Need help with Guinea Pig after dental work

[Anabel1]

Hello,

I need some advice on my 20 months guinea pig, if anyone can. He stopped eating on the 26th of Dec when my mother, his owner went on holiday. We thought it was psychological and he just needed a bit more time, even if he had stayed with me on previous occasions when my mother was away. On the 4th day, 30th of Dec I took him to the vet and he had teeth and stomach XRays done. The specialised vet said that his molars were too long and needed to have them filed down but first he needed to eat because his stomach was empty and couldn't have GA in that condition. I had him on Critical Care (Oxbow), 7ml every eight hours. I also had to smash in his food a quarter of Ranitidina Teva, a stomach protector because he was receiving 0,2 ml of Metacam once a day. The doctor was supposed to file down his molars on the 2nd of Jan but had an emergency operation and it was postponed on the 3rd of Jan.

It is the 5th of Jan now and he still doesn't eat on his own. We feed him 7ml of Critical Care every eight hours with 1/4 stomach protector because he's still on his Metacam, just 1ml a day, and we're also giving him 1-2ml orange juice which he likes every 4 hours and water. His droppings are fine, the colour is a bit different and they are not so frequent and he's recovered from his anaesthesia.

It's holiday bank here now and the vet will only be able to see him in 2 days, on the 7th of Jan. If any of you have medical experience or have had a guinea pig who's had dental work done, I'd like to know if the medicine he's been given is the right one and if we should try to give him besides the Critical Care something else to eat, like smashed veggies or grass, how nad how often. He always has hay, grass, his normal food and his favourite fresh food around him buy he only smells it without taking it in his mouth, even if he opens the mouth a little bit.

Thank you!!!

We have used baby food on the advice of our vets with both rabbits and guineas who were reluctant to eat. It needs to be pure fruit/veg, so no fillers or anything they couldn't eat in its raw state, so something like banana puree or carrot . We used apple too but we have had a guinea who got a sore mouth from apples which can be a problem in some guineas.

One of my guinea pigs had dental work earlier this year. He is 6 and made a good recovery. I remember I had to feed him critical care via a syringe for a few days after. He was also able to eat soft things like grated apple, grated carrot, dandelion leaves and kale. It took a while for him to return to the nuggets and timothy hay a week or so I think.

Thank you, Valencia!

How often were you feeding the guinea pig and how much were you giving him,
if you remember. Should I maybe continue with the Critical Care food every eight hours but in between give him baby food and fruit/veg pure?

Do you remember how long your guinea pig needed to be fed until he ate on his own?

Thank you, Bumbez. I've just seen you reply. So you only gave him Critical Care food for the first week? I suppose I am just worried that our guinea pig needs more food than the Critical Care 7ml three times a day.

I was giving it to him a couple of times a day , but as well as critical care, and also sometimes adding some to the critical care as he was happier to accept it when it tasted of banana. Sadly that guinea pig was very poorly and didn't make it. However with our rabbit she had it in a bowl that I would put down and she was able to eat it herself, then I started adding grated carrot or mashed banana to the baby food and gradually increased the real food and decreased the baby food until she was back to normal. I think its just a bit tastier and tempts them to go back to eating.

We'll try to give him something else too gradually. Thx for the advice. Hopefully he'll be alright. Apparently rabbits recover better than guinea pigs for some reason and all we can do is try. Enjoy your day!

Hi Anabel - I've not had a GP that's been through surgery but some of my pigs when I was a child would lose their front teeth (one sow in particular was a noisy bar chewer so sometimes lost both top or bottom)
We mashed pellets and fed on a teaspoon handle and gave her grated veg.

One thing I noticed though was the difference between a guinea who is hungry and wants to eat (she hoovered up the grated veg) and one who is ill.

My GP2 died in July - we gave him fine grind Critical Care and VitC in water. It was hard because he was too meh to eat but we had to drop it into his mouth and let him eat slowly. It was also fiercely hot weather so we were worried about him not eating.

Once your pig has had his teeth filed he'll need to be checked regularly- his teeth might not be properly aligned and not wearing properly.

WRT the feeding - did your vet say every 8 hours?
Doesn't seem very frequent when you consider that they will eat fairly consistantly in normal circumstances.

Is he pooh eating (first pooh)

We fed our hog every couple of hours but he was not taking a lot (quite alot got on him bib, messy creature, ) and he was in the last two days of life so we were torn between stressing him and trying to keep him going.

(I haven't got a bag of CC to check the amount/ frequency. Need to order some)

Have you tried grass?

