spent the night "cooking" for my chin......

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mishellyshel

mishellyshel

Chin Slave
Joined
Mar 16, 2009
Messages
4,633
Location
New Jersey
So............my little Richie hates me syringe feeding him. I have tried every suggestion and without literally holding him down & force feeding him, I just cant get him to eat.
He is just so sweet too, cause he never kaks at me, but last night he was getting mad and made a little squeak so i just let him be, I dont want him to be afraid that every time i pick him up i am going to force feed him.

Last night I spend most of the night making concoctions to try & get him to eat.
1st recipe was the one Barb suggested in this thread

http://chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5360

so i made the puffed pellets and he wouldnt eat them. :(

2nd recipe:
Baby food squash, ground up pellets, water & hand squeezed apple juice (because i didnt have any in the bottle, so i actually squeezed the juice from an apple!). put in syringe......ate a little but it was like round 1 in the boxing ring

3rd recipe:
Critical care, dyne, water, lifeline..........put in syringe and it was round 2 in the ring!

Then i thought maybe he doesnt like the whole force feeding thing, so i put the remainder of the 2 syringes in a separated little dish i have and left it in his cage and he did eat any of that!


He is eating his hay and he did eat some pellets, i can tell because they was a little pile of dust, which just breaks my heart. i dont know if his teeth still hurt or if its the meds or what. but i am watchin his weight.

Also in his cage is another smaller bowl of ground up pellets, looks like he tried a little.

So..................any other suggestions??????

also i feel that maybe the consistancy is too thick. what is a good comparison. should it be a little more watery?
 
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Like with children, sometimes we have to make them do whatever it is they need to do whether they want to or not, for their own good.
I think you might just have to continue to force feed him to be sure he's getting all he needs when he needs it. It's just a fact of life sometimes.
 
What kind of Critical care do you have? Is it the original or apple banana? Maybe he'd like one over the other? And some people have tried putting the CC on a spoon and just offering that to them on the spoon, not forcing them to eat and that works for some.
 
What size syringe are you using? I found one of my boys liked the smaller syringes better than the larger one coming at his face. Lisa brought me a handful of 5ml syringes and they worked wonderfully for me.
 
I'm sorry you are going through this Michelle and your poor little Ritchie, it just breaks my heart. Have you tried the apple/banana cc? I used the apple/banana cc with nothing added other than filtered water, and I made them like what I had said in your other thread -

http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5441

It seems like he wants to eat on his own by what you are saying. I hope something works, but like eloomlorac has said, and I've been where you've been, you just have to force feed him whether he likes it or not. I am so sorry :(
 
i do use the apple/bannana CC, he HATED the original!

Alli--when you put it on the spoon, what is the consistancy?? pudding like?

Leah--i am using the smaller syringes from the vet, they hold 3.0ml. i did purchase a larger one from walmart & went to my personal pharmacy last night and got a 10ml one to try.

Sandi--i am going try making the pellets & freezing them this weekend. i spend half the night in the kitchen last night and then had to "do their cages" which consists of a basic cleaning that i do every night and feed them PLUS i had to give him his meds & try and feed him all my concoctions, by that time it is close to 11pm!

he definitely wants to eat, and he starts taking it from the syringe until i have to switch it out for the next one or if the mix gets a little stuck & doesnt come out quick enough.
i am going up in a bit and i am going to thin it out a bit & put it in the larger syringe & see what happens.

I hate to force him, i am so afraid i am going to hurt him and i dont know how to force his mouth open, because he pretty much clenches shut when i come at him with the syringe.
 
When Phoenix was fresh off the streets :p ..and we were trying to put some weight back on him ..I made pumpkin balls with CC and crushed pellets, steel oats, and snipped timothy hay. The balls were the size of regular green peas (not the petite ones) ..and a severe pain in my ..uhh.. yeah... all that.. but anything for my little dude, right?

He got his teeth trimmed that very first Vet visit ..and his mouth was sore.. but he nibbled those balls and he eventually became more successful at eating regular pellets, on his own.

He's never been fond of me forcing him to do anything.. even get an eye booger with a saline'd Q-tip. He wants to do everything by himself.. so I've let him, to some extent. However, I do agree ..that if his weight is not holding up.. you need to be the "mean Mommy" and do what's best for Ritchie.
 
I'm not quite sure what the consistency of it is when they put it on a spoon, as I haven't had to hand feed a chin thankfully. You could try different consistencies and see if any of them work better.
Good luck!
 
When I tried to do it with the smaller syringe or on the spoon, it was the consistency of what was on the critical care bag label. But when I made them "pellet" like it was a thicker consistency that is why I needed the wider mouth 40 cc's syringe.
 
