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Pawing at mouth

Lauren1601

Lauren1601

New Born Pup
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Hey. My two guinea pigs keep pawing at the mouths. Not all the time but enough for me to have noticed it. One is doing it more than the other so I checked her teeth and everything looks good except maybe a bit of plaque at the bottom of her bottom teeth. Their behaviour is normal and they are eating normal. Is this something for me to worry about or am I overreacting?

Sorry if I am but google hasn’t had any answers and I just want to make sure. Thanks 😊
 
When are they doing it? Very odd for both to do it? How is their weight?
 
Are they perhaps just washing their faces?
Does it happen always when they are eating? If so please get a vet to check their teeth. They have many more teeth than the ones you can see, and it’s possible something is catching on them.
 
It is just mainly when they eat but it’s one quick swipe and then they carry on eating. Surely if there was something wrong with their teeth they would struggle to eat or at least eat slower?
 
Most of the time when my pigs have done it it's an indication that something is stuck in the back of the mouth- either from rushing through food or from overgrown back molars. I would keep an eye on their weights weekly and look for any loss... if so I would take them in for a check of their back teeth (you likely won't spot any early dental problems just by looking at the incisors you can see. By the time the incisors look off, the back teeth are WAY off and you want to catch things before that.) I wouldn't panic about it, but it's definitely something to keep an eye on and regular weights are always a good idea to catch any problems early.
 
Freela said:
Most of the time when my pigs have done it it's an indication that something is stuck in the back of the mouth- either from rushing through food or from overgrown back molars. I would keep an eye on their weights weekly and look for any loss... if so I would take them in for a check of their back teeth (you likely won't spot any early dental problems just by looking at the incisors you can see. By the time the incisors look off, the back teeth are WAY off and you want to catch things before that.) I wouldn't panic about it, but it's definitely something to keep an eye on and regular weights are always a good idea to catch any problems early.
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Thank you. I just weighed them both today and they haven’t changed since the last weigh in. Both around a kilo. 😊 I’ll defiantly keep an eye on them though. You can never be to careful. 😄
 
See if you can do a quick video of it and then upload it to YouTube and then copy its link here?
 
I can try. But they do it so quickly. I think they might just be cleaning their face. Thanks for all the help guys. 😊they seem to be happy. Still eating lots and popcorning round the cage and they are both a healthy wait. I will of course keep an eye on them but I think I was probably overreacting 😅
 
My pigs would do this sometimes after they ate and i think a bit of food got stuck in their mouth/teeth but it doesn’t happen much anymore. As said by others, if they are actually wiping their face with their paws then they will just be cleaning themselves.
 
Thank you. They are going to the vets next week for a check up so if there is anything wrong I’ll find out then. But I don’t think there is 😊
 
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