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Dental Baby guinea pig with NO bottom incisors

Hils

Hils

Junior Guinea Pig
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A bit of an odd one - yesterday we got a 3mth old gp from a rescue. Today I noticed she drank out of the side of her mouth. It turns out she has extremely long top teeth which are curling back into her mouth but there was no sign of any bottom teeth. I'm assuming she has never had any because if they had been knocked out I would expect to see stumps or if it was very recent the top teeth wouldn't be in such a state.

Obviously we're off to the vets tomorrow but I wondered if anyone had any experience of this? If it is a little birth defect could we consider removing the top incisors and then making sure all her food is finely chopped? She is a nervous young pig so I think that regular trimming of her top teeth would be pretty miserable for her but we don't want to give up on her if we can provide her with a good quality of life.

Any help gratefully received. Thank you.
 
A bit of an odd one - yesterday we got a 3mth old gp from a rescue. Today I noticed she drank out of the side of her mouth. It turns out she has extremely long top teeth which are curling back into her mouth but there was no sign of any bottom teeth. I'm assuming she has never had any because if they had been knocked out I would expect to see stumps or if it was very recent the top teeth wouldn't be in such a state.

Obviously we're off to the vets tomorrow but I wondered if anyone had any experience of this? If it is a little birth defect could we consider removing the top incisors and then making sure all her food is finely chopped? She is a nervous young pig so I think that regular trimming of her top teeth would be pretty miserable for her but we don't want to give up on her if we can provide her with a good quality of life.

Any help gratefully received. Thank you.
 
I have never experienced this before with my piggies. My advice was going to be take a trip to the vet but you're already doing that :) Keep us updated, hope all goes well x
 
Hi, the bottom teeth are very far back and you wouldn't be able to see them just by opening the mouth. However, problems with the front teeth usually impact on the front teeth as the piggy often can't eat enough to keep them worn. Any decent vet should be able to burr the teeth down in the hope of getting her to eat normally on her own, in the meantime you will want to step in with some syringe feeding to make sure she is getting enough food in her
 
Hi, I have an older pig with missing front bottom teeth. He’s been like this for 18 months. About every two months we go to the vets and she burrs the top ones down. She is experienced and does this very quickly while he is awake. It doesn’t bother him in the slightest. The only change to food I made was to cut harder foods like carrot into strips.
We discussed removing the top teeth and yes while that may be cheaper in the long run for me, I didn’t want to put him through that procedure when he copes so well with the burring.
Best advice I can offer is find an experience vet, and be guided by your piggies needs. Good luck :)
 
Oh sorry I have just read this again and realised you meant front teeth whereas my sleepy head read it as back teeth and that makes my above post completed pointless :)) :stu:
 
Tagging into this thread a dental expert in @furryfriends (TEAS) for you also @Abi_nurse

Teeth really need looking at by a dental expert. Can she eat? There is an amazing dental vet in Northampton Call Simon - details below

It may be worth contacting

Beaumont Sainsbury Animal Hospital
Nadene Stapleton
Royal College Street
London
London
NW1 0TU
 
I’d get in touch with the rescue too and let them know what’s happening; ideally the piggy should have had a thorough health check by them.
 
Maybe an xray would be handy to see if there are any going to hopefully grow?
 
I have lived through this same predicament with one of the babies born into our rescue. Little Melody was born to a pregnant sow who came into rescue in January of this year. We found out at about 3 1/2 weeks of age that she had no bottom incisors. After extensive tests at the vets we found that she had perfect back teeth but no lower incisors. Her upper incisors needed clipping to keep them under control. We did this a couple of times until the quality of her incisors deteriorated but by then her bone density in the upper jaw had increased and in the Summer she had the incisors removed successfully. She now has no incisors at all.
Melody is able to eat a full range of foods and hay. The only difference is the need to cut her veg into little strips (size of matchsticks) and stand them upright so that she can get a hold of them. She is able to eat small pellets and is in peak of health. The lack of incisors is due to inbreeding.
I am lucky that my vets are exotics specialists recommended on the forum. Your little one will also need to see a specialist to have her jaws xrayed and to make plans for the future.
Here is little Melody's story. We are all very fond of her in the rescue. Melody - Forum Sponsor Piggy - The Potteries
 
Thank you so much everyone, I'm so grateful for your support. Vicki A, Meolody's story seems identical to ours. We have found a fabulous exotics vet with experience of dental work in piggies whose advice has been in line with everything suggested here. Aphrodite (yes, a big name for a little piggy, but she has lots of personality) has had a general anaesthetic for a full examination, x-ray and a teeth burring (the long incisors were in danger of damaging her mouth, I think we got there just in time). The molars were absolutely fine, but as suspected, no sign of any bottom incisors.

Aphrodite is currently feeling very sorry for herself. I've separated her from the herd so we can check if she is eating and pooing. Once she is back to being herself (I'm crossing all fingers and toes) and has put on a bit of weight she will go back to our lovely vet to have her front incisors removed. She is obviously a piggy with a lot of fight because she worked out a way to manoeuvre nuggets into her mouth despite her phenomenally long teeth. I just hope she recovers OK from the general anaesthetic. She's currently in a cosy in her little pen with a range of treats - nuggets, mash made from soaked nuggets, a bowl of grass, coriander and parsley and a pile of hay, although she's not shown any interest in them yet. The vet wants me to phone tomorrow and let her know how much Aphrodite is eating and pooing - and in particular if she has started to eat hay. I'll let you know how we get on.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. It's so helpful to have an idea of possible solutions before heading off to the vet.
 
If she seems uninterested in eating try to hand feed her with very small bits of veg, it worked well for my Ted after GA when he could not pick up his food when his incisors were cut too short x
 
Oh Aphrodite I am in love :luv::wub::luv:
The burring is unlikely to have taken away her appetite - that will be the anaesthetic. But just be aware that she’s had to adapt to eating with those horrible long curled incisors and it may be that you need to convince her she can do it without them impeding her mouth as it all feels different to her.
Has she had a bit of metacam in case she is a bit sore from all the poking round her mouth?
If she isn’t keen on eating she may need some syringe feeding to get her going. It sounds like she’s in great hands with you and also with your vet who’s on the ball.
 
Gosh she is cute :love:


Bless her, is she on any pain relief? dental work can make their little mouths sore. Who is your vet by the way? Do we have them on our recommended yet list? We are always on lookout for good vets
 
Sport_billy, the vet was Yvonne at Orchid vets in Brentwood. When we booked I was told there would only be time for a consultation and nothing could be done today but Yvonne took one look at Aphrodite and told me she'd do it there and then if I waited for ten minutes. The care was excellent and I feel in really good hands.
 
I've just syringe fed her 2ml of mushy pellets but she didn't move her mouth at all or try to swallow so I've decided to leave it for a bit. She did look a bit brighter when I put her back in her cage but that might be wishful thinking. She's had a pretty rubbish two days - leaving mum, meeting new piggies, first car journies, first vet trip... Hopefully she just needs some time to rest. I'll be back to the vet tomorrow for pain killers and critical care if she's not any better in the morning.
 
It can all take it's toll a bit on those kind of mad days, esp at her age bless her!
Sure she appreciates all the love from you though :)
Hope she feels a bit better by the morning. Gorgeous girly x
 
She’s had a momentous couple of days. Hope she soon feels better.
 
All going well now. She looked on her last legs first thing - obviously hadn't moved all night - but we put her back with the group and she immediately started popcorning and eating nuggets! I'll post again when she has her incisors removed to let you know how she's getting on but thanks so much for all the advice and support, it's been very much appreciated. Xx
 
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