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Dental How To Encourage Gp To Eat Veg After Dental Surgery?

Vet has given us Hibiscrub to soak once or twice a day, and recommended Vetbed :) She didn't want to prescribe antibiotics straight away given that Stormy is doing so well atm, but did suggest going back on the Loxicom. She warned it can take a while for the feet to recover from this, but that they should be looking a bit better by two weeks, when we next see Simon, so Simon can check them then :) She also thinks her front incisors should be ok till then too but to bring her in for them to be burred sooner if they grow too long before then (she said they shouldn't have a problem doing it conscious there as Stormy is pretty amenable, but tbh I'm kinda hoping her teeth wait till Simon can do it! ;) ). I'm glad it seems she knew what she was talking about (this particular vet is lovely, used to have piggies herself and clearly loves them to bits :) )
 
sorry, it's been a while since I last posted.
Your progress with Stormy has been amazing, @StormyMidnight, I'm so pleased for you! Have you stopped the syringe feeds altogether now?

We've had a bit of an up and down week. After Pendleton's appointment with Kim we didn't see any improvement, in fact he seemed to be getting worse. :( At the same time we also noticed he was getting a bit bloated (both gas and liquid bloat) and his poos were becoming very irregular and looked terrible, all black and gnarly. So we took him to a local vet asap, who prescribed Emeprid and Ranitidine. That has helped the bloat a lot, and also seemed to pick him up a bit so that he started eating small bits of veg again. I think the bloat might have been caused by a combination of eating grass (which his stomach wasn't really used to), and also the syringe feeding and general poor diet. Anyway, he's still taking the Ranitidine for that and it seems to be under control.

We also 'phoned Simon about the fact his eating hadn't improved as much as we'd expected, and he said perhaps they had missed a spur on one of the molars. So we took him back down to Northampton last Friday for some extra teeth work. Simon noticed that all of his teeth had started to overgrow again, probably due to not eating foods that will keep them ground down. So he advised that we need to get him eating as much grass as possible. Since he got home he has improved a lot, and is now eating grass really quickly, and lots of it (which is a relief), and also eating leaves again with no problems. He also seems so much better than at any stage over the past 6 weeks, so we are feeling a bit more optimistic now :)

Although he seems pretty happy in himself, he's still not eating hay nor enough food by himself to sustain his weight, so we are still syringe feeding. But it's a delicate balance between keeping him hungry enough so that he eats by himself, whilst keeping his weight up. Also, we've noticed that he doesn't seem to eat much when in his cage, but when we get him out on the sofa and give a little encouragement he starts guzzling food down! Do you have any thoughts/experience about that, @furryfriends (TEAS) ? Maybe it's a psychological thing and he's got out of the habit of eating for himself without being prompted?

Anyway things are looking up for a change, and he's due back to Simon's in 2 weeks for his next dental.31958712_10103837278736429_1109198947986964480_n.webp
 
Hi, good to hear all your news but I'm sorry Pendleton hasn't been getting any better, though sounds more optimistic after seeing Simon! It sounds similar to us, I can't believe the day before we saw Simon the exotics vet said everything looked ok, while Simon said her molars were growing over her tongue. I KNEW something wasn't right in the way she was syringe feeding!

Yes I've stopped the syringe feeding altogether, because she has been maintaining her weight, even still putting it on slightly possibly (it varies). Am concerned that she's still not eating enough hay, as I more often see her eating the nuggets (I'm keeping them out of the cage half the time now). She definitely is eating hay as well though.

I know what you mean about feeling like you need to be there to encourage the feeding, it was a bit like that at first with us too, I didn't quite trust that Stormy in the cage with the others would start eating there of her own accord, I kept pushing bundles of hay at her :D Hopefully Pendleton will get there....

I'm sat with Stormy now, shivering in her towel, she's been sitting in a box soaking in Hibiscrub bless her. She is so good! Just sits tolerating everything! I wish I could soak the feet only, but I need to do all four so her tummy just has to get all wet too, easier to just have her sitting in a shallow puddle. I must admit I've been enjoying all the cuddles I've been getting lately... ;)
 
Aww @StormyMidnight look at her in the paddling pool. I did the same with one of my boys, I used a lunch box! Haha. I hope her feet start to improve soon. It can take a while so don't be disheartened if there's no quick visable change.

@Rusholme My pigs have always been more interested in food if I encourage them. If I put their food down in their cage they'll eat some of it and leave some. But if I offer them a piece that they have ignored then they eat it. I think they must think it's a new piece. I always offer food to pigs after surgery or if they're ill, sometimes they're more tempted with food I'm handing to them rather than leaving in their cage.
 
Rusholme said:
sorry, it's been a while since I last posted.
Your progress with Stormy has been amazing, @StormyMidnight, I'm so pleased for you! Have you stopped the syringe feeds altogether now?

