First, let me say this. I'm pretty sure my girl has developed a URI. We've been gone for two weeks and she's been in boarding and I'm pretty sure it came from stress. Also, I desperately want to get her to the vet tonight, but my parents are away until like 9:30 PM or so and I'm not sure how willing they'll be to help me rush her to an emergency vet that's pretty far away, but I'm going to try my hardest to convince them.
Now, the problem -
I decided I had to start force feeding my pig because she totally stopped eating and drinking. She wouldn't take even her favorite veggies and fruits.
First I took a sugar snap pea, her favorite, and cut it into teeny tiny itty bitty pieces. I put her on my lap and after about eight million tries managed to get one in there. Everything I've read said that once it's in their mouth it'll either fall out or they'll eat it. But neither of those things happened. It just stayed in there. I thought having her on my lap was stressing her out, so I put her back in her cage for a while so she'd maybe eat it. I took her out about 15 minutes later and the darn thing was still in there. I opened her mouth a little and it fell out. I tried some canned pumpkin and syringed a tiny bit into her mouth, and that sort of worked but she still didn't take all of it until I gave her a bit of water. Then I quit the pumpkin and just gave her water, which she had no problem with at all. Then I tried pumpkin mixed with water and she took some, but after just a bit she stopped chewing and swallowing it.
My question is, why is she having such a hard time eating it? She's showing other signs of a URI which is why I think it's that and not a tooth problem, but could she have both a URI and a tooth problem? I just lost my other pig only a month ago and I don't think I can handle losing her, too.
Now, the problem -
I decided I had to start force feeding my pig because she totally stopped eating and drinking. She wouldn't take even her favorite veggies and fruits.
First I took a sugar snap pea, her favorite, and cut it into teeny tiny itty bitty pieces. I put her on my lap and after about eight million tries managed to get one in there. Everything I've read said that once it's in their mouth it'll either fall out or they'll eat it. But neither of those things happened. It just stayed in there. I thought having her on my lap was stressing her out, so I put her back in her cage for a while so she'd maybe eat it. I took her out about 15 minutes later and the darn thing was still in there. I opened her mouth a little and it fell out. I tried some canned pumpkin and syringed a tiny bit into her mouth, and that sort of worked but she still didn't take all of it until I gave her a bit of water. Then I quit the pumpkin and just gave her water, which she had no problem with at all. Then I tried pumpkin mixed with water and she took some, but after just a bit she stopped chewing and swallowing it.
My question is, why is she having such a hard time eating it? She's showing other signs of a URI which is why I think it's that and not a tooth problem, but could she have both a URI and a tooth problem? I just lost my other pig only a month ago and I don't think I can handle losing her, too.