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Iggle has dental problems

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Hi all

I am hoping you can give me some advise.

I've had Iggle for just over 2.5 years and he'll be approximately three years old. I took him to the vet this morning because he's been off his food and one of his back teeth has grown over his tongue. He's book in on wednesday to have dental work done and in the meantime I'm feeding him with a syringe (critical care and water with vit c). His front teeth are fine.

What I don't understand is why would this problem occur now. If he had dental problems would his teeth have not casused problems before he got to the age of 3?

I'm hoping that the dental work on wednesday will sort out the problem once and for all (I hate to think of him not being able to eat and the thought of his having an anesthetic is awful) but I'm also concerned that dental treatment will turn out to be a long term requirement (at a cost of approx £80 for the dental work scheduled for wednesday it is not something I can afford long term).

What are your experiences of piggies with dental problems and have your piggies developed problems 'later in life'.

Any help/advise would very much be appreciated, I'm so worried for the wee man 8...

Thank you.
them
 
Dental problems can occur at any point within a piggies life. One of our piggies developed dental problems at the age of 4. Lots of Hay can help keep piggies teeth in check but still some pigs teeth will overgrow.

Where abouts do you live? As some vets can do dentals without anesthetic. Members on here may be able to advise of a vet local to you that can do this. One particular member 'Furryfriends' on this forum has great knowledge of dental piggies and uses a vet in Northampton who is excellent.

I hope Iggle will be ok.
 
No idea in Scotland, however we do have many Scottish posters, hopefully someone will be along shortly....
 
Flintstones highly recommends Glenn at Apex Vets, Denny. He does dentals without GA so may be worth considering. I hope Iggle is feeling more comfy soon. :)
 
Hi There,

Glenn has done my pigs teeth although he did give him Valium but not a GA, due to the stress my pig was under as he is a very flighty, terrified pig and hard to work with.

Fred was eating straight away, and is back to his old self.

Glenn also saved my friends pigs life by doing her teeth regularly without GA or sedation. He has also done another pig of her's.

He is apex Vet in Denny, he is back Wednesday and if you speak to him and explain your travelling a distance he maybe able to do it there and then.

http://www.apexvets.com/

Glenn is highly recommended for Dentals.

xx>>>
 
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As Flintstones mentioned above I've had 2 piggys had dentals done by Glenn at Apex Vets in Denny.

Toffee had back teeth growing across her tongue - he did them without any sedation or GA because she sat well for him (surprisingly cos she's a live wire). She's had them done a few times now and initially it looked like she may need them done every month as we originally suspected it was genetic. Now she's getting them done only about every 9 - 12 weeks so it may have been down to her diet before I got her (she had problems pretty much from when I got her from PAH adoption centre). Glenn even said the last time that they may right themselves so dont assume the initial predictions will actually be the same as reality....

One of my other piggys recently needed a dental too. I've had her (Ebony) for over a year and she developed spurs (?) in her teeth - dont know why but again she had her teeth done without GA/sedation although I think she was more challenging to do (although she's a laid back piggy in comparison to Toffee).

Just realised I've wittered on a lot - hope something in this is of use to you,
xx

PS Both piggys were eating fine when they got home
 
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Hello,

Our piggie Rosie had a dental problem. She lost weight last winter (drastically) and it turned out to be overgrown teeth. At 3 and a half. She had an op to file down the teeth (£95) but this seemed to do the trick and she returned to her normal rather tubby self after a month or so and is happily still that way now.

This may be a daft suggestion but could they remove the teeth that are bothersome? How many teeth is it that are causing the trouble? x
 
Hey, sometimes dental problems can be a symptom of an underlying problem...something puts them off their food and then their teeth aren't getting used as they should be. That's what the vet told me when Thumper had issues with his teeth, he had just been treated for over two weeks with anti biotics for a URI, has your piggy had any recent problems? He has had no dental problems since, touchwood! xox
 
Hi whee all hope that Iggle's toofie problems will get sorted out!
Best of luck i've been thru them before also mallethead

GOOD LUCK IGGLE xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Thanks for all your word of encouragement and good wishes. Iggle goes in tomorrow for his op so fingers crossed. If it happens again after a much stricter diet regime (hay hay hay hay hay and not so much fresh delicious stuff, I think he fills up on that rather than eat the hay) I'll go to the vet in denny to see if his teeth can be maintained without GA. I'm hoping, like some of the posts have said, that it wont re occur, it seems like it's just one of the back teeth that's the main problem.

He's been fab over the past few days, eating his critical care food and vit c water AND snacking on his fresh food which is a good sign as he'd gone off that completely. He's more like his normal self so fingers crossed that he's fit for tomorrow.

I'll keep you posted. xx>>>
 
Hope everything goes well for little Iggle tomorrow.
 
Hi all

Well Iggle is back and doing well. The vet was concerned cos he wasn't respondng well after the GA but he did when I got there xoxo and he's munching on bits of his favourite food as well as the fibre food the vet has supplied and puree which I'm giving him by syringe. He's still dopey but hopefully tomorrow he'll be a bit more like his normal self.

Thanks again for your lovely support.

xx
 
Please be hyper alert as to his condtion/fluids and food intake.


He is not out of the woods yet...but it sounds like you are determined to "lead him there"

Well done

x
 
You were right Pebble, I have had to take him back to the vet this morning. He's lost interest in any food I put in, he nibbles bits of spinach and grass but wont go near his hay, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, any of his past favourites. He's lost weight despite the syringe feeding, he's not grooming himself. The vet has given me some painkiller to see if that makes a difference and I have to carry on with the syringe feeding over the weekend and see if there is any difference by Monday. The vet said that piggies are very difficult to bring back following a health problem :... I can't bear to see him like this, he seems very down, quiet and just wants to be left alone.

Fingers crossed the painkiller will perk him up and he'll want to eat.

xx
 
He may still have problems with his teeth - Guinea Pig's can be brought back in fact I have seen pigs that should be dead return to full health.

If your not confident in your current Vet - Why not get a 2nd opinion?

My Fred lost for the first 3 days - How much is he losing? He may still have problems with his teeth.
 
Is he eating anything for himself? If he is eating very little or nothing, you need to be getting approx 120 mls of syringe food into him every 24 hours. It can take a long time before a piggie starts to eat for itself. Some are doing really well after just a couple of days and others can take months. Has the vet said about having the teeth checked regularly? If he isn't eating very much then the teeth will overgrow again very quickly. That's why ideally you need to find a vet who can do dental work without GA. I have a number of dental piggies and they vary in how often they need work doing on their teeth, but generally it ranges from about 10 days to just over two weeks. Very rarely can dental issues be resolved once they become really bad, but they can be managed and the piggie can still live life to the full.
 
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