Syringe Feeding

Over the past couple of weeks, we've unfortunately had two guinea pigs on Critical Care.

In his final few days and hours, we supplied Leo CC because he lost his ability to move around and feed himself. And this past weekend, Thurston lost his top two incisors and struggled to chew on regular food.

The biggest question we've gotten on social media as a result - how do you get your pigs to willingly take syringe-fed critical care?

A lot of our followers report having difficulty getting their guinea pigs to take CC, or anything by syringe (including meds). Here's a bit about how we manage medication and syringe-feeding.

1. Familiarity

By the time they need it, this is not the first time our guinea pigs have had critical care.

In the past, if one pig has to take CC, there's generally a little bit of extra leftover. (We don't really measure well, and tend to overestimate in the hopes that they will be able to tolerate as much as possible.) What do we do with the extra?

We make the sound that means "treats!!" to the herd, and go around one by one and offer them some CC from the syringe. Because of this, our herd starts to associate whatever is in the syringe with yummy things! They are healthy and happy when first introduced to syringe feeding, and that way when they are sick and require this kind of supplemental feeding, they are already familiar and (if you're lucky!) excited to have some.

We prefer to use the critical care from Oxbow, and they have a couple different flavors that our pigs all seem to love. We have also had great luck with EmerAid in sicker pigs. The syringes by Science Selective have been our favorite by far - they are the perfect size for drawing up and administering thicker fluids like critical care.

2. Routine

A few years ago when we had Lynx, he was on half a dozen meds and around the clock supplemental syringe feeding off and on for months. It was exhausting. Out of all of our herd, he wasn't the biggest fan of critical care, but he learned to associate it with the things that he loved.

Lynx loved cuddles and attention, and he loved specific types of treats and toys. Whenever we would pick him up to do his feeding, we made sure to spend extra time to incorporate these things into the routine. He particularly loved the Oxbow Timothy Star Dish - so after he was done with meds and feeding, he would get about ten minutes to just hang out and crunch away to his little heart's desire. Having something to look forward to after an unpleasant - and routine - experience made each feeding a little bit easier.

3. Mix it up

Does your pig hate the taste of their medication? Mix it with something delicious. Thanks to working with MGPR, we've learned that a tiny bit of diluted carrot juice can go a long way. Even pigs that don't typically mind most meds might refuse a new one.

Draw up their syringe medication in its proper dosage, then draw up a little bit more of something that tastes good (again, we recommend very diluted carrot juice). It's like giving a dog a glob of peanut butter that definitely doesn't have pills in it.

These are just some basic tips, but you know your guinea pig best. And the more practice you have administering syringe feeding and meds, the better you will get and the easier it will be.

What have you tried in the past? Let us know in the comments!