Tracyxx
Adult Guinea Pig
Skunk has been 'poorly' for some time. I say 'poorly' because although she's had symptoms she's been quite well in herself.
She started off losing weight rapidly. A tooth inspection revealed two top teeth that grow inwards rather than down, and one bottom tooth missing that had snapped off. I treated her with Calpol and the teeth grew back.
I am, for the time being, keeping Skunk alone. She has a huge apetite but eats like a mouse and it takes her hours, literally, to eat one piece of cucumber. She struggles with hard veg such as carrots.
She starting making a hooting, wheezing noise as she breathed. She was started on Baytril. The hooting stopped. The Baytril finished and the hooting started again. We tried another course of Baytril. Hooting started again as soon as we finished the Baytril.
On top of this she has mites which I've treated with Ivomec. Her weight has stabilised now. I looked at her teeth again tonight and her two top teeth are completely overgrown. As I said they slant inwards rather than straight down which I am guessing is why they are so overgrown as she can't grind them down? Tonight showed her two top teeth are hanging on by a piece of gum. I gave her some more Calpol just in case she's in pain. Her bottom teeth are thicker than any other guinea pig's teeth I've ever seen before.
I am guessing she has some sort of genetic problem which causes her teeth to grow like this. I have tried trimming them previously, to good effect, however they seem to 'snap' easier than other guinea's teeth.
So she has a whole host of problems, poor baby.
On top of ALL that she is wheeking for her friends. As soon as I put her back in with other pigs she can kiss goodbye to her veg! I have tried this and observed them and anything she picks up just gets snatched off her.
So..any suggestions please? At the moment she is quite stable, so I am hesitant to try anything else. She enjoys her goat food because it is soft. She HATES mushed up pellets of any variety..believe me I have tried! She nibbles at hay but gets nowhere - I suppose if her teeth are painful and awkward she won't eat it, but it seems like a vicious circle as she needs the hay to help her teeth..please help if you can!
She started off losing weight rapidly. A tooth inspection revealed two top teeth that grow inwards rather than down, and one bottom tooth missing that had snapped off. I treated her with Calpol and the teeth grew back.
I am, for the time being, keeping Skunk alone. She has a huge apetite but eats like a mouse and it takes her hours, literally, to eat one piece of cucumber. She struggles with hard veg such as carrots.
She starting making a hooting, wheezing noise as she breathed. She was started on Baytril. The hooting stopped. The Baytril finished and the hooting started again. We tried another course of Baytril. Hooting started again as soon as we finished the Baytril.
On top of this she has mites which I've treated with Ivomec. Her weight has stabilised now. I looked at her teeth again tonight and her two top teeth are completely overgrown. As I said they slant inwards rather than straight down which I am guessing is why they are so overgrown as she can't grind them down? Tonight showed her two top teeth are hanging on by a piece of gum. I gave her some more Calpol just in case she's in pain. Her bottom teeth are thicker than any other guinea pig's teeth I've ever seen before.
I am guessing she has some sort of genetic problem which causes her teeth to grow like this. I have tried trimming them previously, to good effect, however they seem to 'snap' easier than other guinea's teeth.
So she has a whole host of problems, poor baby.
On top of ALL that she is wheeking for her friends. As soon as I put her back in with other pigs she can kiss goodbye to her veg! I have tried this and observed them and anything she picks up just gets snatched off her.So..any suggestions please? At the moment she is quite stable, so I am hesitant to try anything else. She enjoys her goat food because it is soft. She HATES mushed up pellets of any variety..believe me I have tried! She nibbles at hay but gets nowhere - I suppose if her teeth are painful and awkward she won't eat it, but it seems like a vicious circle as she needs the hay to help her teeth..please help if you can!
