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Dental Struggling to eat before and after dental work

Please don't give up. My little Barbara has had 3 months of not eating and was close to being PTS until we finally had a breakthrough. Like your little chap, Simon had seen to Barbara's teeth so many times but we couldn't get to the bottom of why she WANTED to eat but would just drop food from her mouth. On my last visit, Simon detected tiny areas of white spots in her mouth. Barbara had a fungal infection (thrush) in her mouth, which had previously shown no symptoms at all, not even a redness/soreness in her mouth. Thrush in the mouth can be incredibly sore and it was no wonder she didn't want to pick up any food.

Simon prescribed Itrafungal and after 48 hours on it, she started eating for England! We're back to see Simon for a check up on Saturday but she's already put on 108g in a little over a week.

Hope your little guy is OK.
 
Got back to Ipswich at 7 p.m. : just in time for Jake to have another 20ml of syringe feed! Some of us have eaten less than him today, though ....
No magic fix, unfortunately. Simon was very good, but is almost as puzzled as the previous vets as to why he can't chew / bite.
He did another dental (Jake's 3rd in 8 days), this time awake of course, but said in all honesty yesterday's vet, Alexa at Colne Valley, had done a very good job with his teeth : pretty good angles and length ; he simply tidied up a few little bits, but, like all the previous vets, said Jake's teeth were nowhere near bad enough to stop him eating.
His conclusion is that there must have been a problem with them before the first dental, and he must still be feeling a lot of pain from them, and his jaw is now ridiculously weak : too weak to bite through anything. He has dramatically upped the pain relief : "The dose he's on is so low it's virtually a homeopathic dose!" being his words! ; and he's prescribed an anti-fungal in case there is thrush there, though nothing is evident. He also syringe fed him while I was there : much faster than we manage!
He has said to carry on syringe feeding, and give the 2 drugs each day for up to 2 weeks, and hopefully he'll get the hang of eating again ; but overall was baffled as to why he was struggling.
 
Aw, sorry there was no magic solution but at least you know his teeth have been done correctly and your vet has done a good job. Now he is on a good dose of painkiller he my start eating in a few days time once it kicks in. Wishing him healing vibes x
My Ted started off eating a little grass, rolled up dandelion leaves and beetroot sticks from a Bistro Salad bag along with the Critical Care before he saw Simon last year.
 
Hope things pick up. I picked coarse long stem grass and almost force fed that to Barbara to get her going. I found that if I threaded it through to her molars and didn't just poke it behind her front teeth, she would grab hold and start eating it blade by blade. So try that - really push it to the back of the mouth sliding it along the inside of the cheek. I have a video of me doing it (pre-anti fungal meds so she STILL had a very sore mouth at that time) but don't know how to send that to you.
 
Hoping the higher Metacam dose will help, plus itranfungol works quickly, if there is a fungal issue.

Finding what works best for your piggy, with regard to eating, is the way to go. Some prefer hard food, such as carrot or broccoli stalks, whereas others cope better with leafy veg or grass. I always cut the leafy veg into thin strips and watch which length of grass they prefer. Some like really long pieces, such as @Mackers found with her piggy, but others like it cut into short pieces. Our little Tilly loves grass, but copes much better with short pieces and likes veg cut into tiny bitesize pieces. I experiment with all different ways until I find what works best, for that particular guinea pig.
 
Jake is definitely making much more of an effort to bite / chew things today. Simon said to try just about anything to tempt him, even if of zero nutritional value!
He has managed a couple of dandelion flowers, some tiny strips of red pepper, half a grape and some granary bread so far!
I'm hoping that the Itrafungol is starting to settle down any thrush in his mouth, and that will turn out to be the trouble all along ; fingers crossed!
 
cwlight said:
Jake is definitely making much more of an effort to bite / chew things today. Simon said to try just about anything to tempt him, even if of zero nutritional value!
He has managed a couple of dandelion flowers, some tiny strips of red pepper, half a grape and some granary bread so far!
I'm hoping that the Itrafungol is starting to settle down any thrush in his mouth, and that will turn out to be the trouble all along ; fingers crossed!
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Great that he's eaten something. I am keeping my fingers very firmly crossed!
 
Come on Jake get munching x
I know how hard it’s been on you but he may be turning a corner now once he starts eating little bits his confidence will grow once he realises he can eat again. Ted started like that with small amounts of grass and dandelion leaves, then lettuce and beetroot sticks, then celery. Then after seeing Simon he was eating hay straightaway, and he has never looked back. Finger crossed for little Jake x
 
Great news he’s having a go at munching! Go Jake! Hope he carries on and starts stuffing his face soon :D x
 
Morning : slightly concerned today as Jake's poos have become very soft, though still pellet shaped. I'm guessing it's the Loxicam that he's on, but am not sure if I should carry on with it or cut it out? Have sent an email to Simon at Catandrabbit seeking advice.
 
cwlight said:
Morning : slightly concerned today as Jake's poos have become very soft, though still pellet shaped. I'm guessing it's the Loxicam that he's on, but am not sure if I should carry on with it or cut it out? Have sent an email to Simon at Catandrabbit seeking advice.
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Don't cut it out, that would be the worst thing you could do. It is more likely to be itrafungol causing the softened poos, but you need to keep that going too. Just add some probiotic into any syringe food you feed.
 
Back to PRObiotics : we've been mixing something called a PREbiotic (Avipro Plus) into his food since Tuesday (our son had some left over from treating one of his animals) : what's the difference?
 
cwlight said:
Back to PRObiotics : we've been mixing something called a PREbiotic (Avipro Plus) into his food since Tuesday (our son had some left over from treating one of his animals) : what's the difference?
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Avipro plus is fine. I’m pretty sure it contains both pre and probiotics
 
Simon rang me yesterday evening. With Jake still not really improving (he seems to have pretty much given up trying to nibble things again), Simon's view now is that it can't have been his teeth, as he would be 'fixed' by now ; and it is less likely to be thrush, as the meds should have made a major improvement by now ; so that only really leaves a hidden jaw abscess, though he couldn't feel anything on examination and the X-rays at Colne Valley Vets (Colchester) didn't show anything up. I asked if anything can be done, and Simon said it is 'watch and wait' to see if it bursts, if it is an abscess. We discussed anti-biotics and he said that if we get much further down the line with no change, a short blast of anti-biotics would be the next step ; it wouldn't cure the problem but if he improved temporarily that would pretty much confirm it was an abscess. Another (expensive) option he mentioned, already suggested by Colne Valley, is to have a CT scan : £500 if they can persuade a neighbouring practice to do it at 'mate's rates', or £1000 if not!
We are back at Colne Valley on Tuesday, so I'll bring them up to speed with this discussion and see what they have to say / advise.
 
Sorry to hear that, it’s such a pain with these things, Simon’s definitely the best person to advise and treat as has seen these things so many times with smaller animals.
My chinchilla has been dealing with a tooth root abscess for months (obviously different to Jake’s issue) his teeth and jaw were affected and he lost his eye (well had to be removed) when the abscess burst. I didn’t realise that was what the issue was at first but Simon has been brilliant and if I hadn’t gone to him and got all the great care and advice I wouldn’t still have him 8months on.

Sorry you haven’t had a more easily treatable issue and he’s still having troubles the poor lad, but hopefully with him advising and you being such a brilliant owner that wants to help him as much as you do he can get through it and you can both kick it in the butt! xx

Sorry and just to add, many people on the forum have treated their piggies for jaw abscesses and they’ve got through them brilliantly, he’ll hopefully do the same xx
 
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