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Slanted Teeth After Spay

sophadopha97

sophadopha97

Junior Guinea Pig
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I noticed Clover had been losing weight so took her to the vets 3 weeks ago to double check she was okay. The vet said her teeth seemed absolutely fine, but she could feel a lump of some sort around her tummy area. I've used the vet before and she deals with a lot of piggies and comes recommended on the forum so felt pretty confident.

We had an x-ray and ultrasound, and it came back that she had an ovarian cyst. It was decided as she's just under 3 and hadn't lost a massive amount of weight, this would be her best option. She went in for her spay on 28th July - by this point I'd had to syringe feed her for around 5 days as she'd stopped eating herself.

After that her recovery seemed incredibly slow compared to the 24-60 hours I'd heard of. She came round from the anesthetic fine, but they'd had to remove the cyst that was apparently the size of a small ping pong ball which must have been pretty painful! I continued with the metacam I'd been giving her since our first vet visit, and on the Monday returned for another check up and had Sulfatrim and Emeprid just in case she was bloated and that was why she wasn't eating still.

Back to the vets last Saturday - she's still not eating - her tummy looks slightly swollen still, they believe it's a blood blister and tell me to switch the Sulfatrim to Baytril. To be honest I wasn't awfully happy with this considering the fact she already wasn't eating and with Baytril being such a nightmare antibiotic - has anyone heard of piggies getting blood blisters?

Roll on to today and she's begging for veggies but can't eat them properly apart from the occassional bit of dill. Throughout every vet appointment I've been to, I've suggested they check her teeth again as after this long I suspected something may well be up. I was told last Saturday "slanted teeth are perfectly normal sometimes".

So on Thursday we're off to see Kim Maddock to see if they can help at all - really tired out now after 3 weeks of this Clover is still a fiesty little madam and it's horrible watching her not eat.

Has anyone else had a situation like this after a spay? Photo below shows how slanted her teeth are now. Looking for some reassurance that things can get better

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Wow that is not normal :( One of mine started to get slanted teeth, it turned out she had an abscess brewing in her jaw. There will probably be some underlying problem like that, or the back teeth may have started to overgrow as well. You are doing the best thing in seeing Kim; Simon did conscious dentals on my piggy & he was brilliant. I am sure Kim will get to the bottom of what is causing it. Be sure to weigh her daily & syringe feed her daily if she isn't eating properly.
 
Yes I am! I'm weighing her morning and night, and syringe feeding as much as I can before/after work and getting my sister to top her up throughout the day :D Even still she's unfortunately dropped to 800g throughout these last few weeks - I'm just trying to absolutely make sure she doesn't drop any further.

When they have a dental, how long does it normally take before they're feeling ready to eat normally again?
 
I would think that you are dealing with a very unlucky coincidence. I also have had slants like that with a dental root abscess brewing.

Hywel was straight back into his food, but Nesta's appetite was a little bit more fickle, but then she needed her whole incisor removing.

Edemas (blood blisters) or fluid build up can happen after a spay or neutering operation. They usually disperse on their own eventually.
 
you are going to the very best experts !i had a piggie in march that had a big heamatoma on his hip,collection of blood,he lost alot of weight,but it was drained and Jacob has been well since,not sure of the cause.i hope Clover has a speedy recovery.
 
It's a bit of a nightmare to try and get up to Northampton but I'd never forgive myself if I didn't give her a good chance at getting better!

I'm currently syringe feeding her and her cage pal Gordon - he's 1.4kg and fighting fit but loves the syringe food so much he'll bite on the sides of the cage til he gets some too...

I hadn't ever heard of blood blisters before in piggies. Presumably it'll just take a little time for it to go down?

It's so great to hear about how many people have been to Simon & Kim and have positive reviews - cannot wait til Thursday!
 
sophadopha97 said:
It's a bit of a nightmare to try and get up to Northampton but I'd never forgive myself if I didn't give her a good chance at getting better!

I'm currently syringe feeding her and her cage pal Gordon - he's 1.4kg and fighting fit but loves the syringe food so much he'll bite on the sides of the cage til he gets some too...

I hadn't ever heard of blood blisters before in piggies. Presumably it'll just take a little time for it to go down?

It's so great to hear about how many people have been to Simon & Kim and have positive reviews - cannot wait til Thursday!
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Ideally you drain them, but it depends on where it is sitting and if it is too close to any muscles or operation scars.
 
