OxbowCritical 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.

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.

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

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.

My young guinea pig went down hill very quickly and was taken to the vet. He was put on painkillers but not much hope was given as he completely stopped eating and drinking. In an attempt to help him I came across critical care and thought I would try it. We kept syringe feeding him tiny amounts and slowly he started to respond and then started to eat on his own accord. 2 months on and he is almost back to his old self. I really believe critical care saved his life. Definitely worth keeping on hand. It can be a little fiddly to suck it up the syringe as it is a bit gloopy but with perseverance you can do it.

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.