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Guinea Pig Barely Eating

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LightningShock

LightningShock

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First off, I don't live near any exotic vet. I would want to visit one, but no way.
My guinea pig went alone since his fellow died :(
After that he dropped slowly from 1050g to 970 and started to gain again until suddently he dropped 100g in one week. After examinating him i found his teeth were not well worn so I trimmed them myself. He started eating more but not enough. So I brought him a young fellow just for him( i've heard about quarantine stuff but I decided to bring him quick anyway as right now he is eating verry little, thinking he feelt too lonely. What should I do? Are his teeth still a problem? Here's an actual photo, I also checked for something stuck and his molars and from what I could see, nothing:
I am personally starting to hand feed him as he is almost not eating. His poop is small, but normal, no other signs, only lethargy, breathing is normal, no squaking in pain.
Please help, and sorry if I have a bad English. Any advice is welcomed.
Edit:also I got him injectable vit c, i was planning to give him by mouth, but I am afraid that I am doing something wrong, as it also contains sodium hydroxide and sodium metabisulfite.
 
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Hello. Where are you from what country? What teeth did you trim? Please do not do this again, you can cause more harm than good doing so. Dental work should never be undertaken by anyone other than a vet. He really needs to see a vet. Do you have one near you?
 
I am from Romania there is no exotic vet, not evem one able to trim guinea pig teeth. Only thing i've done is to trim the lower front teeth only to be horizontal as you cam see in the photo. Also he is still able to make a bite. Oh, i forgot to mention that i used a Dremel to do it.
 
You need to take him to a vet in your city, he needs to see a Vet. What city do you live in? I would recommend telephoning all the vets you can to see if there is one with any experience of guinea pigs. He needs to see a vet - DO NOT do anymore trimming of your piggies teeth please.

In the meantime you will need to syringe feed, have a read of this thread here Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
 
sport_billy said:
You need to take him to a vet in your city, he needs to see a Vet. What city do you live in? I would recommend telephoning all the vets you can to see if there is one with any experience of guinea pigs. He needs to see a vet - DO NOT do anymore trimming of your piggies teeth please.

In the meantime you will need to syringe feed, have a read of this thread here Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
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My vets are well known for killing guinea pigs and one of the reasons my first pig died was is URI which he most likely got it from a vet visit.
 
LightningShock said:
My vets are well known for killing guinea pigs and one of the reasons my first pig died was is URI which he most likely got it from a vet visit.
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I do understand that Vets in other countries are not as Guinea Pig Savy. Have you done any googling to see if there are any decent vets nearby? I have looked but using google translate is difficult.
 
sport_billy said:
I do understand that Vets in other countries are not as Guinea Pig Savy. Have you done any googling to see if there are any decent vets nearby? I have looked but using google translate is difficult.
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yes i did, no good vet, also afraid of this pig getting uri. Believe me, vet is not a solution for me, I need adviced as I have to do it all myself.
 
LightningShock said:
yes i did, no good vet, also afraid of this pig getting uri. Believe me, vet is not a solution for me, I need adviced as I have to do it all myself.
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We can't advise you to home treat an animal it is against the law in this country and against the rules of the forum. In this instance also home treating is not an option, your piggy needs to see a professional
 
sport_billy said:
We can't advise you to home treat an animal it is against the law in this country and against the rules of the forum. In this instance also home treating is not an option, your piggy needs to see a professional
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Can you at least tell me if it is safe to give him the vit C supplement I got? Chech the end of the first post.
 
LightningShock said:
Can you at least tell me if it is safe to give him the vit C supplement I got? Chech the end of the first post.
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I don't know the answer to that. DO NOT SELF MEDICATE

Spend your time telephoning every vet you can conceivably get to please.
 
I have put a post of several facebook groups trying to find you a vet that may be local to you. I have had to use your IP as a location - Doji is that correct?

You are going to need to syringe feed your piggy if they are not eating. Use mushed up pellets and read the link to the guide above
 
sport_billy said:
I have put a post of several facebook groups trying to find you a vet that may be local to you. I have had to use your IP as a location - Doji is that correct?

You are going to need to syringe feed your piggy if they are not eating. Use mushed up pellets and read the link to the guide above
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Dolj.
 