Ah okay, we'll see what Kim says!

Thanks all for your replies - I'll post an update on Thursday :D

Presume it's best to bring Gordon along for the car journey with Clover to keep her calmer?
 
sophadopha97 said:
Ah okay, we'll see what Kim says!

Thanks all for your replies - I'll post an update on Thursday :D

Presume it's best to bring Gordon along for the car journey with Clover to keep her calmer?
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Yes, I always take a companion piggy if possible, especially when travelling to see the Maddocks.
 
Went to see Kim today and straight away she noticed Cloves had a large jaw abscess. She had a dental to adjust her teeth, and a surgical drainage of the abscess. It's been a very long day and Clover is just starting to come around properly.

She's seeming sightly interested in veggies, just can't quite get used to the fact that she can now actually eat! Going to give her a little bit of time to come round and start syringe feeding.

Hopefully now we're seeing a least a bit of an end to the last 4 weeks of pure worry :-(
 
You will need to keep the abscess open for as long as possible, ideally up to10 days or as close as you can get.

Hold the sharp bit of the needle against the opening without piercing the skin and flush 2-3 times daily with saline (1 teaspoon of salt mixed into 1/2 pint or 250 ml of boiled, cooled water). You also need to scratch off any scabs from the healing opening which form around the rim and then across the opening. It is not a pleasant job, but it is vital. Abscesses need to heal from the inside out, and you have to make sure that every bit of infection is flushed out to prevent it from flaring up again. Use cotton pads to soak up the effluvia.

Hopefully she will feel a lot better soon and start eating normally. It depends on how overgrown the teeth at the back have been. But she is already feeling so much better from no longer having the abscess pressure. Try to see whether she eats mushed up pellets or eats pellets if you put them in her mouth. The same as hay. Cut our veg into strips for the next few days.
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I have had two piggies with jaw abscesses; it is admittedly my least favourite job! Hywel's abscess healed shut within 4 days... of course while Simon was on holiday! :(

Best of luck!

@furryfriends (TEAS)
 
I'm so scared of flushing the abscess but more so that I don't hurt her! She's already a fiesty madam again on the syringe food so that's a positive!

Pesky Simon and Kim having holidays - maybe annual leave should get banned?! :D

Kim did say the back teeth weren't as bad as she was expecting but there was still some ulceration there. I'm hoping that from now on - upwards is the only way we can go! She's so teeny now at only 750g, I just want to get her through this and have my lil Cloves back to her usual fat self!
 
Is she on Zithromax? I thought it could be an abscess. My piggy didn't have one where it could be drained so Simon had her on regular dentals (once a week to start with) & a long course of Zithromax. Unfortunately her jaw was damaged by the abscess permanently & she is now a resident at TEAs where she has dentals every 3 weeks. The wonderful Debbie now looks after her; without her & Simon my piggy would probably have had to be pts, so I am forever grateful to them.
 
Yep she's on 0.4ml twice daily and 0.25ml metacam twice daily also. This morning she didn't even sniff her veggies, she looked worse for wear :-(

I've left my sister at home with instructions to still syringe feed her all day to hopefully perk her up a bit. This morning she did tolerate a syringe feed well with her medicine and I also picked off a small scab and flushed the abscess out. Should I be actually putting the syringe into the open wound?
 
Are you using a syringe with a needle or just a syringe? With a needle, I hold it away from the opening, but direct the firm, strong spray of water into the opening. If you are using a syringe without a needle, then you will need to hold it against the hole. I used the flat cotton wool pads to clean abscesses, It is a good idea to massage around the abscess, milking it towards the opening and then giving it a good firm scrub (that sounds awful, but you need to be quite aggressive in how you deal with abscesses, to ensure they stay open).
 
It's just a syringe I was given but guessing I could probably get some from Amazon if they're better? It's a bit of a grim job yep!

Just wondering when she'll start eating again really on her own - after more than 3 weeks I'm a bit worried she'll have forgotten!
 
Sorry to be a bit panicky - but Clover still won't eat anything independently. Is this normal? She's having her metacam and zithromax, and I'm flushing her wound twice daily.

She's still fighting a syringe feed made from mashed up pellets, but won't seem even slightly interested in all her favourite veggies.
 
sophadopha97 said:
Sorry to be a bit panicky - but Clover still won't eat anything independently. Is this normal? She's having her metacam and zithromax, and I'm flushing her wound twice daily.

