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Older male piggie with uneven front teeth

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PingandChipy

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I'm worried about my elderly male piggie, chipychanga. He is 5 and a half years old and recently I noticed that he is eating slower. He is still eating lots and eating his hay/pellets/veg. But it's mostly the veg that he seems to be eating slower.

Upon looking at his front teeth I noticed they are uneven and long. Is it safe to take him to the vets to have his front teeth trimmed? I'm so nervous they will screw up and cause him more teeth problems. Is this from his old age?

Thanks,
from a very worried piggy mom.
Lynn:(
 
HI :)
He could be slowing down cause of age, BUT if it's his toofies they will cause him no end of troubles....have you got a good piggie vet?
Don't let them trim his front toofies too low, then it takes days before they can manage to pickup anything mallethead it might be the molars, they could be trapping his little tongue.
Best of luck, keep us posted

some girlie kisses from Velvet and Onyx for Chipy xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
 
Unfortunately, it looks much more likely that his back teeth are overgrown and preventing the front teeth from wearing down evenly. Unless you have the molars checked and and any spurs clipped or filed down, Chipy won't be able to chew properly. Spurs can either grow over his tongue, trapping it, or painfully dig into the flesh of the mouth, in some cases eventually causing abscesses.

Please weigh him daily and ask the vet for recovery food and painkiller when he gets treated. Many guinea pigs don't like to eat after a painful dental condition and very uncomfortable treatment. Sadly, not to treat him means a sure slow, agonising death when the pain prevents him from eating eventually.

Tooth problems are not uncommon in older piggies.
 
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Unfortunately, it looks much more likely that his back teeth are overgrown and preventing the front teeth from wearing down evenly. Unless you have the molars checked and and any spurs clipped or filed down, Chipy won't be able to chew properly. Spurs can either grow over his tongue, trapping it, or painfully dig into the flesh of the mouth, in some cases eventually causing abscesses.

Please weigh him daily and ask the vet for recovery food and painkiller when he gets treated. Many guinea pigs don't like to eat after a painful dental condition and very uncomfortable treatment. Sadly, not to treat him means a sure slow, agonising death when the pain prevents him from eating eventually.

Tooth problems are not uncommon in older piggies.

Does he need to be put under anesthetic for this? I will call the Vets today.
Thanks. Poor chipy!
 
Does he need to be put under anesthetic for this? I will call the Vets today.
Thanks. Poor chipy!

It depends very much on the vet. An exotics specialist should be able to do it with only light anaesthetics. The very best (but not very many) can do it without. I don't know how good your vet is.
 
Hi, chipy is all booked to go see the vets tomorrow afternoon. He is seeing the exotic vet who neutered my other guinea pig, Ping. The vet did an awesome job with Ping and also neutered my rabbit. I'll let you all know what happens. I am nervous! I'm really attached to my old piggie and don't want any bad news but I also can't ignore it when I can hear him gumming his food and seeing those jagged front teeth.

Thanks everyone for your help!
 
Update!

Well, we are back from the Vets and he does have uneven molars in the back. They are growing like a peak towards the tongue, if that makes sense. So the only way to fix it is for him to go under anesthetic and have them clipped.

I don't know if I want to do this because of his age. He is 5 and a half years old. I'm scared of having him take anesthetic at this age. I'm also scared of his recovery time being older. They are not able to do it without putting him under.

She said it's not trapping his tongue at this point and he isn't slobbering but that evenutally that will happen. How long? She doesn't know.

One part of me says to go for it as it is the only way to fix the teeth. But the other part of me says to leave him alone and monitor him. To help him live his last few months or what have you, without the surgery and soak his pellets, give him critical care and when the time comes to let him go.

But I dont want him to suffer! So I'm feel damned if I do and damned if I don't. I hate this. And won't the teeth just grow back like that again? Won't his jaw be so sore after?

I feel so sad for him and confused about what to do.:(
 
Would they consider light sedation my vet used Valium (Diazepam) to do Fred's teeth might be worth asking. xx
 
I"m not sure. Right now Chipy is munching down on dandelions. He's so sweet. I think we'll probably have to go for the operation, sigh. But I need time to think about it and make a decision for sure. I'm so nervous he'll not make it through surgery, or he will but not have a good recovery.
 
Can I ask what you decided to do?

I'm in same situation but my guineapig is 6yrs and 9 months old. A year ago exactly I had the same situation and he was anaesthetised and had his back teeth done. Now a year later its happening again but he weighs less (was 1000g now 700g so wouldnt survive it at present.
 
Can I ask what you decided to do?

I'm in same situation but my guineapig is 6yrs and 9 months old. A year ago exactly I had the same situation and he was anaesthetised and had his back teeth done. Now a year later its happening again but he weighs less (was 1000g now 700g so wouldnt survive it at present.

It is very possible that he will survive you may find the weightloss is partly due to his teeth. My friend has a young piggy who was given a 40 minute GA when she weighed roughly 400 grams. She's now doing brilliantly.
 
My piggy Toffee, had long front teeth. My vet clipped them and said her back teeth were growing over and would trap her tongue. At this point he said once she starts deteriorating he would give her a GA and do her back teeth. She was under 500g.

I got a 2nd opinion from a cavy savy vet who, without GA and without waiting until she was deteriorating with a trapped tongue, sorted her back teeth.

Unfortunately she did develop an abscess and needed a > 40mins GA and even at less than 500g, as flintstones mentioned above, she came through fighting. She is (probably) a young pig and a real fighter who wants to live so I'm not saying all would be the same but I couldnt have left her teeth to eventually trap her tongue and cause her distress being unable to eat even if I risked losing her through the treatment. I dont regret having her done. Obviously though each case is different.

Best of luck - keep us posted

xx
 
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