We've had a bit of an up and down week. After Pendleton's appointment with Kim we didn't see any improvement, in fact he seemed to be getting worse. :( At the same time we also noticed he was getting a bit bloated (both gas and liquid bloat) and his poos were becoming very irregular and looked terrible, all black and gnarly. So we took him to a local vet asap, who prescribed Emeprid and Ranitidine. That has helped the bloat a lot, and also seemed to pick him up a bit so that he started eating small bits of veg again. I think the bloat might have been caused by a combination of eating grass (which his stomach wasn't really used to), and also the syringe feeding and general poor diet. Anyway, he's still taking the Ranitidine for that and it seems to be under control.

We also 'phoned Simon about the fact his eating hadn't improved as much as we'd expected, and he said perhaps they had missed a spur on one of the molars. So we took him back down to Northampton last Friday for some extra teeth work. Simon noticed that all of his teeth had started to overgrow again, probably due to not eating foods that will keep them ground down. So he advised that we need to get him eating as much grass as possible. Since he got home he has improved a lot, and is now eating grass really quickly, and lots of it (which is a relief), and also eating leaves again with no problems. He also seems so much better than at any stage over the past 6 weeks, so we are feeling a bit more optimistic now :)

Although he seems pretty happy in himself, he's still not eating hay nor enough food by himself to sustain his weight, so we are still syringe feeding. But it's a delicate balance between keeping him hungry enough so that he eats by himself, whilst keeping his weight up. Also, we've noticed that he doesn't seem to eat much when in his cage, but when we get him out on the sofa and give a little encouragement he starts guzzling food down! Do you have any thoughts/experience about that, @furryfriends (TEAS) ? Maybe it's a psychological thing and he's got out of the habit of eating for himself without being prompted?

Anyway things are looking up for a change, and he's due back to Simon's in 2 weeks for his next dental.View attachment 86248
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So glad to hear Pendleton is doing better again. There can be the occasional blip, but hopefully he's now on the up and up. I would cut the syringe food down and just give a top up each evening. Porridge oats are great for weight gain and I feed them to all the piggies who are recovering from dental issues. Keep an eye on the weight, but as long as it isn't consistently dropping (a bit up and down is fine) then you can be sure he's doing fine. It can take many months for them regain their pre-dental issue weight, so don't worry too much about that. Readigrass is also good to feed.
 
Even more improvements today! I woke up to find him eating pellets from his bowl! And he's now sat on the sofa munching on a large pile of grass :)
He gained almost 50g in weight in the 24 hours up to this morning, so he must have been munching by himself all night! :)

We're going to cut right back on the syringe food and try to encourage him to keep eating the grass and pellets today.

How much oats do you feed them, @furryfriends (TEAS) ?
 
Rusholme said:
Even more improvements today! I woke up to find him eating pellets from his bowl! And he's now sat on the sofa munching on a large pile of grass :)
He gained almost 50g in weight in the 24 hours up to this morning, so he must have been munching by himself all night! :)

We're going to cut right back on the syringe food and try to encourage him to keep eating the grass and pellets today.

How much oats do you feed them, @furryfriends (TEAS) ?
Click to expand...
I just pop a small bowl in the cage. Some love them and some don’t bother. I top the bowl up when it’s nearly empty.
 
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Yay @Rusholme so glad Pendleton is doing better today!

@Jaycey the vet warned me it can take a while. We see Simon next Friday (not this Friday) and my vet said she may be starting to get better then but that Simon can check them, so I'm not expecting a quick miracle. She's not even been put on antibiotics for it, so I suppose there's a chance she might be then.

Vetbed arrived today - it's thicker than I thought! Will be sorting the cage later with it :) Hoping that helps as well, rather than have Stormy curled up in bundles of hay that only have urinated newspaper underneath (the rest of the cage is fleece but they like the hay end better!) How often should the vetbed be changed? I bought three lots to allow for washing.
 
The Vetbed should be fine for a few days at least. It wicks really well so I'd just monitor how dirty she makes it.

It dries really quickly though so washing it doesn't take too long at all.
 
Well, we have 5 guinea pigs using the vetbed so it'll probably get muckier more quickly than that then. Normally I clean out the cage daily, and the newspaper/hay section (that is now vetbed with a bit of hay) was yucky enough as it was then.
 
I find vet bed gets smelly quite quickly, so you may want to change it at least every couple of days. Some people put newspaper underneath it, but I find that just makes it smell more! We have 2 sets that we rotate between the washing machine and the cage.
 