She's still fighting a syringe feed made from mashed up pellets, but won't seem even slightly interested in all her favourite veggies.
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I'm sorry I don't know the answers. I'll tag @Wiebke and @furryfriends (TEAS) but I know they have busy weekends this weekend so it may be a while before you get a response.
 
It can sometimes take a while before they want to eat after surgery to marsupialise an abscess. Keep up the syringe feeding. Aim for about 100 - 120 mls per 24 hours. You can vary what you syringe feed. I find the piggies generally love to have wheat grass powder added to the mushed up nuggets. Also baby foods are often really appreciated. Have you tried cutting veggies into thin strips and feeding them into her mouth? Have you tried her with grass? They usually love some freshly picked grass. Porridge oats also are a favourite with the piggies here at TEAS. I find some piggies manage leafy veg better after dental work whereas others prefer something hard, such as a broccoli stalk or carrot. It is a case of trying various things and often they prefer something different to what they usually eat.
 
Ok I'll stick with it, thanks for the advice. I've ordered some wheatgrass and will go and get some babyfood. Tried her with both grass and porridge oats but she won't try them.

Yep I did try peppers and cucumber last night, some lettuce and dill all cut up into strips. I put the pepper right into her mouth but it eventually got spat out again. Spinach wasn't even sniffed earlier on so it's a definite no no to that too! I'll keep on trying and make sure she always has some available to her. She's definitely perkier this morning - she's stopped hunching her back as much and will now lie down, and has given herself a wash a few times.

I've noticed she no longer drops the syringe feed out of her mouth either so that's a good sign I suppose?

Hopefully next week will be a little bit better :-)
 
Well I went out earlier for a couple of hours and came back to find a lot of poos (deformed but I was told to expect this given she was only eating syringe food?) and she'd made an effort to come out of her fleece hide. My mom and dad were watching her and commented on how different she seemed today compared to yesterday.

Tried to give her some more syringe food which she didn't want one bit, because she wanted veggies! She had some cucumber and some pepper, and I got her some grass and porridge oats to try. Of course I'll 100% keep up the syringe food as recognise a little bit of veggies don't constitute to what they need to eat everyday. I didn't manage to find babyfood today as only went to a boots in the train station - all of them included milk and I didn't think that would be good for a piggy? I'll either nip to a larger boots first thing tomorrow morning or try and make her some blended up veg.

I can't believe the difference in her teeth, when she was eating the cucumber I could actually hear her biting which to be honest I never thought I'd hear again! Will keep you updated, thanks for asking Xx
 
Fantastic news! It sounds like she's doing well. I used to get baby foods from Aldi for Benji. He loved the apples, carrots and parsnips, apple, sweet potato, butternut squash and blueberry and the apple and strawberry.

You're doing a great job and I am sure she will be really tucking into her food very soon xx
 
You poor things! You've all had a rough time. Hope she's on the mend now :)

My Iggy (had an abscess in his bottom post neuter) refused his pellets eventually and we found a mix of pellets, wheat grass powder and critical care was the way to go! So much so that I could ditch the syringe all together as he started to eat it off a spoon and then out of a bowl! Getting it EVERYWHERE as he also liked to feel it between his toes, it also HAD to be warm or he wouldn't eat it :)) It definitely helped him put weight on as he kept dropping weight (baytril didn't help) and not eating his pellet mix, it was a scary time.

Hope she gets better soon!
 
Thanks :-) Hopefully Clover will enjoy the wheatgrass! At the mo I'm using critical care and pellets mixed together but she isn't a lover!

Feeding time at the zoo! Gordon has just turned around and done a lovely wee.....

IMG_2378.webp
 
She might to actually, I'll make some up now ready for her next feed. Burgess and P@H nuggets smell absolutely disgusting when mixed into a mash!
 
How is Clover getting on? Any better without the critical care? I found Harringtons was quite good to mush up and our piggies tend to like it too.
 
Better yet again thanks :-) Saw her eat her first bits of hay in around 3 weeks just which has made me so happy.

I had her out for a bit yesterday in the garden and she went mad for the grass, had loads of babyfood and pellets mixed with wheatgrass! She's perked up so much now I'm really hopeful I can get my Clover back sometime soon.

Back to see Simon on Thurs for her post op check up Xx
 
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