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Teeth problems in guineas - any success stories

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Layla - NSGPR

Layla - NSGPR

Teenage Guinea Pig
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I have a young piggy (6-8 months old) in who has teeth problems. He is still eating at the moment, but is quiet.

I have seen the vet, who has said that she can anaesthetise and try to fix them.

From my own experience, I have not had much success in prolonging quality of life when guineas have teeth problems, it has often just prolonged discomfort and suffering. So I am weighing up whether I want to put this wee chap through more trauma.

I have also recently lost my cavy vet who was very good, so I have not got a vet I really trust now. The one I have seen is good, and has successfully anaesthetised and treated other piggies I have, but she also felt that the prognosis was not very good.

Advice please! And I am trying to track down another good cavy vet locally if anyone knows of one.

Thanks

Layla
 
I don't know, if this is true but I have read lots of threads and they say for teeth problem the guinea pig does not need sedated or anaesthetise! I'm sure someone can comment furthur sorry I'm not much use!
 
it depends on what they plan on doing?

Is is the back teeth causing problems with painful spurs, or overgrowing of the front teeth? or combination?

It is important to use a vet you trust, I'm sure I dont need to tell you the importance of constant hay to eat to wear the teeth down as you seem experienced. Has it lost weight?

Anesthesia is certainly required if removal of teeth is required or filing of back teeth as it is obviously impossible to do without it. Filing down front teeth, there is a debate regarding to anaesthetise or not, yes there are risks of general anas. however the stress and potential shock that could be caused without using it, are also something to consider.

I think get a vet you trust, discuss what they think exactly is causing the problem, if its a remove teeth job, maybe a one off will give him good quality for a while, if its reoccuring filing of spurs then thats something you should talk to your vet or an owner who has been through similiar with, who can tell you how their piggy coped.

Hope this helps

carly x :)
 
Anesthesia is certainly required if removal of teeth is required or filing of back teeth as it is obviously impossible to do without it. Filing down front teeth, there is a debate regarding to anaesthetise or not, yes there are risks of general anas. however

I am short of time so my answer is short. Nonsense, it is NEVER necessary under any circumstances.
 
I have had a guinea successfully treated for dental problems as have a lot of others on here. There is no need for sedation or aneasthetic for front or back teeth to be clipped or filed. My boy has had his all done twice now with just being towel wrapped. There are not many vets willing to do this though and I do have to travel over an hour to get to a vet who will. I am not in your part of the country so my vet is of no use to you but I'm sure others on here will be able to recommend someone close to you. You could also try and contact Vedra at the Cambridge Cavy Trust. She will be able to give you details of someone in your area.
 
Layla
There are any number of people up and down the country who can safely help your pig.
Below is an answer I gave on another thread this morning.

If the front teeth are slanted then you can be certain that there are problems with the back teeth.
I have seen two pigs this morning with the same problem, in fact I see them every 10-14 days to trim the teeth as and where necessary.
The one pig has molars that grow over his tongue, it takes but a few seconds to put him back to something approaching normal.
Some pigs do have ongoing dental problems, which cannot be "cured" only controlled
 
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Layla, I understand your concern and worry. I had a sow with dental problems for almost a year, problems with both her incisors and molars. If she was anesthetised every time she needed treatment - which was weekly for around 12 weeks - then she would very likely not have survived as long as she did, especially after her weight plummeted to just 700g. The dental work she required so often took just 1-2 minutes, often less, and she was fully conscious the whole time, able to return home perfectly well straight away with no after-effects.

The only thing I did find was that her mouth was still sensitive after dental work (due to the sores caused by the problem teeth), so I always gave Daktarin Oral Gel, 0.5ml twice daily for at least three days after the work.

In terms of weighing up the stress of giving treatment to an anesthetised pig vs. conscious pig, there is no question in my mind which is more stressful. True, the pig will not be stressed by the dental work if anesthetised, but instead they have to put up with:

- Spending a full day in a strange environment;
- Being anesthetised;
- Waking up in said strange environment, with strange people;
- Travelling to and from the vets, the return journey perhaps being made more stressful for the pig by the fact that he's likely to be unsteady and feel a bit 'off'.

If they're treated without anesthetic, ideally by a rodentologist or by a vet there and then, they will have a few minutes of being handled very oddly but then it's over and done with, they can head back home to comfort and normality straight away.
 
The owner has to put up with the fact that a totally unnecessary GA may kill their favourite pig.
 
I'm sorry but REMOVAL of teeth must be done under GA for welfare issues, i am a vet nurse of 9 years, i think its incredibly unfair to put a consious piggy through that EVEN with local anaesthesia.
As I did say, filing of teeth especially front, can be done without GA but on a fit young piggy, seems unnecessary if you have a good rodentologist with experienced GA nurses at thier side.
 
MEC
I expected that reply from you as regards the extraction of teeth!

That is why I emphasised the trimming of teeth in my post and it was to that I referred, I should have deleted the reference to removal of teeth in your post. Hence your reply!!
I can only emphasise that no GA is ever necessary to trim/file any tooth.
 
Ok well an update on the piggy - I contacted Vedra and the nearest rodentologist with experienced with teetch was Sheffield (120 miles away), so a bit far, especially with the conditions on the road at the moment.

So I went to another vet who has been recommended by many people, with small animals.

He went in today and she looked at his teeth and she said that she could not see a major problem with them. She has filed down his front incisors so they are straight, and she could only find two very small but sharp spurs on his molars, so she has filed these down too. These could have been enough to upset his eating.

At the moment he is very bright and active, and eating well, so I will see how he gets on.

He is a rescue guinea, so it is unlikely I will rehome him now, unless we are really lucky and the problems clear up, so I will see how he gets on.

If it is a reoccurring problem I will talk to the vet about future filings not with GA, as I think she would probably be willing to do this.

Thanks for all the useful info, and the information in other posts as well have been most helpful.
 
Hi Layla

I have recently had my wee Maurice at the vet to have his back teeth filed down under anaesthesia I may add as although there are risks I saw what he was like when the vet was just trying to look at his teeth never mind file them

He has made a full recovery and is back to eating veg he turned his nose up at only a couple of weeks ago.

I did worry that putting him under anaesthesai may be risky but I am so pleased I did as he is back to normal
 
I hope not either and he seems back to his normal self been a bit grumpy tonight but think its the weather and its nothing unusual for him to sit in his wee house for ages suppose he needs time on his own just like us humans do to chillax etc
 
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