no food after dental care

[guineadad]

Hello,
( please excuse any grammer mistakes, english isnt my first language)

I am in a bit of a tought spot with my guinea pig. She is about 5 years old and showed signes of thooth problems a few days ago. We went to a specialist for exodics (also guinea pigs) and had her teeth shortened. She didnt have any problems with her premolars and molars, but now she is refusing food, or at least bites into it and lets it fall. We did gave her pain medication, since she isnt our first pig with dental problems. She is being fed by syringe ,but throws tantrums the whole time. She can bite (the syringe ) but doesnt touch food twice, altough she is trying. Her diet consist of lots of hay and fresh salads like romaine lettuce and small amounds of cabbage lettuce, as well as small amounds of fresh herbs.
I have no idea how to help her more, would appreciate the help.

Thank you

 

[CTWC]

Hi there I'm sorry you are having problems.
I'm not an expert hopefully one will be on soon .so did she have any dental procedure at all or couldn't they find a problem?

 

[CTWC]

What medication is she on?
Also you need to now weigh her every morning to make sure she isn't losing weight

 

[Mrs Tiggy Winkle]

You say you are feeding her by syringe, so critical care? I forget how you say it in German. Is she accepting it off the syringe and swallowing it?

If I remember right, guineas can be hesitant to eat after their front teeth have been shortened, just for a couple of days. During this time you need to syringe feed to prevent gut stasis and so the guinea has her substitute hay intake. Usually she will get back to her hay in a few days, but you need to bridge this time.

Good luck to you and your guinea!

 

[Piggies&buns]

Which teeth did she have shortened? You say there weren’t problems with her molars or premolars so did they file her incisors?

You will need to make sure you weigh her every morning so you can monitor her food intake. She will need to be syringe fed with critical care to replace the hay fibre she isn’t eating for herself.

Is she still on pain meds?

Weight and Weight Loss Explained: BMI, Weighing, Poos and Feeding Support Levels
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

 

[weepweeps]

Hello. I’m struggling with a piggy not eating after a dental.

Try cutting her veggies into “sticks”



Good luck

 

[Merab]

Good advice given.
Shredded lettuce leaves are also good.
Hope he recovers soon.
Welcome to the forum

 

[guineadad]

hello and thank you all for the answers.
To clear a few things because i forgot in my panic,
she did have her front teeth shortened, and i do give her veggies in stripes. Yes she is in critical care. gor the medication part ,she is on metacam. I also give her something to help with digestion ( from the vet).
will try my best to get the vet on the line to give me an appointment thank you all again. If i have better news ,i will update

 

[Piggies&buns]

The front teeth kept in check by the correct action of the back teeth. So If the front teeth have problems then it is usually the back teeth which need the work done on them. It can happen that the incisors have problem in their own right but as I say it’s less common and is instead usually the back teeth

If her front teeth have maybe been filed too short then that will affect her ability to pick food up until the teeth grow back in

 

[Posyrose]

Good luck and hugs to you as it is always so very difficult when they won't eat. You're doing everything you can for your girl

 

[Maeneth]

Onyx, my guinea pig (the piggie on the far right in my pfp!) had dental issues well over a week ago, and he is still receiving critical food. He does consume hay so now and then, but not nearly enough for him to sustain his weight.

It's not easy, but I think your lovely companion will eventually eat normally again, it just takes some time.

Out of curiosity, what is her name?

Kind regards
Maeneth~

 

[guineadad]

alright hello everyone, i've got some new updates.
the problems are apparently not just her teeth :/ Sche has Arthritis and her jaw muscles are weakend, hence she spits out everything she grabs.so the critical care has to continue. I would live to hear some tips for extremly feisty guinea pigs, because she would rather fling her head around than take food and meds.
If you have some tips for that, without hurting her ,I'd love that

thank you all

 

[guineadad]

Onyx, my guinea pig (the piggie on the far right in my pfp!) had dental issues well over a week ago, and he is still receiving critical food. He does consume hay so now and then, but not nearly enough for him to sustain his weight.

