Need Advice on Hand Feeding Critical Care

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gella

Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2017
Messages
6
Location
Boulder, CO
I need advice: trying hand feeding again cause I don't feel like Spooky is eating nearly enough on her own (she is recovering from surgery last week and weight loss from not eating before and after). She REFUSES to swallow when syringe feeding, just holds it in her mouth and looks at me stubbornly. I tried a trick I saw of tickling her nose, and it worked only one time, now she will not chew or swallow. It's stressful for both of us. Are there any other tricks anyone can recommend? I've tried pumpkin mixed in with Critical Care, which she liked the first day and ate off my hand, but no longer. Part of me thinks I should 'wait til she's hungry' but that won't be enough right now and I'm worried her meds are making her loser her appetite in addition to the pain she is most likely having in her mouth from recovering from surgery.
 
Have you tried other hand feeding formulas? Lifeline by chocolate chinchillas and essentials for life by fuzzies kingdom are popular with chins. If you are using original flavor critical care try the apple flavor and visa versa. You can also ask the vet for a appetite stimulant such as a b-12 shot. As far as actual feeding, make your mixture a little thinner and try to get the syringe behind the front teeth and give a tiny amount, this can take longer but some chins think they are drowning and won't swallow.
 
I have Essentials for Life on the way and am trying a plain mix of pellets next as an alternative until it arrives. She was at the vet this morning and a portion of her tumor under her tongue that could not be removed may be irritating her, I'm going to try a different angle approach to see if that works better.
 
Essentials for life is on a lot of my chins loved. Not all, but most.
When my houdini lost a ton of weight from not eating, i had a lot of issues. He wouldnt eat on his own, i had no luck feeding him critical care. It was by chance i mentioned to to tanya from fuzzies kingdoms. She suggested to try the EFL there. Houdini loved it. I was prepared to fight him trying to hand feed him it. But he started eating it on his own. Soon i was just putting it in a bowl or him. He actually got a little bit excited for feeding time.

Not saying everyone will have that result. But i always recommend it.
 
Waiting for an order of Essentials for Life feed to come in, hoping she takes to that better. We have her on new pain meds to serve about an hour before food that will help temporarily with the pain and she's able to chew easier. Made up some 'chinnie porridge' (hay, pellets, rolled oats, rosehips recommended by Tanya) and was able to feed her it off a spoon. She has an appetite, it's just so painful for her to chew. During the day I'm going to try and grind things up smaller so we can syringe feed as well so there isn't as much work she needs to do chewing.
 
Had some moderate success with the 'porridge' mixed with some Critical Care (since it's easier to mix thin) in a syringe feeding tonight. Hoping she fights it less when we have an alternative (EFL), but definitely an improvement. She wasn't eating enough voluntarily when offered so we'll be doing hand feeding in addition to offering up some of the mix throughout the day. She did eat some pellets on her own after her pain meds kicked in earlier, which was nice to see her appetite and ability to chew for a little while.
 
Is the pain med a opiod such as buprenex? If so it can cause nausea and since chins can't vomit that can cause feeding issues.
 
She was just put on buprenex the other day and her eating has actually improved - I think the pain from her surgery (removal of a large tumor invading her cheek and under her tongue and tooth filing) was getting in the way of her eating. She is eating some pellets now (though not enough to completely wean off hand feeding) and taking syringe feeding better after I adjusted the mix and our technique of feeding (light holding instead of the towel burrito). Was able to get 15ml in during one sitting, which is a new record for success so far. Seems to be improving slowly. She will eat off a spoon at some feeding times, which is easing the stress a bit of handling her so often. Hoping the Essentials for Life will make it much easier for everyone.
 
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