[Gpdd] Re: Urinary Tract Infections - extra feeding

[Mikey]

Hi,

I hope your GP will soon be fine. My late male guinea used to not eat
because of dental problems. I had to feed him for about half a year,
because he did not or could not really eat by himself. The vet told me
it is important that the pg's intestines do not get empty, because if
it is it will be harder to get it all working again. At first I had to
feed him every two hours, but I didn't do that at night time because I
also needed sleep. Since your pig is still eating something, i think
you don't have to worry about this. But nevertheless I think it is a
good idea to feed him some extras. What i used to do was mix
orangejuice with cereals (like bambix or brinta, i don't know wether
you have it in your country, but it is very fine pieces of grane and
cereal products) orangejuice for the vitamin c. I used to heat it up a
bit, because then it wouldn't be to cold for him (don't know that is a
problem, but my mother did this and I just copied it, and it was also
easier to mix the things then and make it into some sort of thick
sauce. then I would put it in a plastic sprayer (needle?), which I got
from the vet. put your gp on a towel and wrap it in the towel (to not
get the food everywhere, but just on the towel). hold him plus towel
so you can easily hold him with one arm and see his mouth and slowly
spray the mixture in to his mouth. of course give him time to swallow.
It best to hold him against your tummy or breast. An other option to
feed his is small portion of babyfood from a jar, like the ones with
carrots, or other veggies he likes. But my GP did not like that. I
will warn you that there is a big possibility that he does not like to
be fed, but its for his own good. At first I had to force me guinea to
eat like this, but after a while he got used to it. And later i just
had to put him on a towel (no wrapping) and he would come and eat it
just like that. After about half a year doing this he started eating
again by himself (after solving the dental problems also), and I was
really happy he made it through. Unfornately a year later he got some
kind of stroke and eventually died. :'( (but at least it was not
because of bad care from my side)

I hope this works, i am a bit behind on reading to I hope you can
still use this.

good luck,
Mikey