Hi Secret Agent Guinea Pigs and human slaves of guinea pigs,
Followers of our Twitter feeds probably know that Dido has been having severe dental problems, today the vet put her on Critical Care Fine Grind. I've been doing my research on this and it does not seem to have a vitamin C supplement. Can anyone recommend a good Vit C supplement to add to the Critical Care? I would rather avoid giving her pureed veg as I don't want to over-load her fluids as the Critical Care is diluted in water, so any recommendations would be much appreciated.
thanks
Mopsy
Sorry to read that Dido is having trouble.
ReplyDeleteWhen I have to syringe feed a little patient, I use a human soluble Vit C tablet. I don't know where in the world you are but I can buy these in a tube at the pharmacy. Break a piece from the tablet and dissolve it in a little water and it can then be syringed in. The amount doesn't matter as piggies excrete surplus Vit C.
Reseal the tube very quickly as the tablets absorb moisture from the air and you need to keep them dry.
Good luck.
Oxbow also makes an awesome and stable Vit C supplement tablet for piggies. It can be crushed and added to the Critical Care to give via syringe. It's widely available online if your local pet supply store doesn't happen to have it.
ReplyDeleteWe're in Northumberland.
ReplyDeleteI have some Vit C tablets so will try that while the Oxbow supplement is on order.
Thanks everyone, Dido is my little baby and I could not bear for anything to happen to her.
Hi Mopsy, as a Vitamin C supplement I squeeze fresh orange juice into my pigs Critical Care. (Not store bought because most brands have added sugar.) Since not much is needed, I cut a wedge of orange and hand squeeze the juice into the Critical Care, then compensate by using less water. That way the piggy can still get some Vitamin C if no tablets are on hand.
ReplyDeleteHope that helps somewhat... wish you best of luck with Dido, hope she gets well soon!
Cranberry juice is a good source of vitamin I use ocean spray unsweetened and add it to the water bottle.
ReplyDeleteIf Dido can eat for herself a quarter of a bell pepper provides enough vit C for a pregnant piggy and so a smaller amount would be enough for Dido you could try blending it if she wont eat.
We hope Dido is better soon and we are sending big hugs to her worried Mummy
Thanks for all the suggestions.
ReplyDeleteDido has gone from not being able to eat because of over-grown teeth to having problems grasping food with her newly burred teeth!
She doesn't like bell peppers (she is quite the fussy eater)but she does like cranberry juice. I'm going into Newcastle today so will go to my fav whole food/health food store and pick some up.
Thanks everyone! You have all given me lots of ideas.
By the way, Agent Lettuce was prowling around the bed this morning grizzling at me for food. Considering how ill she was on wednesday it is amazing how quickly she has improved.
Sometimes, after dental work, a piggy's mouth can be sore and this causes problems eating, even if they want to. You could try Daktarin oral gel, which you can buy at the pharmacy. You squeeze a pea sized blob onto your finger and massage it around the mouth two or three times a day.
ReplyDeleteShe might manage better if you grate all her veggies for now but keep up the syringe feeding too.
Paws crossed for Dido.
Hi Mopsy,
ReplyDeleteMy piggies just eat the normal vitC tablets, without sugar for humans, we give them. That is my two older piggies do, the 2 youngsters don't but I hope the will learn from my other two.
We don't do anything to the tablets, they just eat it as it is...
But as Dido is having teeth problems, she not likely to eat them as they are... maybe a tip for all who want to supply extra vitc to their piggies.
You could also use some of Dido's pellets (they should have vitC) and add some warm water to mix a pellet mush and feed that to her, same way as the critical care...
I agree with P you could still try the daktarin oral gel if you can get it. I understood it might not be visible in the mouth... I'm really hoping she doesn't have oral trush like your vet said, cause i'm told it's nasty and painful!
Best of luck with Dido. Hope the info I send you about oral trush helped, even if it's in determining she doesn't have that!
I had a piggie Winky that had overgrown teeth as well, due to his molars not being well alligned (top and bottom ones) He didn't want to eat either after them fixed his teeth. But vet said to keep his bowl of pellets and hay in the cage, so he could eat if he wanted to.
After quite a long time of syringe feeding, all of a sudden he started eating his pellets again....
Grtz, Mieke from the Guinygirlz
Thanks Mieke, the info was very useful, I'm going to get some Daktarin gel too, and some probiotic tablets in town. I stupidly said to my local pharmacy that the Daktarin was for Dido where upon the pharmacist said they couldn't sell the gel for animal consumption.
ReplyDeleteShe is loving the Critical Care, but still attempting her solid food and hay which is good.
sure hope little Dido is doing better. Do you have pure pumpkin in a can? My heard loves to eat that when not well and I mix it with the critical care.
ReplyDelete