It's not easy, but I think your lovely companion will eventually eat normally again, it just takes some time.

Out of curiosity, what is her name?

Kind regards
Maeneth~

her name is angel

 

[Piggies&buns]

alright hello everyone, i've got some new updates.
the problems are apparently not just her teeth :/ Sche has Arthritis and her jaw muscles are weakend, hence she spits out everything she grabs.so the critical care has to continue. I would live to hear some tips for extremly feisty guinea pigs, because she would rather fling her head around than take food and meds.
If you have some tips for that, without hurting her ,I'd love that

thank you all

I’m sorry to hear that.

What amount of pain meds is she on? It’s important she has a good dose and probably twice a day to be able to manage her discomfort. She will be very reluctant to eat if her pain isn’t fully kept in check.

Unfortunately if she refuses to chew any hay at all and has to live on critical care then her teeth are going to continue to over grow.

Are you weighing her every morning?
Do you have access to any fresh (dog pee free) grass?

Otherwise the other thing you can try is a different type of recovery feed to see if she prefers the flavour and becomes more willing to swallow

All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

 

[Merab]

Sorry to hear this news.
Angel is in excellent hands with you and you will do the very best for her.
Holding you in my heart

 

[weepweeps]

alright hello everyone, i've got some new updates.
the problems are apparently not just her teeth :/ Sche has Arthritis and her jaw muscles are weakend, hence she spits out everything she grabs.so the critical care has to continue. I would live to hear some tips for extremly feisty guinea pigs, because she would rather fling her head around than take food and meds.
If you have some tips for that, without hurting her ,I'd love that

thank you all

I’m going through something similar with my Pebble. He’s about 12 days post a teeth trim.

He’s still not eating hay. I’ve tried 2 different hays on top of his 2 normal hays. Tried grass. Loved it for a day then won’t touch it.

He can eat his nuggets, pea flakes, banana and his veggies cut into strips. How is Angel with these foods?

Also I tried EmerAid IC. This has been a game changer. He will actually eat it from the syringe while he is still in his cage!

I have found if Pebble wants to eat the syringe feed he will. If he doesn’t then we had to give up. As I couldn’t pin him down. Like you said they are so feisty. Even with my husband holding him wrapped in a towel he would get the better of us. It’s so frustrating as we are only trying to help them. Good luck. I hope Angel is soon munching away.

Good pain meds will help. Pebble is on metacam and paracetamol. And also a gut stimulant.

 

[KK327]

So sorry about your piggy, on the pain front Stan had his bladder stone removed a couple of weeks ago and the metacam was not enough - he was in too much pain to care about anything much - they gave him Tramadol as another painkiller on top - it would be worth asking your vet if this is an option for your piggy. Stan fought me tooth and nail to not take the critical care - in the end we had him wrapped up so tight he couldn't wiggle anywhere and my husband held him whilst I got the syringe in. We used a 1ml syringe with the end cut off as the other one was too big for him and he did not like it one bit. We are well over the worst now and I wish you Good luck

 

[Maeneth]

I’m going through something similar with my Pebble. He’s about 12 days post a teeth trim.

He’s still not eating hay. I’ve tried 2 different hays on top of his 2 normal hays. Tried grass. Loved it for a day then won’t touch it.

He can eat his nuggets, pea flakes, banana and his veggies cut into strips. How is Angel with these foods?

Also I tried EmerAid IC. This has been a game changer. He will actually eat it from the syringe while he is still in his cage!

I have found if Pebble wants to eat the syringe feed he will. If he doesn’t then we had to give up. As I couldn’t pin him down. Like you said they are so feisty. Even with my husband holding him wrapped in a towel he would get the better of us. It’s so frustrating as we are only trying to help them. Good luck. I hope Angel is soon munching away.

Good pain meds will help. Pebble is on metacam and paracetamol. And also a gut stimulant.

That is frustrating, I went through the same with Onyx. He needed three weeks before he starts eating hay again, which he does now, finally. It was a long journey.

I hope Pebble recovers fast!