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Problems Eating Veg, Help Desperately Needed

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Hank288

Hank288

Adult Guinea Pig
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My guinea pig dotty who is around 3.5 years old seems to be having some problems eating. On Saturday evening I fed them their daily hay and veggies. She was squeaking for her veg and took a piece of carrot from me and her friend did the same. At this time she seemed to be eating really slowly and struggling a bit. I watched her for ages, she finished the small piece of carrot and then tried a piece of cabbage which she seemed to be struggling with. I checked her front teeth and I can't see anything obviously wrong with them, so I left her eating very slowly.
On Sunday I chopped her veg into really tiny pieces and fed her morning and night separated from her friend as it takes her so long to eat. She managed to eat all of the veg I gave her but it did take her half and hour which is ages for her. Also occasionally she was moving her mouth like she had some food stuck and then would carry on eating slowly.
She is fine a bright in herself, still running around squeaking. Her eyes are bright and has no discharge around them or around her nose. she is also pooping normally. So this is why I am wondering if there is a chance it might be a dental issue?
Any advice helpful as I am unsure.
thanks
If I need a vet would I be best going to the Ashleigh exotics vet in Manchester or Rutland house vetinary hospital in St Helens which specialise in dental care but not exotics.
 
Hi - this sounds exactly the same as the issue I had with Pappis last month. She was eating incredibly slowly and constantly trying to get something 'stuck' out of her mouth. The vet found that her back molars had spurs on them (overgrown) and were trapping her tongue poor thing. Lots of people on this forum recommend conscious dentals but our vet does not do them. Pappis had a GA to file down her back teeth and slightly trim her front incisors which had started to become overgrown ( as a result, I think, of not eating properly). The vet was excellent in her treatment and aftercare of Pappis, and after a couple of days of feeling sorry for herself she was back to her old self. She is eating brilliantly again but I am aware that once piggies have had dental issues they are likely to reoccur so I watch her very closely. I always said I wouldn't subject her to repeated GA but she did so well and is relatively young (3 yrs 3 months) so I would consider it again if the problem cropped up again - hopefully not for a long time though as there is obviously a cost issue here as well! Best to let the vet take a look to confirm, but it does sound very similar x
 
Dental Problems are certainly possible my Fred had re-occuring teeth problems and was given regular Dental's. He to would start with problems with eating veg initially. I would definitely recommend a Cavy Savy vet as soon as possible as there teeth grow so quickly.
 
Dotty has been admitted to the vets for dental work under anestethic. Her back teeth appeared to be at an angle and a bit sharp and she had lots of food stuck in her mouth. Hopefully she can come home this afternoon the vet said providing she eats after her operation. Just sat anxiously waiting now.
Thanks guys
 
Hope it all goes well. Guinea pig molars are usually angled inwards anyway, but any sharp bits could well be affecting her eating. Let us know how she does.
 
I panicked when I saw the bit about the teeth being angled. It worries me that the vet probably hasn't seen many guinea pig teeth, if they thought this was a problem. They're meant to be angled. I really hope all goes well
 
Hank288 said:
Dotty has been admitted to the vets for dental work under anestethic. Her back teeth appeared to be at an angle and a bit sharp and she had lots of food stuck in her mouth. Hopefully she can come home this afternoon the vet said providing she eats after her operation. Just sat anxiously waiting now.
Thanks guys
Click to expand...

Hope it goes okay, well done for spotting it early. Please make sure you ask the vet for some pain killer metacam to give at home as after dental work their mouths can be sore.

Lots of recovery vibes
x
 
Maybe worth getting some critical care food in in case you have to supplement with syringe food at any point also x
 
Great, hopefully she will do as well as Pappis. We came home with metacam, antibiotics and zantac - also critical care which we didn't need much of as she started to eat pretty quickly x
 
We use Abbey Vets at Neville's Cross, Durham - they also have a branch at Chester-le-Street. The vet who did Pappis' teeth is called Monique - she is lovely and seems to know what she is talking about - we certainly had no problems, although as you know it is always a risk giving GA to a guinea pig.
 
May be worth trying if in the future I have any dental piggies as in the past I have been sending them to TEAS so they get the best and I know i'm not wasting any money. Would be great if she could move on to doing them conscious though x
 
Dotty is home after her operation and she looks quite bright. Lovely purring for her mummy when I gave her a get well cuddle. She has tackled a chunk of carrot this evening even though I put easier and smaller things in for her to eat. I hope that she will be better tomorrow when her mouth is less sore. She was happily munching hay with her best friend when I left her. she seems happy to be back at home. Will update you all again tomorrow.
Thank you so much for all of your help.
 
It's great that she is eating on her own- some pigs won't immediately after dental work. One of my pigs, Sundae, was always a trooper who was right back into the food after having dentals done too! Hoping for a speedy recovery and hoping that the problem doesn't recur!
 
