How To Feed Your Pet Using a Feeding Tube at Home

So what I like to do in order to make the diets the way that we would like them, is I will heat it up similar to a baby bottle, where I put a bowl of water in the microwave or on the stove and heat it up, and then set my container of food or whatever I'm going to use for that feeding in the bowl and kind of warm it up.

Gather supplies

Before you even get your pet, it’s best to get everything prepared.

So what we have here is everything that you're going you need to feed your pet through the tube.

If your pet has an esophageal tube or a gastric tube, what I usually do is take my canned food, and I put it in the blender and just make a fine baby food-type consistency out of it, because we want it to not clog up the tube – we don’t want any big chunks going through.

Paper towels, because this can get a little bit messy.

The same with the towel – you can use paper towels or regular towels – and the towel is going to help keep your pet nice and comfortable, too.

Syringes of various sizes. I usually just kind of pick the one that's appropriate for the pet and how much food I'm trying to give. I like these catheter tip syringes because they usually go on the end of my tube nice and easy.

If your pet has been prescribed that by your veterinarian, you have a liquid diet option.

And then your glass of warmed water, if you need it.

If you're taking your food out of the fridge, remember we just wanted that to be a nice, good room temperature so it's comfortable for your pet.

Types of feeding tubes

So depending on what’s going on with your pet, there’s a variety of different tube options.

Nasogastric/nasoesophageal (NE) feeding tube

This one goes in through the nose and it ends in either the esophagus, which is just above the stomach, or it ends all the way in the stomach.

It’s got a variety of different holes on the top, which you use for putting in food or water. It just depends on the syringe that you have, I usually go ahead and use this big hole for my big tip syringes, and I put the food in here nice and slow.

You want to not put medications or any large kind of molecules food down here, because it's going to clog really easy. It’s such a narrow diameter that you end up with a lot of clogs, and they can be a real pain to fix. And sometimes the tube actually has to be replaced, which is a lot of extra things for you and your pet to have to go through.

So just try and make sure that you're flushing with warm water before and after, and just make sure that you're kind of not letting that clog up. The liquid diet is best for these tubes.

This is little suture braces, basically, for the tube. You may or may not see these on your pet's tube.

If your pet has these in place, you notice that they’re coming up off of the skin or they're loose or they're missing, call your veterinarian and see what they want to do about that, because they may need to replace them, or they may need to re-secure that tube.

You’re never really going to see this part of the pet’s tube. If you do, if it comes back out, (sometimes they come back up the pet's mouth, or they'll cough them up or they'll sneeze them up), you need to bring your pet back into the veterinarian and do not use the tube.

Esophageal (E) feeding tube

Our next option for tubes is going to be the esophageal feeding tube. This one goes in through the side of the pet's neck, right into the esophagus, and it ends right before the stomach.

This one is a much larger diameter, so it's much easier for long term use for your pet and for maintaining at home.

It’s got the same kind of idea up top where it's got different-sized holes depending on which type of syringe that you have and what you're trying to put in through the tube.

I generally prefer to use this big hole because it's the easiest to keep clear and to keep food going down in a good way.

You're just going to open that up. You’re going to flush with warm water before and after, as you would do with other tubes. Use warm water before and after you feed and then you've got this nice big diameter so you can use like a blenderized diet something baby food consistency. You can also use this tube for medications.

It’s also got these little suture wings here. So these are going to be what’s holding the tube in place for your pet.

And then your pet may or may not go home with this kind of collar in place. This side of the collar is going to rest right up against the insertion point of the tube on your pet's neck.

You’re going to change this collar periodically and open it every day and look at the insertion site and make sure that it's not swollen, there’s no discharge. Make sure that you know it appears clean, dry, and the sutures appear intact. You’re not seeing any food leaking back up around that site.

This collar then secures around your pet's neck, and there's a little tab here that holds this tube in place so it's not flapping around, it’s not causing an inconvenience for your pet.

You're never going to see this end of the tube. If you do see this end of the tube, it’s come back up your pet’s mouth or nose, whatever the case may be, you need to call your veterinarian right away and stop using the tube. Don’t try and replace it yourself.

Feeding your pet

So now that you've gathered all your supplies, you're ready to feed your pet.

