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Dental piggie and feeding problems.

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Gearra-mhuc

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Hi there, I hope this is in the right section as I was stuck between this and 'food'!

I am asking for advice for my mum's piggy Seamus. He has been having a lot of problems with his teeth and has a dental about every six weeks I think. The problem is getting him to eat, Seamus is just not interested. My mum hand feeds him with a dissolved pellet mix, and he will occasionally eat banana, but nothing else. They have tried lots of different veg, fruit, purees, critical care, and he is just not interested.

He is a happy lively wee man, really seems to enjoy life, but he needs to put weight on. Mum is also worried about the impact these frequent dentals have on his life :( Any advice would be much appreciated.

Here is a pic of the lovely wee man:
4-6-2010058.jpg
 
hiyah, I'm so sorry seamus is having dentals so regularly, if you type it in the search you will probably come up with lots of information and advice.

Do you mean getting him to feed straight after a dental, or just in general?

He is beautiful by the way x
 
I did have a search before I posted, but it came up with a lot of stuff, and I didn't find what I was looking for a few pages in. I'm probably searching for the wrong thing, could I be cheeky and ask what you would search for please?

It's just feeding in general. He is on pain relief after each dental, but not all the time. The vet said he doesn't need it.

Thank you, I will make sure and tell her that ;) He is a lovely pig, a great personality, she has tried a lot with him. He was meant to be bonded with a girly but she attacked him - I think it was after this he became ill so maybe she sensed it? I know rabbits do this but don't know much about piggies I'm afraid!
 
Hi, what a gorgeous little man. I have a dental piggy as well and he has to get his teeth done every 4 -8 weeks. He is now 6 months old and has had it done 3 times so far with no ill effects. My vet does use gas for anaesthetic, no pain killers as piggies have no nerves there, and he wakes up to his pellets, hay and cos lettuce right in front of him and he starts nibbling right away. As piggies don't vomit, the food is right there as well before he gets a whiff of the gas. In other words, he is never deprived of food before or after surgery. The vet's idea seems to be to make him feel like nothing happened to him. When he gets home he & his mate are put out on the grass (or I cut some up for them if the weather is foul) and as piggies can't seem to resist grass, he is eating normally right away. My wee boy only has to have his incisors trimmed (born with misaligned jaw so the incisors don't meet), the other teeth are checked each time but so far they are OK. I don't know which teeth your boy has to have done and that might make a difference. I have read that some of these pain killers upset their tummies so they don't eat. Does he have a mate? Often that helps as they just want to do whatever their buddy is doing - at least I find boys do. As I don't know exactly what your boy goes through my boy's experience may not help.
 
ha ha probably the same as you have really. Dental, teeth, etc etc

Furryfriends on here is one of the best people to speak to, she is very experienced with dental piggies.

You could send her a private message, unless you have not yet made enough posts in which case i could pm her for you and ask her to contact you to give you some advice?
 
Hopefully Furryfriends will be along soon to help, shes are little expert in dental piggies.

Is Seamus eating hay at all? This is the best thing for his teeth and also makes up over 80% of a piggies diet. Just a thought, you mentioned the other bits but not the hay.

Gorgeous boy, i hope you get the advice you need on here.

As for the amount of dentals he is having, although it does put a strain on the body providing you have a good veterinary team and he makes a good recovery then it shouldnt be any detrament. Some cavy savvy vets do dentals conscious, so it may be worthwhile to find one that does this.

x.
 