What you need to do is start syringing food & water. You can overdose them on the vitamin C so I would leave it. If you don't do this her gut will shut down.
 
Start syringe feeding mushed up pellets in water..

Do not inject your pig with vitamin c! By mouth is fine, a vegetarian/vegan vitamin c supplement is ideal.

The front teeth become overgrown when the back ones do.. Trimming the front ones wont solve your problem. Please do not do this again under any circumstances.

A vet that knows how to file down the molars (back teeth) is your safest option.

Your other pigg obviously had a uri Underlying.. The vet trip has just brought this forward, it wont have caused it. There is no more of a likely chance of your current pig catching a URI from the vets as there is you catching one..

A vet that can file back teeth is your safest and only option. Please feed him pellets mushed in water in the meantime..
 
Searching on the internet i gave him mashed pellets. But i also gave him well mashed grass, grains and carrot together + just a little drops of lemon. The next meal is in 2 hours(one left now). And he has 846g. What weigh should be the target one after next meal? Also I noticed he tried some little bites by himself.

Adelle said:
Start syringe feeding mushed up pellets in water..

Do not inject your pig with vitamin c! By mouth is fine, a vegetarian/vegan vitamin c supplement is ideal.

The front teeth become overgrown when the back ones do.. Trimming the front ones wont solve your problem. Please do not do this again under any circumstances.

A vet that knows how to file down the molars (back teeth) is your safest option.

Your other pigg obviously had a uri Underlying.. The vet trip has just brought this forward, it wont have caused it. There is no more of a likely chance of your current pig catching a URI from the vets as there is you catching one..

A vet that can file back teeth is your safest and only option. Please feed him pellets mushed in water in the meantime..
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It wasn't overgrowth, it was worn on a diagonal.
 
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I also forgot to mention. My pig is at least 4 years old as in my country you can't know for sure his age when you buy him. Do you think he is just aging :(?
 
sport_billy said:
It wont just be aging.

I have found a link to the small animal vet association in Romania Contact | AMVAC Maybe worth contacting them to see if they can suggest a guinea pig savy vet.
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I will contact them. But by at least 4 years old it can mean 5 years. They were well their entire life until now just suddently ill.
 
Good news people. Although he dropped over night to 835g this day he started to eat alone, gain weigh and be less lethargic. Also his new friend got brave enough to eat too, so he is encouraging him to eat, and also give him companion he was missing from his lost fellow.
Note:when I was hand-feeding him on the table he started to do his cleaning, and while doing that he sneezed a tiny bit of mucus that was actually very watery(it wasn't colored white/green or whatever, just transparent) and normally it couldn't be noticed in the cage. I was feeding him cucumber(because I noticed he started to eat), so is it normal to do that or I should suspect a URI.
 
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LightningShock said:
Good news people. Although he dropped over night to 835g this day he started to eat alone, gain weigh and be less lethargic. Also his new friend got brave enough to eat too, so he is encouraging him to eat, and also give him companion he was missing from his lost fellow.
Note:when I was hand-feeding him on the table he started to do his cleaning, and while doing that he sneezed a tiny bit of mucus that was actually very watery(it wasn't colored white/green or whatever, just transparent) and normally it couldn't be noticed in the cage. I was feeding him cucumber(because I noticed he started to eat), so is it normal to do that or I should suspect a URI.
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So he has started to eat, is he chewing okay?

Don't worry about the sneeze if it was a one off.
 
Please weighy our guinea pig daily at the same time to check his food intake; just eating a bit of veg on its own and chewing on stuff that is in the mouth can be deceptive. Up to 80% should be fibre, i.e. mushed pellets (which should be reinforced with vitamin C) and only 20% vegetable. You can also juice fresh sweet peppers or herbs like parsley, mint, dill or coriander for vitamin C. If not, you can additionally give 1/8 to 1/4 of a human vitamin C tablet in one day, dissolved in a little bit of water. But the main part is to continue syringe feeding to keep the guts working. Once the guts slow down and close down your guinea pig is dying, whether you see a vet or not. also makes ure that you give your guinea pig water.

In the longer term, your guinea pig NEEDS TO SEE A VET. The longer you wait, the less chance you have of during him; there is only so much a vet can do, even a good one if you wait for too long! Please make sure that any vet you see has a look at the back teeth because they can overgrow and trap the tongue or grow painfully into the wall of the mouth.
 
