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Back teeth filed, still can't eat by himself....

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teddylover71

teddylover71

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I brought my young boar Smores in to the vet yesterday for back teeth filing. He had a touch of scurvy, which seems to have started the whole thing. We cured the scurvy but noticed he was losing weight and was drooling a lot.

I took him to the vet and they said his back teeth had 'spurs' on it that needed filing. He also had a bit of an abscess or sore in there and they put him on a week's worth antibiotics and pain medication. The filing went well, but it has been 24 hours and he still cannot eat by himself, and he still is drooling a bit. For those of you that have gone through this, how long before your piggie starting eating on his/her own again? :(
 
Are you syringe feeding him? as you should be.

I had mine on 0.2ml of childrens nurofen to help with the pain. It took mine a day to stop dribbling and a couple to start eating better
 
Oh yes, we've been feeding him mashed pellets and Critical Care by syringe for a few days, and plenty of water by syringe too. We stopped his weight drop, but I wondered when he would start trying to eat by himself again. He seems interested in food, but just dropped the bit of soft green lettuce I offered him.
 
oh bless him I hope he makes a full recovery soon, maybe he is still in pain with the abscess/sore which might explain why he's not eating
 
Yes, that is what I've been thinking too (the abscess). He's only been on antibiotics for a day so I'm sure that sore isn't gone yet. Good news is my daughter just offered him a solid pellet and he took it and seemed to chew it normally. xx>>>

Of course if he won't eat by himself within a few days I will take him back in. :)
 
Hanwombat said:
had the vet dealt with guinea pig teeth before?
Click to expand...

Yes, they are an exotic vet clinic and she said she's done the teeth filing many times. I too was concerned about experience and can only go by what she told me she's done. I shudder to think of finding someone else.... it took me a day of internet searching and phone calls to find her, and she's an hour drive from me!
 
He'll eat when we put pellets in his mouth, but won't take them out of the dish himself. I just hope he hasn't gotten so spoiled with the hand feeding that he won't want to eat by himself anymore...it's a bit odd that he won't take soft veggies either.
 
I have never had this with a piggy but my old bunny used to have to go in every 3 months to have his back teeth filed ..he had spurs too, it used to take him about a day to sort himself out, and your little one has an abcess too...as the others have said syringe feed...I am sure someone much more knowledgable will be along soon...hugs
 
can you buy some Daktarin oral gel from the pharmacy this needs to be given after dentals 3 times a day at a dose of 0.5ml, this will soothe the soreness in the mouth and will also treat any thrush he may have which is common in dental guineas,

some guineas dont eat for mths after dentals so its important you syringe feed at least 120mls of recovery/mushed pellets everyday, also he will need probiotics added to the water you are syringe feeding, with him been on antibiotics, it may also be worth the vet doing an x-ray of the teeth as sometimes there can be problems with the root of the tooth which may mean that the offending tooth needs removing IF the problem persists, did the vet say if the teeth had grown into the cheeks or over the tongue ? as this can cause pressure sores from the spurrs and can cause ulcers of the mouth, = Daktarin will sort this but it would be best to keep the guinea on Daktarin for 3 wks.

which area are you in? as there maybe a local rodentoligist in your area or near to!?

did your guinea need a GA/ put to sleep for the dental? as your guinea will need another dental in 2-3 wks time for at least a few mths, rodentoligists do dentals with out GA its very fast and easy and not painful for guinea to have a dental a wake...

I would be inclined to say he is sore BUT with out someone else seeing his teeth its hard to say if to much to soon was taken off the teeth, but once a dental guinea always a dental guinea.
 
They gave me something called SMZ TMP (Bactrim) as an antibiotic. I live in Michigan (United States) so it may be called something different where you live. I hope I can find the Daktarin here, I will go to town later to check the pharmacy.

Yes, they gave him a GA to do the teeth file, it was a light one though. If I could find someone locally to do them without a GA that would be great, but I have no idea who would, I'd have to do more research. The vet didn't say anything about the teeth growing into the cheeks or over the tongue or anything, just that they had spurs on them. She seems to think it was related to the scurvy he had, as that can cause teeth issues?

