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Extended teeth roots... your experiences?

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Derby411

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Hi all, just paid out a HUGE vet bill to have one of my piggies (only 2yrs) diagnosed with elongated roots on her bottom teeth.. has anyone else had this and whats the prognosis?
I spoke to the vet but in true vet style I got non comital asnwers...

Wispa had her teeth planned to try and get her eating on both sides.. and we having to TRY and hand feed her criticl care 4 times daily!?!?! Which is a struggle with her chucking her head about and trying to fight all the time.. (any hints here would be very well taken) we have tried the towel method but she's over heating as it takes sooooo long!

Thanks all..
 
I deal with a lot of piggies with dental issues at my Sanctuary. Firstly, how experienced at dental work in piggies is your vet? Where about are you based? How much syringe food are you getting into your piggie? Can your piggie eat anything for herself?
 
The lady that replied to you is probably the most experienced with dental piggies on the forum.

She has helped many piggies make a recovery with her dedication and skill in this area, even going so far as fostering other peoples piggies to help them recover and then return home.

I hope with furryfriends help your little one can make a full recovery.
 
furryfriends (Excellent Adventure Sanctuary) said:
I deal with a lot of piggies with dental issues at my Sanctuary. Firstly, how experienced at dental work in piggies is your vet? Where about are you based? How much syringe food are you getting into your piggie? Can your piggie eat anything for herself?
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hey thanks for replying.
The vet is an exotics specailist & have referals from all over the county but the vet we had this time was different to the usual and less informative and so on. Don't want to name drop or give away away their location too much as generally they are good.
We're getting about 5ml and should be 10ml cc, and three times a day and grass & greens on her own but she wont even try hay or pellets even soft.. we're be at work tomorrow so wont be able to feed her 3-4times daily only 2 :s
 
update - she takes the metacam & gut meds like sweets but hates the critical care.. ging to glup up some pellets & add some honey and see next feed she likes that!
 
Derby411 said:
hey thanks for replying.
The vet is an exotics specailist & have referals from all over the county but the vet we had this time was different to the usual and less informative and so on. Don't want to name drop or give away away their location too much as generally they are good.
We're getting about 5ml and should be 10ml cc, and three times a day and grass & greens on her own but she wont even try hay or pellets even soft.. we're be at work tomorrow so wont be able to feed her 3-4times daily only 2 :s
Click to expand...

My concern is that she's not getting enough food into her. Debbie's tried and tested method is that a pig needs 120mls of food in a 24 hour period to maintain weight if they're not eating for themself, so 120ml split into 30ml feeds 4 times a day for example. A pig is likely to struggle to get more than this into them due to the size of their stomach, when mine was unwell, I gave 20mls 6 times a day instead.

Syringe feeding isn't easy, it's stressful for you as it's a worrying time, but it's vitally important to their recovery. Is there anyone you know who could do a couple of feeds during the day for you tomorrow?

The fact that she's eating grass and greens is obviously good. are you able to monitor her food intake and poo output confidently - i.e. is there another pig with her that could be helping out with the eating and the poo quota?
 
hey.. sadly no one else that can feed her (family not close or working).. i will have to speak to boss and see if i can pop home at lunch but then be feeding by hand alone..
I don't think the metacam is powerful enough to even get her to eat.. currently she's walking alone behind other pigs and trying to eat their poop. :(
We trying to perserver with the hand feeding but she just gets stressed and starts to throw her head about and run backward etc etc.. tbh i think she's just giving up..
 
Thank you both for your emails and the help you are giving me and wispa.
Update on her progress..
This morning she took her meds like sweets, actually reaching for them, and feed her them at 6am & 6pm.
I managed 10ml mashed pellets before she really started to say 'enough'.. improvement at least.. no where near the 140ml min though ay. I tried the spoon trick but she didn't take from it..
She weighed 749g last night so see tonight!
 
Well done Debra, keep up the good work. Although Wispa is making it hard for you to get lots of food into her, it's good that she is a fiesty little girl, she obviously isn't ready to give up yet bless her:)x) Talk later x
 
The advice you have been given is from the very best but I just wanted to give you some hope.
My Theo stopped eating for several months, he had inflammed elongated roots. My vet at the time took the rule things out approach before actually looking at his teeth, even though he had atooth root abscess that burst and antibitoics didnt even touch. Eventually with no improvment she put him under and he got diagnosed with chronic elongated inflammed roots, she said his teeth were fine, but she gave a tiny tidy up because he hadnt been eating by himself. She showed my the xrays and it was every tooth and she said it would be a chrnic lifelong condition and needed manageded with the right pain relief.
However after the small trim amazingly he started to eat again all by himself, it was slow and i was so careful because his weight was so critical so I continued to supplement him until I was convinced he would hold his own so gradually reduced his syringe feeding. (30mls 4times daily).

