tax622
Junior Guinea Pig
Hi everyone
Our 5 and a half month old boar Woody is causing us distress yet again, bless him! In the past 12-18 months he's had his left eye removed, and then the wound flushed back out several months later (all good now though, touch wood), and then about 4 months ago he had to have a lump/cyst removed from his rear end. Poor old boy, good job he's made of tough stuff!
Anyway, I digress. Whilst being off over the Xmas-New Year break we've noticed over the past few days Woody has seemed a little quiet, and has spend a lot of time hiding under his cosy. So we have been observing him more closely. He is still very much interested in his food, but from watching him eat he seems to be struggling with harder chunky items, i.e. carrots. Cue inspection of his teeth, and they don't look right to me:
It was quite hard to get a picture as he's a bit of a wriggle bum, but it looks to me almost like there is a sort of 3rd tooth behind his top incisors?! I don't know if this is even possible, or whether they can split, but it also looks a bit ragged down the outside edge of his right top tooth too. And there's nasty stuff on the front. And his bottom teeth aren't exactly level
. I've tried to research a bit more into their teeth, and have read numerous things where people have said because they constantly grow and grind down they commonly correct themselves - has anyone seen something like this or can offer advice? My first instinct is to whip him to the vets asap, but as our exotic vet is 1 hour away it can be a bit traumatic for all involved, so wouldn't want to drag him there if unnecessary.
In the meantime, I have been ensuring he gets softer leafy vegetables which he absolutely wolfs down, he is still eating hard food and we think he's eating hay too (he's certainly trying). I am weighing him daily to make sure he is getting enough food - so far so good. He does seem to have been a bit more spritely today, and I did manage to capture this very cute pic of him!
Anyway sorry I have wittered on a bit there, any advice you very knowlegable lot have is much appreciated!
Thanks
Tanya (and Woody)
Our 5 and a half month old boar Woody is causing us distress yet again, bless him! In the past 12-18 months he's had his left eye removed, and then the wound flushed back out several months later (all good now though, touch wood), and then about 4 months ago he had to have a lump/cyst removed from his rear end. Poor old boy, good job he's made of tough stuff!
Anyway, I digress. Whilst being off over the Xmas-New Year break we've noticed over the past few days Woody has seemed a little quiet, and has spend a lot of time hiding under his cosy. So we have been observing him more closely. He is still very much interested in his food, but from watching him eat he seems to be struggling with harder chunky items, i.e. carrots. Cue inspection of his teeth, and they don't look right to me:
It was quite hard to get a picture as he's a bit of a wriggle bum, but it looks to me almost like there is a sort of 3rd tooth behind his top incisors?! I don't know if this is even possible, or whether they can split, but it also looks a bit ragged down the outside edge of his right top tooth too. And there's nasty stuff on the front. And his bottom teeth aren't exactly level
. I've tried to research a bit more into their teeth, and have read numerous things where people have said because they constantly grow and grind down they commonly correct themselves - has anyone seen something like this or can offer advice? My first instinct is to whip him to the vets asap, but as our exotic vet is 1 hour away it can be a bit traumatic for all involved, so wouldn't want to drag him there if unnecessary.In the meantime, I have been ensuring he gets softer leafy vegetables which he absolutely wolfs down, he is still eating hard food and we think he's eating hay too (he's certainly trying). I am weighing him daily to make sure he is getting enough food - so far so good. He does seem to have been a bit more spritely today, and I did manage to capture this very cute pic of him!
Anyway sorry I have wittered on a bit there, any advice you very knowlegable lot have is much appreciated!
Thanks
Tanya (and Woody)
