[Gpdd] [health] feeding your sick piggies, long

[warmbreath]

      a reprint of an old article I wrote
      Teach Your Piggy How To Be Sick and Other Feeding and Watering Issues


      11-May-03
      I have some advice for those of you having feeding problems due to
      illness or teeth probs. The best thing to do is get some "Critical 
Care"
      from your vet or "Oxbow Hay". It will remind you of ground up pellets, 
then
      you add water and feed by syringe or spoon. If you don't have Critical 
Care make something similar (but not nearly as good) by dissolving your 
regular pellets in water or juice for a while as they soak up a lot of 
liquid. Add a Vit C supplement, and a tiny bit of sugar or juice if the pig 
is weak. Add yugurt or other probiotics if your piggy is on antibiotics. It 
is best that you all train your piggies in advance to eat from a syringe so 
they look forward to the syringe when they don't feel good. I have nursed 
one pig in a cage only to have all the pigs in that cage fight for their own 
turn at the syringe. I had another ill one, my Jetma now at the bridge, who 
could grab the syringe out of my hand and turn it in her mouth till she had 
the right end, then suck like crazy. What a sight. Also, they become so well 
trained I can just stick the syringe down in the cage and she will suck it 
up.
      Another phenomena is that a sick pig will eat more if he is offered a 
variety of foods to tempthis sulky appetites. I invite any sick or just thin 
or droopy looking piggy to breakfast with me. I get out tiny bowls for 
yogurt and juices, and their own plate for different veggies, oatmeal, 
grains etc. Then whee just have our breakfast together. They will eat more 
this way I promise.

      Finally, train your piggies to eat chewable vit C tabs, either the 
ones from Oxbow or cut up people ones to approx 50 or 100 mg size. Feed once 
or twice a day to sick pigs. I don't regularly feed Vit C tabs as Penny 
Giggles all eat Vit C foods like oranges, spinach and greens, etc., and 
fresh pellets (only buy the kind that have the manufacture date on it) Not 
to claim that the Penny Giggles are so highly trained, but they will shove 
their noses eagerly into the Oxbow bottle to pick out their own vitamin. 
This simple training really pays off when they are sick.

      I do not syringe only juice although hydration is critical during 
illness as I think the Oxbow Hay Critical Care or regular pellets liquified 
(only if u can't get Critical Care) is by far and away the best thing for 
pigs. Also if you are hand feeding, do it as often as you can, I would say 
not less than 4 or 6 times a day, hourly whenyou can manage it. Piggies are 
eating machines and they operate on low nutrient foods like grass and hay by 
constantly eating.

      I think common sense pretty much rules andI don't want it to seem 
overly complicated but I will offer my thoughts. Over the years my Penny 
Giggles have had the opportunity to eat many different fresh foods and there 
are very few foods I rule out. I usually use Oxbow timothy based pellets 
(Cavy Cuisine). I always use as much timmy or grass hay as they can eat. I 
think its critical to recognize that GP's really need to eat almost 
constantly to keep their guts healthy. Also note to check a GP's water 
bottles if they seem off feed as GP's won't eat dry food if there is no 
water available, (for safety I keep 2 water bottles per tub). My GPs will 
start to eat dry food the second they see me grab their bottle as they have 
learned fresh water is coming. Boars grab food and run to their own corner 
or pigloo, girls are frequently happy to sit around a large leaf and 
companionably munch together. The Dancie pigs, who used to be free range 
boars, will grab a piece from my hands, drop it, grab another and another 
hoarding as big a pile as they can get, while caged piggies just take one at 
a time and are often happy to eat from your hands instead of grabbing it 
away.

      Also importantly, they enjoy may food parts we don't eat like 
rinds,skins,
      corn husks etc., and I believe it's very important to wash or scrub 
these
      parts. For instance melon and orange rinds; GP's really love these but
      pesticides may be there in levels that aren't regulated as consumers 
don't
      eat these parts. There may be bacteria like e-coli as has been found 
on some Mexican melons and even Roma tomatoes

      Feed apple lightly as it has been reported ( by P Gurney, I think) to 
cause
      mouth sores in some GP's. Never feed onions and mushrooms, iceberg, or 
apple seeds. Limit carrots to 1 inch per day (too much beta carotene hurts 
livers). I don't feed potato, winter squash, or real starchy veggies. Feed 
as wide a variety as possible, but limit sweet stuff. I feed banana to thin 
or convalescing pigs only, except to Willie who demands it.

