Sick Newborn guinea pig, signs of Upper Respiratory Infection- very weak! what to do?

What do you mean by formula? Don't feed him a milk supplement, because guinea pigs are lactose intolerant and can only digest guinea pig milk, no other type.

Personally, I would try feeding him a pellet + critical care mash, but I'm not sure if there is much else you can do for him. Hopefully someone will come along with more advice <3 You and your baby will be in my thoughts.

Ditto AmberCalzone about the milk and the pellet substitute. Make it very thin, and give it to him via a needleless syringe.

Can you put the mother and that pup in a small area by themselves where she might nurse him? Something like a small box? She might be willing to do that if you feed her something by hand while she's in there, and she's not distracted by an open space or the other pup.

But if the sow won't feed him and he seems sick, it may be the kindest thing just to let him go. He's awfully small to make it on his on if he's already sick.

When guinea pigs aren't born 100% healthy it's very hard to save them. Once they reach the stage they have no energy to move it's pretty much impossible. Usually guinea pig mothers recognize that the babies are not healthy and so they get left off to some corner and not fed. If you want to attempt to hand feed then like others said do not use formula. Guinea pigs have very weak milk with few of the fats and sugars found in other animals and they drink very little of it. They are on mostly solid pellets and hay within days. You want to use a very well dissolved pellet or critical care.

Unfortunately, sometimes there is nothing you can do. Sometimes there's something internally wrong, perhaps a birth defect, that causes the baby to not thrive. Mothers seem to be able to sense this, and won't try to feed the baby.

I agree with bpatters--it may be kinder to let him go. I'm sorry. I hope that he makes it, but if not, perhaps it was just meant to be.

There is a very good puppy milk you can buy from the vets that is brilliant for feeding baby guineas it is the right strength and far more beneficial to feed, it is called Royal Canin baby dog milk.. The mothers know better than we do that something is not right with her sick baby, often things going on inside ie weak heart, underdeveloped organs etc and she will leave the baby to die as she already knows the score. Don't get me wrong I've nursed babies all night if I've had to, I guess we have to try at least.

No, don't feed the baby puppy milk. The main thing pups get from their own mother's milk is the antibodies that are specific to guinea pigs, and they can't get that from any species other than their own. And unfortunately, guinea pig milk is not commercially available. Milk from other species is not recommended for guinea pig pups.

Errrr, my friend is a fully qualified vet and she thoroughly investigated this for me, we are talking a baby that is not being fed by mum......yes of course it would be great if she would do she could get the collustrum but since there is no canned collustrum on the market this is the next best thing or die!

Guinea pigs are born ready to eat solid food. They should not be given dog's milk. It's not specie appropriate. If they are sick and cannot eat on their own, Oxbow Critical Care is recommended.

Babies have a minute nibble on hay, veg a pellet at a few days granted but a whole meal of recovery imo from birth would be too taxing on the gut

When my pig had babies (adopted, from a rescue, already pregnant) they were eating everything mom + aunt were eating within a few days, in very good amounts. They began nibbling on veggies and hay from day 1.

Guinea pigs are lactose intolerant and can not digest other species milk. Critical care is far more beneficial to them than any milk supplement.

Honestly, I don't know hardly anything about baby guinea pigs, but you and your pup will be in my thoughts.<3

loosylastic said:

Errrr, my friend is a fully qualified vet and she thoroughly investigated this for me, we are talking a baby that is not being fed by mum......yes of course it would be great if she would do she could get the collustrum but since there is no canned collustrum on the market this is the next best thing or die!

