Advice and care for broken ribs
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Catie Cavy
- Supporter 2011-2020
I'm thinking of you and praying for dear, little Wallace. I'm hoping for the best.
Luckily he likes the critical care! He ate some right from the spoon and we also spread some on leaves and he ate those too.
He's not eating at all in his own now. The dr prescribed him a very strong pain killer along with the metacam. After we gave him that last night he hasn't eaten in his own since. I'm doing syringe feeding. I just gave him the metacam alone thinking maybe the other one made him too dopey to eat. He's looking terrible right now though. :(
Should I let him be with his buddy at all? They came as a bonded pair but I've had them separated since he got hurt.
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Talishan
- You can quote me
Try it, and watch VERY carefully. If his buddy gets at all rowdy, split them back out. How old is his bud?
Alternatively (actually this might be the better thing to try first), put his buddy right next to him in a separate cage, or with a gridwall only separating them.
What kind of a cage setup do you have?
Hang in. 9 times out of 10 they seem to be doing well shortly after coming back from the vet, then seemingly go downhill. This is because the pain medications given at the vet are fully on-board (i.e., effective). Once they start to lose effect, the pig will feel worse until his next dose of pain medication from you at home, THEN he'll start to feel better.
In my experience smaller doses of pain med given more frequently are more effective. What pain med (in addition to Metacam) have you been given for home use, and how often is it to be given? If it's once a day, say, try giving him half the dose twice a day.
Keep going. Hang in.
Alternatively (actually this might be the better thing to try first), put his buddy right next to him in a separate cage, or with a gridwall only separating them.
What kind of a cage setup do you have?
Hang in. 9 times out of 10 they seem to be doing well shortly after coming back from the vet, then seemingly go downhill. This is because the pain medications given at the vet are fully on-board (i.e., effective). Once they start to lose effect, the pig will feel worse until his next dose of pain medication from you at home, THEN he'll start to feel better.
In my experience smaller doses of pain med given more frequently are more effective. What pain med (in addition to Metacam) have you been given for home use, and how often is it to be given? If it's once a day, say, try giving him half the dose twice a day.
Keep going. Hang in.
It's Buprenex .3 ml twice a day. And Metacam .3 ml once a day. He's also getting Cisapride .1 ml twice a day for his gut. Plus Trimeth-sulfa antibiotic. And critical care.
The rescue gave us a large cage for them like you see in the pet store, maybe 2 x 3 1\2 or 4 feet. I know it isn't big enough and our plan was to buy a bigger Midwest one. We've only had them for 9 days now. We put Wally in a seperate small enclosure right next to it.
The vet estimated Wally at 5 years old and said he also has bad arthritis in his hips. The other pig we don't know his age.
The vet estimated Wally at 5 years old and said he also has bad arthritis in his hips. The other pig we don't know his age.
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Talishan
- You can quote me
What is the concentration on the Buprenex? This will be in mg/mL, and should say somewhere on the container (or on your bill).
Try giving him a little less of the Buprenex. Buprenex (buprenorphine) is a powerful narcotic and can zonk them, but it's also a powerful painkiller. He needs it right now. Try giving him a little smaller dose than prescribed rather than skipping it altogether, and see if you can find a happy medium where he's comfortable but not zonked.
Having them next to each other is good. How energetic/rowdy is the other pig's personality?
Try giving him a little less of the Buprenex. Buprenex (buprenorphine) is a powerful narcotic and can zonk them, but it's also a powerful painkiller. He needs it right now. Try giving him a little smaller dose than prescribed rather than skipping it altogether, and see if you can find a happy medium where he's comfortable but not zonked.
Having them next to each other is good. How energetic/rowdy is the other pig's personality?
Keep giving him the critical care. At least one and a half table spoons of the powder mixed with water each day. That worked out to roughly 60-70ml of mix when we did it or roughly fifteen 5ml syringes split in to 3 feeds.
We only separated one of our girls once, Suzi when she had an ear infection, but she got so stressed (literally climbing the cage walls) we put her back with the other two.
I would agree with Talishan on that count.
On the cage side of things consider a C&C cage. More space is always better, if you have room for it. We had a Midwest but I wouldn't feel comfortable putting even one piggy in there now that I have seen how much they love to run in their big pen (2 x 8) it would also give Wallace enough space that he could avoid his rowdy cage mate if he needed to.
We only separated one of our girls once, Suzi when she had an ear infection, but she got so stressed (literally climbing the cage walls) we put her back with the other two.
I would agree with Talishan on that count.
On the cage side of things consider a C&C cage. More space is always better, if you have room for it. We had a Midwest but I wouldn't feel comfortable putting even one piggy in there now that I have seen how much they love to run in their big pen (2 x 8) it would also give Wallace enough space that he could avoid his rowdy cage mate if he needed to.
It doesn't say the concentration of the Buprenex. They're in prefilled syringes. Just gave him half of one and a half teaspoon of critical care. Just taking it minutes at a time.
The other one, Terrance doesn't seem very high energy. He pokes around, eats and lays down.
The other one, Terrance doesn't seem very high energy. He pokes around, eats and lays down.
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Talishan
- You can quote me
Okay. See how half the Buprenex does. Keep going and keep us posted on how he's doing.
If Terrance is pretty chill, you can try putting them back together, but if Wallace is benefiting from having him side-by-side, it might be better to leave them that way until Wallace gets a little better. The important thing is that Wallace knows his buddy is there and that he's not alone. He can smell and hear Terrance better than he can see him, so as long as the cages are right up next to each other, he should know Terrance is there.
One step at the time. Keep us posted.
If Terrance is pretty chill, you can try putting them back together, but if Wallace is benefiting from having him side-by-side, it might be better to leave them that way until Wallace gets a little better. The important thing is that Wallace knows his buddy is there and that he's not alone. He can smell and hear Terrance better than he can see him, so as long as the cages are right up next to each other, he should know Terrance is there.
One step at the time. Keep us posted.
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