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Not Eating Friar Tuck's medical thread

bpatters

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If he's not eating anything else, 5 cc is not nearly enough unless you want to feed him 20 times a day. Because he needs about 100 cc per day if he weighs about a kilogram, and more if he weighs more. So decide how many times you're willing to feed him, divide that number in 100, and that's how much CC you need to give him at each feeding.

I'm not a vet, or a radiologist, nor do I play either of those on TV. But those x-rays look normal to me.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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Friar Tuck is making progress today! He ate a small handful of shredded greenleaf lettuce and two matchstick sized strips of green bell pepper. He picked at his pellets once, I'm not sure if he ate much of them, if at all, though. But he's eating! We'll give him more critical care soon as I finish writing this.

There were two normal poops and two very small spots of pee in his cage first thing this morning.

We cancelled his second appointment that was at 8:15 am today, and rebooked for 11:00am tomorrow. The vets agreed they wanted to see how much he improves today, and give him a chance to.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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He ate a little hay, a tiny bit of pellets, and he's drank twice from his water bottle!
 

Smileandnod

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Friar Tuck is making progress today! He ate a small handful of shredded greenleaf lettuce and two matchstick sized strips of green bell pepper. He picked at his pellets once, I'm not sure if he ate much of them, if at all, though. But he's eating! We'll give him more critical care soon as I finish writing this.

There were two normal poops and two very small spots of pee in his cage first thing this morning.

We cancelled his second appointment that was at 8:15 am today, and rebooked for 11:00am tomorrow. The vets agreed they wanted to see how much he improves today, and give him a chance to.
[MENTION=44038]MerryFriarTuck[/MENTION] I just wanted to add on some encouragement to you. I am sorry that Friar Tuck is having some challenges, but glad to see he is making improvements today.

I have read many of your posts and I know what a great piggy parent you are, so I wanted to pop on here and give you a little pat on the back and nudge to keep going.

A little tip that I use when force feeding any of my pigs is to have a few sprigs of cilantro handy. I gather up all my supplies (old towel, Critical Care in syringes, bowl of Pedialyte or water with 1 CC syringe) and get comfortable which helps ease both me & the sick pig. Cilantro has always been the favorite treat of my pigs over the years. The stems are marvelous to push back in a pigs mouth and I think even the smell seems to stimulate even my most stubborn & sickest pig to take in the Critical Care. It seems to be a good incentive for the pig and watching it disappear always gives me great relief.

Love the updates ...keep 'em coming!
 

MerryFriarTuck

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Thank you so much [MENTION=42345]Smileandnod[/MENTION]!

Since he is drinking/eating some normal food today, we gave him about 10ccs for this meal! He was not impressed as always and is hiding again for now. I'll definitely try the cilantro trick! I wish I had some on hand, he loves it. For piggy veggies I only have greenleaf, green bell pepper, cucumber and carrot right now. We wanted to get to the store since he's better today, but we're getting hammered by bands from hurricane Eta. What a week. I'm so happy he's improving, though!
 

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Anyone who hasn't had an ill pig would never understand the feeling of just watching your pig eat and drink, and what a victory that feels like.


There's a good possibility that something just upset his tummy and he was off for a day or two. That's my hope, anyway. I'll never forget the day we rushed Leo to the vet only to discover what we thought was really going on.

Scooter at that time was making multiple vet trips on a regular basis, and sometimes he was gone all day for observation. So Leo one day decided not to eat. He laid around, looking depressed, wouldn't eat hay or treats pellets or ANYTHING.

So off to the vet he went. And he was thoroughly examined, even got the thermometer up his bum. The look on his face for THAT particular tidbit was priceless. I think he just felt left out and wanted to know what was going on with Scooter.

He hasn't done it since.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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Anyone who hasn't had an ill pig would never understand the feeling of just watching your pig eat and drink, and what a victory that feels like.


There's a good possibility that something just upset his tummy and he was off for a day or two. That's my hope, anyway. I'll never forget the day we rushed Leo to the vet only to discover what we thought was really going on.

Scooter at that time was making multiple vet trips on a regular basis, and sometimes he was gone all day for observation. So Leo one day decided not to eat. He laid around, looking depressed, wouldn't eat hay or treats pellets or ANYTHING.

So off to the vet he went. And he was thoroughly examined, even got the thermometer up his bum. The look on his face for THAT particular tidbit was priceless. I think he just felt left out and wanted to know what was going on with Scooter.

He hasn't done it since.

