Gp Struggling To Eat

[Dee1234]

Two weeks ago my 5 1/2 yo guinea Buddy suddenly stopped eating, sitting facing away, fluffed up, looking miserable etc. Literally over night.

I rushed him to the vets in the morning, and the vet checked everything she could think of but couldn't find anything (couldn't check teeth because of food) She gave me loxicom (I used it once) and supreme recovery and he perked up after a couple of days of hand feeding the supreme. I also ordered Critical Care, which he liked. He was soon back to his old self, except he wouldn't touch his cucumber (he does go off treats now and then)

Fast forward a few more days and suddenly he stops eating again. No hay, the occasional pellet, no veggies. He wanted to eat but seemed like he couldn't. Back to the vets for dental surgery. The vet burred his teeth and clipped his incisors slightly, gave us baytril, loxicom and an appetite stim, each once a day.

Still not eating but he does try. He was so excited out on the grass but it's like he can't chew on the blades. They go into his mouth, then just pull back out again. I can get peelings into him if I gently push them to his back teeth, then he'll eat them no problem. He's happy in himself, not hunched or fluffed or in pain when eating. He's not eating hay, which concerns me, and he went off the critical care, he's now on mushed up pellets with wholefood vit c and acidophilus added. He did eat a couple of his hard pellets himself when he thought I was about to forcefeed the CC down him.

He's had impaction since Xmas, but I clean him twice a day and he eat the cecal poops. In fact, at the moment he's desperate for them! Ordered some vitamin B complex and he's going back to the vets next week, but I'm really at a loss as to what to ask them to do. Should I try to get an x-ray?

Sorry for such a long post, I just miss seeing him munching so happily on everything

 

[sport_billy]

Welcome to the forum, sorry Buddy is poorly.

Sounds like teeth issues. Can I ask you where you are located please? We may be able to recommend a good piggy vet who knows dental work well.

I would get an X-ray to rule out jaw issues, piggy teeth are notriously difficult to sort but can be we the help of a good vet. Simon Madocks in Northampton is one of the best around and a lot of people on the forum travel from all over to see him.

Keep up with the syringe feed pellets. Have you another piggy you can make poo soup from? You do this by mashing a healthy piggy poo with a little bit of water and syringe it to him, it will help his tummy.

 

[Tiamolly123]

You haven't got your area on your profile this is one of those times we could do with it so we can get you the nearest special vet are you any where near Simon Maddock he is an excellent vet, people go to him all over the country he's so good.

 

[Tiamolly123]

You haven't got your area on your problem, this is one of those times we could do with it so we can get you the nearest special vet are you any where near Simon Maddock he is an excellent vet, people go to him all over the country he's so good. I shall get where he's from.

 

[Dee1234]

Ah sorry! I'm Norwich, Norfolk. I know there's guinea pig specialists in Horsford, north of me, I think. Out vet did say they'd pretty much exhausted all they could do for him. I do know a rodentologist as well that I could contact. I've just been switching between whether it's gut issues or teeth issues or an abcess or a subclinical infection, I'm not sure where I should be looking.

 

[Tiamolly123]

Two weeks ago my 5 1/2 yo guinea Buddy suddenly stopped eating, sitting facing away, fluffed up, looking miserable etc. Literally over night.

I rushed him to the vets in the morning, and the vet checked everything she could think of but couldn't find anything (couldn't check teeth because of food) She gave me loxicom (I used it once) and supreme recovery and he perked up after a couple of days of hand feeding the supreme. I also ordered Critical Care, which he liked. He was soon back to his old self, except he wouldn't touch his cucumber (he does go off treats now and then)

Fast forward a few more days and suddenly he stops eating again. No hay, the occasional pellet, no veggies. He wanted to eat but seemed like he couldn't. Back to the vets for dental surgery. The vet burred his teeth and clipped his incisors slightly, gave us baytril, loxicom and an appetite stim, each once a day.

Still not eating but he does try. He was so excited out on the grass but it's like he can't chew on the blades. They go into his mouth, then just pull back out again. I can get peelings into him if I gently push them to his back teeth, then he'll eat them no problem. He's happy in himself, not hunched or fluffed or in pain when eating. He's not eating hay, which concerns me, and he went off the critical care, he's now on mushed up pellets with wholefood vit c and acidophilus added. He did eat a couple of his hard pellets himself when he thought I was about to forcefeed the CC down him.

He's had impaction since Xmas, but I clean him twice a day and he eat the cecal poops. In fact, at the moment he's desperate for them! Ordered some vitamin B complex and he's going back to the vets next week, but I'm really at a loss as to what to ask them to do. Should I try to get an x-ray?

Sorry for such a long post, I just miss seeing him munching so happily on everything

You haven't got your area on your profile this is one of those times we could do with it so we can get you the nearest special vet are you any where near Simon Maddock he is an excellent vet, people go to him all over the country he's so good.

 

[Dee1234]

I see Taverham vets is listed, we took one of our pigs there a few years back. I'm thinking it might be the best option.

 

[Wiebke]

Two weeks ago my 5 1/2 yo guinea Buddy suddenly stopped eating, sitting facing away, fluffed up, looking miserable etc. Literally over night.