1. Flush the syringe

The first thing that we're going to do is just take a regular amount of water. And that's whatever's normal for your pet. So 5 ml for a small cat or dog, or I use 10-15 ml for one of my larger pets, like a Labrador or a Sheltie or something like that.

The first thing you're going to do is just open up that tube, and you want to just flush your tube, and what you're doing here is just checking for any resistance. Make sure that it feels good and you're not feeling like you’re pushing really hard on this syringe and you're just flushing that through. There you go.

And once you're flushed, you can just go ahead and close that back up.

2. Draw up the food

The next thing that you’re going to do is draw up your food. And this is going to be the amount that’s prescribed by your veterinarian.

We’re going to use the liquid diet, and you're going to pull up your syringe. And what you're doing is you’re pulling up to the amount that they said.

So this black part of the syringe is going to be the line that you're reading when you're looking to see what the appropriate volume is.

In this case, we’re going to pull it up to the 20 ml. And then just flip that bottle back over and unhook it.

3. Check the temperature

This is a little cold, so we're going to put it in the water just to warm it up for a couple of minutes. And you can just put it tip down just like that. It shouldn't leak. It might leak a little bit. It might get a little water in it, but that's fine – your pet needs water anyway, and honestly, it’s all going to the same place. A little extra hydration is not going to hurt.

So you're just going to leave that in there until it's nice and room temperature. Not warm. And I will usually just check it on myself, just like checking a baby's bottle and make sure that it’s a good temperature for your pet.

Remember, nothing too hot or too cold because we don't want to either burn them or cause a little nausea.

4. Insert syringe and feed

Once you've done that, you can reopen your tube and just put this right in this big hole and then push just a little slowly.

Remember, you want to make sure that as you're going down the tube, your pet's not getting very full very suddenly because that's going to be really upsetting to their stomach.

So I'm just going to push. And this tube is always cut to the size of your pet, so it may be shorter on the inside of your pet, but I'll just push in nice and slow increments to make sure that everything's going in nice and slow – and my pet's not getting super full.

5. Monitor your pet

While I'm doing this, I'm keeping an eye on my pet. I'm looking for extra drooling or kind of smacking the lips – those are all signs of nausea. You might notice your pet swallowing, and that's totally normal. That's a reflex that they have when something is on their esophagus that they're just going to swallow normally, because that's what they need to do to open the stomach and move the food along.

And as I'm doing this, I'm just pushing very slowly and keeping an eye on my pet.

If my pet seems like they're getting agitated, they're moving around a lot, now might not be the appropriate time to feed. Think about when you eat a meal or when your pet normally eats a meal. They're not running around while they're doing it, so make sure that they're in a nice, comfortable, relaxed position.

6. Remove and flush syringe

And then once all of my food is through, you can just unhook your tube again and you want to flush it again with a little bit of water. It's the same idea where you're just going to flush through for a small animal, maybe 5 ml, and for a larger animal a little bit more.

That's going to go right down the tube. And what we're doing here is just cleaning out any residual food, making sure that we don't have any clogs, making sure that we don't have anything blocking up our tube.

It's important that you're doing this any time that you're using the tube. Even if you're just using the tube for a quick medication, flush the tube before and after because you don't want anything to get stuck in there.

And then you just close your tube back up. You might notice that there's still a little bit of water or whatever you fed your pet might still be in the tube. You're going to notice that kind of start to go down as your pet is swallowing and digesting, and the tube will clear out by the next time that you use it.

And that's all there is to it.

After feeding

When you're done feeding your pet, it's important to completely close this tube. Make sure that there's no debris around the top. Make sure everything's clean because if you leave this tube open, you think about it, anything that your pet lays in, dirt, whatever the case may be, is going to go in that tube and down the stomach. It could also potentially clog the tube.

After you're done feeding, it's important to keep an eye on your pet for probably an hour or two, depending on how much interaction you have with your pet, how excited they are, and their level of illness and severity of nausea.

So what you're keeping an eye out for is any sort of vomiting, regurgitation, looking like they're having difficulty breathing, coughing, hard swallowing, hyper-salivating, drooling, or just generally looking uncomfortable, pacing, panting, not wanting to lay down.

If you notice any signs of discomfort, especially difficulty breathing, please call your prescribing veterinarian. These can be pretty serious clinical signs that we don't want to ignore. Especially with respiratory difficulty, if you're noticing that in the middle of the night or late in the evening, call your local E.R.