I didn't give him critical care for very long, he's quite old and was a bugger to feed, luckily he showed interest in his favourite foods - carrots and as long as it was grated he could manage.

It took ages for him to eat the nuggets which has the calories so I worried about that.

I think he had painkillers for a day but I can't really remember.

I hope he's ok.

Hi OP

I had a poorly guinea with a tooth problem last summer and I syringe fed the critical care but more like every four hours. In between, I offered fresh cut grass and softer stuff that he could tolerate (parsley, dandelion leaves etc). Grated carrot, as others have said, would be a fab idea-I didn't do that but only because I didn't think of it!! I offered the softer foods every three or four hours too, in between the cc. Hand feeding the softer foods is a good idea too. My pig was happier to eat when grass was physically placed next to his mouth but would often ignore it in the cage.

The vet also prescribed a painkiller (loxicom) which I think helped him eat a bit more too.

Our guinea was really poorly for 3-4 days and lost a lot of weight but happily as soon as the vet had managed to file down the tooth he was like a new pig. He has since made a full recovery and is now lovely and chubby again! I carried on with cc for a couple of days after the operation to be safe, but tbh he was back eating his favourite harder stuff (carrots, broccoli stalks etc) within 24 hours.

Good luck and I hope your pig recovers well.

Thank you all for your comments.

If I had been following the doctor's advice, I would have only given him Critical Care food 7ml three times a day, plus medicine. She didn't even tell me to give him water and I suggested the fresh orange juice he has always liked so much and she agreed. We live in one of the big cities in Spain but there are only two vets that deal with exotic animals and no one recommends the other one. I think that the vet who saw him appreciated correctly the teeth problem he had but her advice on how to feed him these days was very incomplete. I've been reading a lot about this in the last two days and your comments confirm that he needs more food and liquid. We've started given him fruit and vegetable pure today in between the Critical Care food and he's responding well. He has all his favourite food, fresh grass and hay around him that we often change to stimulate him and my mother who's back now keeps him in her arms in a blanket with food near him. He loves it to be held like that in a soft blanket. He looks calm, relaxed, eats his pure but I think that he is still in pain (hopefully not too much) because he has to make a bit of an effort to eat. The vet will see him again on the 7th of Jan but honestly I've found much better advice on the internet than from her. Tomorrow we'll start giving him fruit and vegetables cut in small pieces too. Thx again! I'll keep you updated.

Hi Anabel, pleased to hear he seems happier this morning. it sounds like he is receiving lots of care and attention from your family.

Thank you for your kind words, Valencia.

The doctor decided to keep him under observation until tomorrow. He had a full consultation and everything seems to be fine. The staff too gave him all kinds of food but he didn't eat any of it, so they fed him Critical Care. Tomorrow morning another vet from the same clinic comes back from holiday and both vets will have another look at his X-rays and consult him again to make sure there's nothing wrong with him. Hopefully he'll start eating soon and be again how he used to be.

Bless him, it's alot for a little animal to go through isn't it
You may well find the vets/ vets nurse will be able to get the Critical Care down his gullet and perk him up a bit (GPs are not ones to forego food willingly)

(Our cat was a blighter with tablets but the vet used to get a worming tablet the size of an AlkaSeltzer ok I lie in her mouth with no blood shed)

Hope they can find some answers on those X-Rays

70 boars send virtual paw holding

Your support is much appreciated, 70isaLimitNT.

The second vet thinks that Pixie's molars are still too big and need more filing. He's assured me that he's well looked after and they fed him and gave him his medicine. This afternoon they will make another intervention to file more his molars and they promised to call us this evening when he wakes up from his anaesthesia. They will keep him there over the night.

This is not the best possible news but for the first time in days, we have hope again.

At least they can see a problem, which means it can be treated and then hopefully he'll get back to normal.

On the 8th of Jan the doctors had another emergency and postponed Pixie for today, the 9th, which inevitably made us all very sad. They finally filed down his molars today at midday. I don't think they delayed it on purpose but this didn't stop my mother to go the clinic three times this morning and make some pressure.

They spoke with my mother immediately after the intervention and told her that his teeth don't grow in the right direction and this might be very difficult to correct. They filed them down as much as they could and also discovered that he had quite a deep injury in his gum. They cleaned it, put some medcine there and have prescribed him antibiotics for the next 5 days. He will continue with 2ml of Metacam a day and 1/4 stomach protector too. We aren't supposed to clean his injury in any way, the doctor said it would be impossible for us to do anyway, as they used some very special instruments to see it and treat it.

