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Dental - Anorexia

CavyConnoisseur said:
Theodore also had his dental surgery last Monday, the same day as your Willow, he stayed at the vets all last week and wasn't improving at all, so we brought him home on Friday morning and he has improved this much already from there.

You can try what I'm doing with Theodore with Willow if you like, it's working really well for him so it might for Willow too. :)
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I am syringe feeding her constantly and twice during the night with water before and after every 2-3 syringes. Did try to put little pieces of grass in her mouth but she just kept struggling and then squeaked as if it was hurting her. Also tried her out on the grass but just buried her wee face in it without attempting to eat any. Must be distressing for her.
 
Poppy'sMum said:
@CavyConnoisseur if you want a hand with syringe feeding him & even getting him to Simon please pm me, I think Simon would see him as an emergency which he now is, providing Simon/Kim are around next week? Meanwhile can you get some Emeraid food from your vets? This is a very high cal food & will help him enormously at this stage x
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Is Emeraid better than critical care?
 
It is supposed to be higher calorie I think. It looks and tastes completely different too.
 
I think it will do no harm in getting some. Sometimes a pig will eat more if they have a variety of different things to eat.
 
Emeraid is very high calorie syringe food that is excellent for pigs that are struggling with normal critical care or Recovery food & need an urgent boost. It is much more expensive of course, but can really help turn things around if they are eating very little. Well done @CavyConnoisseur :) I would keep him on the Loxicom though for a good few days, probably up to a week, because if he feels any discomfort you could be back at square one. Metacam/Loxicom is usually well tolerated & can mean the difference between a piggy eating or not. Try to start hand feeding him soft bits of hay on your lap to encourage him to start eating hay again. I found that Alfalfa King (the brand) Timothy hay from PAH or online is loved by most pigs & as a treat hay they really enjoy something like that :)
 
Update - Theodore is fully recovered now, he eats and looks like a perfectly normal, happy pig and no longer requires supportive care, his meds and syringe feeds stopped 2 days ago and he's doing fantastic, has maintained his weight and kept up his progress. We're watching him closely as we suspect he may need further dental work in the future but hopefully not. Thanks everyone for your help, he has made an amazing recovery considering the state he was in 2 weeks ago, looking at him now it really angers me the vet wanted us to put him to sleep, we knew he had a chance if he came home so I'm very glad we did!
 
So, today Theodore randomly grew a large solid lump (the size of a marble) under the right side of his lower jaw, feels like he has one near this throat too. It's not causing him any pain and he's eating fine, making a great recovery. Any ideas? Tooth root issue? He's back at the vet soon.
 
My guess would be an abscess. You'll need to get it looked at pretty quickly as they can cause them to eat unevenly and cause further dental issues.
 
Jaycey said:
My guess would be an abscess. You'll need to get it looked at pretty quickly as they can cause them to eat unevenly and cause further dental issues.
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He had a small lump in this exact place just after surgery, it went away when he first came home but has now come back larger within 2 days... Seems a bit strange for it to reappear when his loxicom and emeprid were stopped, his baytril finished tonight. I thought abscesses were squishy, this is rock hard, feels like bone?
 
Hmm, I don’t really have much experience with dental issues but I know from seeing some of the TEAS pigs that teeth issues and abscesses tend to go hand in hand. Maybe if it is a full abscess it would feel hard? Especially as theres not much space for it to grow in so it feels tighter?

I'd definitely get it checked out either way as it could still cause him to eat awkwardly and cause wonky teeth no matter what it is.
 
This needs checking and dealing with asap. Definitely sounds like an abscess. Unless it's dealt with properly, your piggy could be left with a serious dental issue. I'd recommend getting to Simon or Kim if at all possible xx
 
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