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Still Struggling To Eat After Dental Work

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babydoll

babydoll

Junior Guinea Pig
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My boy Junior had dental work on Thursday he got his 2 bottom back cheek molars cut and his front incisors cut also, but he is still struggling to eat and its making him upset and quite distressed I had a look at his front teeth last night and it looks like its been cut too short I thought I would be seeing signs of improvement by now he wants to eat he is trying but then gives up and go in a mood how long roughly does it take for his bottom incisors to grow back to a normal length? :)
 
The incisors should grow back within a few days. Please continue hand feeding; it is normal for piggies not to eat after a dental procedure as the mouth is painful and not feeling right. If you wish, you can mix some juiced veg into the hand feed, but remember that 80% of the food intake should be fibre. later on, you can grate any veg and chop up hay.

@furryfriends Excellent Adventure Sanctuary
 
Incisiors grow back quite quickly. I had a lad lose his right down to the gum and they were back to normal in a few weeks.

Is he on any pain relief as often pain will stop them eating particularly after a procedure like that.

It's worth cutting up his veg into long strips to make it easier for him to get it back in his mouth to his back teeth to chew. Try making his pellets soft with warm water so he doesn't have to pick them up to eat. Basically continue as you would have before his dental work to help him...

If he is still struggling to pick things up then I would take the time to hand feed him to make sure he's getting enough. Monitor his weight as well so you know he's getting enough to eat. You may have to syringe feed him if he is really struggling, just to tide him over the worst of it.
 
Did the vet tell you exactly what had been done? Sometimes vets do take the incisors too short, but I have also seen, on rather a lot of occasions, situations where the piggy can't eat because the mouth won't close properly. This isn't due to the incisors being too short, but to the very back teeth being too long and cranking the mouth open, making it impossible for the piggy to pick up food. Hopefully this isn't the case with your piggy, but just wanted to mention it as unfortunately it isn't a rare occurrence.
 
furryfriends Excellent Adventure Sanctuary said:
Did the vet tell you exactly what had been done? Sometimes vets do take the incisors too short, but I have also seen, on rather a lot of occasions, situations where the piggy can't eat because the mouth won't close properly. This isn't due to the incisors being too short, but to the very back teeth being too long and cranking the mouth open, making it impossible for the piggy to pick up food. Hopefully this isn't the case with your piggy, but just wanted to mention it as unfortunately it isn't a rare occurrence.
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Hi he had his back bottom cheek teeth on both sides cut as they were overgrown trapping his tongue underneath and the vet noticed his front incisors where quite long (I thought that myself when I looked at the last week as well) so she trimmed them she said the rest of his teeth were fine, the front ones had overgrown due to him not eating hay etc due to his tongue being trapped under the back molars x
 
MerryPip said:
Incisiors grow back quite quickly. I had a lad lose his right down to the gum and they were back to normal in a few weeks.

Is he on any pain relief as often pain will stop them eating particularly after a procedure like that.

It's worth cutting up his veg into long strips to make it easier for him to get it back in his mouth to his back teeth to chew. Try making his pellets soft with warm water so he doesn't have to pick them up to eat. Basically continue as you would have before his dental work to help him...

If he is still struggling to pick things up then I would take the time to hand feed him to make sure he's getting enough. Monitor his weight as well so you know he's getting enough to eat. You may have to syringe feed him if he is really struggling, just to tide him over the worst of it.
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yeah hes on metacam once a day, we have been syringe feeding his since Thursday hes just getting fed up he wants solid food x
 
Wiebke said:
The incisors should grow back within a few days. Please continue hand feeding; it is normal for piggies not to eat after a dental procedure as the mouth is painful and not feeling right. If you wish, you can mix some juiced veg into the hand feed, but remember that 80% of the food intake should be fibre. later on, you can grate any veg and chop up hay.

@furryfriends Excellent Adventure Sanctuary
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I tried grated veg a few nights ago but he looked at it as if to say 'you having a laugh' :lol!:
 
we are on day 10 now and he is still struggling to eat his hay and veg he is getting so upset and depressed by this he must be starving x
 
babydoll said:
we are on day 10 now and he is still struggling to eat his hay and veg he is getting so upset and depressed by this he must be starving x
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Are you still topping him up with hand feed? In some cases, it can take a very long time for him to eat properly.He also may need another round of filing to get the back teeth grinding properly.
@furryfriends Excellent Adventure Sanctuary
 
Hi he is being syringe fed every 3-4 hours he can eat sweetcorn but he takes forever eating that its his front incisors he cant bite down cause the bottom ones must have been cut too short and they seem to be taking forever to grow back to meet with the top ones.

Handfeed I take it you mean vegs? yeah tried that tried grated veg tried baby food ( no chance of getting him to take that) and don't like trying to force him as he gets distressed when I try.
 
You must get as much syringe food into him as you possibly can. You need to keep his strength up, or he will start to get weak and that makes them less likely to want to eat. After 10 days the teeth are likely to be overgrowing again, which is why Simon rechecks after a week and tidies the mouth up again, as usually by that point they want to try and eat but their teeth are becoming a problem again. Unfortunately this can only be done with conscious dentals as you can't be anaesthetising a guinea pig every week. When does your vet want to see him again?
 
furryfriends Excellent Adventure Sanctuary said:
You must get as much syringe food into him as you possibly can. You need to keep his strength up, or he will start to get weak and that makes them less likely to want to eat. After 10 days the teeth are likely to be overgrowing again, which is why Simon rechecks after a week and tidies the mouth up again, as usually by that point they want to try and eat but their teeth are becoming a problem again. Unfortunately this can only be done with conscious dentals as you can't be anaesthetising a guinea pig every week. When does your vet want to see him again?
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Hi he was there on Wednesday there and she wants to see him again this Wednesday but I'm going to call her on Monday to mention again that hes still struggling x
 
so does it sound like its his back cheek teeth are still too long and that's causing the problems with no being able to bite ? so I take it she needs to cut them back more?
 
It is difficult to say what the exact problem is. It may be that the front teeth have been taken too short, or it could be that the back teeth are too long and forcing the mouth open, so it won't shut properly so the piggy can't bite down. How experienced is your vet with guinea pig dental problems?
 
yeah she is an exotics' vet specialising in rabbit and guinea pig dentistry she has 4 piggies of her own and has owned piggies for 15 years.
What I have noticed is Junior can manage to eat his nuggets on his own and some grass and last night I gave him a big bit of an apple which he could bite into but struggles with lettuce hay etc his bottom incisors looked really short we compared them to our other healthy piggy but I thought the bottom ones would have grown to meet the top ones by now x
 
sorry to hear he's struggling still. sounds similar to eddie. (day 19 now and still not back to normal eating). there might be something going on that you can't see which is what we thought with eds. that's when he was put on all the meds before reassessing yet again. x
 
biscandmatt said:
sorry to hear he's struggling still. sounds similar to eddie. (day 19 now and still not back to normal eating). there might be something going on that you can't see which is what we thought with eds. that's when he was put on all the meds before reassessing yet again. x
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poor eddie hes not making a good impression with his new lady friend lol x its so frustrating isn't it? and draining you just want them to get better and get their cheeky attitudes back x
 
babydoll said:
poor eddie hes not making a good impression with his new lady friend lol x its so frustrating isn't it? and draining you just want them to get better and get their cheeky attitudes back x
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it is draining and upsetting to see him fed up and not himself. the regular feeds are hard work, but also rewarding.

have you tried critical care? we feel like it's made the most difference to him by far. x
 
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