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schoffers has teeth problemos :S

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ellie_jo3213

ellie_jo3213

Teenage Guinea Pig
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just had a phone call from my mum saying they've taken my pig to the vets.
apparently shes not been normal since thurs, and yesterday she didn't squeek for her morning carrot (which is very abnormal, she squeeks the house down to get a carrot at 8am when my mum goes to work!).
she also didnt eat her veg yesterday.
vets had a look in her mouth, and could see a build up of food gunk at her back teeth, so suspect overgrown molars.
have an appointment on monday for sedation to get a good look at her teeth. in the mean time mum has the difficult task of trying to get some food syringed into a semi wild biting pig!
shes 2 years at the moment.

anyone have any advice on syringing or have had experience with back teeth problems before? any tips and hints would be greatly appreciated.
I'm going to head back home later today or tomorrow to help out and take her in on monday.

thanks
 
soak some pellets in hot water leave until soft then mush up use a 1ml syringe try to get about 20-30ml down him three/four times a day. you may need to wrap him up and lie him back like a baby [not right back]

I am sitting doing it now:) good luck.
 
Hi Ellie, sorry to hear Schoffers is obviously struggling with her teeth, good luck with getting them sorted.

I have a factsheet on syringe-feeding if you'd like a copy? I can email it to you, just drop an email to [email protected] so I can reply with the factsheet. :)
 
Laura-CCC4 said:
Hi Ellie, sorry to hear Schoffers is obviously struggling with her teeth, good luck with getting them sorted.

I have a factsheet on syringe-feeding if you'd like a copy? I can email it to you, just drop an email to [email protected] so I can reply with the factsheet. :)
Click to expand...

oh wow that would be great! thank you!

i spoke to my mum earlier and she said that more of the food was over her rather than in the pig! wish id seen that! on the plus side shes been eating grass and dandelions.
Ive been to look for some of that daktarin gel today, would this be of any use? maybe after shes had her teeth sorted just in case some spurs have cut into her mouth?

i'm kicking my self now as a week or two ago i was at home revising and i noticed then that she was grinding her teeth a lot. i was wondering then if maybe they were uncomfortable or over grown, but she wasn't dribbling or dropping food, she was eating like a pig (lol), and hadn't lost any weight. i just thought it might have been an odd behavior she'd developed. she was also a bit more grumpy than usual biting me twice in one day which i now have two lovely battle scars on my arm to thank her for! so maybe she was bad tempered because she was in pain?...
 
Have emailed it across to you Ellie. :)

I believe it's worth having some Daktarin Oral Gel to hand, yes. Daktarin is an anti-fungal gel but also good for oral hygiene and soothing the mouth to a degree. Calgel (a bit like bonjela, for teething babies) may actually be preferable if there are sores in the mouth caused by the overgrown teeth, but I think you'd need to be able to acess the back of the mouth in order to spread the Calgel over the tongue and cheeks.
I've still had success with the Daktarin when given for sore mouths after dental work without there being any oral fungal infection there, but one of the differences between the Daktarin and the Calgel is that there's a local anaesthetic in the Calgel and it is directed more towards the specific problem you're aiming to treat.

Don't blame yourself for not acting sooner, to be honest there's not much you should have done while she was still eating - as you said, there were no real symptoms other than the teeth grinding and I wouldn't jump in to teeth trimming on that alone. Perhaps an earlier examination would have revealed the very start of a problem but that's only perhaps - most dental problems are only picked up on (even if an examination is carried out sooner) when the ability to eat is affected. You're getting her sorted now, that's what matters. :)

Do keep us updated.
 
just had a quick flick through the factsheet, its brilliant! everything you need to know and more! thank you so much!
I'm going back home in a few hours and taking her to the vets tomorrow, 9.20am, so shall let you know what's occurring after that.
 
well well well.
took her into vets earlier, but because didnt know how much food mums got into her, pig is staying in today to be fed to get energy for procedure tomorrow.
tomorrow shes going to be sedated and GA for back teeth if needs be. then a possible 48hr recovery stay.

:(

i miss her already and shes only been away an hour or two!
 
phone call from vets this morning. all went well, shes had her back teeth rasped and front teeth trimmed. shes being kept in over night and i can pick her up tomorrow if all goes to plan.

not looking forward to the bill! :{ shes had a GA so at least £100. at least i have some student loan left over from this year.
 
help! front teeth now too short?!?!

