Oxbow Critical Care Herbivore - Nutritionally Complete Feeding Assist Formula for Small Animals & Pets - Critical Care Herbivore Fine Grind Papaya (100g)

Oxbow Critical Care is an important thing to have when you have ill pets. It has been literally a life-saver for my elderly guinea pig. She has been on it since November, and she seems to be keeping on an even keel. When an animal doesn't feed, this is a marvellous thing to syringe feed. Some guinea pigs will take it off the spoon, you are lucky if yours does. Mine loves it mixed with warm water and fed from a syringe. Everyone with guinea pigs should have a packet of this for times when illness strikes. I can't recommend it enough.

The green one smelled of liquorice and both my piggies that weren’t well hated it. It was hard to syringe as well as the bits were bigger. This brown pack smells lovely, somehow like bananas, and is very fine, it’s easy to use, even with my 1ml syringe. Best bit is, after the first time feeding it to my little guinea pig, he loved it so much that his second feeding I left it in a bowl and he lapped it all up without me having to stress him out by force feeding. THUMBS UP! They’re so expensive to waste. So I highly recommend this instead of the original in green!

I use the oxbow critical care for my elderly guinea pig Ronny to keep his weight up and to give him a little more energy. He didn't like it at first, so l mixed a little with some apple sauce baby food, till he got used to it from the syringe. He loves it now and is even popcorning! Reggie wants it too, but certainly doesn't need it being 4yrs younger and 2 X heavier than Ron!

I am using this as a nutritional supplement for my skinny hamster. It is not nutritionally sound for hamsters though (since they are not total herbivores) so you should bear that in mind. Since I am just needing to fatten my little one up and not fully replace solid food it works a charm. After the first force feeding he has decided he loves the stuff and will wait by the cage door for me to mix it up, sniffing the air the second I open the packet. Even as a fine grind it can be difficult to draw into a small syringe for such a small animal. My syrines are thin and go up to 10ml which just about works well, you do have to dilute it perhaps a little more than reccomended. You generally want it to be as paste-like as possible while also being able to draw up the syringe. Since hamsters have minimal liquid requirements in a day they can get a touch too much water from this mix if they are insiting on more.

Purchased to feed a sick bunny who was unable to eat for themselves for a number of weeks. This stuff is the best if you have a poorly small herbivore. The superfine powder mixes easily with luke warm water to make a paste to use in a syringe. The larger syringes meant for this purpose were too large for our bun so we opted to use a smaller, 3ml syringe instead. This formula didn't clog up the syringe and was accepted by our bunny without too many issues. It stabilises gut health and provides all the fibre needed to kick start a sluggish gut or just to keep your little one from going into stasis. Highly recommended. I've not found a better product for this purpose although it is on the expensive side, especially when you're needing to feed regularly.

literal life saver. I feel much more secure having this in the house in case one of the pigs suddenly goes downhill in any way. They do stop eating as a first indicator of pretty much any illness and it can cause life threatening problems in their wee guts. This stuff can be hand fed every hour and they happily eat it, or can be persuaded. It does come with a syringe but there is a fear of pressing too hard and it ending up in their lungs as they breathe and eat at the same time, so I tend to mix it a little less loose, roll it into little balls and finger feed it, when its for a pig who will eat happily enough when persuaded. Brings appetite back and gives them all the nutrition and fibre they need for getting well. Ours get some on christmas too!

This is nothing short of a miracle food. I have previously used the Selective Science Recovery sachets which as previous purchasers have mentioned gets clogged up in the syringe and can make already stressful feeding times even more difficult. Critical Care mixes to a smooth paste and is easily absorbed into the syringe and likewise my poorly pig Bryn loves it and has actually started to gain weight after showing some reluctance to other syringe foods. All small herbivore owners should have a bag of this stuff on standby as it can quite easily be the difference between life and death once your little pet stops eating. My pig prefers this mixed with warm water. I cannot recommend this product highly enough, well done Oxbow, If Guinea Pigs could speak mine would definitely ask for this :)

My guinea pig developed post operative complications and needed 3 months of syringe feeding. After trial and error with the aniseed and apple and banana critical care, this was the clear winner. It smells lovely, was much easier to give through a small syringe, and most importantly, my guinea seemed to actually enjoy this flavour! He would eagerly await the next syringe and it kept his condition throughout his treatment. He’s now doing better than ever.