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Advice please on teeth and sringe feeding

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sarahliz langas

sarahliz langas

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Hi Everyone
My 2 and half year old piggie Snowy has a bit of a rattley chest and was making abit of an effort in his breathing and has been to the vets last night and is on Baytril antiboitics but also he may be having problems with his teeth the vet thinks. He feels like he has lost some weight but when weighed by the vet he was 1 kg - He's not really eating much which makes us suspect his back teeth and he is booked into to see the vet about his teeth next friday (the vet wanted to sort out his chest before messing with his teeth) I have sringe fed him some of his bried food ground down and mixed with water and wondered what else i could do to help build him up! I'm so stressed as he's my husbands piggie and he's away with the navy! I will always do whats best him but want to help him as much as i can..any advice is well received!
 
Potential tooth problems are never good. Try to give some probiotics (available from your vet, sometimes at pets@home or over the internet) with your feed in order to keep the guts going and the appetite up. URI and baytril can both cause loss appetite and therefore of weight in themselves.

It might be good if you weighed Snowy daily, so you can control his food intake. All you need is some cheap kitchen scales from the supermarket.

I have been lucky not to have had a tooth piggy myself, but others on here have and may be able to help you more. Signs of eating problems stemming from tooth trouble are usually a willingness to eat, but an inability to chew, so bit of food are taken up but then let drop. A loss of appetite connected with URI is a general disinterest in food. If you suspect that pain from teeth may causing problems, you could try 0.2 children's nurofen from the pharmacy and see whether Snowy perks up with that. Daktarin oral gel (from pharmacy) can help with sores caused by teeth or mouth rashes.

Here are some links which you may find useful:
http://www.guinealynx.info/uri.html
http://www.guinealynx.info/teeth.html
http://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=36533
 
hi, I'm so sorry.

when my boy had teeth problems he dribbled a lot when they were ready to be seen to (always had a wet chin) and also, i could tell as he would try to eat his carrot but all the bits he had bitten off would be in a pile as he couldnt chew them.

defo get probiotics if on baytril or he will have a sore tum and not want to eat x

good luck with it. x
 
Thanks for the advice, have given him some nurofen and have ordered some probiotics! Fingers crossed this works, he's still quite active but we haven't had any wet mouths, it was the vet who mentioned his teeth when he looked in his mouth. I am sringe feeding him his dried food watered down every few hours to make sure he is eating and getting fluids.
 
i had a himmy called salt that looked just like the one on your profile pic, he wasnt that friendly tho and he was a shy boy x
 
Hi Sarah, sorry to hear Snowy has problems.

Was he eating fine prior to developing his respiratory problem? Did the vet say why he thought Snowy may have dental problems?

Syringe-feeding is good, I have a factsheet I can email to you if you like with some tips on - drop me a line at [email protected] and I'll send it across to you. Feeding every few hours is ideal, just go nice and steady given his slightly laboured breathing.
 
Hi There
He has been eating fine, i have been away on holiday and my mum has been looking after my pigs - she says he has been eating fine but his breathing has been abit strange at time sbut when they got him out of the cage he appeared better - they thought he might be allergic to the sawdust- but he felt lighter to me when i picked him up and he has gone off his food abit in the last 24 hrs. The vet thought it might be his teeth as his back ones look close together but he wants me to take him to this vet he knows that specialises in teeth problems. He definatly looks like he is putting in abit of effort at times with is breathing and is on baytril and i have given him some nurofen as advised. I will email you direct for the sheet on sringe feeding
 
I just wanted to check the validity of having dental work done, since his appetite and will to eat will drop in relation to his respiratory infection and shouldn't be assumed to be dental problems unless a thorough check is carried out. I just hope the vet knows what he's doing and only does what is really necessary, which should be very little if anything, if Snowy is still able to eat normally (albeit slower/less at the moment due to his laboured breathing). I am just emailing the syringe feeding factsheet to you now, hopefully that will help some.

Is he still on sawdust? Sensitivity to sawdust is very viable and can aggravate a respiratory problem, so well worth switching from this straight away.
 
Thanks for sending me the sheet
The vet i'm taking him to see is a specialist in dental work on small animals so hopefully she knows what she's talking about. He's still quite alert and is moving around the cage - am going to change the bedding tonight for some none allergic stuff - he seems interested in food but not very hungry but has eaten some hay. Hopefully he will perk up in a day or so when the antibiotics kick in.
 
It does sound as if Snowy is eating more slowly because of the breathing difficulty and not because of dental problems. Please be very cautious of allowing a vet to do any work on your piggies teeth if Snowy is still able to eat ok. Topping up with some syringe food is a good idea, but keep giving him all his favourite foods so he doesn't become reliant on the syringe food.
 
