Dental Bad teeth from birth and food

[Jojessgaz]

Hi ..Been a while since my last post on here... I have a guinea girl who is nearly 3yrs. She has very bad growing teeth. I have seen 3 different vets and all said the same that her teeth just grow so they don't meet up and therefore dont grind down So she is constantly at the vets for checks every 2 weeks and has been on zantac 0.2ml twice day and metacam same dose since last Jun. 2018. Her last filing was 5wks ago She's happy in herself except the last filling doesn't seem to have allowed her even a short term spell of eating veg . She gets very frustrated and throws the stuff around and then goes to try pellets but only seems to be able to eat the softened ones i have put a bit of hot water on...which she loves totally.. cannot get enough. But this seems to be all she manages to eat which to me won't help her teeth at all. My dilemma is.. do i feed her up on the soaked pellets and get her weight right back up... but she will be back then for another filling ... or do I reduce the amount of soft food to try and make her try more herself. She is a generally greedy piggie but has been over a year now since she weighed anything like her normal. She is around 750 at the moment but at her worst been 600 and best over 1000. When she could eat. My vet now is trying to get the opinion of another vet to see if they have any new avenues to try ... but as I say my dilemma at the moment is could I make her lazy in giving softened food... but I don't want her weight to go down

 

[Wiebke]

@furryfriends (TEAS)

If Furryfriends is too busy to come on here, she has given us permission to refer forum memvers to contact her at her sanctuary during normal daytime hours. https://www.facebook.com/teasnorthampton/

She has her dental guinea pigs treated by Simon Maddock, who is seeing dental guinea pigs from all over the country (from the southwest to Edinburgh) where local vets have been unable to deal with the dental issues and that would have otherwise died. He does about on average 15 piggy dentals every week - that is more than most vets see in their whole career!
The Cat and Rabbit Care Clinic

Have you tried porridge oats and greated or juiced veg? Guinea pig teeth if not ground down regularly overgrow very quickly again because they have evolved against the very abrasive silica in dry and fresh grass that are the mainstay of a guinea pig diet (over 80% of the daily food intake).

 

[anyar.dris]

I can recommend taking her to Cat & Rabbit Care Clinic in Northampton. I know it'll be quite a long drive but Simon Maddock is the best vet when it comes to dental problems in guinea pigs. We always travel down for our dental piggy every month but it's worth it. Simon do dental procedures without GA so the piggies can eat straight after.

You can probably also ask your vet to talk with Simon with regards to your piggy's problem and he may be able to give your vet some advice on what best to do.

 

[Bill & Ted]

I agree with @anyar.dris if you can take her down to see Simon Maddock as above, he is the most experience dental vet for guinea pigs in the UK. He sees around 40 piggies a week from around the country. We take our Ted to see him periodically and he sorts his teeth out doing a conscious dental and he is eating hay within 10 minutes, the journey is definitely worth the effort, we drive from Cornwall. Good luck, go there if you can, you won’t regret it x

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

We run a sanctuary for guinea pigs with ongoing dental issues and Simon Maddock works his magic with our piggies. Even those, who arrive in a dreadful state, where other vets have advised euthanasia as the only option, make a good recovery, after treatment from Simon. I would strongly urge you to make an appointment to see him.