Lilly said:
Hi, what a gorgeous little man. I have a dental piggy as well and he has to get his teeth done every 4 -8 weeks. He is now 6 months old and has had it done 3 times so far with no ill effects. My vet does use gas for anaesthetic, no pain killers as piggies have no nerves there, and he wakes up to his pellets, hay and cos lettuce right in front of him and he starts nibbling right away. As piggies don't vomit, the food is right there as well before he gets a whiff of the gas. In other words, he is never deprived of food before or after surgery. The vet's idea seems to be to make him feel like nothing happened to him. When he gets home he & his mate are put out on the grass (or I cut some up for them if the weather is foul) and as piggies can't seem to resist grass, he is eating normally right away. My wee boy only has to have his incisors trimmed (born with misaligned jaw so the incisors don't meet), the other teeth are checked each time but so far they are OK. I don't know which teeth your boy has to have done and that might make a difference. I have read that some of these pain killers upset their tummies so they don't eat. Does he have a mate? Often that helps as they just want to do whatever their buddy is doing - at least I find boys do. As I don't know exactly what your boy goes through my boy's experience may not help.
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I think Seamus is about 3, he has been having these problems since August. He went to the vet who did his front and back teeth cut and filed under GA, then went home. Not long after a load of gunk came out of the eye, he was taken back to the vet, who suspected an abcess and treated it. It was never officially confirmed though. Since then he has had his front and back teeth done another three times, once with and twice without GA.

She says he doesn't eat grass but has nibbled a tiny piece of dried dandelion - maybe it's easier to chew than fresh. He doesn't have a friend as the female he was meant to go with attacked him. He does get supervised time out with my mum's girly pair and foster single pig as she thought that might encourage him to nibble, but although he enjoys their company he doesn't eat :(

I hope your boy continues to remain well :)

doglovinpiggylover said:
ha ha probably the same as you have really. Dental, teeth, etc etc

Furryfriends on here is one of the best people to speak to, she is very experienced with dental piggies.

You could send her a private message, unless you have not yet made enough posts in which case i could pm her for you and ask her to contact you to give you some advice?
Click to expand...

That was pretty much it, yeah! I found a lot of stuff but all things she's already tried I'm afraid.

I would really appreciate it if you could PM her for me, I think I came across her in other threads, is her name in orange? I don't know how many posts you need to send a PM but I have a whole 15 (16 after this one!) so I doubt I have enough!
 
Abi_nurse said:
Is Seamus eating hay at all?

Gorgeous boy, i hope you get the advice you need on here.

Some cavy savvy vets do dentals conscious, so it may be worthwhile to find one that does this.
Click to expand...

She says she's not sure. He goes up to he hay rack a lot and has a good sniff, but she's never actually seen him eating it. She says she chops hay into little bits and puts it into his feed though.

Thank you, he is gorgeous isn't he? :love: You guys are recommended on the bunny forum so I'm sure you'll come up with something!

He has had his last two dentals conscious, but the vet said at the last one he was getting very fidgety (maybe because he's feeling better?) and would probably need the next one done under GA so they could be cut right back again.
 
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It seems like a very different problem to my Peanut Butter's. PB is healthy otherwise. His dental problems were caught before they caused him problems eating. Being only 2 months old when he had his first treatment I suspect he doesn't think it is anything unusual. Seamus seems to have developed his dental problems late in life and as a result of some other problem and the abcess might have been painful too. From what I've read of dental piggies, those whose dental problems are not caught until after it's affected their eating seem to have the most continuing trouble. It also seems possible Seamus' "not eating" properly may have caused his dental problems, in which case feeding is definitely the issue here. I wonder if he went into decline after he lost his girlfriend?
 
Hiya! I have a fair bit of experience with dental piggies as I take in guinea pigs with dental issues either short term or permanently at the Sanctuary.

Every dental case seems to be unique, in that some start to eat immediately after dental work, others can take days or weeks and in some cases it has taken months before they have started to eat for themselves.

Although they need syringe food regularly to keep their weight up and their health good this obviously does not wear the teeth. I have found that cutting grass into tiny pieces and adding it to the syringe food can encourage them to start chewing the food. Also grated carrot can be something they can manage on their own. I also cut salad leaves into very tiny pieced with scissors. Often they can manage to pick up these tiny pieces but if not they can be carefully poked into the mouth. I find porridge oats are great for helping to put weight back on to a piggie who has lost weight due to dental problems and again these are normally picked up with ease. Some piggies prefer them making into a porridge using hot water, and will then eat it off a plate.

One of my Sanctuary piggies needs dental work every 7 days but lives a great life as long as his teeth are filed regularly. The dental work is done with him conscious.


If you would like to chat in more detail about the things you can try, please let me know and I will send you my phone numbers.

Where about are you based?
 