SO true--- and even better news! He just ate 14 pieces of cilantro as long as his body, and a cluster of celery leaves about the size of a half dollar! How much more cilantro should I let him have? I want to give him as much as he'll eat but don't want to upset his stomach either. I'll definitely give him a little more in a few minutes.

I sure hope it's just an upset tummy or something. Nothing has changed in his diet I can think of that would have caused it. There was a romaine lettuce recall, and he'd recently had a little, but he's not showing any signs of E. coli.

And sharing Leo's story just have me a much needed laugh--- your last sentence! :D Friar Tuck got equally thoroughly examined, but lucky for him it was an ear thermometer!
 

Smileandnod

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SO true--- and even better news! He just ate 14 pieces of cilantro as long as his body, and a cluster of celery leaves about the size of a half dollar! How much more cilantro should I let him have? I want to give him as much as he'll eat but don't want to upset his stomach either. I'll definitely give him a little more in a few minutes.

I sure hope it's just an upset tummy or something. Nothing has changed in his diet I can think of that would have caused it. There was a romaine lettuce recall, and he'd recently had a little, but he's not showing any signs of E. coli.

And sharing Leo's story just have me a much needed laugh--- your last sentence! :D Friar Tuck got equally thoroughly examined, but lucky for him it was an ear thermometer!

So good to hear!!

I give them cilantro in between mouthfuls of critical care. It's also how I give Bene-bac to a stubborn pig who doesn't like it by putting the bene-bac on on the cilantro & they are so eager for the cilantro they don't even realize they ate the Bene-bac too.

Another good thing to have around in your pig's medicine cabinet is simethicone drops (baby gas drops). They help if your pig should get bloated anytime, but also come in handy when they haven't eaten well on their own for a while & then decide to eat a lot of veggies all at once.
 

Kelsie

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Even though I haven't had any advice for you, I've been following Friar Tuck's medical thread. I am so happy to read that he is doing better. I had a similar experience with my pig, Teddi, a few years ago. I gave her a very small leaf of spinach and within just a few hours she was hiding and didn't want to eat at all. She was still pooping but other than that she wasn't herself at all. I was in a panic but I tried to keep calm. It was later at night so I decided to just keep checking her and see how she was doing in the morning. It was a long night!

By the next morning she was back to normal. All I could assume was the spinach, even in such a small amount, really upset her stomach. Of course, I never gave them spinach again. That night sure brought back to me how delicate their digestive system really is. It was a lesson learned. Their veggie menu may be boring but I know they can handle the variety that I feed them. I've never tried to deviate from it again.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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He drank from his water bottle 3 more times, and ate 6 more sprigs of cilantro. It's the only thing I think he'd eat the whole bunch of, if I let him! But I don't want to cause bloat or anything. I feel so bad because he acts like he wants everything (except the critical care) I offered red bell pepper in super thin slices (same size as the cilantro stems), and tried to eat it, acting like he wanted it, but then he'd spit it back out again or it'd fall out of his mouth. Same thing with hay. I got some pellets wet, not a slurry but so they were soft without losing their shape. He took one pretty quick and chewed it, but then wouldn't eat more.

The only thing exam wise that hasn't been done yet at the vet is giving him some anesthetic to be able to really look at his molars. It doesn't thrill me because I know that could slow down his digestive system even more and cause it's own issues, but at the same time there seems like there's no other way to get to the bottom of it. His appointment tomorrow he could only be examined, if there's dental surgery needed he'd have to go back and be put under anesthetic a second time.

Thoughts? What are your experiences? How much does anesthetic really affect them?

He's much better today than yesterday, I guess we'll have to see if he improves more tomorrow. I hope he does! I just know he can't stay like this, either.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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@Smileandnod, we do have bene bac coming tomorrow, and I'll definitely look into getting the gas drops!
[MENTION=17564]Kelsie[/MENTION] thank you for your thoughts and sharing your experience! I wish he was just a little more better by now like your piggy was. I can't think of anything different he's had that could of caused it.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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He drank from his water bottle 3 more times, and ate 6 more sprigs of cilantro. It's the only thing I think he'd eat the whole bunch of, if I let him! But I don't want to cause bloat or anything. I feel so bad because he acts like he wants everything (except the critical care) I offered red bell pepper in super thin slices (same size as the cilantro stems), and tried to eat it, acting like he wanted it, but then he'd spit it back out again or it'd fall out of his mouth. Same thing with hay. I got some pellets wet, not a slurry but so they were soft without losing their shape. He took one pretty quick and chewed it, but then wouldn't eat more.

