Well to make a long story short our 6 week albino leo was attacked by a cat and now has two puncture wounds. We have to feed her antibiotics, but we can't give them to her on an empty stomach. She's not eating her mealies, so the vet recommended force feeding. Other than mealworms, what can I force feed her? I'm thinking about Jumpstart, but if I can't find that then I need something else. Thanks.
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A dime a dozen
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Cat attack- force feeding
kg
Sep 04, 2003 05:45 PM
Replies (5)
ZeR0
Sep 04, 2003 05:59 PM
Either mixing calcium into some turkey baby food or even better blending up some worms or crix and suringe feeding her that. Kinda gross but thats what I always hear to do when your leo needs to be force fed. I imagine that would help keep a steady weight better than the baby food too. Hope this helps, someone can probably expand, later
Mac
Starling
Sep 04, 2003 06:14 PM
I have found that geckos -even ones who won't eat, will readily lap up the following mixture via assisted feeding with a syringe, which is much safer and less stressful than force feeding
1 tsp. turkey baby food
pinch calcium (phosphoris-free)
1/2 pinch vitamin powder
8-10 drops FLAX SEED OIL (rich in omega-threes and smells nutty like waxworms! Geckos love it)
2-3 drops liquid vitamin C
1/2 tsp peach/mango/orange juice or strawberry-banana nectar (enough to make mixture liquid enough to suck through syringe)
Mix well, suck into 1 cc syringe, gently put a drop on nose and wait patiently for gecko to start licking. Once the gecko tastes it it will keep licking, gently squueeze mixture from syringe to tip of nose to keep pace with gecko's licking.
xelda
Sep 04, 2003 06:26 PM
np
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Lovin' would be easy if your colors were like my dreams...
xelda
Sep 04, 2003 06:14 PM
I wouldn't try force-feeding her. She's probably suffering more injuries than it appears because cat damage to prey is usually internal. By force-feeding her, you're likely to cause a lot of stress and possibly more injury.
Try offering her the baby food (as suggested above), or the bug slurry. If she doesn't eat that, then dab some on her nose so she'll lick it off. Keep doing that until she's consumed enough.
I hope she does ok.
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Lovin' would be easy if your colors were like my dreams...
kg
Sep 04, 2003 06:21 PM
She's got bruising around the puncture, but the vet checked her out and she's pretty sure the puncture just goes as far as the muscle. We can't feed her the antibiotics if she isn't force fed, so we're trying to get something in her stomach. She's lost a fair amount of blood, but she's active so she might have a chance.
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A dime a dozen
