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Albie Broke His Tooth...

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AlbiePercy

AlbiePercy

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Just came back from a trip to the vets and Albie has been in the wars.
We went to get the spur on his foot removed again as it just keeps growing and seemed to be bothering him. (If anyone has suggestions on how to prevent that, go ahead!)
While she was dealing with his foot spur, the vet mentioned that his teeth were looking long, asked what I feed etc etc. On closer inspection, he'd broken his front right tooth near the top and as a result it was loose and sitting on a funny angle. Decision was made to remove the broken part of the tooth as we thought it would annoy him more having a loose piece of tooth he couldn't use. She pulled the broken piece of tooth (thankfully without the need for anesthetic)
So now I feel like the worst mummy in the world for not noticing :( I know he was eating fine last night, he tucked into his veggies like he was starving and i saw him at the hay and heard him drinking. My question is, what should I feed them today while he's a bit tender? Should he be able to eat okay while the tooth grows back? I also noticed some poos in the cage that were a bit crumbly for my liking but not sure which piggy they came from. Anything I should do about those, or just keep an eye out?
Thank you!
 
Update: Albie appears to be eating fine, just watched him devour some capsicum. Weighed him this morning and his weight is stable (1030g) but I'll switch to daily weighs to make sure he's eating. Will his other teeth be affected by the one that's missing as he won't be aligning them properly?
 
In my experience, the other front tooth breaks off too after a little while (I don't know why) and they both grow back slowly. Whilst he has no front teeth you will need to make sure that his veggies are cut very small so he can eat them. They can eat hay without front teeth!
 
Maybe include a water bowl as well as bottle. When one of mine had incisor problem he was less comfortable using bottle and preferred bowl for a few days. Glad he is eating ok!
 
Oh I hope he doesn't loose the other one too :( The water bowl is a good idea, i'll get onto that. :) He seems a bit sad in himself today, like normally they'll let me watch them from afar but if I go in their room they'll hide. Albie's staying out and letting me pet him. When I went in there with the capsicum he actually came over like "oooh what'cha got mum?"
 
Just keep an eye on his weight, while the tooth regrows. It sounds like he is managing just fine, but you may find that cutting his veggies into strips might help if he is struggling a bit. Hopefully the tooth will grow back with no problems.
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
Just keep an eye on his weight, while the tooth regrows. It sounds like he is managing just fine, but you may find that cutting his veggies into strips might help if he is struggling a bit. Hopefully the tooth will grow back with no problems.
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Thanks for the reply :) He seems to be eating fine, he's lost 20g since yesterday, but that could just be a bladder full. He just doesn't seem his usual grumpy dominant self. There's been a bit of teeth chattering between him and Percy so I'm wondering if Percy's sensing Albie's not 100%. He's not on any pain relief, do you find that it's normally needed?
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
I would usually give some metacam. He is probably going to manage much better now the tooth has gone, as trying to eat on a wobbly tooth isn't easy.
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Yeah that was my thinking behind letting her remove it. I live in regional Australia, finding a cavy savy vet out here is fairly impossible. I might call and ask them for some metacam as he just doesn't seem like himself. I appreciate the advice.
 
My new addition poppet broke the bottom of her tooth last week after biting the bars (none of my pigs do this so i hope she learns it isnt necessary!) and by the next morning the other top tooth has also broken off at the same level, so i agree with u @Posyrose . She hasnt had any problems at all and her teeth are all fine, eating well etc. her teeth where a little long when she arrived but they soon wore down so must have been diet related x
 
Just a little update! I came back from 5 nights away visiting my family to find that Albie's tooth has almost grown back completely :) He didn't end up losing the one next to it either. He was weighed daily by my pigsitter and his weight was stable at 1030-1040g, so I'll stop annoying him with the scales now! Interesting to note, that his tooth has grown approx 1cm in 8 days. I knew they grew fast, but I didn't realise it was THAT fast!
 
Hi, I've just rescued two boar piggies and I left them a few days to settle in. I have today had them out in a run, clipped nails and thought I'd try and check their teeth.
I was shocked. The one had a broken canine, broke about half way down at the top but the other one seems to not have one top canine or it's been broken off at the gum line.
I've been reading up about teeth growing back but didn't know whether to call a vet. They are both eating and drinking so that's reassuring and not all vets know about guinea pig teeth. I've read they will eventually grow back and realign hopefully.
What are your thoughts having had yours had this.
Unfortunately for me these boys are about 1 year old and are petrified of people. They are now on hay in the morning, fresh veg at lunch and pellets with added vit c in the evening. My guess is these teeth have broken because of malnutrition because they are not carrying much weight. My next mission is to try and weigh them if they will allow. Thanks for reading
 
wozeywifey said:
Hi, I've just rescued two boar piggies and I left them a few days to settle in. I have today had them out in a run, clipped nails and thought I'd try and check their teeth.
I was shocked. The one had a broken canine, broke about half way down at the top but the other one seems to not have one top canine or it's been broken off at the gum line.
I've been reading up about teeth growing back but didn't know whether to call a vet. They are both eating and drinking so that's reassuring and not all vets know about guinea pig teeth. I've read they will eventually grow back and realign hopefully.
What are your thoughts having had yours had this.
Unfortunately for me these boys are about 1 year old and are petrified of people. They are now on hay in the morning, fresh veg at lunch and pellets with added vit c in the evening. My guess is these teeth have broken because of malnutrition because they are not carrying much weight. My next mission is to try and weigh them if they will allow. Thanks for reading
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I'd weigh them every morning if possible. You can use a cozy or tunnel to herd them into, this might be easier to catch them in. Weigh them inside a container or a cozy and then subtract the weight of the container. Piggies can hide that they're not eating very well and weighing them is the best way to tell. I didn't need to do anything special with Albie, just daily weighs. I did stay away from really hard veggies like carrot for a few days, but he was fine. And I gave them a water bowel until his tooth grew back as he wasn't using the water bottle as much.
 
Thank you.

I will definitely start weighing them.

Must invest in a cozy as they are so scatty to handle at the moment.

I really appreciate your help. X
 
Just reopening this thread again. Albie has broken that same tooth again, about a quarter of the way down. :doh: I'm just trying to work out the reason for this.. He doesn't chew his bars or any of the plastic toys/pigloos. He uses the drink bottle fine normally (quite frequently and loudly!) They have a blocks and logs to chew on (they love them) and plenty of fresh veggies (carrots, capsicum, silverbeet, cucumber are the staples) and unlimited supply to timothy hay in their hay bag and pasture hay in lining their hay tray. They don't have pellets. Is it something I'm doing or not doing that is causing him to break that tooth? I don't have access to a cavy savy vet within a 5.5 hour drive, just a general vet. Help!
 
Sorry @furryfriends (TEAS) can you shed any light on Albie's teeth? My nearest GP savy vet is 450km away, so don't want to take them all that way unless it's necessary.
 
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