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Misaligned Teeth

J

JasoonJW

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Apr 25, 2026
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Location
Essex
Hi all, getting a little bit desperate now, thought I would reach out to you good people. Two year old Albert had his teeth filed ten days ago. On completion the vets showed me photos he took while Albert was under, the poor little fella's top teeth are almost in the centre of the roof of his mouth, none align with the bottom apart from a small section of the back left side, meaning this is the only place he has to chew. Vet said he has never seen a mouth like it, and amazed he has gotten to this age. Albert use to forage in his oat bowl searching for small morsels, slowly eat cucumber, munch on a small mouthful of carrot, loved the willow leaves from our tree. Since the procedure he can't manage anything, had him on the critical care which he has been eagerly taking up until yesterday, now having to force him. There's never going to be a chance of him being able to grind his teeth down with hey because he simple can't chew. Was hoping he would get use to the new geography of his mouth and "get by" but that doesn't seem to be happening. His front incisors where longer before the procedure, and his bottom teeth where growing in a arch shape, he had obviously found a way to cope up until the point that they got just too long, now they are shorter he does not seem to be able to cope. He was a bit chunky, around 1550g, after the procedure he was down to 1329g, today -10 days after the procedure - he is 1261. Is there anything that you fine people can tell me that may help Albert in any way? Thanks so much. x
 
Poor piggy. I know some people cut veggies up into strips so they can at least get some food from that. It is worrying that he isn't eating the Critical Care. Perhaps try him on a different flavour or Dual Care to try to restart his appetite. You may be looking at a bloating type situation if he isn't eating. He may need to see the vet for appetite stimulants and a motility stimuli, but I have no medical expertise. A vet would be better able to advise as long as it the vet has experience of treating guinea pigs ❤️
 
Hello and welcome to the forum. I’m sorry Albert is having trouble with his teeth. It does sound a very serious problem. Maybe your vet could ask the Cat and Rabbit Vets in Northampton for their advice? They are an excellent guinea pig vet.

I’m not a health expert but I have a little experience of dental issues. I recently had a piggy, Pebble, who needed his teeth filed as they had overgrown and trapped his tongue. It took him two weeks to start eating for himself.

Is Albert on pain killers and a gut stimulant?
If so what’s the dose and are you giving them once or twice a day? My Pebble needed two types of pain medication as they really do lose their confidence with eating.

I found that Pebble went off critical care too so I got EmerAid. He loved it. I could syringe it through the cage bars.

Cutting veggies into strips is good. I found Pebble really liked his nuggets once he was recovering. So I fed as many as he would eat.

Does Albert live with a friend? I had to take Pebble out of the cage to feed him his veggies and nuggets as his cage mate was scoffing so much faster than Pebble.

Weigh him daily in the morning that will give you a guide as to how much syringe feed to give. Also I mashed some banana into the critical and he ate that.

Unfortunately it sounds like this is a very serious problem. Which will need ongoing treatment. If you can get to the Cat and Rabbit Vets then I’d do that. Good luck. Sending Albert healing vibes.

I love his name. Feel free to post a photo of him ❤️
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
Is there any chance you could get him seen by Simon Maddock at the Cat and Rabbit Care Clinic in Northampton? Simon is amazing and provides all the dental treatment for our guinea pigs of The Excellent Adventure Sanctuary xx
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Hello there, really appreciate your interest. Afraid that won't be possible. We are a long way from Northampton. Just about was able to get the £300 together for Alberts procedure & consultation. Going back to the vets this week and thinking of getting him some pain relief, hoping that will get him chewing again. Many thanks x
 
Truffolo said:
Poor piggy. I know some people cut veggies up into strips so they can at least get some food from that. It is worrying that he isn't eating the Critical Care. Perhaps try him on a different flavour or Dual Care to try to restart his appetite. You may be looking at a bloating type situation if he isn't eating. He may need to see the vet for appetite stimulants and a motility stimuli, but I have no medical expertise. A vet would be better able to advise as long as it the vet has experience of treating guinea pigs ❤️
Click to expand...
Thank you for reply. Have tried all the food tricks-sliced,diced,you name it. Luckily have time these next few weeks to have him on my lap 3/4 hour a day and keep the syringe feeding going. He's such a lovely little chap. We not giving up. Thank you x
 
weepweeps said:
Hello and welcome to the forum. I’m sorry Albert is having trouble with his teeth. It does sound a very serious problem. Maybe your vet could ask the Cat and Rabbit Vets in Northampton for their advice? They are an excellent guinea pig vet.

