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Sweeps teeth have GONE!?

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Emmaclay95

Emmaclay95

Junior Guinea Pig
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Yesterday morning I noticed that sweep had left a lot of his fresh veg, although he looked fine in himself so I simply took a mental note to keep an eye. This morning, he had done the same again, although when I put the dry pellets in he ran straight to them and started eating as if he was really hungry! I got him out and offered him a dry pellet by hand which he took and ate, then I offered him a (really thin) carrot. He tried his best to eat it but I could see that he was pushing it to the molars at the back of his mouth rather than nibbling with his front 'rodent teeth' I'm not sure what the proper term is. So I had a check in his mouth as I often do. HIS TOP TWO TEETH ARE COMPLETELY MISSING!? I'm in shock I don't know how this has happened or why or if he's in pain or anything!
Has anybody ever had this bizarre thing happen before? Will they grow back?
I have cut the carrot up into tiny pieces and he has tucked right in as he can fit them in to the back of his mouth. I am completely baffled and shocked by this!
 
Emmaclay95 said:
Yesterday morning I noticed that sweep had left a lot of his fresh veg, although he looked fine in himself so I simply took a mental note to keep an eye. This morning, he had done the same again, although when I put the dry pellets in he ran straight to them and started eating as if he was really hungry! I got him out and offered him a dry pellet by hand which he took and ate, then I offered him a (really thin) carrot. He tried his best to eat it but I could see that he was pushing it to the molars at the back of his mouth rather than nibbling with his front 'rodent teeth' I'm not sure what the proper term is. So I had a check in his mouth as I often do. HIS TOP TWO TEETH ARE COMPLETELY MISSING!? I'm in shock I don't know how this has happened or why or if he's in pain or anything!
Has anybody ever had this bizarre thing happen before? Will they grow back?
I have cut the carrot up into tiny pieces and he has tucked right in as he can fit them in to the back of his mouth. I am completely baffled and shocked by this!
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Oh my goodness, that must have been a shock! I have never heard of it happening before, so I'm afraid that I cannot offer any suggestions as to what might have happened. I would definitely recommend that he is seen by a vet urgently. They will need to have a good look in his mouth to see if there is anything suspicious looking, and to check the state of the remaining teeth, gums etc.

If he is unable to eat for himself then you will need to hand feed him. Please speak to the vet about this as if you've never done it before then it's important that it's done correctly (ask the vet to show you). You will need to soften pellets so that they can be given to him off the back of a spoon, or from a syringe.

Teeth will usually grow back, but if they are missing altogether then this could take a very long time. I would suspect that it will also be painful for him, so the vet may subscribe some painkillers.

In the meantime, try cutting up his hay or grass to make it a bit more manageable to eat.

Please keep us updated.

C. x
 
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Teeth that are missing without an accident could mean problems so please get Sweep checked out. It may be he has root or jaw problems that caused them to drop out.

Rodent's incisiors (front teeth) grow continuously in normal circumstances and after one of my boys broke both of his front teeth off at the gumline it took him about 3 weeks to grow them back to full length. Until then he needed veggies cut into slivers so he could get them back to his molars as Sweep is doing and he had pellet mush as he couldn't hold onto the pellets when they were hard. I monitored his weight carefully and supplementary fed for the first week until he could eat enough himself to keep his weight steady.

Please get him check and hopefully he will be growing a new set in no time!
 
Thank you very much Jerrybelly, I of course will have him seen by a vet. He seems able to pick up food that is small enough to fit in his mouth so I will ensure everything is chopped up tiny for him tonight and if not I will hand feed him as you say. He hasn't lost his appetite by the looks of things he just physically can't chew the food I had put in for him! Poor little man :-( I hope that they do grow back as I can imagine it's not much of a life for a piggie with no teeth. The bottom ones would just grow and grow as he wouldn't be able to ware them down! Obviously I will take him for routine checkups and teeth clips if that is ever the case. Will do anything my boy needs me to do!
 
MerryPip said:
Teeth that are missing without an accident could mean problems so please get Sweep checked out. It may be he has root or jaw problems that caused them to drop out.

Rodent's incisiors (front teeth) grow continuously in normal circumstances and after one of my boys broke both of his front teeth off at the gumline it took him about 3 weeks to grow them back to full length. Until then he needed veggies cut into slivers so he could get them back to his molars as Sweep is doing and he had pellet mush as he couldn't hold onto the pellets when they were hard. I monitored his weight carefully and supplementary fed for the first week until he could eat enough himself to keep his weight steady.

Please get him check and hopefully he will be growing a new set in no time!
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Great info thank you very much of course I will get him seen to by a vet and I'm glad that you're piggies teeth came back that gives me hope for sweepy!
 
What a shock! Please have him checked by a vet too see whether the roots/gums have been damaged. Piggies can knock out their front teeth. they usually grow back quickly, but this won't be necessarily the case if the roots are damaged.

Please weigh your boy daily to check his actual food intake. He should get the equivalent of 120ml in 24 hours, either in solids or hand feed to keep up his weight. Mush up your pellets. Grate or juice any veg and if necessary place them in his mouth. Make sure that he also gets enough fibre; your vet should be able to give you recovery food. When hand feeding, please use a 1ml syringe with the narrow tip cut off. That syringe size allows for the best control and will prevent things from going down the wrong way and causing problems.
http://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html
 
Wiebke said:
What a shock! Please have him checked by a vet too see whether the roots/gums have been damaged. Piggies can knock out their front teeth. they usually grow back quickly, but this won't be necessarily the case if the roots are damaged.

Please weigh your boy daily to check his actual food intake. He should get the equivalent of 120ml in 24 hours, either in solids or hand feed to keep up his weight. Mush up your pellets. Grate or juice any veg and if necessary place them in his mouth. Make sure that he also gets enough fibre; your vet should be able to give you recovery food. When hand feeding, please use a 1ml syringe with the narrow tip cut off. That syringe size allows for the best control and will prevent things from going down the wrong way and causing problems.
http://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html
Click to expand...

Thank you very much I am right on it with the vet situation. Luckily I have hand fed before (although no expert at it!) so will be able to do this if needs be.
 
My old boar once broke off him front two teeth, although we could still see a little bit of them at the top. We took him straight to the vet who prescribed antibiotics in case. We mushed up his pellets, chopped his hay and veg very fine for a couple of weeks until his teeth grew back. Thankfully this didn't take too long. Good luck! Fingers crossed he only broke them and they grow back soon!
 
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