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Not eating/odd head thrashing

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vyolett

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I'm new here and hoping someone might have an insight on my situation.

Cannella is a 3yo female I've had since a baby. Just before New Year's I noticed she wasn't pooping/eating and having difficulty eating. I started syringe feeding her and brought her to a vet on New Year's Eve. The vet said that her front teeth were overgrown so he cut them and sent me home with critical care and a probiotic. I brought her home and there was no improvement.

A few days later I brought her to a 2nd vet who was supposed to have more small animal experience and she said that Cannella's back teeth were very overgrown and had, in fact, curved up and cut her gum. She filed down her back teeth and sent her home with an antibiotic.

There was no improvement so on Sunday I brought her to an animal hospital where I know there is an "exotics" specialist on staff. He did an x-ray, ultrasound, bloodwork and physical exam finding only an ovarian cyst that he thought wasn't very big, but might be causing enough pain to put her off her food. He sent me home with 2 pain meds.

If anything, she's worse. She calls for food and tries to eat it, but it just falls out of her mouth. It's getting increasingly difficult to syringe feed her because she's so resistent. When I do manage to get a bit of food in, she throws her head back, rolling it from side to side with her mouth wide open and her tongue working. This behavior has been increasing, and she'll even do it when not being fed. Might it be a stroke?

So far I've brought her to 3 vets, paid about $1300, and spent 6 hours in the hospital waiting room, but I have no answers. Does anyone here have any ideas?
 
Maybe with the teeth overgrown your pig needs time for any swelling or sores to go down, hopefully she will pull through.
 
are you syringing ok for sure because you have to be carful that it doesnt go into her lungs, maybe contact Laura for a factsheet on syringing, sorry if you know exactly how to do it, dont mean to patronise.

Hope your piggy makes it through, sounds like a rough time for it. :(
 
Please contact Laura at www.guineapighelpline.com she will be able to help you. It sounds like your piggie has a sore mouth, possibly oral daktarin could work. I take it you're in the US? I'm sorry that you've had three very different diagnoses. Where abouts are you located?
Big hugs for you and your poorly piggie x
 
Thank you all for your replies. I will definitely contact Laura immediately.

I'm in Brooklyn, New York, but Cannella is actually from Italy. We just moved here 3 mos. ago.

Now she's not even picking at her food. :(
 
I would post on GuineaLynx if you haven't already, as you are in the states. They will probably be able to help more.
 
I found with syringe feeding little and often is the way, with mouthfuls of water inbetween mouthfuls of food... have you tried mixing the food with something yummy like apple puree.... I would treat for oral thrush if she has got sores in her mouth as it soothes and will also treat any thrush present. Can you get metatone in the states? this helps improve appetite and has lots of vitamins in it (0.5 ml daily). Guinea pig teeth do grow quite quickly so she may need retrimming again..... What is her normal diet like?
 
lovelygirl - this is EXACTLY what Laura at Guinea Pig Rescue Hotline suggested it be...oral fungus and molars already overgrown. It makes sense! This is the only thing that I've heard so far that seems to click in my head as a possiblity...her gagging actions...DH had said that she's acting like she has a sore throat, and it just makes sense!

I've made (yet another) vet's appmt. for Cannella tomorrow. Oooooh, I hope so much that this works. Poor thing's been suffering and I was at the point of thinking to just let her out of it.

Up until this episode her diet had been unlimited timothy hay, timothy pellets, and water, plus daily treats of greens and the rare bit of fruit. My hay and pellets might not have been optimal quality and I had already placed an order for Oxbow products before this happened.

I just googled Metatone and unfortunately it's not sold here.
 
I'll add to this and say it is falling out of her mouth because of her incisors have been trimmed...perhaps unnecessairly. That's the first hurdle a piggie needs to overcome......biting and handling their food

Next hurdle is the chewing the bits with the molars..can also be difficult/painful.....and that's where the sore gums/infection etc comes in......

Sounds like your piggy is suffering from both.....so I guess it'll be syringe feeding until the incisors grow back to their normal functionality ....coupled with the treatments already recommended by Laura etc to relieve sore gums/infection......Be aware it could take a couple of months of your dedicated care to get her back on her feet and on the road to recovery....but this is not unusual and many man piggies have been successfuly treated in this way

x
 
Update

Cannella just got back from the vet's. Her back teeth haven't gotten too overgrown yet, but she said she had no experience with oral fungal infections and no anti-fungals to give her. She referred me back to the hospital that charged me $900 and got me nowhere. AAAAARRRRGGGHHH! grrrr

I've just ordered some Daktarin from Canada (it's not sold here in the States) and will try to find some gentian violet to tide me over 'til then. The closest rabbit expert is over an hour away and because she'll be out for a conference her first available appmt. is Thursday, which I took.

Can anyone give me some advice on using either the gentian violet or the Daktarin?
 
Finally a diagnosis - BROKEN JAW!

Cannella was brought to her 4th vet a couple days ago. I asked the hospital who did the first round of x-rays to email them to him. Of course, they sent them to the wrong email address, so the vet did another set which showed...she has a broken jaw! He subsequently received the 1st set of x-rays but he says the break isn't visible in those. (??!) I'm completely baffled. he said the only thing to do is to keep syringe feeding and hope it resolves itself. when I showed him the link to the Chin Sling, he said that would be perfect.

Now the questions are: 1) where can I get a Chin Sling? and 2) does anyone have experience with a guinea pig having a broken jaw?
 
This sounds really odd. How can she have a broken jaw but then not be able to see it on the xray?

Can you think of anytime that she could have broken her jaw?@)
Keep syringe feeding her and ask Laura for daktarin dose. How much does she weigh?
Big hugs to you and poor Canella x
 
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