Lilly said:
the abcess might have been painful too.

It also seems possible Seamus' "not eating" properly may have caused his dental problems, in which case feeding is definitely the issue here. I wonder if he went into decline after he lost his girlfriend?
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I believe his behaviour picked up after this was treated. I'm not positive as I don't live with him! I also don't know the order in which it happened, he used to eat like a pig (sorry, it had to be said!) so I wonder if the abcess is what but him off the food, I never thought of that. He never properly had a girlfriend, he was 'dating' a female but she attacked him and he became ill shortly after, hence why I was wondering if pigs sense illness and reject a mate in the same way buns do.

furryfriends (Excellent Adventure Sanctuary) said:
Every dental case seems to be unique, in that some start to eat immediately after dental work, others can take days or weeks and in some cases it has taken months before they have started to eat for themselves.

Although they need syringe food regularly to keep their weight up and their health good this obviously does not wear the teeth. I have found that cutting grass into tiny pieces and adding it to the syringe food can encourage them to start chewing the food. Also grated carrot can be something they can manage on their own. I also cut salad leaves into very tiny pieced with scissors. Often they can manage to pick up these tiny pieces but if not they can be carefully poked into the mouth. I find porridge oats are great for helping to put weight back on to a piggie who has lost weight due to dental problems and again these are normally picked up with ease. Some piggies prefer them making into a porridge using hot water, and will then eat it off a plate.

If you would like to chat in more detail about the things you can try, please let me know and I will send you my phone numbers.

Where about are you based?
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That's encouraging, sometimes Seamus will eat mushed pellets from a dish but sometimes he has to be hand-fed. I believe my mum was worried as it was taking him so long to start eating food again.

She has already added chopped hay to the food, would grass be better? I think she's tried grated foods but i have suggested the salad leaves. I mentioned porridge oats to her before but I wasn't sure if they could be used in piggies (I've used them with rabbits) so that's great to know that they can.

That would really great if you could send the numbers, I'm visiting for the weekend so can ask lots of questions but I will be going home tomorrow so harder to communicate! My mum isn't very computer savvy so a phone number would be much easier for her. Thanks, I really appreciate it.

My parents are based near Edinburgh.
 
Thanks so much Furryfriends, I will pass those along :) (Writing here as I can't reply to your PM).
 
furryfriends (Excellent Adventure Sanctuary) said:
Hiya! I have a fair bit of experience with dental piggies as I take in guinea pigs with dental issues either short term or permanently at the Sanctuary.

Every dental case seems to be unique, in that some start to eat immediately after dental work, others can take days or weeks and in some cases it has taken months before they have started to eat for themselves.

Although they need syringe food regularly to keep their weight up and their health good this obviously does not wear the teeth. I have found that cutting grass into tiny pieces and adding it to the syringe food can encourage them to start chewing the food. Also grated carrot can be something they can manage on their own. I also cut salad leaves into very tiny pieced with scissors. Often they can manage to pick up these tiny pieces but if not they can be carefully poked into the mouth. I find porridge oats are great for helping to put weight back on to a piggie who has lost weight due to dental problems and again these are normally picked up with ease. Some piggies prefer them making into a porridge using hot water, and will then eat it off a plate.

One of my Sanctuary piggies needs dental work every 7 days but lives a great life as long as his teeth are filed regularly. The dental work is done with him conscious.
Click to expand...

What excellent tips! I have printed them for a pemanent record in case Peanut Butter ever has problems with his dental treatment. I wish that we had vets here that do dental work while piggy is conscious. But it was hard enough to even find a vet here who listed "pocket pets" (as small animals are called here) as animals they treat. At least the vet I did find weighs Peanut Butter every time to judge the amount of gas to use and is constantly comparing his teeth to photos of healthy piggy teeth. Guinea pigs are extremely popular pets here in Brisbane yet I only found 4 vets (in a city of hundreds of vets) that are willing to handle them.
 
furryfriends (Excellent Adventure Sanctuary) said:
If he has had an abscess then this is highly likely to be what started this problem. How long ago did he have the abscess? What treatment did he have? I have sent you my phone nos.

xx
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I couldn't tell you. I will ask my mum in the morning as she is away to bed I'm afraid. I want to say he had drops for his eye but I'm really not sure. The abscess was after the first dental, the vet didn't check for the cause of the dental, just cut the teeth, so he now sees a different vet (practice head) who my mum is much happier with.