You need a 40cc syringe. I just ordered a bunch today and would be glad to send you one when they come! It helps a lot since the opening is bigger. You should try the consistency a little more runny than pudding. I add water to make it runny like I think it should be, then let it sit for 5 minutes. Then I add more water, make it the consistency so it drips off a spoon, not sticks to it. Like melted ice cream is all I can think of, like a milkshake kind of, not a really thick one. Sorry, maybe someone will be better with describing that! You have to force feed him at least 2 times a day if he is eating some on his own, try to get 20ccs of food in him each time, at least.
 
If you water it down more then the package say you will have to feed him more so be careful about that. Also if you put it in the side of his mouth (between the front teeth and his back teeth) he can't keep it out. The bigger syringes work much better. You would have to water it down way to much to get it out of a small one. If you have tried everything and it is not working then you will have to force feed him for his own good. If you do not he will have even more and bigger problems to deal with. :( Him loosing trust in you or him being mad is MUCH better then him getting gut stasis and dying.
I mix my CC with a drizzle of Black Strap Molasses. Most chin foods have molasses in it so it is a smell and taste they are used to. Be sure to use black strap as it has the lowest sugar content but most powerful flavor. Good luck.
 
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Ditto what Kelly said. You can only water it down so much before it is of very little benefit. Chantel - The consistency you speak of is too thin. You're getting very little CC in, mostly just water.

When I hand feed it's like a paste. When it JUST comes out of the catheter tip syringe, with a little push on the end, that's the consistency I like it. I don't want it running out of the opening. I don't want it oozing all over out of his mouth.

I also agree - you're going to have to suck it up and feed him. Few chins enjoyed the first few times they had to be fed critical care. I have a girl here that to get 30 mL into her takes over an hour. She spits it out, I shovel it back in. After half an hour or so, she finally figures she's not going to win and she caves. When your boy is healthy and can be off the critical care - he'll get over you man handling him. But if he's not eating, you have the choice, force him or deal with the consequences.
 
i watered it down just a little, to be more pastey than pudding like. and while it did come out of the syringe better, he will not take it. i had to hold his head and almost pry his mouth open to get it in after 1/2 of the first syringe. it took almost 1/2 an hour just to get 2 syringes in, which was a total of 6ml. i am using the syringes the vet gave me. he takes the meds fine from the small syringes that only total 1 ml but as soon as i come at him with the food he sorta freaks. i feel so bad because he is losing some hair around his mouth due to the constant forcing and wiping. and i dont know how to actually make him eat this. i put 5 (yes 5) different types of food in his cage tonight:

-pellets (mixed mazuri, panr & oxbow that i just got)
-ground pellets
-puffed pellets
-lifeline mixed w/chin herb mix & a pinch of oats
-and much to my dismay i put 1/2 teaspoon of fresh food which he prob wont touch
but i put a pinky nail size of an skinned apple, strawberry, romaine lettuce, spinach, & basil; all fresh, pestitcide free. and that is a 1/2 teaspoon total of the fresh not 1/2 of each variety.

i dont want to give him too many treats, like the shredded wheat & cheerios. so far today i didnt give him any.
will giving him 1/2 shredded wheat a day (while on meds)be bad????
i just want him to eat & i know he will eat that!
 
I think I posted this on this on CQ. When I had to force feed, I found the flipping syringe too small. I remembered I had a bottle from the vet when my cat needed an eye wash RX. The bottle looks like a baby bottle with the top looking like a caulk tube. I just cut the bottle top down to allow for the feed to pass through. Works great!!! This item should come with the CC! Good luck with your little one. You have to have a mind set that "mom" knows best.
 
And don't fall over peeps. But I also gave Lydia organic stage 1 puree apple baby food. Not a huge amount by no means. But anything to get her to eat. It worked and she's just fine to this day. My problem was a urinary infection and she refused to eat.
 
of course he didnt eat the fresh food! but he did eat some pellets and his "herb mix". i put more pellets in this morning & will give him his meds but i am not going to force him to eat until i get home this afternoon, when i can spend more time.
i am going to try & improve my burrito wrap, gonna check for some more detailed instructions becaue i doubt i am doing it right!
i am going to try & ignore the peeps :( and get a good amount into him today/tonight
i am also goin to add a little of the blackstrap to the CC to see if that helps.
 
Also, maybe you can mix with a little pedialyte for flavor.
Is he loosing weight? If he's eating on his own maybe he doesn't need to be hand fed? I thought you said he was eating some hay and some of the ground up pellets? What is his weight now verses when he was at the vet?
 
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