Teeth Trouble!

[Sammy!]

Hi! My aging boar Samson has been having trouble with his vitamin C uptake recently, so I've been giving him supplements in his water in addition to his existing twice daily fruit & veggies. Due in part to the deficient vitamin C uptake this past year he's had several mishaps with snapping his upper teeth but they've always grown back evenly & without any trouble. Sadly on this occasion (which I noticed at about two weeks ago) the left incisor seems to have completely disappeared, whilst the right one is half the length it ought to be although it isn't rough or jagged. There's no signs of his lower teeth over-erupting yet but I'm keeping an eye on this. I've been irrigating the socket at the top to make sure it's clean, and chopping his veggies up into small pieces as he's having trouble eating (which is his favourite thing to do second to napping!) has anyone else experienced this with an old piggy? He doesn't seem too bothered by it at the moment but I'm monitoring his weight (he's always been a bit on the podgy side!) and was wondering if I should consider giving him a supplementary diet like fine grind or something? Any help or guidance is much appreciated. That pig is my golden boy!

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! My aging boar Samson has been having trouble with his vitamin C uptake recently, so I've been giving him supplements in his water in addition to his existing twice daily fruit & veggies. Due in part to the deficient vitamin C uptake this past year he's had several mishaps with snapping his upper teeth but they've always grown back evenly & without any trouble. Sadly on this occasion (which I noticed at about two weeks ago) the left incisor seems to have completely disappeared, whilst the right one is half the length it ought to be although it isn't rough or jagged. There's no signs of his lower teeth over-erupting yet but I'm keeping an eye on this. I've been irrigating the socket at the top to make sure it's clean, and chopping his veggies up into small pieces as he's having trouble eating (which is his favourite thing to do second to napping!) has anyone else experienced this with an old piggy? He doesn't seem too bothered by it at the moment but I'm monitoring his weight (he's always been a bit on the podgy side!) and was wondering if I should consider giving him a supplementary diet like fine grind or something? Any help or guidance is much appreciated. That pig is my golden boy!

Hi! I am very sorry about this.

Re. his diet, you may find the section about caring for dental guinea pigs useful: Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
You can feed his usual veg and herbs grated or finely chopped, but it should make only about 10-20% of the daily food intake. Fine grind recovery formula, mushed pellets or a mix thereof should cover for any hay he is not able to eat. The more chewable food he can eat the better, in order to keep his back teeth ground down evenly.

If the top incisors are not growing back fully, he may need to have his incisors checked from time to. From my own experience with my Hywel after he developed a dental root abscess in a lower incisor, he did fine on just three, but he needed regular dental check ups at the vet.
@karonus also has got experience with caring for an older guinea pig with missing incisors.

 

[Sammy!]

Hi! I am very sorry about this.

Re. his diet, you may find the section about caring for dental guinea pigs useful: Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
You can feed his usual veg and herbs grated or finely chopped, but it should make only about 10-20% of the daily food intake. Fine grind recovery formula, mushed pellets or a mix thereof should cover for any hay he is not able to eat. The more chewable food he can eat the better, in order to keep his back teeth ground down evenly.

If the top incisors are not growing back fully, he may need to have his incisors checked from time to. From my own experience with my Hywel after he developed a dental root abscess in a lower incisor, he did fine on just three, but he needed regular dental check ups at the vet.
@karonus also has got experience with caring for an older guinea pig with missing incisors.

Thanks so much. I will give the Feeding Guide a read. I'll take him straight to the vets if I notice anything untoward! X

 

[karonus]

Astro lost his last bottom incisor last December. He gets a check up every 4 weeks (5 is the maximum we can leave it). For vitamin C for Astro other than nuggets we find he can manage kale very well. Other veggies we chop into fine strips or Julianne them.

 

[Sammy!]

Astro lost his last bottom incisor last December. He gets a check up every 4 weeks (5 is the maximum we can leave it). For vitamin C for Astro other than nuggets we find he can manage kale very well. Other veggies we chop into fine strips or Julianne them.

Thanks. Sounds like regular check-ups will be the safest way forward - I'll look into it