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Possible teeth problems

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Simon has just called. He said that something has shown up on the xray in Zippy's middle ear. Which could mean an ear infection, which does explain why he has stopped eating as it's could be too painful for him.
Simon also explained that the bloat that Zippy has is probably linked to the fact that he wasn't eating very well for the past few days.
Zips is still full of gas but we're allowed to pick him up tonight as Simon is satisfied that he's not in any immediate danger, but isn't out of the woods yet.
Our other boar Fuzzy has an ear infection last year and it took ages to get better, but because we now go to Simon we've caught it a lot quicker than the previous vets did.
 
Poor Zippy, he's had a rough couple of days. Good to hear Simon has identified the potential problem, it does make sense that if his ear is painful, it would affect his eating.

I also agree with the theory that not eating well can lead to bloat; it's one reason heart pigs can be prone to bloat, due to the impact the specific "heart symptoms" have on the pigs eating. Kind of a knock-on effect!
 
CCT is among the best in the country without a doubt, but there are a couple of others with equal skill. There is nothing to say that one is entirely better than another other than personal experience and opinion; it is more the case that CCT is not the only option for getting excellent dental treatment for guinea pigs.
 
Laura-CCC4 said:
Poor Zippy, he's had a rough couple of days. Good to hear Simon has identified the potential problem, it does make sense that if his ear is painful, it would affect his eating.

I also agree with the theory that not eating well can lead to bloat; it's one reason heart pigs can be prone to bloat, due to the impact the specific "heart symptoms" have on the pigs eating. Kind of a knock-on effect!
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Thats pretty much what Simon said. He said bloat is normally secondary to another problem and that the bloat is normally caused because the pig isn't eating well.
Fuzzy stopped eating and didn't eat for himself for about 3 and half weeks until the medication kicked in for him (although just over a week of that was our previous vets trying to find out what the problem was. We took him to a specialist who realised the problem almost instantly). Hopefully we've caught it early enough that Zippy can get better and back to his normal self quickly.

I just can't wait to see him now.
 
I am so glad that Simon seems to have pinpointed the problem and that hopefully Zippy will very soon be on the road to recovery.

I think Simon is an abolute star!


clairelove said:
sorry i just thought that was the best place and you couldnt get any better has everyone seems to bang on about how good they are:{:{:{
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Obviously I can only speak from experience, but I have recently had a piggie come into my care, who had been seen by a vet, Vedra and a rodentologist for dental problems, and had made absolutely no progress and in fact was getting worse. Simon immediately picked up on the problem and the piggie is now doing amazingly well.
 
furryfriends said:
I am so glad that Simon seems to have pinpointed the problem and that hopefully Zippy will very soon be on the road to recovery.

I think Simon is an abolute star!
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I've just texted you with an update Debbie!

I think Simon is brilliant too. I think I said to you last night that when we took Zips in on Wednesday, we thought Simon was stuck in America. We wondered if we could fly Zippy out there in my hand luggage to get Simon to see him! Luckily for us, it was someone else stuck in America!
 
Zips has been home for about an hour now. He is a different pig to the one we took to the emergency vets last night. As soon as I put him in his hutch he came straight out, had a drink and started to eat hay.
I gave him some grass which he ate straight away. He's not gone inside his house at all since he's been home which is a good sign too.
He looks a lot less bloated than he did last night too.
I'll give him some lettuce to see how he gets on with that in a bit. :)
 
I never thought I'd say this but thank god our holiday was cancelled because of the volcano! I don't know what we would have done if this had happened when we were away, although I know he would have been in safe hands but still would have wanted to come home!
 
Thought I'd give an update on Zippy. He's been out of his house during the night and I know he's at least tried to eat some nuggets over night as there was one which had been dropped on the floor that wasn't there when we went to bed.
This morning he's had 16mls of critical care and I've heard him drinking and have seen him eating nuggets. He's also had some grass first thing this morning which he ate as soon as it was put in his hutch.
He's been to the toilet a normal amount too, and although his stools aren't looking as normal as usual it's a good sign he's going to the toilet, and I guess that this is to be expected given that he's mainly eating syringe food?
He's a completely different pig to the one we took to the emergency vets on Thursday night, and he definitely doesn't look as round as he did then either. We've got an appointment with Simon again on Monday so we'll keep on doing as we are and see what Simon thinks of his progress then.
 
It sounds like he's moving in the right direction, great he is pooping well - a slight difference in faeces is likely down to the change in diet, yes. Medication can also affect the faeces. If the poops are a little soft, you could give a probiotic alongside the syringe-feeds just to help keep the gut flora balanced in view of him being on antibiotics and having a bit sensitive digestion at the moment.
 
Zippy has been taking his syringe food really well for the past 2 feeds we've given him, he ate a bit of brocolli and nibbled on a bit of carrot last night. I put a bit of brocolli in with him this morning and he dragged that into his house straight away.
My main concern now is that he doesn't really come out of his house much, if at all at the moment. He drags food into his house so we can't see if he's eating it or not. Am I expecting too much? I suppose it's be expected if he's not feeling very well, but I just want to make sure he's ok.
He's got an appointment with Simon tomorrow morning, which is just as well as we've run out of Zithromax now.
 
Seeing Simon this morning. Zippy is still taking CC well but not much else. He does nibble at bits and pieces but spends most of his time sitting in his house. Hes still holding his weight but it would be nice to see him up on the move even if only occasionally. Will see what Simon thinks this morning.
 
Zippy has been to see Simon this morning. Simon seemed pleased with his progress and said that Zippy could be dizzy and disorientated if he has got an ear infection which is why he's not moving about very much. Simon said his gut instinct is that Zips will snap out of this but says it could take a while.
He's given us more zithromax and we have to go back next Tuesday for a check up.
Simon was pleased with Zippys weight and said it was a good sign he's eating bits on his own.
 
Sending Zippy lots of vibes!

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I got home from work tonight and Steve told me to be quiet because Zippy was eating lettuce!
He kept sticking his head out the door of his house, grabbing a piece of lettuce and going back to his house and eating it. I'd rather he wasn't be secretive but I feel that he's made some progress as he's not actively sought out food until tonight. :))
 
Update

Its been about a week and a half since we first took Zippy to the vets when he stopped eating.
He's still not eating for himself so we are syringe feeding critical care. On a plus he is taking his CC well and we are getting between 50 and 60 ml into him everyday.

He does show a slight interest in food and does nibble on hay and veggies. He's still not moving about much either. On top of all this, we think he's impacted too.

We're back at the vets on Tuesday and whilst he's not really getting worse I would have hoped for a little improvement by now.
Our vet has said it might take a while to clear up the infection as we have no way of knowing how long he's had the infection (although we got him to the vets within 12 hours of him stopping eating).

I'm just so worried about poor little Zips. We are going on holiday in just over 3 weeks, and whilst he's going to be looked after by an expert syringe feeder I know I'll spend the entire holiday worried about him if he doesn't show any signs of improvement by then.

Has anyone had a similar experience with an ear infection and how long did it take to clear up?

Thanks x
 
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