Possible teeth problem?

[wind1]

One of my boars Truffle is nearly 6 years old and up until about 6 months ago was fit and healthy. He first became unwell with an ear infection, had anti b's and appeared to get better but a week later started tilting his head again so had more anti b's and although recovered from the ear infection was left with a head tilt. Since then he has lived inside in a smallish cage as his balance is not good and he does not travel far from his bed. He had his front teeth trimmed once as one of the top ones had grown too long. He has continued to eat well and appear bright and cheerful up until last Monday. Since then he has seemed lethargic alot of the time and was not eating much at the beginning of the week so I took him to have his teeth trimmed again as they were uneven. He has perked up a little and is eating almost back to normal but he is drinking loads and dribbling loads. The vet looked at his back teeth and said they were a little bit overgrown but not enough to stop him eating. Also his jaw was moving properly for chewing. Is there another reason he would be drinking and dribbling? I'm thinking of taking him to another vet I use for teeth as she will do them without GA but he is quite frail and I'm worried it could be too stressful for him. Any ideas?

 

[claremw92]

Sounds like you need to see another vet... As trimming just the front teeth unfortunately does nothing for the pig... And is a sign of a rubbish vet...
If he needs a dental think hard about the sedation side of things...
Alot of people will use a vet that doesn't use sedation...
But think about the stress it would cause on a fully conscious guinea pig to be turned over and gagged to open it's mouth and trim his teeth down... Sedation doesn't come with out it's risks but if your seeing a vet that will sedate them with gas then they can be brought round from the gas in seconds if something was to go wrong... All my dentals on the animals are done under sedation...
The only time I would personally concider a dental with out would be if it was recommended by a vet...

Where abouts are you based...?
If your local to me I can point you in the direction of some great vets...
x

 

[wind1]

To be fair to the vet who I do trust (there are 3 there that I see and I trust them all) he did say the back teeth could probably do with trimming a little but didn't feel Truffle would be up to a GA. I asked him to trim the front teeth as they were uneven. As I said in my first post I do use another vet who does dentals without so I can take him there if necessary, she used to do another one of mine and he coped with it absolutely fine, it's an hours drive but worth it. My main concern is the stress caused to Truffle but maybe they could give him a little sedation to relax him.

 

[furryfriends (TEAS)]

If he's already quite frail then you need to get this sorted very quickly. Where about are you based?

 

[wind1]

I am in West Sussex, the vet I use for dentals is O'Meara in Surrey. Truffle has eaten some hay this evening plus all his tea of vegetables and some pellets. His chin is no longer wet. I watched him eating and he seemed to be eating normally, he didn't look like he was finding it difficult or in pain.

 

[Glynis]

If you have any problems i'd give furryfriends (Debbie) a PM she is wonderful with toothie piggies and her vet is just brilliant! She will be able to advise you on tips for eating etc.. also.
Six years is a wonderful age.... x)

GOOD LUCK TRUFFLE XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

[wind1]

Just thought I would update on this. Truffle began eating normally again after a couple of days, he lost a lot of fur under his chin where he had dribbled alot and it was looking a bit sore but by using some GG lotion that is now looking lovely and pink and healthy (still bald though). He is back to his normal bouncy, even if a little wobbly from the head tilt, self and heading towards his 6th birthday like a spring chicken! One of his top front teeth has broken off and the other is continuing to grow so he will probably need them trimmed again soon.