I have just realised I've spelt abscess wrong in every post so far. Whoops. :red
 
Gearra-mhuc said:
I couldn't tell you. I will ask my mum in the morning as she is away to bed I'm afraid. I want to say he had drops for his eye but I'm really not sure. The abscess was after the first dental, the vet didn't check for the cause of the dental, just cut the teeth, so he now sees a different vet (practice head) who my mum is much happier with.

I have just realised I've spelt abscess wrong in every post so far. Whoops. :red
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Oi, a vet who didn't check for the cause of the problem! Glad to hear your mum's switched vets. When I noticed Peanut Butter's bottom incisors (at 2 months of age) were very much longer than my older lad's, who was 10 months at the time, I took PB to the vet. She put him under gas and explored his mouth before doing anything. That was how we found out his jaw was not formed properly so his top and bottom incisors did not match up in order to wear down against each other. As she continues to use gas at each trimming, she continues to have a good explore round his mouth each time. He is still very young and growing so she wants to check for any new problems as his jaw grows. A good vet is certainly a treasure.
 
I've got limited experience with dental piggies- I did have one, but sadly a tooth abscess spread to the jawbone and she passed away from complications. I just wanted to know if he's neutered, or if your mom was trying to bond him to a female for breeding purposes. Please don't breed him- besides overpopulation issues, there's the added issue that sometimes malocclusion of the jaws is what causes dental issues and it can be an inherited trait. It's not a trait you want to pass on! Sorry if you've already addressed this elsewhere, and I hope you are able to work something out with his teeth and diet!
 
Freela said:
I've got limited experience with dental piggies- I did have one, but sadly a tooth abscess spread to the jawbone and she passed away from complications. I just wanted to know if he's neutered, or if your mom was trying to bond him to a female for breeding purposes. Please don't breed him- besides overpopulation issues, there's the added issue that sometimes malocclusion of the jaws is what causes dental issues and it can be an inherited trait. It's not a trait you want to pass on! Sorry if you've already addressed this elsewhere, and I hope you are able to work something out with his teeth and diet!
Click to expand...

I agree. Over here it is thought malocclusion is/was rare in the wild and is cuased by too much domestic inbreeding. Certainly my dental piggy was born with a malformed jaw and I would never want him to pass this trait on.
 
Furryfriends, I am really sorry but could you possibly send me your numbers again? I didn't write them down straight away and was logged out when the laptop went to sleep, and I can no longer see the PM you sent to me. I'm sorry to be such a nuisance, didn't notice yesterday as I was at a family do all day.
 
Gearra-mhuc said:
Furryfriends, I am really sorry but could you possibly send me your numbers again? I didn't write them down straight away and was logged out when the laptop went to sleep, and I can no longer see the PM you sent to me. I'm sorry to be such a nuisance, didn't notice yesterday as I was at a family do all day.
Click to expand...

Yes will send them now x
 
Freela said:
I've got limited experience with dental piggies- I did have one, but sadly a tooth abscess spread to the jawbone and she passed away from complications. I just wanted to know if he's neutered, or if your mom was trying to bond him to a female for breeding purposes. Please don't breed him- besides overpopulation issues, there's the added issue that sometimes malocclusion of the jaws is what causes dental issues and it can be an inherited trait. It's not a trait you want to pass on! Sorry if you've already addressed this elsewhere, and I hope you are able to work something out with his teeth and diet!
Click to expand...

Sorry, I missed this one. Seamus was being bonded for companionship, he was neutered a while back to prevent baby piggies. He is a rescue, all of my pets and my parents pets have been rescues (apart from the fish!), as in my opinon there are enough unwanted animals in the world without adding more.

I'm a rabbit person so am sadly well aware of the effects of bad breeding, in teeth and other aspects. My last bun had a heart condition because she was poorly bred and she died at around 2 years old, just a baby.
 
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