The vet informed me that her teeth weren't really that bad, he filed them anyway as they looked a bit sharp. Today I have gone to feed her she squeaked a lot for dinner but didn't want to eat any of it. I managed to tempt her with a few dandelion leaves but not a lot else.
She still seems slow at eating and moving her jaw like there is something stuck in her mouth. Is there any other reason she could be eating slowly and like she has something stuck in her mouth other than dental? She is still bright with no discharge around her nose or eyes and she is still pooping normally.
Any more advice?
 
Now very baffled with the guinea pig. She managed to eat one grape very slowly but she did hold it in her mouth by herself. So then I chopped her up a grape, cucumber and lettuce and sprinkled probiotic powder on it. she really struggled to eat it, chewing it for ages and kept moving her mouth and flapping her ears like it was stuck and she couldn't swallow it. this was worse than before she had her dental work done. I then thought I would see how she got on with some grass. she was wheeking loads waiting for it. When I put it in she started stuffing her face like 5 strands of grass at a time eating with no problems.
What could be the problem?
 
If she can pick up grass and eat it, that suggests her incisors are still OK in length (some vets cut them too short so the piggie can;t pick up food and needs to be hand fed small strips of veg)
Manipulating food slowly in her mouth with ears flapping is a sign of discomfort and that all is not as it should be. Either some molar spurs have been missed, her mouth/tongue is sore (and possibly ulcerated) from the dental procedure/sharpt spurs or there is something more (such a s a jaw/tooth root abcess) brewing.

In the interim she will need pain relief and syringe feeding/supportive care.....but instead of returning to your own vet, perhaps you should consider a trip to Simon and Kim Maddock at Cat and Rabbit in Northampton who can perform an exam and corrective dentistry without the need for GA? Please don;t wait too long - many of the temporary residents st TEAS are there because they have already had multiple dentals under GA from their local vets ....but these have proved to be ineffective at sorting the problem. because most vets have little experience of guinea pig teeth.
x
 
Once a dental issues starts, unless you are very lucky, the treatment process involves many regular dentals, usually starting as weekly and then stretching out further as the piggy's teeth become more normal. This is only possible when using conscious dental treatment as, when using GA, it is necessary to wait for weeks between dentals - if the teeth aren't working properly and are misaligned, then you can only imagine how much they will grow in the interim without being tidied up.

It sounds to me as if there is discomfort in your piggy's mouth - the jaw movements, head waving, ear flapping are all signs that signify a dental issue. It is difficult to say exactly what is causing it, without an examination by an experienced vet. As the only dental sanctuary in the UK, we work with the only known vet practice in the country who is able to deal with complex and varied dental issues successfully. Simon and Kim Maddock are both experienced in this field, but to achieve a good outcome, your piggy would need regular dentals, as described above.
 
As others have said, unfortunately dental issues often don't sort themselves out with one treatment, and sometimes there is an underlying issue (Sundae's repeat dentals ended up being due to a brewing abscess that just hadn't puffed up yet... took several months of repeated dental treatments before the underlying problem revealed itself and could be treated.) I would contact the vet again, preferably one with a lot of experience with guinea pig teeth, as experience does make a big difference here.
 
The vet I took her too was a recommended dental vet on the vet dental association website. They have thankfully dealt with guinea pig teeth before, I did check before I took her. My other option was Ashleigh exotics vet in Manchester as I live 3 hours away from Northampton and as I don't have a job atm I can't afford train travel and it is very far in the car for a vet visit. so I took her to the best place I could.
UPDATE tonight she has eaten 2 normal sized slices of apple and a piece and a half of lettuce unaided and she only flapped her ears once. She seemed to be chewing and swallowing normally. The vet who did her teeth said they didn't look bad at all compared to other guinea pig teeth he had worked on (he was the vet practice dentist). He said they had looked almost normal.
I am now wondering if her mouth was just a bit tender as he didn't send me home with any metacam, only the metacam she had after her op at the vet practice.
Thank you all for everyone's help, I will be keeping a close eye on her. If I have any other issues I will consider a trip to Northampton if I can work out how to get her there. She is having a check up tomorrow so will see what he says then.
 
As some of you might know Dotty had dental surgery on Monday after she wasn't eating properly, she could only eat veg chopped up really small. The vet said that her teeth weren't that bad and looked quite normal but he filed the back teeth in case they were a bit sharp but he said they didn't look like bad cases that he had in before. She was only under GA for 15 mins and came round really well and was bright eyed and moving around. she also had some metacam and Metoclopramide (gut stimulant). I didn't think she would eat Monday but she did munch some carrot and some hay. On Tuesday she was eating some grapes but still acting like it was getting stuck moving her mouth funny and wiggling her ears. I then fed her some grass cut from the garden and she was shovelling it in like 5 pieces at a time, eating normally again. that evening I fed some lettuce and apple. She managed to eat 2 whole pieces of apple skin and all and 2 small pieces of lettuce (with some probiotic sprinkled on it).
This morning she ate a grape very slowly and a small bit of broccoli before I whisked her off to the vets for her check up. She was weighed and has only lost 10grams since the 20th so I was very pleased and felt optimistic. The vet looked in her mouth to check her teeth but said she couldn't see them due to there being a lot of grass stuffed in her cheeks. Is this normal for guinea pigs to store any food in their cheeks?
I brought some spinach on the way home as a treat for her but she struggled to eat any of it. My other 4 were stuffing it in. So I tried her on some other veg and she wouldn't have any of it. I have resorted to feeding grass again and she is stuffing it in again.
I just don't understand how she can eat grass normally but cannot manage to eat veggies properly? I am now assuming it is not a dental issue as she had dental work done. Can guinea pigs get throat infections affecting swallowing? I just am at a loss.
Please help.
 
