Help Guinevere please

[Guinevere]

Hello everyone, Guinevere my beautiful 3yr old Sow isn't eating at the moment & I'm really worried.

A couple of weeks ago whilst eating she occasionally acted like there was something stuck in her mouth, this became more often up to the point when 7days ago she stopped eating, during this time she had lost 6oz (Shes usually 2lb 10oz)
After a reccomendation from "Nutmeg" I took her to a Cavy savvy vet who filed her molars whilst awake & gave me some Septrin (1 x 0.5ml/daily) for slight mucus & eye discharge which appeared around the onset of the eating problem. He also gave her some Recovery sachets & syringes.

Since then shes still not eating solids but can't get enough of the recovery mix & is eating a packet per day plus approx 50ml of water(Inc Vit C)

I'm taking her back to the vets tomorrow but wondered if anyone else had seen this & can offer an explaination.
Its such a shame as she looks so frustrated when she regularly tries to pick up nuggets or fresh veggies but simply can't for some reason

Any advice is greatly appreciated

Guinevere

[Wiebke]

It is not unusual that piggies with tooth problems prefer syringe food instead of solids - perhaps because their mouths is still sore at first and perhaps in memory of the pain?

[clairelove]

Originally Posted by Guinevere

Hello everyone, Guinevere my beautiful 3yr old Sow isn't eating at the moment & I'm really worried.

A couple of weeks ago whilst eating she occasionally acted like there was something stuck in her mouth, this became more often up to the point when 7days ago she stopped eating, during this time she had lost 6oz (Shes usually 2lb 10oz)
After a reccomendation from "Nutmeg" I took her to a Cavy savvy vet who filed her molars whilst awake & gave me some Septrin (1 x 0.5ml/daily) for slight mucus & eye discharge which appeared around the onset of the eating problem. He also gave her some Recovery sachets & syringes.

Since then shes still not eating solids but can't get enough of the recovery mix & is eating a packet per day plus approx 50ml of water(Inc Vit C)

I'm taking her back to the vets tomorrow but wondered if anyone else had seen this & can offer an explaination.
Its such a shame as she looks so frustrated when she regularly tries to pick up nuggets or fresh veggies but simply can't for some reason

Any advice is greatly appreciated

Guinevere

my guinea ralphie did this he wanted to eat but when he tried he gagged so bad and the food just came back out he had his teeth filed which made no difference at all and he had been on antibiotics after seeing 3 diff vets they said his stomach had stopped working poss due to the antibiotics and also he may have shut his own stomach down he lost 500g in 4wks and worried me to death like you i was giving him recovery feeds every 2 or 3 hours for 1 wk then i got a lady friend for him has he was neutered and with in 2 days he started to eat on his own still gagged but was manageing its been 10 wks now and he has put on 300g..
just keep trying him with food i pushed bits of hay into his mouth past his cheecks and cabage any thing to get it past the cheecks i was told by vedra at cambridge cavy trust to suck out any food from the back of the mouth before syringe feeding and flush out with a little water at the end of the recovery feed,
does your guinea have a friend???if not maybe worth getting her one has it sometimes gives them a will to live xx

[nutmeg]

Hi Tim, sorry I wasn't on to welcome you, just got in from work.
Poor Guinevere. There are lots of people here who can hopefully post and help you.
Why not post a thread in the Introductions section, as Guinevere's story is a lovely one.
Best of luck with your piggy.
xx

[flips]

Hope Guinevere starts to feel better soon. x

[nutmeg]

I don't often post answers on here to health and illness Tim, so I hope some of our more medical people come on soon. It is encouraging though that she still has an appetite, and wants to eat. As Wiebke says, she might have a sore mouth after some dental work, and prefer softer syringed food. Piggies can survive on syringed food whilst problems are being sorted, but as you say, they do need to be getting enough. A friend is also a good idea, however, that is something to consider later, I don't imagine it to be a cure for her present problem. x

[nutmeg]

.

[furryfriends]

My piggie, Pops, was totally syringe fed for over five months before she started to eat again. We found little and often worked best for getting her teeth done, and for a very long time she had them done weekly. Her weight plunged to under 600g at the lowest and it is incredibly difficult to even maintain weight whilst syringe feeding as you do need to get a lot in. Pops always loved her syringe food and would just stand at the bars of the cage and take it from the syringe. After a while she was able to manage softened pellets which meant I was able to get a full nights sleep. I used to get up at least once every night to feed her when she was being fully syringe fed. Then suddenly out of the blue she started to eat small amounts for herself. This was the turning point and her weight started to increase. Although she is now eating totally independantly and weighs just over the kilo she still needs a small amount of work doing on her teeth every fortnight.

I found it very useful to add little chopped up bits of veg to the syringe food and also to grate carrot and apple.

What started Pops problem isn't completely clear. She seemed to stop eating just after the death of her sister, but that could just be a coincidence. The turning point came after one of her teeth fell out whilst having them filed, which could suggest pain had stopped her wanting to eat.

Once dental problems become established it's difficult to completely cure, but with a good vet, a determined owner and a piggie with attitude it can be managed very effectively.

[alcesterpigs]

Your pig is not eating because it still has problems with the back teeth. It is not enough for the vet to "file her molars", he needs to know which part of each tooth to file, besides which filing the back teeth is normally reserved for smoothing the teeth after they have been clipped.
I would be quite certain that more extensive treatment is required.
You say she cannot pick up food, do her front teeth meet together when she closes her mouth?
Where are you located?

[nutmeg]

Tim is in Merseyside ish. x