My girls is grinding her teeth

[tal72]

I have a question... my little girl Willow that the vets say she is prego, has not gained much weight since 5/5, she has put on about 30 grams. It looks like she is grinding her teeth and from what I can see when she is eating her bottom teeth are almost to the gums. We got her and her brother on 5/2, he has been neutered and has already put one over 100 grams since 5/5. She got a clean bill of health on 5/5, my gut feeling is to call the vets and get her seen.

 

[Wiebke]

I have a question... my little girl Willow that the vets say she is prego, has not gained much weight since 5/5, she has put on about 30 grams. It looks like she is grinding her teeth and from what I can see when she is eating her bottom teeth are almost to the gums. We got her and her brother on 5/2, he has been neutered and has already put one over 100 grams since 5/5. She got a clean bill of health on 5/5, my gut feeling is to call the vets and get her seen.

Hi! Has your vet checked her teeth for overgrow at the back or problems with the incisors? Tooth grinding can be a sing of dental problems in the molars and premolars at the back. The premolar teeth can grow spurs which arch over the tongue, trapping it and making chewing and swallowing gradually impossible.

If a vet hasn't checked the teeth, please do so now. Make sure that they are piggy savvy enough to know what they are looking at and doing! Just clipping incisors on spec will only make the problem worse and not solve anything at all!

If your girl can't pick up food or chew properly, she will not put on any weight. Please offer additional syringe feed (mushed pellets in an emergency and recovery formula or a mix of mushed pellets and recovery powder) and finely grated veg, preferably soft veg. 80% of the food intake needs to be hay, which can be a problem if the dental system is not working; veg is only about 10-15% of what your piggy eats in a day. Our syringe feeding guide also contains a section on caring for a dental guinea pig. Since your girl is pregnant, I would strongly recommend to syringe 1/4 of a vitamin C tablet that you have dissolved in 1 ml of water once daily.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

How old is your sow? If your girl has been with a full boar, then she is most likely pregnant. The main weight gain happens at the end of a pregnancy in the last 2-3 weeks and depends entirely on the size of a litter; it is not a steady weight gain. Overall weight gain depends on the age.
Please open a specially monitored ongoing pregnancy support thread in our pregnancy section, which becomes only visible after you have signed up to the forum. We have got lots of guides, experience and advice.
Here is our shortcut to all the pregnancy advice, which covers the whole period from pregnancy until the babies are old enough to be separated, including important diet advice and extra information: Pregnancy & Baby Care Guide

 

[tal72]

Willow is about 3 1/2 months old, we took her and her brother in from a house that couldn't keep them. BTW the father is her brother and when we got her she was in the same box as her brother. On 5/5 the vets checked her teeth and they were OK and we even got to see the little sac in her belly, she weighted in at 480. She does pick up food but it looks like when she is eating hay or matchstick carrots she is using her back or side teeth. When she eats lettuce it looks like she has to ripe off pieces and then she uses her paws to hold it down so she can eat it. I have critical care on hand and she doesn't like to be syringe fed. I am going to check out the link for syringe feeding. She has a vet apt tomorrow at 8 it was the earliest I could get her in, her last weight was 507 grams on 5/20 at home. Any suggestion are appreciated.