I think Stormy just had another little seizure :( She is in the upstairs bit, and I was cleaning the downstairs bit (that vetbed is amazing! It feels completely dry despite 5 guinea pigs) and she suddenly looked as if she had slipped backwards at the top of the ramp (she'd gone backwards down it a little way) but when I lifted her to help her up again she was shaking for half a minute and couldn't seem to get her balance. Next second, she was hunting for the veg and now happily wolfing it down. (I then took her out of the cage to watch her walk across the room and she's fine, straight line, strong). She had been wheeking really loudly for veg since 6am (I finally came down to get their veg 20 min ago!) Last time (& the first time) she seizured (a couple of days after we first noticed she wasn't eating) it was much bigger & pretty violent & with loud squeaking too, after she hadn't eaten much for a couple of days, we/the vet put that one down to low blood sugar.

i forgot to weigh her before veggies but weighed her just now halfway through them and she's 942g (last few days first thing in the morning she's been between 895-915g), so it does look like she's been eating fine...(no nuggets in the cage overnight, so hopefully she's been eating plenty of hay). Maybe it's vit. C deficiency although I've done pretty well giving her veg high in vit. c (she's even eating orange, which I'd never given them before)- plus green pepper, spring greens, parsley & coriander, along with such as carrots, fennel, lettuce, tomato, bok choi.. Maybe I should get a Vit. C supplement as well, what's the best one to give?
 
She's now enthusiastically at the nuggets. Admittedly they do have Vit. C in them...
I do suspect she's not eating as much hay as she should, though I know she's eating some... I have ordered some Readigrass.
 
sorry to hear about Stormy :(
My instinct is that, if she's eating pellets, then she's probably getting enough vit C. We've used the Beaphar Vit C in their drinking water before. Some piggies seem to like it, others not so much.
Maybe others on the forum will have experience with this kind of problem. Maybe epilepsy? Diabetes? I really don't know.
It might not tell you much, but we've started using wee sticks with our piggies. They will tell you if she has high sugars in her urine, or proteins, blood etc.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Health-Parameter-Professional-Urinalysis-Multisticks/dp/B0032IKZV6
 
Thank you, that's an interesting idea. (the wee sticks).

She seems fine, apart from the fact that she's been picking at her feet a bit this morning, orange discharge over her fur, poor thing :/ Just had her sitting in her Hibiscrub puddle again now... She has eaten a little hay but mainly nuggets I think.

She was so desperate for her veggies this morning, like I said I woke up at 6am and went to the loo but stayed upstairs for half an hour and she was wheeking like crazy, normally they don't start wheeking till I get downstairs and open the fridge! Maybe she knew instinctively she needed more Vit. C... plus I'd kept the nuggets out of the cage all night, and maybe she hadn't eaten much hay instead overnight...
 
My Toby is anemic well he was when we last checked his bloods, he didn't recover very well from the sedation so we aren't testing again. I've been giving him pro C probiotic just to give him an extra boost he gets it on his vegetables.

That's awesome weight gain 945grams is fab!
 
Aww poor Toby. I didn't think of anaemia -iron is important for absorbing Vit. C isn't it.
She's still seeming fine, albeit less active than the others but that's understandable, with sore feet. Definitely eating hay sometimes, I'm just not convinced it's quite enough. Waiting for the Readigrass to arrive, hoping that'll perk her interest more!
 
Hello all. Thought I'd update, we saw Simon again today for our check up and all is good, he didn't need to do anything with her back teeth at all, only shaved her front teeth as expected. He said the bumblefoot isn't all that bad and should clear up over time, no need for antibiotics. The very orange wee he said just happens, maybe dietary, maybe due to the antibiotics she was on before, etc, and given she seems otherwise totally fine it's nothing to worry about. So, yay! No need for any more Northampton trips unless anything goes wrong- if there are ever any further dental/not eating problems with Stormy or any of the others we will be going straight there this time!

How is Pendleton doing, @Rusholme?
 
Pendleton is doing well, thanks for asking @StormyMidnight .
He did have a small dip after my last post, and we had to increase the syringe feeding again, but he then seemed to pick up again after ~5 days. I think the fresh grass really helped to keep his teeth ground down, which sorted him out. He went on his latest trip to see Simon last Saturday, who said that his teeth were looking in very good shape (his exact words were 'beautiful' :D ), although he did a tiny bit of fine tuning to the molars. Since then he has gone from strength to strength! He's eating muesli by himself (not so interested in pellets for some reason, but I guess you can't have everything) and is eating loads and loads of grass and veggies of all shapes and sizes. He doesn't need to go back to Simon for another 4 weeks now (which is a huge relief, since we live in Leeds!). :clap:We're now only doing 1 feed in the morning and 1 before bed, which means both my wife and I can go to the office at the same time (rather than one of us working at home) for the first time in about 2 months! Today his weight has climbed above 1kg for the first time since this all started 9-10 weeks ago. He does pick at bits of hay now and again, but doesn't eat much of it - that will hopefully come with time, but for now he is doing just fine with his fresh grass.

That's amazing that Stormy doesn't have to go back to Northampton! I'm so pleased you managed to fix his dental problems - Simon has worked magic on both Stormy and Pendleton! Did you get to the bottom of her mini-seizures?

(Btw, Pendleton has done a few orange wees too since he had his dental problems, so it could well be due to a different/strange diet, or the meds).
 
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