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Guinea pigs and general anaesthesia

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Sergio87

Sergio87

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Hello everybody!

My guinea pig might need to be put under general aneasthesia in order to have his teeth and eye fixed. He's been on antibiotics and eye medication for 10 days now and I've been syringe-feeding him with baby fruit-cream puree, since he can only eat soft parsley on his own (due to his teeth problem). He's been gaining more and more weight the last 10 days and he's now 800gr. (he's 2,5 years old).

He's been very well lately, he's happy, he eats a lot, he pop-corns... I know that he looks good because of the medication, but he doesn't give the impression of a sick piggie anymore..

Do you think that he'll be able to wake up after the aneasthesia or is it too risky in his condition? The vet said that we can't wait much longer, since his eye is deteriorating, even putting his life in danger.

Should I take the risk? What are the chances? Has any of you ever had a similar experience? Any information would be helpful!

Thanks a lot!
 
I've heard of some vets that can do teeth without a GA and I also know that the GA will always carry risks but a lot of people have had piggies operated on (either teeth, neutering etc) who have come round quickly from so I wish you all the best with your little piggy
 
Hello again

I have had many pigs need a GA for operations - including dentals. I have not lost any pig during or after a GA. The work you have put in to get him strong will help a lot in his recovery. You will probably need to continue the syringe feeding after the op too until he can eat for himself again. There have been several piggies that have had eyes removed and they live full and normal lives.

Though your vet won't know the extent of the damage until they are operating, your piggy will not have a chance if the operation does not go ahead.

I wish you luck, please let us know how he does.

Suzy x
 
I have had a GP and a hamster put under GA and both recovered very well from it.
 
My Nibbler came through GA well after his bladder stone op but there are still risks. You really need to discuss your worries with the vet and see what they say.
 
There is always a risk with any general anasthesia, however two of my pigs have had ga's (one of them had two in a ten day period) and both recovered fine from the anasthesia. In the case of the one who had two in a short period of time, she was seriously ill with an infection in the jawbone for both of those operations, and although she was in really bad shape by the time she had the second one, she did not experience any side effects of the anasthesia (unfortunately, she still didn't make it- but the GA was not a factor.)

Good luck, and I hope your piggie does well!
 
Both our older pigs have gone through GA and recovered fine. Pitch unfortunatly had to be PTS but it was nothing to do with the GA. Putt was running round her cage popcorning this morning!
 
Thank you all so much! I already feel better :) Of course I also keep in mind that GA is always a risky thing, so I'll just pray and hope for the best!

We're going to have the operation either on Friday or Monday (depending on when the dentist will be available), so I'll let you know about how it went these days!

Thanks so much again! :)
 
How did the operation go? I hope it went smoothly. My piggie went under anesthetic on Tuesday and did fine. He is 5 and a half years old. I hope evertying is good.
 
He's having the operation tomorrow evening! I'm glad that your piggie did fine! I hope that my little Sergio will be fine too! I'm just worried because he's only 780gr. right now (2,5 years old).. Otherwise he looks fine (due to the medicines of course), if it wasn't for his bulging eye you'd think that he's a healthy piggie!

Let's all keep our fingers crossed for him and pray and hope for the best!
I'll let you know as soon as I can!
 
Thinking of you and Sergio. I will have everything crossed for a successful Dental and speedy recovery! x
 
Everything went fine! He woke up 5 minutes after the operation was over! It's been 2 hours now and he's still trying to pull himself together and walk..! I can see that he can move his front feet very well, but it's still hard for him to move the back ones.. Is this normal?
 
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