[Gpdd] Health: Salt and Herbals

[Lisa Choiniere]

Hi everyone,

I have been on Guinealynx and frankly I feel under attack every time I post on there. Here is my reasoning for giving my pigs "mineral" licks, not pure salt licks. Animals in the wild, any animal but let's use deer for example, crave minerals because they don't find it in theier normal diet so they go to a spot, perhaps man-made and lick it there. Other animals go to nature made spots and get it from there. Yes, our feed is supplemented but how do we know enough is enough? 

Animals have their own sense of what their own bodies need. They aren't like us most of the time where they will gorge themselves to sickness because comething tastes good, like on Thanksgiving holiday. If they need it, they use it, if they don't they don't. Not all animals have imbalances and those animals never touch the wheels at all. I never see them standing at the wheel sucking on it like it is a piece of candy. I do not think they are doing themselves harm. 

Yes, too much salt is a bad thing, but we do need salt as an electrolyte to maintain helathy bodies. Animals are much more in tune with their bodies than we are and I trust in that. I have had pigs live to be as old as 9 years old, bless his soul.

So I understand the concern and it would definitely be bad in the circumstance of a pig with a heart condition, per se. But I think healthy pigs should be given the option. 

Dafnee, my consolidated lung pig, has made improvements, she has gained 110g, but at "unethical methods," according to guinealynx. I started adding "junk food" to her regular healthy food, to encourage her to spend more time at her dish. So on top of her regular pellets, the alfalfa/timothy cubes, fruits/veggies, being syringe fed CC/baby food 2-3 times per day, I was offering her a tablespoon or so of a mixture of Gertie Guinea Pig and Guinea Pig Fiesta. It encouraged her to eat more out of her dish and not just the crazy the pieces that come with those foods, but more of her own pellets too. 

I felt put down and almost attacked by guinealynx and said I should be feeding her more healthy foods, but those weren't helping her gain weight. I needed crazy empty calories; I needed to tempt her, to encourage her to want to eat, and the "potato chips" method worked. I am not by any means going to keep it up forever. "There is a lot of fat in fiesta and I am harming her liver" or "I am filling her up with empty calories." Which is kind of the point. She needed more calories and she needed more fat. They told me to feed her more fiber, but fiber won't help her gain weight, it will just fill her belly so she won't eat anymore.

I know feeding her junk is not the right way, but I am at my wit's end. She is 16 months old and is 300g lighter than her sister.

I mentioned herbals in the sense of echinacea. I want to give her immune system a boost so we can make sure to kick this and never have to deal with it again. I cry over her every day. Her breathing has improved a lot and she is up to 710g. But to have everyone tell you that you are doing it all wrong hurts when you look at the little darling and see that you seem to be doing it right. I want her better. She has a heart of gold. Someone wants her and her sister for forever. They have a home that will love them forever. I just have to make sure she makes it that far.

Anyone ever used echinacea here to help boost the immune system of an ailing guinea pig?

Thanks for reading my epic story. Be easy on me, I take enough of a beating on guinealynx...

Be well all and please accept my condolences for all those who have past...
Lisa and the whole gang at Wheeks and Squeaks, especially Dafnee, the super trooper with the consolidated lung

 		
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