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Garry...

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MintyAndGarry (TEAS)

MintyAndGarry (TEAS)

Adult Guinea Pig
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Director at TEAS (West Hunsbury), Northampton, UK
Recently, Garry has lost a fair bit of weight and I've been trying to fathom out what is wrong with him. Watching him, he's appeared to be eating and drinking fine, although he has been gradually getting thinner. Not quite sure of his hay intake either - he spends quite a lot of time lying under the hayrack, but can't be sure if he's munching away or not. His poo has been soft and he has been getting dirty at the back end.

This afternoon, we have sat together with a bowl of P@H nuggets, mushed up with water. He has devoured the lot so he is clearly not eating as I thought he might have been. Seems to take ages munching on the softer remains of the nuggets too. So, does this sound like he may have teeth problems? His front ones appear to be OK. Would the poo be caused by the fact he's not digesting enough/enough of the right kinds of food? I have made up another bowl of mush and put it in by his pigloo. He's just had a little bit of it - although I'll need to keep an eye on Minty to make sure he doesn't scoff it all! They also have probiotics in their water at the moment - Garry is drinking fine from that.

I'll be trying to get an appointment at the vet's tomorrow for him to get him checked over.
 
Has he been wormed with Ivomec and Panacur? How much weight has he lost, over what period of time? How old is he now?

Dental problems may be possible, but some pigs will devour syringe-food regardless of whether they are struggling or not. See if you can watch him eating hay, pellets and veggies on his own away from Minty.

I hope you are able to get to the bottom of his weight loss!
 
Dental problems can cause problems for owners who do not know what to look for. The fact that the front teeth look fine can be deceptive, it does not follow that the back teeth are as they should be.
Many pigs with dental problems will struggle on eating until it becomes impossible to eat at all.
Do not let your vet give him a general anaesthetic in order to look at his back teeth, under no circumstances is this necessary.
 
Thanks guys for your replies. Garry went to the vet's today and weighed in at an unhealthy 610g. (He has never been big - 800g is about normal for him). The vet gave him a thorough check over and she cleaned out his bum properly...and boy do I mean properly! She couldn't feel anything untoward going on in the inside and she tried to check his teeth but it appeared he had some 'green' in his mouth. I can only imagine that would be the remainder of some of the pellets he had. The vet is going to liaise with her more knowledgable colleague at their sister practise who works on the dental side and see what she suggests at the next move. She would also have more equipment so may be able to remove the offending green stuff and be able to get a better look.

Garry now has some vitamin C tablets which I have put into his mushed up pellets for tonight. He is still alert and has bright eyes and a shiny coat so I am hopeful we can get to the bottom of this and sort him out.
 
wishing you and Garry a speedy recovery
 
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Wishing Garry a swift recovery and let us know how you get on with the other vet.... Has minty gained, stayed the same or lost also?
 
Thanks for the well wishes! Minty is exactly the same as he has always been so it's just Garry in the wars...

Garry is going to be admitted to the hospital at 8.05 tomorrow morning. My dad is taking him in. Minty is allowed to go in with Garry so that should hopefully make it a little less stressful for him. The vet there apparently has some form of gag (I really don't know anything about this) that should make it easier for her to see his teeth. I am hoping that they solve the problem for poor Garry tomorrow. I don't like to think of him having to go through all this, but with any luck they will be able to sort him out. Fingers crossed eh?:...
 
I hope they get to the bottom of Garry's weight loss tomorrow.

Fingers (and toes) crossed that he makes a really speedy recovery
 
Garry is spending tonight (and maybe tomorrow night) in the hospital. He has been sedated today to have his back teeth filed down. The vet said that they were very long and she has filed them down to a normal length. She wants to keep him in for a day or two to syringe feed him and to make sure he can cope properly with eating because he is so little at the moment.

Minty is with him still, so at least they have each other. It'll be a quiet night for me - no squeaking, no banging of the hayrack to try and get it off, no banging of the chube on the side of the cage...

Just as a question - does anyone have a rough idea as to what this might end up costing me? Not that I mind in any way spending money on Garry but I'm just curious!
 
An arm and a leg, or should it be teeth?
I will guess £150.
Has he been checked for bladder stones?
 
I have no idea, however, he's not had any problems peeing. I have to ring again tomorrow to see how he's getting on so will ask questions then, or when I go to pick him up.

Now I know about the teeth, things are starting to fit together a bit better and things are starting to make sense. He's never cried with pain or anything so I am hoping that is a good sign.