I’m not a health expert but I have a little experience of dental issues. I recently had a piggy, Pebble, who needed his teeth filed as they had overgrown and trapped his tongue. It took him two weeks to start eating for himself.

Is Albert on pain killers and a gut stimulant?
If so what’s the dose and are you giving them once or twice a day? My Pebble needed two types of pain medication as they really do lose their confidence with eating.

I found that Pebble went off critical care too so I got EmerAid. He loved it. I could syringe it through the cage bars.

Cutting veggies into strips is good. I found Pebble really liked his nuggets once he was recovering. So I fed as many as he would eat.

Does Albert live with a friend? I had to take Pebble out of the cage to feed him his veggies and nuggets as his cage mate was scoffing so much faster than Pebble.

Weigh him daily in the morning that will give you a guide as to how much syringe feed to give. Also I mashed some banana into the critical and he ate that.

Unfortunately it sounds like this is a very serious problem. Which will need ongoing treatment. If you can get to the Cat and Rabbit Vets then I’d do that. Good luck. Sending Albert healing vibes.

I love his name. Feel free to post a photo of him ❤️
Click to expand...
Thank you for the advice. It's encouraging to hear that Pebble started munching again after a couple of weeks. We are not giving up. No, the vet said he did not need meds after the procedure, but I already had some gut stimulant which I have been giving him (0.02mll) these past days. Planning to go back to see vet this week. Maybe pain relief will make him get more confident in chewing. Many thanks
 
JasoonJW said:
Thank you for the advice. It's encouraging to hear that Pebble started munching again after a couple of weeks. We are not giving up. No, the vet said he did not need meds after the procedure, but I already had some gut stimulant which I have been giving him (0.02mll) these past days. Planning to go back to see vet this week. Maybe pain relief will make him get more confident in chewing. Many thanks
Click to expand...
I’d definitely ask for pain relief. Pebble was worse after the procedure so I think it does cause them pain to get used to eating again. Good luck at the vets.
 
Hello everyone, and thanks for all comments. Going to do a weekly Albert update each Saturday until, hopefully, he becomes somewhat stable. The week started badly, but have become slightly more optimistic these past few days, mainly due to stumbling on the discovery that he will take soaked Science Selective nuggets from the syringe, I mixed some of the Critical Care in and add water. Start of week he would not take anything, started to make a really chesty wheezing noise that I am fairly sure was the on set of gut stasis. Now have a stimulate & pain relief from vet, & from 4 days ago he has picked up, feeding him 13ml if he wants it or not from syringe every 4 hour. He started eating pieces of banana & small bits of oats too. Think this week will be crucial. After the procedure he weighed 1328g, last Saturday was 1261g, today was 1169g. So not good, but as I say, hoping the past few days is a indication of improvement going forward. Does anyone have any advice on their guinea's weight? I read that somewhere between 1000g and 1200g is about the average. Thanks all.x
 
It’s such a roller coaster with a poorly piggy. Sending you hugs and healing vibes to Albert.

At this early stage I would give him anything he wants to eat. But bear in mind that too much veg and not enough fibre will probably cause an imbalance between the gut. So try and keep it balanced. It’s great that he likes the soaked nuggets.

Don’t worry about putting weight on. Your goal at the moment is to keep his weight stable and try to get him to eat foods that will get him to grind his teeth. Grass/hay.

Weigh him every morning before his breakfast. If he has lost weight from the day before then you have to syringe feed more that day. Some days I was getting f 100ml of feed into Pebble and he still lost weight. 😢

Good luck. It’s a slow and steady recovery from dental procedures. He has to regain his confidence and he must be pain free (pain medication?)
 
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