Pig Health Question That Has Puzzled Me Over The Last Few Days...

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Tewdric

Tewdric

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I really should have asked the vet earlier - but it wasn't the time for sensible questions.

In the past 8 weeks I've had to have two of my boars pts due to dental issues. Mycroft 8 weeks ago, then Moriarty today.

They both had back molar problems - growing inwards over their tongue. I didn't want to attempt repeated anesthetics at their age so took the quality over quantity decision with them. Myc was a few weeks short of his 5th birthday when he was pts, Morry had just turned 5 at the end of March before the end came today.

What has now occurred to me is why did the problem suddenly present itself after all these years? If they had tooth issues surely they should have shown themselves at a younger age? Or do 'older' pigs teeth grow faster than a young pigs?

The teeth were what caused the eating problems - and up until they presented the boys had loads of hay, their fresh food and gnawing items etc. just like they'd always had. So why would the teeth growing suddenly cause so much a problem?
 
Some teeth problems become evident in later life, although I have not had the overgrowing the tongue problem. I had a girl called Carmina whose back molar roots grew and grew downwards, past the jaw bone doing a lot of internal damage, into the throat. I had no idea of this until an abcess developed in her throat and she went for an xray, preparatory to doing an operation on the abcess. Then it was seen that the lower back teeth would all have to be removed as well as the abcess as they all had long roots growing downwards in a twisted fashion. The resulting huge wounds would have been too much for my elderly girl, she had very little chance of surviving that much damage. So she was pts. The vets had no idea the teeth were all growing downwards until the xray and it wasn't something I expected. But the problem did not show until she was about 5.
 
I am so sorry to see you have lost two piggies to dental issues. I run a sanctuary for guinea pigs with dental issues, and there can be many reasons why this happens. Anything that stops a guinea pig eating normally can result in their teeth overgrowing. Sometimes this can be a tooth root abscess or a retrobulbar (behind eye) abscess, which causes pain and therefore the piggy eats in a different way, maybe just using one side of their mouth, and the teeth subsequently start to grow unevenly. Once this happens, eating becomes more difficult and the teeth very quickly often pinning the tongue or growing into the cheeks. Often it can be something as simple as a sharp spur on a tooth causing soft tissue trauma, and then the guinea pig doesn't want to eat as it is very painful to do so. Dental issues can be very complex and although some dental problems can be sorted out in just a couple of dentals, many others need ongoing treatment.
 
Thanks for the replies. I just wondered why a tooth growth problem would suddenly present itself after so many years when surely they must have been growing 'wonky' since I had the boys. Can understand why if they'd stopped eating that lack of grinding would cause tooth growth problems - but in both cases it seems like they didn't stop eating until the teeth caused the problem. No sign of infection etc. that the vet could find.

Just one of those hidden problems that finally presented after all these years I guess.
 
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