[Gpdd] Health ---Patches not eating

Leila Baldridge keegsmom at cablelynx.com
Thu Oct 2 14:22:58 EDT 2003


Hi all,
As I write this I am hoping that Patches is on the mend and back to eating
normaly but just wanted to add my experience with feeding PJ during her
bouts of inner ear infections.  PJ was my sweet little Peruvian who lived to
be 8 years old in spite of major health problems.  When she first got sick
she refused all food like most sick piggies--even her favorite spinach and
parsley treats that I tried to entice her to eat from my hand.  Realizing
that a piggie who does not eat will die very quickly, I tried syringe
feeding crushed pellet slurry (she hated it) and syringe feeding babyfood
fruits and carrots (not much better luck).  My vet recommended a little
plain yogurt to replace the bacteria in PJ's intestines.  PJ would at least
take a little of that from a syringe but not nearly enough to give much
nutrition. In desperation, since I knew PJ was not going to make it much
longer, I tried different flavors of yogurt. She went nuts over blueberry.
She would grab the syringe from my hand and try to slurp the yogurt out. I
gave her about 4 mls  four or five times daily for about a week as she
gradually started nibbling a little lettuce, pellets, and soft hay.  After
she started eating normally she still had to stay on antibiotics for a month
so I continued to give her 1 ml of yogurt twice daily.
I realize that yogurt (and especially sweetened yogurt) is not the food of
choice for guinea pigs, and I certainly tried to get PJ back to eating a
normal piggie diet as soon as possible. But since she was refusing any other
form of nourishment during the time she felt so bad, I think it probably
kept her going and gave me six more months with her.  Guinea pigs arent like
a lot of animals who can go several days without eating---it doesn't take
long for them to suffer fatal damage to their liver.  So although this is
just my own experience, I just wanted to share this if it might help anyone
else.  One other thing---especially if your vet is not trained in exotic
animal care---be sure your piggie does not get any penicillin type
antibiotic (including amoxil). They are very dangerous for piggies.
Warm wheeks to all piggies and slaves!
Leila and the 4 little pigs





More information about the Gpdd mailing list