Oxbow Critical Care for herbivores

Fantastic stuff! I have used Critical Care before with a couple of poorly guinea pigs and it really helps to supplement the diet of a piggy who is off their food. This can be due to ongoing illness or post op period. I read the negative review and sympathise with the person who had struggled with it. You really can get it to work though - there's just a bit of a knack. Make it up fairly runny and ideally use a 2.5 ml syringe. It can seem to keep clogging - this is normal and you need to be patient. Keep mixing the C.Care and eject a bit then syringe a bit over and over until you draw up a complete syringe. Some piggies will eat a fair bit off a spoon so offer it this way first. Don't syringe in too fast as it'll flow out or cause inhalation. Four or so syringes should be plenty, less for a very small or sickly pig. It's more important to give some more than once a day really - to ensure gut motility and reduce bloat. This bag was fantastic value for money as a bag half this size had cost me over £9 at the vets (plus if you keep it sealed and dry it last a long time). Just make up a little at a time and add a bit more water if it goes thicker or dry. Don't know what I'd do without this at the moment. My oldest guinea pig has lots of medical problems and has a poor appetite. Thoroughly recommended.

One of my guinea pigs fell poorly with an upper respiratory infection and was given antibiotics by the vet. He lost his appetite and lost weight and developed scurvy as he wasn't taking to the other foods we tried to syringe feed him. He was very poorly as he didn't take to the antibiotics very well either and fell iller very quickly, as a lot of small animals do. As a last ditch effort to save our boy, we got Critical Care to help him along. It was extremely easy to mix up and syringe feed him, and he took to it well. Within a few days, he was back to being able to eat unaided and was back to his usual self within a week. He has since put his weight back on too. I honestly believe this product helped pull him back from the brink as he was extremely poorly and completely unable to eat unaided due to the scurvy affecting his jaw. I can't recommend this enough for guinea pigs who are struggling with appetite issues and would recommend it to people for purchase on the first sight of something being amiss with their dietary intake. I wish I'd known about it before he fell as poorly as he did. While the product seems expensive at a glance, if you're sure that dietary intake is at fault for issues in your pet, it can save you costly vets bills - though I'd only suggest skipping those trips to the vet if you're sure that it's a dietary issue and not something more serious! All in all, this product is a lifesaver.

I first used this product when I adopted a rescue rabbit. I paid five pounds from the vet for a tiny packet. My rabbit stopped eating, which can be fatal in rabbits, and I had to syringe feed him. He recovered well from the stress of a new home and has done well over the last few years until his mate died, and again he went on hunger strike. I once again gave him metaclopramide, from the vet and tried parsley, dandelion leaves and syringe feeding. This has taken three weeks to resolve, He's now eating well and himself. This is a really useful product particularly in winter when you cant tempt your rabbit with fresh leaves because everything dies down. .

Oxbow Critical Care for Herbivores - is superb quality critical care food. Our vets said this is the best one on the market. It's very easy to mix (you base the portion size on the weight of your animal) and mix that portion with water. And our vets told us to spread the days portion in to three separate doses. In our case with a medium sized rabbit weighing about 2.5kg [5 1/2 to 6 pounds] she has two and a half table spoons of critical care powder mixed with 5 table spoons of warm water three times a day. But this of course is bound to vary depending on your animal and what's wrong. So speak to your vet on how best to spread the doses out across the day if you need to. The manufacturers have made it taste nice for the animal - so once they are well enough to take it themselves (without the need for syringe feeding it) they lap it up. And it's certainly helped a great deal and still is helping with my rabbit who is very unwell at the moment. TIP FOR RABBIT OWNERS: 1) IF YOU ARE HAVING TO SYRINGE FEED THIS: Use a big syringe as a smaller one will get clogged up. Also even when syringing - just try and squirt a little in to a small bowl. When I did this - my rabbit started to take this of her own volition which meant I didn't need to syringe feed it to her after the first few days. Which is far nicer for both your pet and you as it's less distressing. I should also say and I'd guess most people know this anyway (I didn't) but you syringe feed always from the SIDE of the mouth for a rabbit. Never squirt it towards the back or they will choke. The vets told me this as I'd never syringe fed an animal before. 2) TO ENCOURAGE THEM TO EAT HAY AGAIN WHILE FEEDING THEM THE CRITICAL CARE: As your rabbit starts to want to / be able to eat a little hay or bits of food - I found that very finely chopping up hay so it's very small and mixing it in with the correct portion of critical care doses MASSIVELY encouraged her to start taking lots more hay. It's easiest to chop up the hay with scissors I've found rather than a knife. Doing this means it's less work for the rabbit to chew when they're unwell and more importantly keeps them used to the taste and smell of hay. It's certainly worked with our rabbit. We got both the smaller and the bigger sizes of this critical care. I'd say get the smaller size if it's just to store in your animal's first aid cupboard for emergencies. And get the bigger size if you are needing to use it for a current illness. Hope this is of use.

i couldn't be more thankful for this products existence! my bunny Sudds was really unwell twice, he had to have an op on his teeth with antithetic and he didn't start eating again straight away. i had read a few months previously about having a bunny first aid box and that this is one of the must have items in it. so when he stopped eating i was able to get this into him asap. the vets said i prevented a problem and helped him get better faster. annoyingly he broke a tooth a few weeks later and i ended up having to feed him more of the stuff .. he is all better now though. when rabbits stop eating it can cause stasis, if a rabbit doesn't get food within 8 hours it can be fatal! this is just something to give you a head start on a problem while you are trying to get them to the vets/ you know they are unwell (the vets know) and you are trying to help them bounce back. £9-15 isn't much when t can save a life.

I had a very poorly piggie and he sadly died of pneumonia after treatment and using critical care. I would say he did survive longer because of using this as he wasn't eating or drinking. Its very expensive but I would buy again. It works up into a paste and it's a bit difficult to get the consistency right but he loved the taste. If they lowered the price a bit I'm sure it would encourage more sales as its just essentially crushed grass, hay and pellets with minerals and vitamins.

Good quality for a good price. Our Chinchilla loved it.

This is a must have for any rabbit owner. A rabbits digestion is a key health concern and an incredibly fragile thing. It can mean life and death, particularly for young rabbits who are particularly susceptible to gut flora imbalances and infections. It's something we've had to learn a lot about since getting our bunnies and something I wish we'd been warned more about beforehand as well. Even the wrong food, or too much of the right food can lead to diarrhoea or stasis. In addition to plenty of fluids this is essentially what your vet will give to a poorly bunny with these problems. (Not that I'm suggesting you shouldn't take a bunny too the vet immediately in the case of diarrhoea) but if your struggling to get to see a vet or your going to take a poorly bunny home afterwards for some intensive care then this is essential. We've started to keep some just in case now, and they really do go through it. You should try and get a bunny to eat as much of this as possible during sickness and recovery to avoid weight loss. So the bigger bag was useful. Anyway, rant over, great product, highly recommend, and great to have just in case.