The only thing exam wise that hasn't been done yet at the vet is giving him some anesthetic to be able to really look at his molars. It doesn't thrill me because I know that could slow down his digestive system even more and cause it's own issues, but at the same time there seems like there's no other way to get to the bottom of it. His appointment tomorrow he could only be examined, if there's dental surgery needed he'd have to go back and be put under anesthetic a second time.

Thoughts? What are your experiences? How much does anesthetic really affect them?

He's much better today than yesterday, I guess we'll have to see if he improves more tomorrow. I hope he does! I just know he can't stay like this, either.

It does sound like he's feeling better, so it's difficult to pinpoint a problem.

As always, there is an inherent risk with anesthetic. A veterinarian MUST warn you that there is a chance he may not survive it.

That being said, I'll tell you a little bit about my boy Sly. Sly was a senior when his problems with his teeth started, right around his 5th birthday. He had his first dental surgery roughly a week or so before Christmas 2016.

He bounced back pretty quickly, wandered around like a drunken sailor for a day or so but was up and eating right away.

Sly's problems continued, and he had more surgeries with increasing frequency over the next almost two years. In all, I believe it was 11 or 12 surgeries he endured. This, as a senior pig. His little body could finally take no more after his last surgery in July of 2018, and I had no other choice but to send him across the Rainbow Bridge on August 4th. He was in such bad shape he wouldn't have survived another surgery.

Sly had an underlying, never identified problem as to why his teeth seemed determined to grow funny, although later in life his teeth gradually became very loose and I suspect that's what it may have been from the beginning. In the end though I've come to realize that at his age, it was his heart that finally had enough.

So yes, there is always a risk with any anesthesia. But barring that, IF it's necessary, I would think FT would be just fine.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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He's chewing on his favorite woodblock right now, oddly enough! Thoughts? And picked up and threw his timothy ball. He nuzzled around in his hay but didn't appear to eat any.

How much critcal care should he have in total considering how much actual food he's eaten???

He ate two very small, thin about 1 inch pieces of bell pepper, 20 sprigs of cilantro, a tiny handful of shredded lettuce, some celery leaves, and a couple tiny pieces of hay and pellet. He's drank from his water bottle 5 times.

He's about 1200 kg.
 

bpatters

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About 100+ cc. per day. At his weight, if he's eating nothing else, he should get 120 cc. per day. He's eating almost nothing, so I'd make sure to get the whole 100 cc in him.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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A pig needs roughly 100 grams of dry feed per day. Estimate how much roughly in grams hes eaten on his own, and adjust downward from there. It IS a good sign that he's eating some on his own now, where he wasn't really before.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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He is eating some softened pellets on his own tonight! A couple at a time, he keeps picking at them.

Thanks for all the help! Finally getting this down, now Friar Tuck just needs to get himself better <3
 

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If you haven't already got one, get a kitchen scale to weigh him. They are inexpensive and extremely valuable, especially to keep an accurate eye on a sick pig's weight loss or gain. I got mine for around $10 on Amazon.

I also use a cheap bread loaf pan that I put them in while on the scale to weigh them safely.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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So, if Friar Tuck was your piggy, and he's the same, better, or heaven forbid worse tomorrow, what would you do about his 11am vet appointment, where he'd most likely have a molar exam under anesthetic?

My stand right now is: If he's worse I'll definitely bring him.... If he's better I won't. But I'm not sure what to do if he's the same.
 

MerryFriarTuck

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If you haven't already got one, get a kitchen scale to weigh him. They are inexpensive and extremely valuable, especially to keep an accurate eye on a sick pig's weight loss or gain. I got mine for around $10 on Amazon.

I also use a cheap bread loaf pan that I put them in while on the scale to weigh them safely.

We do have a scale that will work... I've been a slacking piggy parent on weighing them as often as I should. When he was weighed at the vet, he hasn't lost weight yet then. Bread loaf pan is a brilliant idea, thank you!
 

Kelsie

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I'm so hesitant to offer my opinion because I just don't know what is the best answer. If he was my pig and I knew that I could get another appointment quickly if I needed it and as long as he was starting to eat more food I would probably wait and see how he continues to do. I am always so worried about anesthesia. I worked for years in the veterinary field and I know that anesthesia problems are rare. I had many tumor surgeries performed on my rats and not one of them ever had a problem with either the anesthesia or surgery. But I know that guinea pigs are different and they react to surgery in a completely different way.

I wish I could offer you more in the way of advice but all I can say is you will know what the best decision is regarding Friar Tuck. My thoughts and prayers are with you. I hope I check in tomorrow and see that he is doing much better and is on the way to getting back to his happy self.
 
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