Possible dental/mouth issue?

[HeatherW]

In the last week or so, Jasmine has been chewing the wooden posts of her hammock and barbering poor Leo, which he seems quite happy to let her do as long as she doesn't pluck to hard!

The other day, I gave her a couple of slices of grape and she over-exaggerated her chewing like she had something stuck, plus this morning I found a stain near the bottom of the water bottle like she may have been drinking and some of it washed out.

I wouldn't think much of it, except that she's only just started doing both and I'm wondering if they could all be related. I'm only asking if anyone has experienced anything similar; my vet is still only accepting emergency appointments, but I'll book her in as soon as I can. She's due a check-up on her ovarian cysts anyway.

Thanks!

 

[Little Ones]

I have two dental piggies. I don’t think barbering or chewing on the wood would indicate a dental problem - if anything they seem like boredom behaviours.
My boy Peanut would do the exaggerated chewing like he had something stuck when eating pellets or veg. He had something called tongue pinning. This is when both sides of the back teeth overgrow and essentially trap the tongue and so hinders proper manoeuvring of food and then causes the odd chewing. It can also cause thick drips of chewed up food mixed with saliva to drip out of the mouth too.
I wouldn’t say it’s an emergency. The strange chewing could be a sign of something, however the main thing you need to look out for is how well she is eating hay. With dental pigs, that’s usually the main sign something is wrong. If she isn’t eating hay at all, then it would strongly point to dental problems. If she’s being selective over which hay strands to eat, then it could suggest something isn’t quite right. I would monitor her for now, see if the strange chewing persists. It could be that she has some food lodged awkwardly back there and is struggling to remove it. Like i said, if her hay intake becomes unusual then definitely take action. Otherwise, just see how she is.

Also: dental piggies are able to eat grass, so if you see her hay intake fall, stepping in with grass as a replacement will keep her going until you’re able to get her seen by a vet. To which I would recommend the long trip to Northampton to see Simon - a journey I made from Barnsley myself via train around two weeks ago!

 

[Bill & Ted]

Aw, hope Jasmine is alright, Ted never bartered but he does ear wagging (looks like he is either moving food around his mouth or gagging on food when he is having problems, sometimes before he starts to loose weight and eats less.
I would recommend a visit to see Simon Maddock too, it’s well worth the journey if you are at all concerned. He can look into the mouth with proper tools without anaesthetic and tell you what if anything is wrong. I have now had two horror stories with local vets (one exotic and one regular) a poor dental can be worse than the symptoms displayed by dental problems, choose a vet very carefully x

 

[Lorcan]

When Comet had a dental problem there were zero indicators in how he was eating. Only reason I knew something was off was when he'd fluff himself up when he thought I wasn't watching, otherwise his eating etc was normal. Personal circumstances at the time meant getting to Northampton wasn't an option but honestly if I could've done it, I would've preferred to. As it was I got lucky that he went in with my normal vet and everything was fine - but I suspect I'm the exception and not the rule there.

Good luck with Jasmine and I hope everything goes okay, if she's still eating at this point you've got some breathing room at least.