I’ve just brought pig back from the vets, had a look at the front teeth because they said they’d trimmed them too.... they looked a bit short.. normally you can see the tips before pulling the bottom lip down, but i cant now. they’re about 3mm long and the same length as the top, thought it was a bit odd as bottom teeth are supposed to be longer than top...
Anyway, gave her a chunk of baby corn and she couldn’t pick it up, gave her a slice of cucumber which she normally demolishes, but she couldn’t cut it- imagine trying to eat a slice of pizza but with no front teeth just gums, it doesn’t work. That’s what she seems to be like! Normally teeth are like a pair is scissors slicing into veg right? She cant slice into a chunk of carrot either.. I’m thinking they’re now too short and they don’t meet anymore...so she can’t slice with her incisors! I’ve looked in my exotic anatomy text book for pictures of the front teeth but there aren’t any good ones.

aahh its one problemo after another!

What should I do now?

I’ve cut up little bits of carrots, cucumber and corn and have been hand feeding/shoving them into her mouth, she’s very keen for them. Given her some grass, and shes happly chewing that.

Just wondering what to do about the dry nuggets and the hay?
Will I have to wait for the front teeth to grow? - how long does it take?
Anyone have any pics of what length the front teeth are supposed to be?
Has this happened to anyone before?

help!
 
heres a pic of the top and bottom lips pulled back to reveal the teeth.

SAM_0088.jpg
 
heres one with her being tickled under her chin when she lifts her head up. you can normally see her bottom teeth, but now she looks gummy!

SAM_0091.jpg
 
ellie_jo3213 said:
Just wondering what to do about the dry nuggets and the hay?
Will I have to wait for the front teeth to grow? - how long does it take?
Anyone have any pics of what length the front teeth are supposed to be?
Has this happened to anyone before?

help!
Click to expand...

I have a piggie here at the moment with the same issue, although she had her incisors cut deliberately short due to maloccluded incisors, rather than just molar trouble and having the incisors cut unnecessarily. I had another one stay in May for just the same problem, this time it's just what your vet seems to have done, the pig visited the vet initially who cut the incisors unnecessarily, really stumped the poor pigs eating habits.

Great that Schoffers has her appetite, it doesn't take them long to give up on trying to eat their normal foods, one thing that always breaks my heart to see - a piggie trying to eat but just not being able to.

Nuggets - what brand does Schoffers eat? I keep the nuggets soggy for a bit, until they can pick them up and chew normally; brands with chunky pieces like Burgess Excel and Science Selective tend to go down just as easily as smaller brand pieces like Burgess Blackcurrent & Oregano, Wagg Optimum etc.

Try offering dried grass (Readigrass / Just Grass / Graze On) as well as hay, easier for them to pick up the short strands of a dried grass than to manipulate a strand of hay.

The teeth will grow in pretty quickly, they should be normal length within 5-7 days or so. This thread might answer some of your questions about normal length:

http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=38688

Photos are included as well in post #4 of that thread. :)
 
Ah I found that post a bit earlier was really helpful.
she’s on Excel blackcurrant and oregano, I mushed some up with water 2 hours ago and attempted to syringe feed her.... found it easier for her to lick clumps of mush off my fingers. We both got very messy! defo got 10ml in her. I’ve left some mush in the cage for her to nibble if she wants.

Seen her at the water bottle drinking too. She’s had 2 antibiotic batril injections in the past 5 days, so wondering if it’s worth putting some probiotics in her water bottle? Ive got one sachet left from the last antibiotic and constipation drama.

I’ll have a look for the hay, is it sold at P@H? Need to go get some more bedding hay anyway. Ive got excel hay with timothy hay dandelion and marigold for her to eat and bedding is cheapy P@H hay.

Also weighed her before feeding and she was 900g, so she’s lost 100g.

She looks very sorry for her self at the mo, poor thing.
 
Been to shops and bought some pro c probiotics from p@h, and some dandelion and green oat hay things to try get her appetite back. She certainly likes the green oat hay thing! She even squeeked for more! hoping its a good sign.

SAM_0140.jpg
 
thanks. shes drinking the water with the probiotics, eating grass, some hay, some nuggets, still not fussed on carrots or baby corn and still cant bite into food. shes more lively now and I'm sure shes put some weight back on. fingers crossed it all keeps going well.
 
This is what the vet did to Elvis and there started the months of eating[or rather not eating] problems, why can't vets actually find out what they are supposed to be doing before they do it.
 
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