syringe feeding?

[hellohedgie]

junebug is on day two of not eating. Yesterday I thought it was because her food had gone stale since she has boycotted stale food in the past. Got a fresh bag and I crushed some of the peices in case she had a new thing against large peices. Still didnt eat last night.

I'm going to attempt at syringe feeding today. I did water yesterday while offering her peices and she turned her nose every time. didnt try mealies. I let her run around on the floor to see if she was wobbly and she was fine, extremely active actually.

My question is, how do i make the food to put in the syringe. should I warm up some water in the microwave and tossed a couple peices to food in and try to mash em into a baby food consistency? I feed her royal canin, i got the same kind in the canned food, i opened it and its little bits cut up in a gravy. should i mash this up? id try that but the ingredients are slightly different and it has a little bit more fat, i dont wanna upset her stomach...

I am just worried that about her not eating! shes so picky, ive tried mixing brands before and went through three before i finally gave up!

 

[smhufflepuff]

Gosh, I'd be worried if my hedgie stopped eating. Has she stopped drinking on her own too? I'm glad you were able to syringe water.

I'd be tempted to take her to the vet to check for other issues that may be contributing to the problem - tooth problems, etc...

But, in the meanwhile, how is she otherwise? Drinking? Wheeling? Pooping? Peeing? Playing? Sleeping?

When I've needed to syringe for the short term, I just get some baby food - like Beechnut or Gerber stage 1 or 2 in the little jars. It goes through the syringe very nicely - good consistency.

I've given the wet cat food "as is" or mashed up with the back of a fork. If it's the "chunky" kind, I haven't had good luck with it going through a syringe even after I've mashed it. Typically, a small piece jammed up the works. Though I may just be a crummy masher. I've also put my hedgie's regular kibble in a coffee grinder (never used it for coffee... just for hedgie kibble), then mixed with water. My hedgie was NOT amused with that stuff. But others have had different results.

 

[hellohedgie]

shes been pooping less, i check the color of her tummy because i once read on here it can become brownish if they're constipated. that was normal. i have not heard her using her wheel the past couple of nights, but i put a new roller blade wheel on it so its so much more quiet than it was before.

i did try grinding up her food and adding a little water and syringing that after i posted. she wasn't amused either! though i did get her to eat what i would imagine to be equal to about one kibble and a little water. I am going to try again after she sleeps a little bit. she seemed tired. but i did let her run around on the floor before syringing. its strange that shes so active out on the floor pretty much normal. she pooped a very small peice while out, smaller than a marble.

i weighed her. shes 14 ounces/397 grams. shes always been a rather small. now i know i can weigh her again tomorrow and track how she does this weekend. I keep the room at 71 but i upped it to 73, she also has a ceramic heat lamp on 24/7 and a small heat pad under her igloo. hopefully that'll get her more comfy if that was the issue. Can't see vet until monday though. I want to go back to where i went when she was one. shes three now. I really liked that vet and he liked junebug. said she was the most out going hedgehog he'd ever seen, she never balled up!

i'm going to go get some baby food so i can try that. Hopefully she'll like that more. ill post again on how that goes.

 

[hellohedgie]

if baby food still doesnt work i think i might just go get some royal canin baby cat, she LOVED that as a little hoglet. shes just to picky i'm worried she'll get hooked on that again, i had a really hard time switching her off of it. but at this point i might end up totally desperate!

 

[hellohedgie]

she ate some gerber chicken! not a whole lot but i put some in her bowl and counted out some fresh kibble.

 

[smhufflepuff]

yippee for gerber chicken!

 

[charlie]

Keep at it, you may have to revert to baby cat for a while. Her stale food (if that was the case) may have really put her off. She's a smaller hog so the baby cat isn't going to do any damage right now. You need to get her appetite back up and then worry about long term solutions.

 

[hellohedgie]

I did go get baby cat last night due to how skinny she looks. She sniffed at it but didnt eat any so I left some in her ingloo and bowl but she didn't eat any. She has an URI and has had two doses of antibiotics, one last night and one this morning; I am about to go give to her another shortly.

I was pleased to hear her get up three times last night to drink water. She would then go back to her igloo then within five minutes she'd be gagging. I am glad that she's atleast trying to keep water down.

She has lost some weight and as clearly thinned out a little. I am hoping that she'll get her appetite back tonight or tomorrow! SHE LOVES BABY CAT SO MUCH. haha!

 

[smhufflepuff]

In between the two doses of antibiotics, you can give her some acidophilus to help put good bacteria back into her system... helps with digestion.

 

[hellohedgie]

Thought I would come here and update. Junebug has doing better. Last Thursday I made made a little mixture to help calm her stomach to help her keep her medicine down. She would puke it up almost every time after taking it. I got some flavorless pedialite, chamomile tea and acidophilus chewables. I made the tea, cooled it and then put a crushed up acidophilus in it. Then and syringe fed it then gave her half of a single dose of medicine and she kept it down! I syringed more fluids every hour during the day everyday since and she slowly started to become herself again.

I am still giving her the medicine and fluids, she has just a few more days of antibiotics. Still choosing to not eat kibble but its always offered. Starting yesterday shes been downing gerber chicken like never before. I have never finished a jar of this stuff before it going bad! I'm going to go get more. I'm hesitant to add another flavor baby food since her stomach is probably still very sensitive. She also ate a freeze dried mealie which she has been denying for awhile now.

Another good thing is that she's starting wheeling again! though its very strange, I caught her wheeling yesterday when there was still day light around three. I thought it was strange. Then this morning she was wheeling again at 9 AM!! So weird! Then she ran over to her dish and drank for several minutes straight. She seems to be on a reverse cycle but right now shes passed out in her igloo. I'm hoping this will just work itself out, I'm just glad shes using her wheel and drinking. Also that I get to see how cute she looks on her wheel! Its so hard to see her in the dark and she usually hides once she sees that I'm watching her.

Overall, things are looking better! Thanks for the support and advice!

 

[hellohedgie]

oh yeah, and as for poops, still haven't seen any yet?! Last night was her first real good sized meal of chicken and she's eaten more today so I am hoping tonight I can see some results...

 

[smhufflepuff]

No poops at all? For how long? What does the vet think is contributing to that?

I hope she's made a nice mess by this morning. Funny when you start interpreting poop as the most wonderful thing in the world to see

 

[charlie]

If there is no poop still after this many days, you may wish to put her in a warm tmmuy deep bath. This may help get things moving. HEr antibiotic may be constipating her. She may be running at odd times because she is trying to get her digestion system moving again (and isn't having any luck). Next thing to try is some canned pumpkin.

 

[hellohedgie]

okay she's pooped just a little bit the past two nights, they're more like small bits and smears on the wheel... they're not green tho so that makes me feel a little better about it

called the vet and they said its the antibiotics and shes only just started eating. since tomorrow is her last day on them she thinks it'll clear up.

I've got pumpkin and will try the bath too! thanks!

 

[smhufflepuff]

Yippee for poop! That pumpkin should help out a bunch. Hopefully, she's not one to anoint much