Okay. A few more questions: we had a little mishap with what to get from the pharmacy and ended up with gripe water instead of the other stuff. Is that safe to give him? I wasn't sure because the box says it has ginger and fennel in the formula. Should I get up to check on him every so often tonight? He is still pooing, although they are small, and occasionally comes out to eat a few bites of hay and pellets, though I haven't seen him drink yet.
Gripe water should be ok. You can give him a few mils every few hours.
As far as checking on him through the night, that's a personal thing. If he were mine I would, more out of worry than anything else. I've had many sleepless nights over the last few months that were piggy related.
Okay, thank you. I will get up at least once to give him more of the gripe water and check how he's doing.
The box for the gripe water says that it should only be given up to six times in a twenty-four hour period...I am giving less than the minimum dose, but can I give it more than six times?
Also, I can't get him to the vet until tomorrow. Should I feed him critical care since he's not eating as much as he should?
Sorry this is late, but I would probably feed him some. You don't want him to go into GI stasis.
Didn't realize this was two days ago, but how is he doing?
He is doing a lot better! I decided not to take him to the vet yesterday because his appetite was returning. Between last night and this morning and feeding him cc, he has gained back nearly 30 grams of the 60 he had lost, and has been munching on lots of hay this morning.
Glad to hear he is doing better! Please keep us updated on his progress.
Snickers continues to improve. His appetite has returned to pretty much normal so I've stopped giving him critical care. Unfortunately his weight hasn't gone up as much as I'd like and is currently hovering at 904 grams. Last week I weighed him at 947, so a bit disappointed that it isn't increasing much. Other than that he is back to his cheeky self and wheeking for veggies!
That's great news! Sparky says, "way to go, Snickers"!
Scooter sends his best wishes to Snickers for his continued recovery! SO happy to hear the good news!
Good to hear that Snickers is doing better. Hope the trend continues.
Today I was holding Snickers on my lap, and he started squeaking in pain while peeing...he used to do that every so often when pooping, but it didn't happen often to the point where I thought he needed to see the vet. Well anyways I lifted him up and found a brownish spot on the fleece...should I take him to the vet? He is a bit under the weather right now- I've noticed him sneeze a few times and his poop is smaller than usual -but he is still eating, drinking, and begging for attention.
My family has a trip planned this weekend, but I don't want to leave him (I am having someone come and feed him) feeling unsure.
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I'd take him. IMO, he needs an x-ray for stones.
Thank you for the advice. I will look into getting an appointment tomorrow morning. Is there anything I can do for him in the meantime? Upon closer inspection of his cage I noticed one other brownish spot and a few lightly tinted larger areas. I feel bad for not seeing the signs sooner.
Syringe him some extra water several times a day. That's about all you can do.
I have an appointment scheduled tomorrow morning. If by chance it is not stones and is an infection, I am planning on supplementing him with Bene-Bac if they prescribe antibiotics. The problem is, I have powdered Bene-Bac that is three months past the "best by" date. Can I use it? Or should I just buy some new stuff?
I am a bit befuddled with Snickers' condition right now. I took him to the vet last Thursday before spending the weekend up north with my family.
The vet said that he looked very healthy except for his weight being low and that his poop looked fine (which, in my opinion, is still smaller than usual, but I don't know, maybe it just fluctuates). She offered to do the x-ray, but I refused because there is no point in knowing whether he has stones or not...I do not want to do surgery. She recommended alfalfa hay for gaining weight and offered pain medication. Since it seemed like he was doing fine, I decided to wait until after our vacation to see whether he needed medication. My cousin came over and fed him over the weekend, and I told her to keep a close eye on him and let me know if anything seemed off.
We got back yesterday and since then I have not seen any more brown spots or heard him squeaking in pain. But I weighed him this morning and he was 877 grams...not good. He ate all his veggies and has been drinking lots of water and eating some hay. Should I try the pain medicine and see if it makes a difference? Or feed him some critical care just until he gains more weight? I'm not really sure what to do. And I already started mixing alfalfa with his regular timothy hay.
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