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Not Eating Friar Tuck's medical thread

Mike221

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Hi,

I just read your thread and I hope your little guy is doing better.
Looks like we are dealing with something similar.
Our Misko is on critical care for a month now (feeding him every 3-4 hours), and also almost did not eat at all.
Interested only in veggies, very little hay or pellets.
All caused by baytril after the surgery.
His poops still range from soft almost diarrhea, to small with long tails, etc...
X-rays also showing lots of gas in his stomach, intestines.
He was on high dose of metacam and on bunch of motility drugs metoclopramide, cisapride, zantac, simethicone.

Best I can do is try sharing few tips that helped us.
We did and still do vibration massage on his belly.
I downloaded a vibration app on my phone, wrapped phone in a towel and placed him on it.
Good thing is that app has different vibration patterns you can choose. That helped him a lot to pass gas and to fart.

Misko was always on Oxbow Timothy hay. Now he refused to eat it.
Regarding not eating hay, I went to pet store and purchased all types of oxbow hay ( oat hay, organic meadow hay, orchard hay, botanical hay, timothy hay).
I noticed he is more interested in soft green grass (orchard and meadow).
So I went back to couple of pet stores and searched through oxbow timothy hay bags until I found a Lot # with softer green timothy hay inside.
I learned with time that every hay bag with different lot number has a bit different hay (depending on time of harvest (1st cut, 2nd cut, 3rd cut), location etc...).
I got 1 of these bags and he decided to eat it. That was a few days ago and he still eats it. Not as much as he should, but much much more than almost nothing.
So I bought 6 more right away :)

Just an idea what you could try.
If you decide to test different types of hay, make sure to separate sick guy from his cage mates.
I didn't and our healthy guinea pig ended up at a vet with severe bloat, for real. Luckily he recovered in a day or two.
He liked all the new hays and overate or something.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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Thank you so much [MENTION=38551]Mike221[/MENTION] .

Friar Tuck's story is nearly identical to Misko's, except we don't know what caused it. On the morning of November 10th Friar Tuck wouldn't eat anything, and he's been on critical care feedings every 3-4 hours since then. It's been such a rollercoaster, because there's been days when he ate normal food really well, a good bit of hay and lots of corn husks plus some veggies, and then we'd go straight backwards again. It's where we are now.

About 2 weeks ago, he was briefly on baytril for 4 days because of a suspected UTI, but it didn't seem to make any difference for better or for worse. He's currently on prednisolone and metoclopramide... it's been 3 days and no difference yet. Can he be on simethicone at the same time as these? I have it simethicone, but was under the impression it couldn't mix with prednisolone and metoclopramide.

I did get different, softer hays just like you! He really liked the oxbow orchard grass, and ate it well during his better week/days, but then stopped again.

For the most part, he's interested in everything, but then won't eat it. The last couple days he's been chewing voraciously on his woodblock, but three different vets can't find a thing wrong with his teeth. Has Misko done anything like this? We're feeding him the same amount of critcal care, but his weight as spiraled down to 969kg now. Last week, Friar Tuck also was craving pedialyte---he would have drank the whole bottle if I let him--- but now he doesn't want it, I have to give it to him by force like the critcal care. Did Misko do anything like that?

I'll definitely try the vibration app, thanks for the tip! And as for the hay and cage mates, Friar Tuck is a lone piggy. Both he and my other pig, Robin Hood, are rescues. Friar Tuck was a lone pig before I got him, and Robin Hood is aggressive, but through the bars of their seperate cages (they're side by side) they're best friends :)
 

MerryFriarTuck

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Question: Friar Tuck has two pink/slightly sore spots of skin underneath his chin. It looks like it's caused from where the critical care drools out of his mouth while we feed him. I saw the spots last night and swear they weren't there before then. I always wipe his chin with a damp cloth and dry him after each feeding--- did this not keep him clean enough? We put a little neosporin on it, is that and keeping it clean the best thing to heal it?