But the point is that tiny Trim was enough to prevent the issue coming back, I cut out most of his nuggets and gave loads and loads of course hay and Ive never had another issue ever again. I'm convinced that keeping his teeth nice and short and ground down is what prevents it coming back. That was two eyars ago now. Thinking back now I cant believe how poorly he was at 800g and eating nothing by himself for months. I am so glad I never gave up on him, I could just tell he wasnt ready to go.

So stay positive my experience of this condition is a healthy high hay diet and the right treatment and it can be managed extremly well :)
 
Just back from the lunch feed.. she is getting to 8mls and really really fighting.. perserve to 10mls a go but at only 40mls a day I am weighing daily to see how this effects her.. next week am on holiday so will try and add another 2 feeds or so a day!

Thanks hazey thats very helpful and does give lots of hope thus not giving up on her as shes full of energy! Just hope that we can get her eating in the day at lunchtime.. lol..
 
When you are syringe feeding do you hold her head firmly so she can't shake it around? I find that by standing the piggie across my lap with head facing towards my right hand, as I am right handed, and then gripping the head firmly with my left hand, then I can get the food in easily. Does she take a full 1 ml easily or does it seem to get stuck in her mouth? I can generally get between 25 mls and 30 mls in per serving this way.
 
furryfriends (Excellent Adventure Sanctuary) said:
When you are syringe feeding do you hold her head firmly so she can't shake it around? I find that by standing the piggie across my lap with head facing towards my right hand, as I am right handed, and then gripping the head firmly with my left hand, then I can get the food in easily. Does she take a full 1 ml easily or does it seem to get stuck in her mouth? I can generally get between 25 mls and 30 mls in per serving this way.
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This is how I do it too and quite often find that after a while you don't actually need to hold on to the piggy's head any more, they seem to get the idea that the food is helping and will generally sit still. I also think sometimes having 4 feet on the floor, or in this case lap, helps to make the pig feel more comfortable.

The syringes are on their way, mostly 1 mil with a couple of 2ml for you to try too.
 
hey.. i have her on my lap facing right and raise her front paws a little so i can see her mouth.. this works well until she started to get full up and then we will start to squash herself back up, dash forward, turn or push my hand off.. i am trying to hold her firmly but not hurt her.. like i said the first 8mls she'll sit but then wont..

I give her 0.5ml a mouthful and then wait a for half a minute and give her more.. am worried if i upset her too much thatshe'll go back to totally resisting.. :s
 
Just done the 6pm meds and the good news is she loves the meds so much that she takes that IN the cage without us having to lift her out..
I managed another 10mls after a bit of a fight, she settled back down then took a little more and then went mad at me again.. lol.. am wondering if she may be eating when not here or if 10ml is just the limit a sitting she does..
her paddies are rushing backwards, jumping, squashing herself up.. lol.. i am trying to NOT force her still as that makes it worse.. she's like a naughty toddler! But we love her... will weigh her next sitting as forgot the scales!
 
Sounds like you're having great fun! rolleyes She should be able to take 1ml at a time in her mouth, so if you can, give it a go. That will then reduce the amount of times you will need to get the syringe into her mouth to feed her and you might be able to get a bit more in!

Good luck and keep going - you're doing an amazing job! :)
 
Right just had her on her own a while, of which she spent most of the time biting the metal cage to get to the other girls, and she is pooping ok, normal poops to everyone else.
I have been watching her to see if she is eating and she is eating of a fashion.. she is following the other girls about and eating their poops!
She has gone to the hay rack & food bowl a couple of times but just looked at it or mouthed the hay.. she is still eating her greens and not droppin those.
 
If the poos are normal then she must be eating reasonably well for herself. I really do think that at some point though she is going to need further work doingon her teeth. You can't just do one dental and then everything is fine. Follow up appointments are always needed, if only to tidy up things, and ensure the piggie continues to eat well. The time between appointments can then be stretched out longer and longer.
 
hey you. i fully understand that this will be a long road to getting her sorted, but i would be happier knowing she is eating at least some hay on her own before i am worn out zzz Sadly my job doesn't lend itself to being able to get home every lunchtime to do a feed :(
I am currently watching her teeth to see if the telltail chistle starts to reappear and perservering with meds & feeds and waiting and watching her
 
Derby411 said:
hey you. i fully understand that this will be a long road to getting her sorted, but i would be happier knowing she is eating at least some hay on her own before i am worn out zzz Sadly my job doesn't lend itself to being able to get home every lunchtime to do a feed :(
I am currently watching her teeth to see if the telltail chistle starts to reappear and perservering with meds & feeds and waiting and watching her
Click to expand...

Will she eat softened pellets if you put some on a plate? That, and what she eats for herself, should keep her going very nicely while you're at work.
 
currently she is ignoring them and prefering to hound the others bottoms :{ .. i am keeping some down for her to see if she changes her mind and trying other bits and pieces too..
 
Eating other piggies poops is a sign of trying to rebalance gut flora etc. Are you giving a probiotic?
 
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