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You do realize that many people on here have taken care of orphaned guinea pigs, some people have been doing it for decades. Also, Royal Canine isn't that great of a product. Many vets sell Royal Canine and Science Diet, because the sales and marketing departments at these corporations were smart enough to target vets with their sales staff. Also, I'm not an expert at all... but I believe there is no good substitute for colostrum which is only produced by mothers right after birth. I know in the horses there are farms that freeze their colostrum for orphaned or rejected foals since, as I've been told, there is no substitute for the real thing. We never did, but in over 40 years we never had a problem and all our mares were pretty open to nursing any foal that wandered up to them.

yes and I'm one of many that have fed a formula milk to babies successfully. In fact I know of no one to date that has fed recovery feed to a newborn, not saying you can't but the most of us we feed formula, oxbow doesn't contain colostrum or any milk in it either so I can't see why you are so anti formula milk. I've had pigs since I was 12 and I'm now in my late 50,s and I'm very conscientious

Well, now you know plenty of people who feed "recovery feed" (Critical Care) to pigs who need a little extra boost.

The reason we're so anti-formula milk is because pigs are lactose intolerant. That means they can not digest milk, which is why critical care is recommended (it contains no dairy). Why give milk to an animal who can not tolerate it? It doesn't do the animal any good.

Well, now you know plenty of people who feed "recovery feed" (Critical Care) to pigs who need a little extra boost, including newborns.

The reason we're so anti-formula milk is because pigs are lactose intolerant. That means they can not digest milk, which is why critical care is recommended (it contains no dairy). Why give milk to an animal who can not tolerate it? It doesn't do the animal any good.

loosylastic said:

yes and I'm one of many that have fed a formula milk to babies successfully. In fact I know of no one to date that has fed recovery feed to a newborn, not saying you can't but the most of us we feed formula, oxbow doesn't contain colostrum or any milk in it either so I can't see why you are so anti formula milk. I've had pigs since I was 12 and I'm now in my late 50,s and I'm very conscientious

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Most of the people on here do not feed formula, and they seem to have pretty good success rates. I'm not anti-formula, as I don't know anything about raising baby pigs. But, I do know your formula doesn't contain colostrum either so I'm not sure why you keep mentioning colostrum, and the point is that Oxbow doesn't contain milk. They are saying you don't want to feed milk. I do know recently they have stopped suggesting giving formula to rescued baby rabbits. The batch I rescued this spring I talked to several vets about caring for them and was told that the formula would do more harm then good. They did say goats milk was something that is being explored.

I don't have any experience hand raising baby pigs but I fail to see how puppy milk would be acceptable. Dogs and guinea pigs have very different diets and nutritional needs. Something that is meant for omnivores wouldn't have the proper nutritional balance for herbivores.

AmberCalzone said:

The reason we're so anti-formula milk is because pigs are lactose intolerant. That means they can not digest milk, which is why critical care is recommended (it contains no dairy). Why give milk to an animal who can not tolerate it? It doesn't do the animal any good.

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Can we please, please put to bed this idea that baby guinea pigs are lactose intolerant.
I’m afraid it’s a complete and utter myth; what do people think is in milk if not lactose? Guinea pig milk contains lactose and I have no idea where the story came from that it doesn’t.

It is, however, quite likely that ADULT guinea pigs do not produce lactase (the enzyme required to break down lactose into simple sugars) and therefore, yes, they are ‘lactose intolerant’.

This is true of a huge number of mammalian species. In fact ‘lactase persistence’ (the ability to continue producing lactase enzyme after weaning) is actually quite rare. Humans of European descent are the main group of mammals that can continue to consume dairy products in adulthood, many other races have problems.

Whilst we are discussing lactose, the reason that ‘guinea pig & rabbit ‘treats’ (no I wouldn’t waste my money on them) have yoghurt in them – and not cheese/cream or anything else – is because yoghurt is made using lactobacillus, bacteria that digest lactose. Yoghurt is therefore very low in lactose which is why it is used safely in these daft ‘treats’ and also why some human races consume yoghurt and yoghurt drinks.

Chlemmyoddielndy, I think you Are having difficulty reading my posts properly, I raised the fact that neither contained the foremilk anyway collustrum) because it was brought up bpatters by mentioning they need their antibodies, the antibodies are in the colostrum where it is rich with it, if the Sow isn't feeding the baby then .nothing will provide it with antibodies therefore how can oxbow crit care be more beneficial than formula??