My Guinea Pig Wont Eat His Food

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Lauren_95

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My Guinea Pig won’t eat any dry foods I have tried EVERY brand of dry Guinea Pig food in Pets At Home pellets and muesli and he starts to eat it and clear the dish for a few days then just stop and not eat anything! He has never really eaten alot of hay and now he is not really eating his fresh veggies he comes running over to the bars really excited but then sniffs in the dish but doesn't eat anything. He is missing 2 of his top back teeth so the bottom ones need regular fileing but he isn't due up to have them done for nearly another 2 months. We lost our other Piggie just over a week ago :'( he had to be put to sleep :'( they lived separately because they were fighting, but saw each other through the bars of the cages most days. He was still eating all of his fresh food when my other Piggie was still here, but still not really making much of an attempt on the dry. We are giving him something to increase his appetite and some Critical Care syringe food; I don't know if it's really worth taking him to the vets because they don't really know much about guinea pigs. I just need to get him eating again, anyone have any ideas?
 
Hello and welcome to the forum, sorry the hear about your piggie. Here are a few things i would suggest. Firstly which teeth exactly is he missing? The molars? or incisors? Ive never heared of piggies missing molars before, but i guess its possible?

He is probably not eating the dry food as he is having trouble eating it, it may not mean that he doesnt like the food. Have you tried the complete pellet food? I'm assuming you have.

What are you giving to increase his appetite?

Give us your approxomate location and we may be able to point you in the direction of a good piggie vet who may be able to help you better.

You may be able to help him eat by the following:
- grate all veg (hes probably having trouble biting it)
- keep offering veg constantly, even if he doesnt eat it
- get him a companion, lots of rescues do 'dating' services where your little one will be able to pick and bond with another piggie. This may pick up his mood
- Soak some pellets in water and offer it as a mushy mix (maybe with Critical care added in)
- weigh him daily to make sure that his is not losing any weight at all

also make sure - (although I'm guessing you know) that he has an unlimited supply of good quality fresh hay, this will help with his teeth.

Hope this helps a little bit.

x
 
Hi,

Agree with above there are a number of reasons why your piggy might not be eating. I can't really add to above except to say the following:

It isn't a major issue if your piggy is off dry food. IMO and in the opinion of my vet and quite a few other owners, dry food is the one thing that a guinea pig can happily do without and it not affect their health. As long as they have access to unlimited hay as I'm sure yours has, and they are getting enough vitamin C from fresh veg (preferrably fresh grass) then there's no reason they can't live perfectly healthily without dry food.

In addition, guinea pigs are fairly smart animals and, as a consequence, can get bored of certain foods. One of ours used to get bored of pellets very quickly and barely ate them at all (we no longer feed pellets except as treats). At first we were worried but when we looked up exactly what they were supposed to be getting nutrionally from pellets, we weren't concerned.

The same ca be said of some fresh veg, some piggies can get bored if they're constantly getting the same thing. I have yet to hear of/know a piggy who got bored of fresh grass though.

If your piggy is having trouble eating in general though, there's nothing wrong with getting your vet to have another look at their teeth - they don't really grow to a timescale and if a piggy is not eating particularly much, they will grow more quickly. It becomes a vicious cirlce unfortunately - piggy doesn't want to eat because it's uncomfortable, the teeth grow even more and then piggy definitely doesn't want to eat and so on...

The main thing is to encourage your piggy to eat copious amounts of hay. If your piggy isn't a big hay eater, you might want to think about changing the brand/type of hay you feed. They're all pretty good nutrition-wise but a really good, top-quality timothy hay will be sweeter/tastier and your piggy is more likely to eat this. what hay are you currently feeding?
 
I am not sure which of the back teeth are missing and we are giving Empid Oral Suspention to increase his appitite.
He has mostly gone off of his veggies today, I tried grating them and he ate a tiny bit of carrot, I am syringe feeding him water which he is drinking alot of but am now having to force him to eat the Criticle Care. He is eating a little bit of hay and I have made his nuggest soft by putting water on them but he still wont eat them :(
He had an abcess on his face last year and they lanced it and he was on antibiotics for months and months after, but now we have taken him off of them, he keeps getting scabs and puss forming in the area I am keeping it clean and removing the scabs but I don't know if this is related? He also has a large hard lump next to wear the puss and scab is and when I touched it earlier he squealed really loudly!
Thanks for the advice so far :)
We have him booked in at the local vets for Monday and I am in Cheshire if this helps
 
Sound like he may have a tooth root abscess, these can be hard to shift. When you go to your vets it may be worth asking for an antibiotic call zithro-max. Its not licenced for use in guinea pigs but it is very very effective. Considering it sounds as though he has a lot of infection build up in that area it really would be worth a try. Try not to get fobbed off with just a bit of Baytril, this stuff seems to be getting rubbish at shifting anything as its used so much in piggies.

Let us know how you get on with the vets.

x.
 
Ok thanks for the advice, I'm starting to think that it's his teeth because he starts to eat abit of his veg and only manages a small amount but then stops. I hope it is only his teeth and nothing more serious and my other Piggie stopped eating and he had a tumour that no body detected until he was almost gone :(
 
We also have some pain relief left over, do you think it will be ok to give him this as it seems like it's painfull?
 
