eat.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

You can get Critical care through these sites too, if your vet does not carry it:

This Little Piggie Marketplace

Bunny Bunch Boutique-First Aid

[CritterCraze]

Thank you I couldn't remember what it was called (critical care). I was trying to ask him about it but obviously hard to do when you can't explain what you're talking about :P

And I didn't know that about chard I just bought it cause it was on the low end of calcium on the nutrition chart. I only give that maybe 1 week out of the month if that. It's not one I buy that often should I stop it all together or in low doses like that do you think it's okay?

[Ly&Pigs]

I would stop it altogether in the pig with cystitis to see if there is any improvement.