(He's not itching, and it doesn't look like mites or anything like that)

In other news, he's been pretty active, and ate pureed bell pepper via syringe really well yesterday and today so far. (He loves it!) He gained a couple kg.
 

bpatters

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The neosporin should be OK -- just apply it sparingly and rub it in well. If it hasn't improved in a few days, switch to an antifungal ointment.

Just joking here, but you're not the only person who's done this recently. By your calculations, your pig has gained 4.4 pounds. He must be quite a large guinea pig!! Capybara, maybe?

A kilogram is 1000 grams, so it's more likely that he's gained two grams. However, that's too small an amount to be attributed to a real weight gain. He might have just needed to pee while you were weighing him, and that could have accounted for the excess "weight."
 

MerryFriarTuck

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Thank you [MENTION=13820]bpatters[/MENTION]!

And ah yes, it's been too long since geometry and using the metric system and all that fun stuff... Friar Tuck is the color of a capybara, though :) correction: he's been fluctuating between 979g and 968g the last three days.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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Friar Tuck is doing remarkably well again, I'm so happy:

Earlier this week, I was worried we were going in the opposite direction of a happy ending. He was losing more weight, the medications hadn't made a difference, he had mushy poop/borderline diarrhea, he wasn't eating on his own, he had a sore spot on his chin from all the critical care feedings. He finished his medications, we stopped the motility one a day early due to the mushy poop.

All of yesterday and today, he started eating corn husks and silk like a piggy! The last couple days his poops have been completely normal again. His sore chin is healed. He's active, meandering around his cage. He's eaten some carrot, lettuce, and today even a little hay, on top of the handfuls of corn husks.

I'm very cautiously excited --- cheers for Friar Tuck! <3
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Glad to hear some good news, finally! My fingers are crossed for our little buddy FT, hoping normal comes very, very quickly!
 

Smileandnod

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I am so happy Friar Tuck is doing better!

My herd will keep sending well wishes his way and I send supportive vibes your way. I know how stressful and exhausting it can be when you have a sick pig. You have done & are doing a great job. He is very lucky to have you, so make sure to give yourself a little pat on the back too.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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Friar Tuck is still doing great today! He's drinking from his water bottle on his own, I've seen him eat at least 10 pellets, lots of corn silk, a 3 or 4 inch celery stick, some cilantro and some hay. He's popcorned! So happy. He only lost 5g, which is the least he's lost in over a week.

Our vet says mixing natural, 100% pineapple juice in with the critcal care makes guinea pigs like it better (Friar Tuck really dislikes critical care). Thoughts? Wouldn't that be too sugary/acidic to mix with it everytime?
 

MerryFriarTuck

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He's eating even more hay now :)

And thank you, [MENTION=42345]Smileandnod[/MENTION] and [MENTION=35161]Guinea Pig Papa[/MENTION].
 

spy9doc

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Our vet says mixing natural, 100% pineapple juice in with the critcal care makes guinea pigs like it better (Friar Tuck really dislikes critical care). Thoughts? Wouldn't that be too sugary/acidic to mix with it everytime?

I agree with you in that pineapple juice is not appropriate to mix with CC. I have always mixed mine with unflavored pedialyte (generic is fine). I have never had a cavy who didn't like the stuff. Recently I discovered that coconut water has almost the same nutritional content (meaning substantial electrolytes). Both of these are excellent to use, especially if the cavy has been sick with diarrhea and the digestive tract is problematic.

I have also added some organic no-sugar baby food to the mix. I seem to recall that Beechnut makes some flavors like pumpkin, carrot, etc. that cavies seem to like.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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I agree with you in that pineapple juice is not appropriate to mix with CC. I have always mixed mine with unflavored pedialyte (generic is fine). I have never had a cavy who didn't like the stuff. Recently I discovered that coconut water has almost the same nutritional content (meaning substantial electrolytes). Both of these are excellent to use, especially if the cavy has been sick with diarrhea and the digestive tract is problematic.