They didn't know if he was going to eat on his own and in that case we should give him Critical Care 3 times today. They said that Pixie's teeth problem might continue and quite frequently, needing filing every two weeks and personally they didn't think that this was something that he could resist to.

The first doctor that saw him explained how difficult it was to work in his tiny mouth so far at the back and how much each doctor needed the other one's help. She said it was impossible for her alone to come up with the right diagnose the first time.

So, we've brought him home, he's super looked after and spoilt and we had the nice surprise that he started eating some fresh grass when we gave him some

We'll try with everything in the following days and hopefully it will work. I don't want to think of another possibility.

Thank you all for all your support these days

Guinea-pigs have very narrow mouths and you don't see the back teeth without a retractor. Front teeth are much easier - and my piglet boar never misses a chance to say "See my teeth mother. Feel my teeth " as he does a little 'pull' at our skin (not a bite, a pull )
Having his teeth filed every 2 weeks won't be something he'll look forward to either (I know some Rodentologists will fit a retractor and do dental work without any sedative or anaethestic, I wouldn't want my pig going through sedation each time)

Does he have things he wants to chew? Hay, willow branches, there are some fruit trees they can eat the branches from.

His main priority at the moment as you say, is keeping him happy and spoiling him.

Hi Anabel, Sounds like you've all had a tough couple of days. Hope the little piggie is feeling better now, eating his grass is a good sign.

Hi again

He loves all the attention given as always. He has eaten a bit more of grass, chard and a hay treat on his own, besides the Critical Care food. We're hoping that his droppings will become more or less and regular too and that he will get better and better every day.

We would never let him suffer, we're constantly checking on him or helding him and we have an emergency number from another clinic should he need medical assistance over the weekend.

Have a nice weekend everyone

Hello!

I'm a bit late to this, but so glad that he is starting to eat again! We had a pig on critical care for a few weeks and were fearing she'd never eat again, but it did happen in the end. Funnily enough grass (and parsley!) were the first things she managed too!

Watch that the antibiotics don't have a negative affect on his appetite, by destroying the bacteria that he needs for digestion in his gut. If you think this is happening, probiotics can help. I should probably point out that I am no vet, just an owner who's done a lot of research after owning two anorexic piggies!

Best of luck!

Thank you for your kind words, Sawdust

Hello again everyone. I thought that a quick update on Pixie would be nice, especially because so many people have helped so much in the first days after his second dental work that were critical and also because other people could be just as worried and lost as we were then.

It is now 10 days after his molars were filed down for the second time with general anaesthesia and Pixie is eating all the kinds of foods that he used to and almost the normal amount.

After the intervention the doctors advised giving him 21 ml of Critical Care food a day, in 3 doses but he wasn't doing very well, and doctors said that there was nothing else to do.

On a different guinea forum I was strongly recommended by people who have had guinea pigs for many years to feed him more CC, because the only way for him to start eating was by feeling strong again and fully functioning.

It was a very hard decision to take to go against the doctors' advice but 48 hours after we started feeding him 120 ml Critical Care a day, 20 syringes every 4 hours + 5 syringes of 7 ml water, he started to eat a bit of fresh grass, then the next day a bit more and he dared to eat something else too, and so on, he progressed every day a bit more.

We gave him and still do constant attention, he spends most of the time during the day in my mother's arms, in his little sponge house covered with soft blankets, constantly being offered new fresh food to stimulate him. My mother is retired and this helps too.

He wasn't very keen on the Critical Care food but he was always fed the right amount. He sometimes ran after being given one syringe of CC in his house on the sofa and we started to offer him normal food to eat on his own in between the CC doses and he accepted it and started chewing. His feeding times took much longer than usual but he got more and more used to eating his normal food on his own again. We've also gradually decreased his CC doses.

We are very happy now, he is doing great, today is the first day that he hasn't received any Critical Care food because he's eating on his own, his grass, hay, dry food, carrots, parsley, etc.

Thank you again for your great help in those moments when we were desperate. All the best.

Wow Anabel - this just shows what a lot of care and patience can do. You and your mum have worked really hard to help this poor little chap and he sounds a lot better now. Well done to all of you. He couldn't ask for better mums.

Thank you, FernieB

Hi Anabel, That's lovely news to see this morning. I am so pleased that Pixie is getting well again. It's hard work and such a worry when pets are poorly. Its then you really wish they could talk to you! . Pixie is lucky to have had such dedicated caring people around him.