Wiebke said:
Please weighy our guinea pig daily at the same time to check his food intake; just eating a bit of veg on its own and chewing on stuff that is in the mouth can be deceptive. Up to 80% should be fibre, i.e. mushed pellets (which should be reinforced with vitamin C) and only 20% vegetable. You can also juice fresh sweet peppers or herbs like parsley, mint, dill or coriander for vitamin C. If not, you can additionally give 1/8 to 1/4 of a human vitamin C tablet in one day, dissolved in a little bit of water. But the main part is to continue syringe feeding to keep the guts working. Once the guts slow down and close down your guinea pig is dying, whether you see a vet or not. also makes ure that you give your guinea pig water.

In the longer term, your guinea pig NEEDS TO SEE A VET. The longer you wait, the less chance you have of during him; there is only so much a vet can do, even a good one if you wait for too long! Please make sure that any vet you see has a look at the back teeth because they can overgrow and trap the tongue or grow painfully into the wall of the mouth.
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Not only that, I am weighting him before and after each meal, and I will be weighting him twice a week after he recovers. I noticed he is unable to take a bite by himself, so I must put chunks in his mouths myself(perhaps the front teeth were trimmed, also important note: his front teeth were NOT overgrown, they were worn in a diagonal fashion) He is chewing apparently normally, his ears wiggle but not a lot, he got to 855g this evening, he is able to pull out the tongue, it doesn't look like he has any pain, however I must pay a cucumber slice fee before he actually starts feeding on anything else. According to this, should his back teeth be normal?I've actually managed to see a bit of his premolars, they seemed fine. I think I need to wait for his front teeth to grow.

Oh, and a very important question: Do I really need to give him fibers and vitamin C as long as I can actually give him fresh grass?

Regarding vets: Again, in my city vets are weeeel known for actually killing guinea pigs and it happened to me personally years ago. Last time I went to a vet he didn't even washed his hands before checking him out(the fellow this pig lost). I understand in your country there are other standards and wealth, but I hope I don't sound ignorant to you, I am just trying to do my best with what I have.
 
LightningShock said:
Not only that, I am weighting him before and after each meal, and I will be weighting him twice a week after he recovers. I noticed he is unable to take a bite by himself, so I must put chunks in his mouths myself(perhaps the front teeth were trimmed, also important note: his front teeth were NOT overgrown, they were worn in a diagonal fashion) He is chewing apparently normally, his ears wiggle but not a lot, he got to 855g this evening, he is able to pull out the tongue, it doesn't look like he has any pain, however I must pay a cucumber slice fee before he actually starts feeding on anything else. According to this, should his back teeth be normal?I've actually managed to see a bit of his premolars, they seemed fine. I think I need to wait for his front teeth to grow.

Oh, and a very important question: Do I really need to give him fibers and vitamin C as long as I can actually give him fresh grass?

Regarding vets: Again, in my city vets are weeeel known for actually killing guinea pigs and it happened to me personally years ago. Last time I went to a vet he didn't even washed his hands before checking him out(the fellow this pig lost). I understand in your country there are other standards and wealth, but I hope I don't sound ignorant to you, I am just trying to do my best with what I have.
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Slanted front teeth are usually an indication of an overgrowing premolar at the back or a dental abscess brewing and your piggy not chewing evenly.

@furryfriends (TEAS)
 
Wiebke said:
Slanted front teeth are usually an indication of an overgrowing premolar at the back or a dental abscess brewing and your piggy not chewing evenly.
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I see my piggy seems to "preffer" one side, but he is using both, and I don't see any struggle even when he is chewing on the other.
 
My piggy stopped eating again. I am almost sure now there is something wrong with his mouth. He was only willing to eat clover but after I give him a leaf he spits it. I am feeding him by syringe, while looking for a vet.
 
LightningShock said:
My piggy stopped eating again. I am almost sure now there is something wrong with his mouth. He was only willing to eat clover but after I give him a leaf he spits it. I am feeding him by syringe, while looking for a vet.
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Good you are syringe feeding him and good luck with finding a vet as he really needs to see one.
 
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