[Gpdd] HEALTH: Patches

[Luita Spangler]

Patches needs to get food in his little body as soon as possible,
whether he wants to or not! This is a true emergency situation, because
often when they don't feel well (and a guinea pig on antibiotics more
likely than not doesn't feel well - the antibiotic upsets their
stomachs), they just give up. They won't eat, and a guinea pig can
quickly go into liver and kidney failure without food. Many in the GPDD
family have had the experience of having to emergency syringe-feed a
guinea pig who is unwilling to eat--I myself have pulled several of my
little companions literally from the Maw Of Death by syringe-feeding
them, particularly after they have had antibiotics. You need to ask your
vet to order "Critical Care" from Oxbow--it's a product specifically
developed for this situation, with the right mix of vitamins, probiotics
and roughage. It comes in a powder, you add water and, using a small
syringe (3cc is a good size - I always cut the plastic tip off to make a
slightly larger hole, being careful to sand off the sharp edge) you
slowly and carefully "inject" some food into the guinea pig's mouth,
making sure the guinea pig is chewing (often while objecting indignantly
to the whole process) and not inhaling the food. If your vet doesn't
have Critical Care on hand, don't wait!! You can make your own food
paste by soaking pellets in water until they dissolve and make a paste.
Your vet should certainly have at least syringes available for this,
though. Many guinea pig sites on the internet have much more complete
information about syringe feeding, including tips on how to deal with
objecting guinea pigs. Look at http://www.aracnet.com/~seagull/Guineas/
or http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/ - two excellent sites.
But really, don't wait! 

Luita
Bert and Ernie