Piggie Has Tooth Root Abscess's

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cutepiggies

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Hi, I posted a little while ago about my gorgeous piggy who had a megazorb blockage? He has thankfully come through that, but has stopped eating properly again in the last week. He has been diagnosed as having dental disease. He has abscess's in his teeth roots. He was having issue's for a while where he would lose weight, stop eating and the previous vet did not know why? But after a few days on Baytril he would start to impove. Then he would go down hill again once the A/B were stopped?
It makes sense now as like my new vet has said, 'as soon as the A/B's were stopped, the abscess's would start forming again, and he would stop eating again'?
I am concerned though as my new vet has put him on Septrin, and it has been 3 days and there has been no improvement at all. Infact he is getting worse with his food. When he was on the Baytril previously, he was showing signs of improvement within 24 hours?
I am sorry to waffle on but would love some more advice please as to what to do? The vet has said I can change him onto Baytril if I wish but that Septrin is the preferred choice? I really don't know what to do as this new vet is fantastic and they really know their stuff, so I don't want to make the wrong decision :-( I go away tomorrow for 3 days for a close family member's funeral which is why I'm panicing as to what to do. 3 days is a long time to wait if this A/B isn't working :-(

I'm so sorry for the length of this post, I just wanted to explain my concerns well and hope other's have experience? Thanks.xx
 
if it were me I would opt to switch bk to the baytril. Only because you mentioned he picked up on being on it and he's not improved on the septrin. They may be brill vets etc but you have obviously noticed the difference. Especially if you are having to leave him for 3 days. I know operations on small furries are risky but will they remove the tooth if its in the root?
 
Could you please add your location to your details? That will play a role in what kind of help we can give you.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/...cation-and-creating-an-avatar-picture.107444/

Generally, a strong antibiotic like zithromax (azithromycin) will cut through a dental abscess; baytril and septrin are both likely to be too weak. The Excellent Advanture Sanctuary in Northampton cares specifically for guinea pigs with temporary or chronic dental problems in conjuction with a vet who has been specialising in that area and she has got plenty of experience with tooth abscesses.
Here are her further contact details for advice: http://www.teasnorthampton.co.uk/ or The Excellent Adventure Sanctuary (for guinea pigs with extra needs)
 
Having dealt with many tooth root abscesses here at the sanctuary, I am afraid that neither baytril or septrin are particularly useful when dealing with abscesses. The only antibiotic that seems to work well is Zithromax (azithromycin) We have had wonderful results when using this antibiotic, in conjunction with excellent dental work from our fantastic vet.
 
Thank you for the replies. They are speaking about long term antibiotics rather than an operation? Vet thinks it's poss he has multiple abscess's as his roots don't look to good apparently and there are tiny holes under the roots? I just feel so sad for him as we thought we would lose him to the blockage. He came through that but now this the poor mite. This is probably what caused the bloat in the first place. The pain from his teeth bless him.
He was eating great last week, but its gone downhill and now he wont even touch his soft nuggets. I have just examined his teeth and the back one's look fine, but the front one's are now overgrown. A small bit of me is hoping that maybe he has stopped eating his nuggets because of this, and the vets are wrong maybe. That maybe this is stopping him from eating his nuggets properly if he can't bite down as normal (due to the overgrown front teeth) but if that was the case, I'm sure he would still eat his soft nuggets wouldn't he?
 
Thank you, I have updated my location, sorry. If I travelled to Northampton, is the Excellent adventure sanctuary somewhere that could board my piggies if they needed to stay for a few days for treatment? I am more than happy to travel to Northampton but would worry about taking them back and forth over a period of days? I could also discuss with my vet if he would change over to the new medication perhaps? Is it a well known antibiotic that vets often use?
 
I know this is a bit off course, but he is still on quite a high dose of Emeprid and Cisapride? 2ml of Emeprid per day plus the Cisapride. Is it possible that these are taking his appetite away? I can't really see anything from Google about these being common side effects but I just would have expected him to be in more pain if he had a mouth of abscess's? He wont even eat grass now. He is now on sole hand feeds only. He isn't fluffed/hunched up as in pain though? He's lying down on his fleece looking quite relaxed?
Thank you so much Furry Friends Sanctury. That's very reassuring to know he can stay for a few days if need be.xx
 
Hi cutepiggies, I'm sorry you are having problems and I can identify with ""all"" of them, abscesses are notoriously difficult to treat, and standard antibiotics usually fail miserably, I Echo what the others have said about the Zithromax it would seem to be one of the few antibiotics capable of penetrating the walls of an abscess, but you can be between a rock and a hard place, it does not happen often but occasionally Zithromax will cause loss of appetite, so if you do change to Zithromax it is possible that your pig;s appetite problem might be worse. But it is worth persevering, I found it useful to have a collection of treat Hays , as they will often respond to this especially if the package is just been opened! also well done for bringing your pig through the Megazob blockage, I have also had a few of those also, and I sadly lost three pigs to this problem before I picked up on the fact that they sometimes eat it and it can cause gut blockage
 
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