Have you tried Oxbow Cavy Cuisine? It's the best pellets you can buy nutritionally and practically all piggies love them. It is quite expensive though, you can buy the 4.5 kg for £15 which lasts me with 2 piggies for about 2 months.
 
Lauren_95 said:
We also have some pain relief left over, do you think it will be ok to give him this as it seems like it's painfull?
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It depends what that pain relief is I suppose. I would be wary of medicating without vet advice, that's all. Maybe just try phoning your vet first to ask about the pain relief.

Fingers crossed for Monday's appointment.
 
The pain relief is Meloxydil and he was on it for months when he last has his absess and teeth filed, and I've heard some good reviews on the Oxbow but I don't know whhere you can get it from in the UK?
 
Having dealt with many dental piggies and also those with tooth root and jaw abscesses, I can't recommend enough the antibiotic zithro-max. It really is fantastic for dealing with abscesses and can sort them out in as little as a week or two.

My vet would be willing to speak with yours to advise dosage etc.
 
Ok thanks, is the antibiotic a yellow tablet that is crushed because this is what he was on last time as the Baytril did nothing?
 
Lauren_95 said:
Ok thanks, is the antibiotic a yellow tablet that is crushed because this is what he was on last time as the Baytril did nothing?
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No, it comes in powder form and has to be mixed with water. Please feel free to pass my vets details onto yours.

Simon Maddock
Cat and Rabbit Care Clinic,
Northampton.

01604 478888
 
Ok thanks for the advice, I will mention the anti-biotic to my vet :) and thanks for the link to the Oxbow food, I think this is the food I will be putting him on, just wondering if anyone could give me abit of info about it as I have heard some great reviews about it?
Thanks for all of the advice from everyone so far, I'll let you know how the vets goes tomorrow
 
Lauren_95 said:
Ok thanks for the advice, I will mention the anti-biotic to my vet :) and thanks for the link to the Oxbow food, I think this is the food I will be putting him on, just wondering if anyone could give me abit of info about it as I have heard some great reviews about it?
Thanks for all of the advice from everyone so far, I'll let you know how the vets goes tomorrow
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Oxbow is just good timothy hay. Timothy hay is sweeter and tastier than meadow hay and made fomr just one or two types of grass. It can be (lathough not always) slightly more nutritious than meadow hay but it's certainly more appealing to piggies and smells really fresh. Oxbow have a good reputation for providing good, fresh timothy hay.
 
We have just taken Oscar to the vets and she said that it's his back tooth that has grown too long again and this is why he is not eating, so he is booked in tomorrow for his teeth to be done she also said she's going to give us some anti-biotics for the lump/abcess aswell.
I am abit annoyed as he only had his teeth done at the end of April with a different vet and now the tooth is already too long again, he had them done again last December and they lasted until the end of April so I don't know why he already needs them doing again :( he also had to be but under an anaesthetic which is risky for him :( :(
 
Teeth grow very quickly! I have a piggie here who needs his teeth filing every ten days. They are all different in how often they need dental work depending out how well they use their teeth.

My vet carries out dental work without the need for GA which keeps costs lower and the piggie doesn't have to recover from an anaesthetic. How experienced is your vet with regard to guinea pig dentals. I have heard of so many people spending hundreds and hundreds of pounds on dental work, only for the piggie to get progressively worse with each treatment. Check out the link to see how many piggies have been helped via the Sanctuary.

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=91934
 
Can your vet do back teeth without the use of anaesthetic? I have heard of doing front teeth without but can't seem to find anywhere that does back teeth, Ideally I would like to find somewhere that does his teeth while he is awake
 
Lauren_95 said:
Can your vet do back teeth without the use of anaesthetic? I have heard of doing front teeth without but can't seem to find anywhere that does back teeth, Ideally I would like to find somewhere that does his teeth while he is awake
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I'm sorry it's so furstrating and concerning. Unfortunately, it can take only a matter of weeks (if that) for teeth to overgrow. Once they are a little overgrown, a lot of piggies feel uncomfortable eating and then they start to grow even mor quickly as the piggy won't eat enough hay. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a stress/complication free procedure.

I know that some vets are specialists and can do back teeth without GA. Unfortunately, not all that many seem able to do this. I know ours uses GA for dental work.

Although any anaesthesia carries a risk, if you have confidence in your vet, dental procedures are usually very straight-forward and piggies recover quickly.

x
 
He's had them done there twice before with 2 different vets (they keep leaving) so we are on yet a different vet tomorrow but she seems really good :) I've asked before about taking the 'problem tooth' out but they said he would be under for longer and it would be a difficult recovery, so I'm just praying that my little man will be ok again tomorrow :)
 
Oscar had his teeth done today all ok and is back home, he isn't eating or drinking and doesn't look too great but he looked like this the first time he had his teeth done, I am beginning to question whether they were actually done last time because they haven't lasted and when we brought him back home he seemed fine and his usual self like nothing had happened and today a different vet filed them and said they were extremely overgrown and like the first time he doesn't seem himself again.
I'll keep you posted :)
 
Oscar has taken a turn for the worst he will not eat anything, fresh or dry :( he is still drinking and is on anti-biotics and pain relief as well as the emerprid to get his guts moving, we have been syringing him critical care. We took him to the vets this morning and she said there’s nothing left to do apart from to put home to sleep :'( he still seems ok for the moment so we have him back home but I really don't know what to do any suggestions?
 
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