Guinea Pig Loses Tooth!

[Merry2018]

Hi everyone,

Today I was feeding my guinea pig some small pieces of his Vitamin C “cookie” and he spit out a tooth. Last night he refused to eat the Oxbow cookie and I saw a little blood left on the cookie when he attempted to bite it. I assumed he cut his cheek or something, but now it must have been his tooth. He isn’t showing any signs of pain, but is struggling to eat. I felt in his mouth and only felt 1 tooth left! I am confused where his bottom teeth went and how I am going to feed him?

 

[Piggies&buns]

a piggy who can’t eat needs to be support fed - it is important that you step in with syringe feeding either critical care (if you have any) or not, then you can use mushed up pellets, to keep him going until you can get to a vet. Please do see a vet as soon as possible to have his mouth checked and for further advice.

Emergency Resources and Critical Illness Care - Contents list and subforum link

 

[Merry2018]

How do I syringe feed him?

I shredded up vegetables and he is eating those very well, but I want to make sure he is getting all the nutrients he needs.

Is there a special syringe I need and how would I get it?

 

[Gem789]

How do I syringe feed him?

I shredded up vegetables and he is eating those very well, but I want to make sure he is getting all the nutrients he needs.

Is there a special syringe I need and how would I get it?

Here's the syringe feeding guide
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

As long as you cut food into strips, your guinea pig should be able to eat. We have a few piggies, here at TEAS, who have missing incisors and all eat perfectly well. The only thing they can't do, is bite down on something hard, such as carrot or a broccoli stalk.

 

[Merry2018]

Thank you all for the help!

I took him to the vet and the good news he has both his top teeth! The bad news was he fractured his lower incisors and they fell out. I believe it was trauma from chewing on the bars after his cage mate died. We did look into another guinea pig for him but sadly it just wasn’t working out. Luckily he is quite content spending each night snuggling me!

The vet gave us critical care powder to make a mush for him to have (as he lost a good amount of weight probably due to his tooth pain) and he loves it! He also is taking some medicine for his tooth pain each night.

He appears to be able to eat pellets by himself but not his vitamin C cookie yet.

Does anyone know when and how to know when he is done with the mush and syringe feeding? Would there be any problems if I kept him on the mush until his teeth grew back? Should I keep him on syringe diet until he gains the weight back?

 

[Bill & Ted]

Most piggies eat well despite having missing front teeth. My Bill lost one lower incisor last year which grows back and then breaks off again. He has never had any problems eating at all. this only problem is the upper corresponding incisor has nothing to rub against so grows longer than it should and needs filling or burring every now and then. Keep an eye out for this problem.
Soaked porridge oats, grated carrot, parsnip, or beetroot are good for bulking up weight. Weight him daily then you know he is eating enough and not loosing weight. I would encourage him to eat his normal diet and give him top ups of critical care once he is stable and eating well on his own. Here’s the thread about his broken incisor
Bill’s Problem Incisors - Dental results with Simon Maddock