I have also added some organic no-sugar baby food to the mix. I seem to recall that Beechnut makes some flavors like pumpkin, carrot, etc. that cavies seem to like.

Thank you [MENTION=19714]spy9doc[/MENTION]! That's what I thought, all the warning bells went off in my head. It's a pain to always feel like we know more about most things than most vets ... half the time it's been our experience with our dogs, cats and birds as well. But at the same time a good thing.

I have been mixing it with unflavored pedialyte, and yes, Friar Tuck LOVES it on it's own. But it's not enough to make him as fond of the critcal care. I did try coconut water, but he really didn't like that.

I'll have to look into the baby food, that's something I hadn't heard yet!
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Such good news to wake up to! Got home off the road late and didn't see this until this morning! Way to go Friar Tuck!
 

MerryFriarTuck

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Friar Tuck is still eating some hay, and eating corn silk/husks like a champ....best of all, he gained 19g today! He's also been more appreciative of the critical care, and not fighting every bite, and he's been out and about all day <3
 

MerryFriarTuck

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@spy9doc, how much/how often could they have the organic baby foods? I know canned pumpkin is used to help constipated dogs and ferrets, so I wasn't sure how pumpkin baby food affects piggies. I haven't bought any yet since Friar Tuck is doing better, but I'm definitely interested in it!
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Friar Tuck is still eating some hay, and eating corn silk/husks like a champ....best of all, he gained 19g today! He's also been more appreciative of the critical care, and not fighting every bite, and he's been out and about all day <3

I come here every day regardless, but I'm always looking for news about how Friar Tuck is doing. To see your updates that he's doing better really make me smile. It always breaks my heart when someone loses a pig, I know that feeling of loss. But it makes me so happy when I hear one that's been having a tough time seems to be turning around.

Leo and Simon continue to wish Friar Tuck a speedy recovery. Simon has become quite the little wheekmonster and he wheeks Friar Tuck all the encouragement he can handle!
 

spy9doc

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How much/how often could they have the organic baby foods? I know canned pumpkin is used to help constipated dogs and ferrets, so I wasn't sure how pumpkin baby food affects piggies.

I have absolutely no idea. I had to supplement Chester's diet for the last six months of his life so my goal was to provide some variety for him. I chose flavors of the veggies that he enjoyed to mix with the CC, and then determined which ones I would use regularly. At the time, my prime goal was to put weight on Chester. He also happened to be my cavy who had terrible malocclusion and roots that extended into his jaw. I fed him almost exclusively CC and baby food mix toward the end. As I noted previously, I really like the Beechnut organic food with no sugar added.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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Friar Tuck is still doing well! Before his turn around, his weight had plummeted all the way down to 858g, but he's staying within a few grams of 880 the last two days. He's munching away on corn husks/silk every day, and eating tiny bits of hay throughout the day. He's wheeking again for food! He ate a handful of celery leaves and took a few nibbles of cucumber, carrot, and a orange slice (he more sucked on the orange slice than took a bite) He's drinking a little from his water bottle. He's still getting his critcal care/pedialyte feedings 4 times a day.

I saw something in a guinea pig facebook group about giving underweight young guinea pigs plain, natural non instant oatmeal type oats to help gain weight. Is that true? Is it something I could offer Friar Tuck to help get his weight back up? Is there anything else besides critcal care that might help him gain weight?
 

MerryFriarTuck

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And thank you spy9doc, and Guinea Pig Papa for all the encouragement from your wheekmonsters to mine :)
 

spy9doc

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I saw something in a guinea pig facebook group about giving underweight young guinea pigs plain, natural non instant oatmeal type oats to help gain weight. Is that true? Is it something I could offer Friar Tuck to help get his weight back up? Is there anything else besides critcal care that might help him gain weight?

I'm happy you brought this up. I can vouch for mixing the oats with his pellets. I don't remember if FT has a cage mate, but if so, the cage mate will also gain weight. Best to feed him separately in that case.
 
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