What is in our piggie first aid kit?
Over the years of keeping guinea pigs we have learnt to keep a few first aid/ health care items incase a piggy needs emergency care. Guinea pigs are prey animals and so often hide illness very well. For this reason it is good to have some basic items in your kit. It may seem a little extravagant to buy things you may not need to use, but speaking from experience it is always better to have the items as you really never know when you may need them. Here is a shortlist of a few of the items we keep in....just a quick disclaimer to say that we aren't experts these are just a few things that we like to keep that may help you with putting together a basic first aid kit.
*Weighing scales and a notebook to record their weights, weigh your piggie regularly as this can be a great indicator of illness (We weigh weekly, but daily if theres any sudden drops. We record their weights in a notebook as this makes it ay to look back and see when they began to lose weight which is especially helpful if you write down any changes in their environment that may have triggered it such as a new friend/ change of cage etc.
*Nail clippers and a hair brush
*A good recovery food, we use Oxbow Critical Care which you can also buy in small sachets or another option is Burgess Dual Care which is a pellet you can dissolve easily to syringe feed. This one i believe to be very important as once they need hand feeding it can be too late to go out and try to find some. If you use a pellet to feed your pigs its often possible to dissolve pellets in water for hand feeding in an emergency as well.
*1ml syringes great for water and medicine, we also keep 15ml syringes as we find these easier to use with recovery food. Remember to feed very slowly into the side of their mouths if you haven't hand fed a guinea pig before you can find lots of information on this online.
*Infacol or baby gripe water are good to keep in for bloat, they don't replace the need to act quickly and see a vet but are good to have in an emergency when the vets may be closed.
*A probiotic powder and or fibreplex, these are great if your piggie needs to be on antibiotics ( antibiotics are often harsh on their guts) they help with gut flora.
*eye drops for use if they have anything in their eyes such as hay pokes. Check their eyes regularly as they will often get hay stuck in their eyes which will need rinsing out.
*Sudocrem for and minor cuts or scratches.
*Weighing scales and a notebook to record their weights, weigh your piggie regularly as this can be a great indicator of illness (We weigh weekly, but daily if theres any sudden drops. We record their weights in a notebook as this makes it ay to look back and see when they began to lose weight which is especially helpful if you write down any changes in their environment that may have triggered it such as a new friend/ change of cage etc.
*Nail clippers and a hair brush
*A good recovery food, we use Oxbow Critical Care which you can also buy in small sachets or another option is Burgess Dual Care which is a pellet you can dissolve easily to syringe feed. This one i believe to be very important as once they need hand feeding it can be too late to go out and try to find some. If you use a pellet to feed your pigs its often possible to dissolve pellets in water for hand feeding in an emergency as well.
*1ml syringes great for water and medicine, we also keep 15ml syringes as we find these easier to use with recovery food. Remember to feed very slowly into the side of their mouths if you haven't hand fed a guinea pig before you can find lots of information on this online.
*Infacol or baby gripe water are good to keep in for bloat, they don't replace the need to act quickly and see a vet but are good to have in an emergency when the vets may be closed.
*A probiotic powder and or fibreplex, these are great if your piggie needs to be on antibiotics ( antibiotics are often harsh on their guts) they help with gut flora.
*eye drops for use if they have anything in their eyes such as hay pokes. Check their eyes regularly as they will often get hay stuck in their eyes which will need rinsing out.
*Sudocrem for and minor cuts or scratches.
Comments
Post a Comment