were you given more medication to continue giving at home? if not, i would request some. a piggy in discomfort/pain will not want to eat.

yes they do store food in their cheeks and the vets use water to flush it out if needed so they are better able to view the teeth.

if he thought the back teeth looked ok then he probably shouldn't have filed them. you don't file 'just incase' they are sharp. it should be instantly clear if they are too sharp or not. unfortunately this may have caused the teeth to be slightly too short in which case they may now need time to grow again so the normal grinding action is resumed. she will need help with eating in the meantime and possible syringe feeding until she is able to eat properly by herself.

it can also take some piggies quite a while to begin eating normally again, so for this reason i would firstly make sure she is on adequate pain relief. something like metacam for a while longer if you weren't given any to bring home.

sometimes other issues can arise from dentals, like oral thrush or if her spurs were rubbing against her cheeks or tongue then this would take a while to settle and metacam would be helpful given that it is mainly used as an anti-inflammatory. if the vet wasn't sure the teeth were too sharp then i wouldn't think this would be the issue for her though.

is your vet exotics/cavvy savvy? unfortunately there have been alot of cases of non-exotics vets who have trimmed teeth incorrectly causing more issues. one of the main problems exotics vets see are dental issues anyway, and alot are referrals to sort out the poor job done by a vet who doesn't have very much experience in guinea pig dentals. so if your vet isn't exotics, i would consider seeing one if she doesn't improve soon. although like i said, hopefully this isn't the case here and she is just taking a while to settle again, as many piggies do. it is certainly great that she is trying to eat by herself. it does sound like she may need help via syringe feeding for a while as she gets on track. the more she eats by herself, the more you can reduce the syringe feed by. i hope some of this helps :)
 
Today she ate a grape but she is still a bit slow. she didn't once flap her ears or appear to have any problems chewing. she also ate a bit of broccoli. She then went to the vets for a check up today, she was weighed and has only lost 10 grams since 20th. The vet looked in her mouth and said she couldn't see her teeth properly as she had a bit of grass in her cheeks from yesterday. she said this was a good sign but I am not so sure. The main problems I am having is tempting her to eat veg, she won't even eat her favourite spinach. She will however eat grass and hay very happily with no problems chewing. I have probiotics and syringes at home for extra feeding but seeing as she hasn't lost any weight I don't know whether I need to do this. she is having another check up at the vets on Saturday to check her weight etc. She is still bright eyed and busy tailed wheeking for her food and looks completely fine. I just don't know what to do with her.
 
Are you giving the metacam at home? This will help with any pain. Do you also have any of the metachlopromide to give at home to keep things moving through?

I would advise weighing daily now and syringe feeding her mushed up pellets or something like Science Recovery or Critical care.... Syringe feeding guide is here https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/complete-syringe-feeding-guide.115359/ you need to be getting in around 120ml a day of syringe feed over several sessions. We used all 3 and alternated it to give cookie different tastes to keep her interested in the syringe...

Sometimes it can take piggies a few days to start eating again after dental work.... You could try grating carrot and cutting veggies into strips, we had to do this with Cookie when she was struggling with a bone spur.

Dental issues are heartbreaking to deal with and emotionally drain you, I know and have been there a few times :( They are the thing I dread the most

Tagging in @furryfriends (TEAS)

and merging your threads together

It may be that she needs time to get used to her teeth again and is still in some pain. Or maybe there is something else underlying such as root issues, there is also the danger the teeth may have been filled incorrectly.
 
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Your closest cavy savy vet is Aidan Raftery

Ashleigh Veterinary Centre
Aidan Raftery
221 Upper Chorlton Road
Manchester
, Lancashire M16 0DE
0161 881 686

@biscandmatt is Aidan experienced with dental at all do you know? x
 
sport_billy said:
Your closest cavy savy vet is Aidan Raftery

Ashleigh Veterinary Centre
Aidan Raftery
221 Upper Chorlton Road
Manchester
, Lancashire M16 0DE
0161 881 686

@biscandmatt is Aidan experienced with dental at all do you know? x
Click to expand...

yes he is. he's done all the dentals my lot have ever had over the years - both piggies and rabbits :)
 
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