Hi there
and thank you all for your good advice, snowy is still off his food but has eaten abit of hay today and does show some interest when i put food in the cage, i am still syringe feeding him and he seems to be taking it fine, his breathing today seems abit better, i can still see him breathing abit heavier than usual but the grunting noises have now gone so hopefully thats a good sign, he seems fairly lively and is moving around the cage and isn't listless. He's on 0.2ml baytril,0.2ml baby nurofen and 0.2ml sudafed twice aday. Thanks for the advice on teeth, i will see what this vet who is alot of experience says about his teeth as we haven't had any of the wet mouth symptoms that come with teeth problems.
 
How is Snowy doing this morning, Sarah?

May be a daft question and sorry if you've already answered it earlier in the thread, but what's the Nurofen being given for? The Baytril and Sudafed will both be good in helping to get him over the respiratory problem, but not sure what the pain med is being given for. :)

If he is able to eat by Friday, is not struggling to chew or bite into foods, then please do stress this heavily to the vet specialist.
 
Just wanted to toss in the idea that Baytril can sometimes suppress appetite so the antibiotic may be a factor in the loss of appetite as well.
 
Hi There
Sorry its taken me a while but heres an update on Snowy, we went back to the vets on friday, snowy was stills struggling to eat all week, and she said his teeth were badly overgrown with some spurs on them as well, he went in yesterday and had them filed down under anesthetic. I have been syringe feeding him all week with oxbox critical care and he is still on the baytril and sudafed (now giving him 1ml of probiotic every day as well). I was giving him the nurofen for any teeth pain. He seems abit more lively today but still not eating much on his own so the vets told me to keep syringe feeding. Does it take a while to get them eating again. He has squeaked at me to be fed and takes the syringe fed fine. He is sniffing at food, his chest sounds much better and vet thinks infection is in his uper airways now. Also is there anything i can do to help with his teeth?
 
Try him on Timothy hay, it's more coarse than normal hay, wooden toys made for piggies may encourage him to chew, and help keep his teeth in check :)
 
Hi Sarah, thanks for upating on Snowy. Keep up with the Nurofen to be sure it's not pain causing his refusal to eat. I would also give Daktarin Oral Gel to make sure oral fungal issues are not affecting his ability/desire to eat, dosage is 0.5ml 3x daily, reduced to twice daily on week two and once daily on week three.

There are some tips in these threads for encouraging a piggie to start eating independently after dental work:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=54685
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=53967
 
Hi everyone, thanks for all the great advice! Snowy is doing so much better today, we went back to the vets yesterday for our post op check up and the vet said his breathing was so much better and he is no longer huffing and is so much more active. I am continuing to syringe feed but this evening he has been stood with his feet on the food bowl squawking at me for food - he has had a nibble at the veggies in the bowl as well. Fingers crossed he is on the mend now! My only problem now is that ferdy his companion has been eating two piggies rations for a while as we hadn't picked up on snowy not eating much and is now fat! I've just weighed him and he is 1375g! and his belly feels very fat! How do i get him to lose weight! He eats everything in sight..i've reduced the amount of food i'm putting in the cage but don't want to impeed snowy's recovery!
 
I have this same dilemma with my dental pig too, I go all out on a food bar for her and its her perfectly healthy cagemate who pigs out on it, he's gained 80g in three weeks. :))

If you can give Snowy a bit of time on his own, either let him out for some floor time with some food without Ferdy, or let Ferdy out and give Snowy some food in the cage. Ideally the latter as this would benefit both pigs more e.g. Ferdy gets more exercise to help him tone up, while Snowy can pig out without anyone disturbing him.

I'd be inclined to feed in such a way little and often until Snowy is eating completely normally again - he doesn't need long to eat by himself, and it doesn't always work out that letting him have a long time means he'll eat for longer, so giving him time on his own with his food a few times a day is worth a shot.

There is some more info that might help you with Ferdy in this thread:
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38805
Obviously going to be trickier to implement some of the ideas e.g. reducing the amount of pellets fed, given you need to provide plenty to ensure Snowy gets some too, but the extra exercise and separate feeding times should go some way to helping. :)
 
I feed my pigs fresh veggies twice a day so now what I am doing with my piggy that has just had real problems eating but is now making progress eating by herself again, is feeding all the pigs together and then removing her after a few minutes and giving her a separate bowl of veggies, as soon as she has had enough I put her back with the others, did that last night an twice today and it seems to be working well :)
 
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