Dental piggie not gaining weight...

[Sergio87]

Sergio was operated for some serious dental work about two weeks ago. He was about 780gr. then. I still syringe-feed him with baby fruit-cream puree 3 times a day, and he eats it with great apetite every time.
I know that he can eat by himself, cause I've seen him eating parsley and cucumber peels, even some hay, but he only eats by himself when he's outside his cage, on my bed for example. When he's inside the cage he barely eats anything.
He's 755gr. now and I'm afraid that he's going to lose more weight. He's been on Baytril for 2 weeks now and on Metacam for about a month. I also give him probiotics and he hasn't had any diarrhea so far. We're going to the vet on Wednesday,but until then.... Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[HairlessWillow7]

Do you have any critical care?

 

[Sergio87]

No, the vet hasn't said anything about critical care, maybe because here in Greece where I live, critical care isn't available. (Guinea pigs are not very popular here, I feel lucky that I found one vet specialized in exotic pets!)

I've also tried feeding him mashed up pellets, but's not keen on them,never was...
Is there anything else I can feed thim, that can help him gain some weight?

 

[HairlessWillow7]

Well, the mashed pellets are good for that. Also, some oats can help with weight gain. Good luck

 

[Sergio87]

I'll try with oats, I hadn't thought about that. Thanks!

 

[HairlessWillow7]

Your welcome I used oats on my old piggy Nibbles when she lost a lot of weight, and it helped quite a bit!

 

[PingandChipy]

Hi there,

My guinea pig had dental surgery just over 2 weeks ago and he also had problems eating after. He is eating pretty well now but it took awhile. I don't know if you have tried cutting up your piggie's food into tiny pieces? I had to do this with my pig. The pieces were about the size of a pea. And then I had to push them into his mouth past his front teeth.

My pigs problem was they cut his front teeth too short so he couldn't pick up his food or rip and tear it into smaller pieces. Plus, his back molar was cut too short and she tore his gum by accident so that was also causing him problems.

I cut up apples, green/red peppers, bananas, carrots into these small pieces. The green/red peppers are especially good because they contain high quantities of vitamin C.

I also got dandelion leaves from my yard and rolled them into small cigar shapes and stuffed those into his mouth. He eagerly ate those as he LOVES dandelion leaves. I also stuffed pellets inside the dandelion leaves to get thim to eat them as well.

Once he got the hang of these smaller foods I could just give them to him and he would eat them himself. I also cut his hay into 2-3" pieces because they were too long for him. and I also gave him fresh grass 3 times a day.

A few days ago I gave him a whole carrot and he took it and ate it all! I was shocked. He still struggles with leafy type things but is managing.

I hope this helps you.