5guineapig
Junior Guinea Pig
My girl (approx. 4 1/2 yo) had a minor fall early September and lost her top two incisors. Whilst they were growing back, she was given critical care to supplement what she could not eat, but was still going for pellets, hay, and veggies. Around 3 1/2 weeks ago, she stopped eating. This was around the time that another piggy in her herd had passed whilst awaiting dental surgery herself. She showed interest in food, but could not pick anything up and would lose interest pretty quickly.
We had taken her to the vet September 27th for a checkup, nothing out of the ordinary was seen but we were sent home with instructions to give her 0.25 ml of Meloxicam twice daily. When there was no improvement in her condition, we returned to the vet October 4th for another evaluation. They noticed her molars were overgrown and entrapping her tongue slightly. We went through with a molar trimming under GA on October 8th. They also filed her incisors to even them out (I did not know they were planning to do this and wouldve asked them not to if I had) It has since been over a week and she is still not eating. She shows no interest in pellets, even when watered down and sprinkled with organic Apple Juice. The only things she has been able to nibble on are banana peels and watermelon, but they are very very small bites and definitely a struggle for her.
We returned to the vet yesterday October 16th for Xrays that could give us a better explanation of what the problem might be. She had some bloating that we are addressing with pepcid added into her syringe feed. They had also seen some ridges below her molars that my vet believes could point to more dental issues in the future. I'll be honest, I don't see much of a difference between her Xrays and other normal Xrays I've seen online, but I am no specialist. We are actually waiting for one to get back to us this weekend after viewing the Xrays.
My vet says the main goal before we can expect any more work to be done on her is to get her to start eating a bit on her own again. She is on new subcutaneous pain meds, with the thinking that she might not enjoy the Meloxicam shes been getting daily. I just don't know how to get her to eat again, especially if there are still underlying dental issues that need to be addressed.
I would appreciate any advice. This is the second pig I've had to deal with dental issues with and it has been around 3 months of me managing them. They were relatives, so genetic dental issues would make sense, but there were no issues prior to the small fall she had a few weeks ago.
For reference, I am located in the north eastern United States. I have gone to four different vets (might be 5 soon) for my piggies throughout New York and Connecticut and am willing to do a drive for good care.
We had taken her to the vet September 27th for a checkup, nothing out of the ordinary was seen but we were sent home with instructions to give her 0.25 ml of Meloxicam twice daily. When there was no improvement in her condition, we returned to the vet October 4th for another evaluation. They noticed her molars were overgrown and entrapping her tongue slightly. We went through with a molar trimming under GA on October 8th. They also filed her incisors to even them out (I did not know they were planning to do this and wouldve asked them not to if I had) It has since been over a week and she is still not eating. She shows no interest in pellets, even when watered down and sprinkled with organic Apple Juice. The only things she has been able to nibble on are banana peels and watermelon, but they are very very small bites and definitely a struggle for her.
We returned to the vet yesterday October 16th for Xrays that could give us a better explanation of what the problem might be. She had some bloating that we are addressing with pepcid added into her syringe feed. They had also seen some ridges below her molars that my vet believes could point to more dental issues in the future. I'll be honest, I don't see much of a difference between her Xrays and other normal Xrays I've seen online, but I am no specialist. We are actually waiting for one to get back to us this weekend after viewing the Xrays.
My vet says the main goal before we can expect any more work to be done on her is to get her to start eating a bit on her own again. She is on new subcutaneous pain meds, with the thinking that she might not enjoy the Meloxicam shes been getting daily. I just don't know how to get her to eat again, especially if there are still underlying dental issues that need to be addressed.
I would appreciate any advice. This is the second pig I've had to deal with dental issues with and it has been around 3 months of me managing them. They were relatives, so genetic dental issues would make sense, but there were no issues prior to the small fall she had a few weeks ago.
For reference, I am located in the north eastern United States. I have gone to four different vets (might be 5 soon) for my piggies throughout New York and Connecticut and am willing to do a drive for good care.
