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Dental Puzzle. Advice Needed.

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Midge&Panda

Midge&Panda

Adult Guinea Pig
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Duster a 7yrs+ sow has lost about 120g of weight from October. We noticed that on Monday night she was having trouble eating. Took her to the vets (Tuesday)and to cut a long story short she had a dental(Thursday) and all the vet could find was a slight overgrown molar. They've all been sorted. She is currently on abs, metacam, cisapride and ranatadine. She came home quiet but that's to be expected. She's had cc and water as well as kale and parsley. We've also given her hay. The puzzle is that she won't eat in the cage only on our laps. She will take it from the hand or if it's placed in front of her. The vet has said if there is no improvement then blood tests may be necessary also it was suggested it may be neurological. Any ideas because of Dusters age I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do next.
 
I find lots of dental pigs initially eat better when the food is handed to them, rather than they have to pick it up from the cage floor. I find pegging veggies to the cage bars can help and using a veggie holder is also another way of getting it to the preferred height. I certainly wouldn't be putting her through blood tests as I really can't see how that is relevant to her issue and would worry it would push her over the edge, given her age and the fact she has lost a lot of weight.
 
Update. It was noticed that Duster had to chew with her incisors to get the food into her mouth rather than using them to slice through then chew with her molars. (Does that make sense?) The lower incisors were burred minimally to rectify the problem but Duster is still reluctant/unable to eat the hard food/hay. With supportive feeding she is maintaining her weight but I'm just unsure as to the next step to take. She has had a x-ray to rule out any abnormalities.
 
Midge&Panda said:
Update. It was noticed that Duster had to chew with her incisors to get the food into her mouth rather than using them to slice through then chew with her molars. (Does that make sense?) The lower incisors were burred minimally to rectify the problem but Duster is still reluctant/unable to eat the hard food/hay. With supportive feeding she is maintaining her weight but I'm just unsure as to the next step to take. She has had a x-ray to rule out any abnormalities.
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Not sure what you mean xx
 
As far as I'm aware the incisors are used for slicing the veg/hay before they continue to eat it rather like us when we bite into an apple. What Duster was doing was actually chewing it with the incisors. I could remove the food from her mouth before it had travelled further back into the mouth and it was completely chewed but she couldn't make it into smaller pieces to eat
 
Midge&Panda said:
As far as I'm aware the incisors are used for slicing the veg/hay before they continue to eat it rather like us when we bite into an apple. What Duster was doing was actually chewing it with the incisors. I could remove the food from her mouth before it had travelled further back into the mouth and it was completely chewed but she couldn't make it into smaller pieces to eat
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Okay, I see what you mean. There is an obvious dental issue going on here. The only advice I can give is, is there any way we can get her seen by Simon?
 
Unfortunately when the vet tried to burr the lower teeth she attempted without sedation. Dusters reaction was very negative. Extremely anxious and frightened so she had to be sedated. I would like to take her to Simon as Eva did. Sadly this time I don't think it's going to be possible
 
Midge&Panda said:
Unfortunately when the vet tried to burr the lower teeth she attempted without sedation. Dusters reaction was very negative. Extremely anxious and frightened so she had to be sedated. I would like to take her to Simon as Eva did. Sadly this time I don't think it's going to be possible
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Not sure how they tried to do the incisor burr but we have never had a guinea pig who has been too anxious to have a dental without GA. The only ones who have needed GA have been the ones who have had such huge tooth overgrowth that it's been impossible to get a file into the mouth. I'm guessing you mean a lower incisor burr as there is no way you would be burring back teeth without GA. Simon files back teeth when doing them conscious and only uses the dental burr on the incisors.
 
When the dental was first done the only problem was a very slightly overgrown molar. When she's got the food in her mouth there doesn't seem to be a problem chewing. Today she was eating the fluffy bits from Timothy hay with no problem but give her a piece of spinach or baby chard which is wider than 1cm in width and she has trouble.
 
There is clearly something going on in the mouth, but you need to find out exactly what the issue is. I just wish you were closer so you could get Simon to take a look, as he can detect very subtle changes, that other vets miss.
 
We changed her food today rather than her meusli she now has a grass based mix plus readigrass. She's starting to eat it on her own. All be it very slowly. So pleased.
 
Duster is not too happy. Very reluctant to eat independently so lots of supported feeding. We must be doing something right as she has put on weight. She is now off the abs and I would like to reduce the other medications she is on. She is on cisapride and ranatadine as well as metacam. As she is pooping ok I would like to stop one of the motility drugs. Any thoughts as to which one to stop. I've looked at the side effects and they both look pretty grim. I'm thinking that might be part of the problem. Thanks.
 
Ranitidine is mild anyway so I'd probably reduce the other one gradually until she's off it- any reduction in pooing when u lower the dose, you'll need to put it back up.

If she was on too many gut motility drugs when she didn't need them, the problem would be diarrohea, unlikely to cause a loss of appetite.

It's probably her teeth still, could u have them checked by someone else?
 
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