[Gpdd] HEALTH: Wet Tail/Syringe Feeding/Angel's Mush

[Dana Felice]

Jenn

I've had a couple of bunnies who didn't like critical care so I made them
Angel's Mush.  Critical care is really Oxbow pellets enhanced, and this
recipe also calls for guinea pig pellets.  You can find oat or barley flour
at a specialty store such as Whole Foods, although many grocery stores have
it in the organic section.  This recipe makes a ton - I would cut in half.
It looks disgusting but I've had bunnies who wouldn't eat critical care eat
this.

It's amazing how much a 2 lb. guinea pig can fight.  I hope your little one
is better soon.

 

 

Recipe

.         4-5 cups high fiber (29-30%) pellets (high quality; your bunny's
favorite alfalfa-timothy blend)

.         1 cup oat or barley flour

Mix together, and then cover in water and let soak 2-3 hrs

Add:

.         11.5-12 oz V-8 juice (We don't use low sodium V-8 juice since the
juice is a relatively small part of the mush, and doesn't add enough sodium
for it to be a problem.)

.         1 can vanilla Ensure (or the generic equivalent which is much less
expensive, and identical in all other ways)

.         1 large can pumpkin (the two-pie size, but plain pumpkin, not
pumpkin pie filling)

Mix all and add water or Pedialyte to attain desired consistency. Can be
thinned to syringe-feed consistency. Use pedialyte only if the rabbit needs
the electrolytes. A healthy rabbit doesn't.

For a healthy rabbit, the consistency should be fairly dry, and it should be
given in "lumps." If it squashes down, and the rabbit has no incisors, it
can be hard for him/her to eat it. I "fluff" if up again if this happens.

Storage

I freeze it in heavy freezer bags, in quantities that we'll use within 4
days. We thaw it in the refrigerator, and keep it refrigerated until it's
used up or gets older than five days thawed.

In a pinch, we thaw in a microwave.

It can be stored frozen for several months. It doesn't go bad, but would
lose some of its taste, like frozen vegetables do.

We serve it to healthy bunnies straight from the refrigerator, and leave it
for as much as 12 hours. For sick rabbits, when we are syringe feeding, we
put the syringe in hot water so the mush is warm.

Amount

All the rabbit can/will eat if weight gain is needed. We give it twice a
day, and start with 1/2 to 1 cup twice daily for healthy rabbits, where
quantity depends on their activity level, whether they can eat other things,
etc., as well as their weight. I let them eat all they want for a day, and
determine how much that is. Then I limit them to that, and check their
weight once a week, and make modifications based on weight gain or loss.

(It also depends on how much of their mush their mate eats... )

I'm syringe feeding a bed-ridden rabbit who weighs about 5 lbs. He maintains
his weight on 210 cc's of syringed mush per day, plus 120 cc's sub-cu
fluids, and generous vegetables. (Rabbits should have 10cc's of fluid per
pound of rabbit three times a day. Fluids are in the mush, in the sub-cu
fluids, and in the vegetables, if they can eat them.)

Sometimes he eats more mush, sometimes, less. But he averages 210 cc's per
day.

 

Regards,




Dana Felice
Chapter Manager
Tampa Bay House Rabbit Society

Please check out our rabbit information at: <http://www.tampabayhrs.org/>
www.tampabayhrs.org

"It doesn't matter what the kids say. Rabbits are not disposable like a box
of cereal or a Disney video. They WILL get tired of the rabbits and go on to
the next toy. YOU will have to deal with the consequences. Unfortunately,
most people deal with the situation by DUMPING their rabbits on someone
else. Ultimately, it is the bunny that pays for your inability to say NO."