My Guinea Pig Is Not Allowed Vegetables

beckyxxx

beckyxxx

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hi everyone, the vet has said my Guinea pig is not allowed vegetables for a few days, and just hay and pellets as his teeth are slightly growing inwards and he is struggling to eat his vegetables, he said after a few days he can start having them but reducing the intake of vegetables by at least half. I’m so worried that he will starve because he hardly touched hay, no matter which hay I try him with he isn’t interested, will he eat it if he has no vegetables ? Thanks
 
It is quite common to remove veggies from the diet for a few days if a piggy has an upset stomach, so he won't starve.....you might get wheeked at a lot though. I would weigh him daily just to keep an eye, and if he starts loosing weight rapidly, run it by the vet. It sounds like the vet is trying to make him eat more hay to work on his teeth, instead of filling up on veg, and you might interfere with that if you're topping him up and he isn't so hungry. He might lose a little if he is used to having a lot of veg, as this is more calorific than hay. They only need a very little veggies, and in summer I hardly give mine any because they get fresh grass. I qualify this by saying I am not an expert, and someone with more knowledge will probably chip in shortly.
 
Thanks! Yeah they want him on more hay for his teeth and to help grind them down
 
If he isnt eating hay it would be a good idea to get some critical care to syringe feed him, it's really important their guts are kept moving with lots of fibre. When their guts arent moving properly it makes them feel even more poorly and will stop eating other things as well.
 
Eriathwen said:
If he isnt eating hay it would be a good idea to get some critical care to syringe feed him, it's really important their guts are kept moving with lots of fibre. When their guts arent moving properly it makes them feel even more poorly and will stop eating other things as well.
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I was going to suggest that @Eriathwen , but the concern there would be that it fills him up and he'll eat less hay, defeating what the vet is trying to achieve, that was why I suggested running it by the vet if he loses weight.
 
He’s on Timothy hay, we have 3 different types of hay in the cage 2 being Timothy and they are very thick pieces, he’s eating a lot of hay since back from vets which I’m glad about. I think my plan will be morning and evening mashing up bits of cucumber and other leaves for him so he’s still getting a little vitamin C and hydration, and then having bunches of hay in there cage through out the day and hoping this helps his teeth. He was having no problem chewing leaves etc but with pepper. Thanks for all the advice guys, if he does stop eating I will get him onto critical care and syringe feed him, but at the moment he’s eating well. Will also weigh daily
 
Ah I read it as he still wasnt eating hay since the vet visit! Yeah if he is eating his hay then he will be fine without the critical care.

I have a bag of 'hay flakes' from Galens garden which are designed for dental rabbits and piggies, it's compressed hay but you can soak it in water to make it easier to eat but still provides wear on the teeth, so that might be something to consider if you're concerned, it went down really well with ours when they were having problems eating and developed a spur on one of the molars. But a few days without veggies if he's eating enough roughage to keep his guts working properly will do him no harm.
 
Thanks I’ll look it up online, so do you think he’s teeth will wear down themselves with this plan? I really don’t want to have him sedated and have his teeth done if it isn’t nessesary and the vet said the teeth wasn’t terrible
 
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