Not Eating Stubborn pig won't eat critical care

[Jeffiner2001]

Leda has been to the vet twice this week for not eating. She'll nibble a bit, but that's it. Tried critical care, but it takes 2 of us to pin her down to even try and get close enough to her mouth with the syringe feeder. Tried wrapping in a towel, no help.

Any tips on force feeding? She tosses her head, thrashes, squirms, and generally makes it impossible to get anything down her. I can generally get most of her probiotics / medicine into her, but not critical care (either kind) or even baby food.

I'm at my wits end, she is losing weight rapidly (30g overnight and 200g this week) and generally wasting away. Any help is appreciated greatly!

 

[bpatters]

See https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html for some tips.

This is the way I do it. Get all your feeding materials ready first (see below for more info).

1) Put your non-dominant arm on a table that's at a comfortable height for you, and throw a towel over it.

2) Put the pig on the towel and wrap it enough so that it can't back out of your arm.

3) With your non-dominant hand, grip the pig's head firmly between your thumb and forefinger, holding it just behind (not ON) the hinge of the jaw. Slide your hand toward the pig's nose so that the eyes are shielded.

4) Insert the syringe in the side of the pig's mouth, behind the front teeth, in front of the back teeth. Insert about half an inch, and turn the syringe so that it points at the pig's throat.

5) Give about 1/4 to 1/2 cc at a time. If the pig is chewing, it's swallowing. If it's spitting the food out, you're not getting it far enough back on the molars.

For an uncooperative pig, using 1 cc syringes makes it much easier to get the food in without choking the pig. Be sure to read the GL info about trimming the nose off the syringe and smoothing the end of the barrel. Use a large syringe (free at most pharmacies if you tell them it's to feed a sick pet) to load the small syringes. Load up at least 10 of the small ones at a time, or have someone else available to keep reloading them.

If the pig learns to cooperate, then feed from the larger syringe.

Make the Critical Care mixture watery at the beginning, and you may have to add more water. It will thicken up as it sits. And be sure to get all the lumps out. Lumps will block the flow out of the syringe, and if you try to force it while the syringe is in the pig's mouth, you can wind up choking it to death.

You can do this. You're a large human, and this is a three-pound pig, at most. You're equipped to win this battle. She doesn't have to like it, but she does have to eat. And you have to make her do it. It's called "force feeding" for a reason.

The good news is that most pigs will adjust fairly quickly to being fed this way. And if they like the CC, they may even eat a glob of it off a spoon or a plate.

 

[Jeffiner2001]

Thabk you so much! I was able to get about 30-35 ml down her today. I also switched flavors of Critical Care - she really hates the apple banana apparently! Didnt know there were 3 varieties. Thankfully the new vet we are now going to had anise on hand!

 

[bpatters]

I don't think I've ever heard of a pig that liked the apple/banana stuff. Mine love the anise flavor, and will happily eat it off a spoon or a plate. Unless they're sick, that is. Then they won't voluntarily touch it, but will eat it from a syringe.

 

[jaycriae]

I never knew that Apple/Banana was especially in unpopular with pigs! Mine will eat a tiny amount eagerly and then quickly get sick of it, and for most pigs it's a huge pain to feed. I definitely should look into other flavors next time anybody at my house or the shelter needs some extra care. Thank you for bringing this up! And good luck with Leia, too, Jeffiner!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

I don't think I've ever heard of a pig that liked the apple/banana stuff. Mine love the anise flavor, and will happily eat it off a spoon or a plate. Unless they're sick, that is. Then they won't voluntarily touch it, but will eat it from a syringe.

Really? Sly gobbles the apple banana like it's candy! He'll eat it from a syringe, out of a bowl and even off my finger. The babies, Punkin and Scooter, have gotten little tastes of it on my finger and they go nuts too.

 

[Jeffiner2001]

Vet checked Leda out with xray today, thinking her problem was de tal, but her teeth are fine. Only thing she could tell me is that she is very gassy according to xray (matches what we have observed too, lots of tummy boises). They want her to take 1ml of simithecone every 12 hours, and that seems like a lot! The dosage for infants is only 0.3ml, and they are bigger than my poor starved pig here at 700g. Any thoughts?

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Check your dosage again. Are you sure it's 1ml and not .1ml?

 

[Jeffiner2001]

Check your dosage again. Are you sure it's 1ml and not .1ml?

Yes, and I verbally confirmed with the vet as well

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

That was the only thing I could think of. I've never needed to use simethicone so I'm definitely unsure of its usage, though there are definitely members here who have. Hopefully you can get a better answer soon.

 

[bpatters]

Did you confirm with the vet, or with the vet office staff?

Guinea Lynx recommends half the pediatric dose, or about .15 ml, 2-3 times a day.

 

[Jeffiner2001]

Did you confirm with the vet, or with the vet office staff?

Guinea Lynx recommends half the pediatric dose, or about .15 ml, 2-3 times a day.

The vet herself.
I had found that Guinea Lynx info too, which is the reason I was questioning it. She has pretty bad gas, so I can understand having an elevated dose, but not that elevated. I gave her 0.2- 0.3 yesterday twice a day, and she seems better today. I don't think I want to go above 0.3ml