Thanks for the input so far :)
 
Of course I cannot find Daktarin...seems most thrush medications here are prescription only. :( Anyone from the States have an alternative?
 
good luck with your boy, sadly i lost my first piggy following his second visit to the vet for a teeth job, think the g/a was just too much for him, sadly he didnt recover.

Its such a traumatic time, watching them trying to eat etc.

sending you and your piggy massive vibes xxxxx
 
Septrin as and antibioitics (which is essetially what you have been given) is fine.

Dental pigs [*]can[/*] take some time (4-6 weeks) before they can eat by themselves...and you will have to support them with syringe feeding n the interim.

First thing...remove any pain - have you been prescirbed metacam or rimadyl? You piggie needs one of these atm.

Secondly....ensure food intake by syringe feeindg either Obow CC or Supreme recovery....70ml (= 1 packet of Supreme) per day...feed up to 20 ml every 5 hours.

Finely shred veggies to see if your piggie can pick them up. Hydrate pellets in wam water to see if they can manage these as opposed to dry (very hard) pellets

If the painkillers are not helping them eat..continue them but also try them on daktarin gel

HTH
x
 
Thanks...yes, they gave me metacam for pain, that seems to help him, he perks up afterwards. I notice his breath is smelling much better (it was foul for a couple days before the teeth filiing) so I'm taking that as a good sign. He still is drooling a bit, not like before the filing though. Still is very interested in food but just won't or can't pick anything up by himself in his mouth. My worry is that while I'll continue to syringe feed, he won't have enough hard food to wear his back teeth and they will just overgrow again. :(
 
are his incisors okay? keep syringing feeds him so their is movement in his mouth. Also try him with different soft foods like cucumber and grapes/tomatoes without the skin. soften his hard food with a little warm water.
 
Hi, I'm in the States too (NY) and am going through something similar, though they finally diagnosed the major problem now as being a broken jaw, but she also had her teeth filed so am dealing with similar issues you are. Despite living in a major metropolitan area, I went through 4 (mostly incompetent) vets before finding one with half a clue about guinea pigs...over an hour's drive away. The only solution I found for thrush/oral fungal infections is gentian violet which is sold in healthfood stores, but I don't have any experience in using it. My pig's been prescribed metacam. Can I ask what dosage you've been given? My piggy's down to 500 g (from her normal 675) and one vet prescribed for her .13 ml metacam together with .4 ml of another painkiller TWICE per day (can't remember name, something that needs refrigeration and cost $60 for a small bottle), while this latest vet prescribed her just .5 ml of metacam ONCE per day. I'm curious about what yours has been recommended.
 
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Yes, that's all I could find too...the Gentian Violet. I haven't tried it either, I'm a little leary of it, since I have no idea of dosage. For the pain meds they told me .45 ml once per day as needed for pain and inflammation. I hear you on the vet thing, it is HARD to find someone who knows anything about guinea pigs. :(

I got a little green pepper into Smores today so that's good. Oh, and his bottom incisors don't look the greatest, the top front teeth look good but part of one of his bottom ones is broken off :( could that be what is still causing his dro-oling?

I talked with the vet today and she didn't sound concerned about him still not eating on his own and said to just continue with the syringe feeding, which of course I will.
 
Did she cut the front teeth too short?
You are right about them overgrowing again, this can happen within a week if they are not eating, try putting food into the mouth to get him chewing again.
 
Did they cut the incisors or use trimming equipment? as clipping can cause pain and fractures
 
She didn't cut the front incisors at all, and I *think* she said she filed the back teeth. I am going to give her a call today and ask, and see whether I should bring him back in.
 
He weighed 650 grams at the vets on Tuesday. He is 7 months old and still growing.

Good news is that he just took a tremendous amount of hard pellets. I sat with him and fed him one at a time and he eagerly took each one. He still won't scoop them out of the food bowl himself but I am so happy he had so much to chew on. :))
 
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