I rushed him to the vets in the morning, and the vet checked everything she could think of but couldn't find anything (couldn't check teeth because of food) She gave me loxicom (I used it once) and supreme recovery and he perked up after a couple of days of hand feeding the supreme. I also ordered Critical Care, which he liked. He was soon back to his old self, except he wouldn't touch his cucumber (he does go off treats now and then)

Fast forward a few more days and suddenly he stops eating again. No hay, the occasional pellet, no veggies. He wanted to eat but seemed like he couldn't. Back to the vets for dental surgery. The vet burred his teeth and clipped his incisors slightly, gave us baytril, loxicom and an appetite stim, each once a day.

Still not eating but he does try. He was so excited out on the grass but it's like he can't chew on the blades. They go into his mouth, then just pull back out again. I can get peelings into him if I gently push them to his back teeth, then he'll eat them no problem. He's happy in himself, not hunched or fluffed or in pain when eating. He's not eating hay, which concerns me, and he went off the critical care, he's now on mushed up pellets with wholefood vit c and acidophilus added. He did eat a couple of his hard pellets himself when he thought I was about to forcefeed the CC down him.

He's had impaction since Xmas, but I clean him twice a day and he eat the cecal poops. In fact, at the moment he's desperate for them! Ordered some vitamin B complex and he's going back to the vets next week, but I'm really at a loss as to what to ask them to do. Should I try to get an x-ray?

Sorry for such a long post, I just miss seeing him munching so happily on everything

Please continue with syringe feeding. It is notmal ofr guinea pigs to not being able to eat straight away unless you have got an extremely experienced dental specialist at hand. Take the time to read through our syringe feeding guide; it also has a section on dental guinea pigs.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Most vets (even exotics) have unfortunately very little experience with guinea pig dentals and therefore struggle to get things right. They also underestimate how sore the mouth is or whether there could be an underlying problem (brewing dental root abscess or elongated roots) that is causing the overgrowth in the first place. A vet can gently clean the mouth with a cotton bud. Guinea pigs have always some gunk stuck in their mouths.

Guinea pig teeth are the fastest growing of all rodents, as they have evolved on the highly abrasive silica in hay and grass that make the vast majority of their food intake and are needed to keep the crucial back teeth ground down.
It is usually a matter of several after treatments at longer intervals to rebalance the dental system again, which cannot necessarily be covered by dental treatment with full anaesthetics.

Since we have members from all over the world, it would help us a lot of you please added your country, state/province or UK county to your details, so we may be able to help you better. Please click on your username, then go to personal details and scroll down to location. This makes it appear with every post you make and allows us to tailor any advice and recommendations to what is available and relevant for you straight away instead of keeping things as general as possible. Thank you!

PS: Just seen that you have added your location. Please book an appointment with Simon Maddock at the Cat&Rabbit Care Clinic in Northampton. He is by the most experienced vet in this country when it comes to dental issues and sees guinea pigs from as far as Edinburgh. He does about 15 guinea pig dentals in a week. It is REALLY worth going the extra distance. My Hywel would not have had that extra year of life without Simon and would not have lived to just short of his 7th birthday.

 

[Tiamolly123]

It may be that the back teeth have grown over his tongue, if it's that he needs to have his tongue released. There are other vets but a lot of them are not good with denials. Simon is the only vet that does conscious dentals.how far are you from Northampton?

 

[Lady Kelly]

When I had a guinea pig with overgrown teeth the most noticeable difference was the attempts to eat - picking up food but dropping it and when eating (even critical care) she kept tilting her head to the side to move the food around. One of the reasons Simon Maddock is so recommended (other than his overwhelming experience and expertise) is that he does dental work conscious so no GA is needed meaning less risk to the piggy. I drove the hour down there especially.

 

[Dee1234]

The vet burred them, took off a couple of spurs, said he had no jaw pain under sedation and that they all looked ok.

We're pretty far from Northampton, and my pig really seems to hate the car (my rabbit used to love it!) He doesn't seem to have any pain but just watched him try to eat some grass I pulled, he got one blade in and passed to his back teeth, but the next he tried he got in at the front, then pulled out with his paw. I'm wondering if there's something going on at the front, one of them did look a little discoloured.

There is one person I know that does conscious dental work, she was kind enough to do one of my pigs a few years back that had jaw cancer.

 

[Dee1234]

Just an update in case this helps anyone else going through the same issue.

I made a bit of a schoolchild error in assuming the vet had clipped his teeth correctly. To be fair to the vet, she did tell me on the phone she had clipped his incisors but had tried to be careful because too short and he can't eat. She did also offer an appointment to explain the dental work but I was so desperate to get my boy home and it would have been another hour's wait for him. So I can't fault her at all, plus she was really nice. Was entirely my fault for being too much in a hurry.

After looking at his incisors (back are fine) the bottom pair are too short for him to grab and tear. So, along with his critical care which he insists to me, his slave, that he doesn't need anymore, he's also being hand fed hay in single strips and grass in single blades. Chickweed he seems able to eat himself, along with dandelion flowers, he's gone off the leaves a bit. He'll also munch on strips of carrot, bell peppers, celery, and finally his poops are back to normal rather than looking like the critical care coming out!

He's a pretty happy piggy at the moment, free range in the garden and getting into mischief. But I'm going to keep up with pallative care and if there's a relapse again it'll have to be Northampton.

Thank you all so much for all the help!
From me and Buddy x