Grinding Pellets to Substitute Critical Care

[Brittany]

We're out of CC and while I'm waiting for our order to arrive I know I can grind up pellets as a substitiute. My question is how do you do it? Do you just put pellets in the food grinder or do you mix them with water or something to soften them?

Thanks!

PS please keep Lily in your thoughts and prayers. She's gotten worse since the filing her weight has dropped to 413g even with eating 60ml of CC a day. She is now pawing on her left side (oppostie of where spurs were found) and she is grinding her teeth more and more. To top it off we ran out of pain meds today. I'm exploring a few options and am waiting for a call from our vet in Illinois. He's forwarded our info to the exotic specialists at U of Illinois. I'm also waiting to see if he can write us a perscription for pain meds and have a pharmacy or a local vet fill it.

 

[tunes]

60 mL of CC isn't enough to sustain her. What is usually recommended is 120 mL of critical care until she gains back her normal weight, then slowly taper off until she can eat on her own again. 60 mL is "generally" considered a maintenance amount, but you still have to stop the progression of the weight loss first for it to be effective.

I drizzle a little bit of black strap molasses or Dyne onto some finely ground pellets (using a blender), then add warm water until it's of a consistency to be fed through a syringe. If she eats it off a spoon, even better.

I would absolutely get ahold of those pain meds and start using them. I hope you are able to get a prescription soon.

 

[Brittany]

60 mL of CC isn't enough to sustain her. What is usually recommended is 120 mL of critical care until she gains back her normal weight, then slowly taper off until she can eat on her own again.

I did not know that; thank you for the information. I will start doing that, how much can I feed her in one sitting without stuffing her stomach? She normally takes about 10ml willingly and then I force feed another 5-10ml so she's getting 15-20ml total per sitting. I have been mixing the CC with lifeline, and I do have Dyne so I will start adding a drop of that.

 

[Sandi]

Brittany, I am sending you a pm.

 

[aznmexaggie]

I use a coffee grinder to grind pellets into a fine powder. When I made my own handfeeding mix in the past, I finely-ground up pellets and added a bit of canned pumpkin. Add a bit of water until it's the right consistency to syringe, add some acidophilus, and you're ready to feed.

 

[fanofdmb84]

Ditto on the coffee grinder. A food processor or blender won't get it as fine as the grinder, which makes syringe-feeding tough.

 

[Essentia]

How did you guys get it to come out of the syringe? I always ended up with the pellets and water separating and having a huge clump of pellets left in the syringe after squeezing out all the water (does that make sense?).

 

[aznmexaggie]

It has to be a very fine powder before adding water. I also thought the pumpkin helped as a binder to keep everything together. If it's not ground finely enough, larger pieces will block the syringe tip, allowing mostly liquid and fine particles to get through.

I use 10 mL syringes for handfeeding so I have to make sure the ground-up pellets are extremely fine. Even regular Critical Care can clog those syringe tips. I really like their Fine Grind formula and when making my own, I sift out any larger particles.

 

[Brittany]

Thanks for all of the great info, I don't have a coffee grinder but it wouldn't hurt to pick one up. In my experience the lifeline forms a nice paste when mixed with the right amount of water; so I'm hoping that will help it to bind the pellets; if not I can alway get some pumpkin. I have an awesome new 60ml syringe that works wonderfully, so I'm hoping I won't have trouble getting the food to pass through. Just to be safe I'm going to do a test run before actually feeding her. Sandi is sending me some CC and CJ's meloxicam (thanks again Sandi :thumbsup: ) so even if my vet won't write a perscription she'll have meds again by tomorrow afternoon.


Our vet back in Illinois is taking this very seriously and doing everything he can to help us. We've been playing phone tag all day, I'm going to call his office again when I get off of work to see where we're at.

 

[tunes]

A food processor or blender won't get it as fine as the grinder, which makes syringe-feeding tough

Yours might not, but mine does. It gets it as fine as a coffee grinder does. I use it all the time when I run out of CC or to make up the fine powder that you need to use for the dry formula for kits.

Crysta - I use a 60 mL catheter syringe. It's the only thing that pushes any hand feeding formula through decently, whether it's homemade or critical care. Smaller syringes you have to make it so runny that it's pointless.

 

[aznmexaggie]

I don't have any problems with the 10 mL syringe as long as it's ground extremely fine. Regular CC won't fit through the tip but with a finely-powdered mix or CC Fine Grind, I can syringe it while it is of a pudding consistency. It isn't runny.

 

[Essentia]

See, I tried it even with a 60 and had the same issue. Now I mix crushed pellets with CC and it fixes the problem and makes the CC last a bit longer.

 

[Sandi]

How's Lily doing?

 

[Brittany]

Lily has improved slightly. I got her to stop losing weight and she's actually gained a bit (432g this morning). I'm feeding her approximately 100ml a day (Some combination of lifeline, CC, Essential Elements, acidophilus, vitamin C powder, dyne). The last time we were at a vet (before Thanksgiving) I was told food was still getting impacted along her jaw line, so after each feeding I give her 1ml of water to help rinse it out. She has stopped pawing at her mouth, but she still grinds her teeth after I feed her. She's back to her lively self and is enjoying playtime and running on her wheel. At night she picks at hay and pellets. She is chewing apple sticks and lava products!

I don't have a regular job, I have a graduate assistantship with the university where they pay my tuition and give me a stipend for working 20 hours a week. I used up all my "sick days" taking her to the vet in November and I'm not allowed any more time off this semester. I wasn't able to find a vet who could see us on Saturday so I have an appointment scheduled with the exotic specialists at U of Illinois for Dec. 16th which is the day I get off for winter break. I hate having to wait so long but I can't lose this assistantship. In the meantime she's on meloxicam and my vet in IL is sending me some bactrim. When all this started she had an infected sore on her cheek and we don't want it to come back in case the spur that caused it hasn't been filed.

 

[Sandi]

I don't think you have to continue to give her the Dyne (correct me if I'm wrong) if she'll eat the CC and EFL. But I'm glad to hear she is making an improvement.

 

[Marie5656]

I have nothing to add, but agree on the coffee grinder. I used it when my guinea pig was sick, and ground some pellets and oats together for food.

 

[ticklechin]

I don't think you have to continue to give her the Dyne (correct me if I'm wrong) if she'll eat the CC and EFL. But I'm glad to hear she is making an improvement.

I agree, Dyne is basically sugar and oil and should be used in emergency situations where a chin will absolutely refuse to eat.

 

[mishellyshel]

see if your vet can call in a script to your regular pharmacy for the tri meth sulfa. it is mild but usually strong enough to clear up a minor mouth infection.
i get mine filled at my local regular pharmacy.....generic.....like 8 bucks for a huge human size bottle. just a thought.

 

[Brittany]

see if your vet can call in a script to your regular pharmacy for the tri meth sulfa. it is mild but usually strong enough to clear up a minor mouth infection.
i get mine filled at my local regular pharmacy.....generic.....like 8 bucks for a huge human size bottle. just a thought.

Great idea, I'll keep that in mind for the future. I just recieved the medication from the vet it's tri meth sulfa.

I've also stopped feeding dyne, thanks for the advice.