£150? Pah. Not so bad...and it was pay day yesterday...plenty of funds! :))
 
I am pleased the problem seems to have been identified, fingers crossed it gets Garry back to normal!

One reason I am extremely glad of the CCT, is the free dental work. That was a godsend when I had to take Tuppy for dental work weekly for 3 months, not that I ever left without handing over a fiver! The one time I had to take her to a vets they charged me £25 and did half a job, stating they could do no more treatment without putting her under. rolleyes
 
I'm hoping he'll soon be back to troughing like he used to!:)

The lady that treated him is apparently the expert on piggies. She does a lot of dental work on pigs and buns. She works at the hospital, which is one of the sister practises to where we normally go. I say normally - Garry has only ever been to have his nails clipped once soon after I first got them so I could learn what I was doing...it was Ben and his abscess in the summer that kept me going back and forth!
 
Northampton is only a short distance from the CCT which is at Wyton. Could be worth a trip down there, sometime?
 
Simon Maddock at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic in Duston, Northampton has done a fantastic job with Poppet's teeth! I really don't think you would find a better vet.

I really hope Garry's teeth are sorted now, but if he continues to have problems I would suggest you go and see Simon.
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys! I'll bear them in mind but at the moment, I'm more than happy with the treatment both my pigs have received from my vet(s). They do seem knowledgable and very, very thorough in what they are doing. They fitted Garry in as an emergency yesterday - she was only meant to be there until lunchtime her colleague said but the vet that treated him was still there for me to speak to at 3pm. If he does need further treatment and something doesn't feel right then I will certainly consider the other two places. :)
 
Well...guess who's home?! Yay! Went to collect the boys earlier. Garry seems much chirpier. He was in for two nights and when I rang today they said that they were pleased with his progress and that he had put a bit of weight on.

He has critical care, vetergesic and metacam which I have to give him. I have a sheet telling me what I have to do, but I need to sort out a chart that I can understand! The vet wants him to come back on Monday for a check up to make sure he's doing OK. The vets have been wonderful and have looked after him (well, them really!) very well. They had carrot, broccoli and hay in their box when they came home.

I am so very proud. I have seen some very small, normalish shaped poos. I'm beaming!:))
 
Trying to lie down on my arm...think he is a little bit tired!

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Just catching up with your thread - I am so glad for you that Garry is back home and will hopefully recover soon!

Best wishes!
 
Yes, silly! You must be so over the moon with Garry perking up like that!
 
Just a quick update: Garry is just finishing a bowl of squidgy pellets with some chopped up pepper mixed in. He is putting weight on (can feel it and see that he's filling out a little). He isn't really doing much with the normal food yet but I don't mind. Will be parboiling some carrot slices later on just to help him a bit!

He is really good though with taking his painkiller and mouthwash. Not so much the critical care (mind you, I don't like anise much either!) but he has been having it sneakily mixed in with his pellets...sshhhhh!:))rolleyes
 
I am so glad that Garry is putting weight on again!
 
Fantastic news! Will he be having his teeth checked regularly for a while? Poppet still needs a little doing to hers every fortnight and she has just about doubled her weight from what it was at the lowest.

It's lovely when they start to become rounded again and not have boney bums! :))
 
furryfriends said:
Fantastic news! Will he be having his teeth checked regularly for a while? Poppet still needs a little doing to hers every fortnight and she has just about doubled her weight from what it was at the lowest.

It's lovely when they start to become rounded again and not have boney bums! :))
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We're back there on Monday for a check up so will see what happens then. I'm sure they'll want to keep an eye on him for a while though as it'll take him some time to build back up to normality I guess. I'm trying to gradually introduce more 'chewy' food but he does look at me funny while he's chewing and chewing and chewing on a bit of something!:)) It's almost like he's rolling his eyes at me!
 
Just an update: We've been back to the vets today. Garry had a bit of a dip the last couple of weeks and he dropped down to 585g. However, he has put the 15g he lost last week back on and also another 10g to take him back to 610g. His poo is not very good, but we're keeping an eye on that. The vet took a little bit off his front teeth today to help him pick up stuff more easily. Back again next week just for another check.

£5.75 - wish my dentist was as reasonable!
 
I hope he continues to improve :)! Not bad atall for a vet, mine are £22 just for my piggies to enter there room :(
 
I am sorry that Garry still has problems.

Glad though that your vets are reasonable. I didn't have to pay for my second trip with Nia yesterday, as it counted as ongoing treatment and she didn't need new meds.
 
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