      So far I haven't had much luck feeding Brussels sprouts and only a few
      like fresh cranberries and asparagus stalks. Their most frequent foods 
are carrots, celery, romaine, greens, cilantro, parsley, oranges, tomatoes,
      grapes, bananas, strawberries, other berries, broccoli, kiwi, cabbage,
      cardoons, dandelions, green beans, and peppers. We grow a lot of this 
stuff here using composted piggie bedding for fertilizer and soil amendment. 
They love dill. Don't forget to serve the parts of veggies we don't eat, 
like outer leaves, cabbage cores, celery bases and tops, corn silk and husks 
etc., but wash em well.

      I try to feed one Vit C food a day. I found my family eats a lot more 
veggies since the piggies came to live here. I don't chop up foods for the 
piggies, I think its part of their job (except carrots as they bash each 
other with them to get it to them selves)

      I have used dry oatmeal and cooked oatmeal with sick or thin pigs 
mixed with fruit juice, banana and or plain yogurt as well as Critical Care 
of course. I endorse cranberry juice (unsweetened if possible). I never 
offer people food, fats, meats or dairy(except as noted). No seeds except 
rarely and shelled, no commercially prepared treats even if it says for 
GP's, nothing with dyes, no candy or sweets, chocolate is poison to piggies 
and most animals.

      Piggies learn to eat from their mommies and cagemates. Whatever one 
piggy in agroup likes, they will all learn to eat. I have some groups that 
fight over cranberries, others that go Pitooey when you offer them. Some 
pigs will run to grab those little Oxbow Vit C pills, others go pitooey (so
      funny as it is accompanied by an unforgettable look in your 
direction).
      They learn to eat from their slaves too, so whenever you want to teach 
a new food just get a hungry pig from the cage and sit down for a snack with 
him. You take a bite, offer him some, let him smell or lick the juice from 
your fingers. After a while the piggy will bite, then you eat more, offer 
him
      more, etc. As piggies are competitive about food the best way is to 
offer
      him a bite, when he gets it his mouth he may hold it but not eat, tug 
gently, he bites harder, tug more, pretty soon he tastes it and will usually 
then start to eat it. Keep eating your own portion. Soon he loves it. 
Finally offer him some in his cage make him tug it, this will prompt the 
other piggies to grab it and in the process they will taste it and seeing 
the other pig eat it soon the whole tub loves it. May take a week or so but 
worth it as I feel greater variety is really good for people a as well as 
piggies. This week I had Boar-is sitting on my chest and Ryan hands me a 
piece of celery. Boar-is wasn't hungry so he ignored it. I took a bite of 
the other end and Boar-is comes running up grabs it out my mouth and starts 
chewing away. Silly pig.

      Is Your Piggy Too Thirsty? Iknow of 2 reasons pigz get overly thirsty.

      1. Diabetes. You can get test strips at the pharmacy and check her 
urine.
      Stop feeding anything sweet or starchy and check again. Also switch to
      timothy hay pellets instead of alfalfa. You can get these from Oxbow 
Hay or American Pet Diner on line.


      2. Hormone/metabolic problem. I had 2 girl piggies get this. Their
      metabolism really revs up due to some problem that has to be detected 
and corrected. My Brown Noise had a uterine tumor and had to be spayed. We 
never found out what was wrong with Jetma even after a lot of vet visits. We 
tried ruling out a lot of things and in the end think it might have 
beenCushing's disease. This can often be treated with hormones and I believe 
the info is In the GPDD archives

      The most important thing in both cases is to make absolutely sure she 
has
      the water she needs or she will just burn up. My girls got very hungry 
too,
      to the point that I had to have something in my hands to offer or they 
would eat me. Jetma was so desperate she would grab the syringe out of my 
hand and run around the cage trying to get more out of it. Any way make sure 
she has 2 bottles.

      Also I think its clear that a vet may be needed if simple dietary 
correction
      doesn't help for hormone treatment or spay