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Dental Advice needed

A

Ashcave

New Born Pup
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Aug 5, 2021
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South shields
I have two lovely guinea pigs not even a year old and are bonded brothers. I have had to take cookie to the vets today as he has maccolusion so his teeth are blocking his tounge. He has lots a lot of weight and is not himself at all so sleepy. The vet said he will be in pain and we can either try and plump him up and go for surgery with no garuntee the problem won't return or we can put him to sleep. I've not stopped crying all day I can't bear the thought of our little baby cookie passing away hut equally sad he is in pain and not sure he could handle stress if syringe feeding and surgery.

I guess I am looking for reassurance that it's OK to let him go
 
I'm sorry to hear that and of course the decision haas to be yours but please consider taking your piggy to Northampton to see Simon and Kim at Cat & Rabbit clinic for a second opinion. They are piggy dental specialists and can most likely help by doing conscious dentals. Most vets are inexperienced when it comes to piggy teeth and can easily make the problem worse when Simon and Kim can fix them. Obviously we dont know the extent of his dental issues, but dental problems dont always have to be the end. We have members on the forum who travel the length of the country to get to Simon and Kim for their expertise.

Are you syringe feeding him to stop the weight loss and keep gut function? He will be weak and sleepy if he isnt getting enough food.
Has he been given pain medication?

Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

I'll tag in @furryfriends (TEAS) who runs a sanctuary for dental piggies and sees Simon and Kim to help all her rescue piggies, and she has the most experience in dealing with such issues
 
Thank you for your swift reply. Travel to Northampton at the moment isn't an option for us tho I did read all the good things about Simon. No pain relief given and we are starting to syrgine feed today. I am worried this will be a reoccurring problem and cookie can get stressed very easy even the feeding is stressful for him. The vet didn't know if this would be a reoccurring problem just said that he was likely in pain and if we didn't act soon he would pass away quickly.
 
If you cant get to Northampton, is there another vet in your area you can go to for a second opinion and pain relief? (He will need pain relief)
Some members find their piggies dentals do need to be done regularly to get things back on the right track, with the gap between each dental increasing as things improve. Obviously each situation is different though so you would need an experienced vet to say.

Weigh him daily and syringe feed as much in a 24 hour period as is necessary to stop weight loss from day to day. The less he takes per feeding, the more feedings you will need to do.

Recommended Guinea Pig Vets

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Today's instructional video on our Facebook page - Syringe feeding
 
Look at the green bar at the top where Guinea pig rescues are listed. There are a few in your area and if you contact them you can:

1. Tell them about Cookie and find out which vets they use locally. These will be vets who see a lot of piggies and so should have more experience. They might have a better chance than a general vet of correcting this sort of thing - or at least tell you his chances in surgery and how he will manage long term.

2. If you feel you cannot manage Cookie's issues the rescues will be able to advise about their capacity to possibly take in the brothers as a pair and sorting these teeth out themselves. You might not feel able to part with his brother but both pigs will need some sort of company of their own kind and trying to find a match for a single boar can be a tricky process... rescues that do 'boar dating' can save a lot of time and heartache here.

Syringe feeding is not always a battle - if piggy is hungry and realises you are doing him a favour! My biggest mistake was trying to do too much too fast and she occasionally choked on it and then got very nervous - I should have stuck with smaller 'mouthfuls' (0.1 - 0.5 ml) to start with while she got used to it and then increased as they went in for the syringe themselves. You don't have to do this through the night if he is taking plenty in the day - that's just for after operations or when the guts slow right down - and if he can eat it out of a bowl himself it will also help a lot. My first syringe piggy had a massive 20ml syringe that came with the stuff (science selective 'Recovery') and it was hard to control so she freaked when she saw it (she had swallowing issues anyway) and it took a while to undo my mistake. Recovery has gone down OK here but I recently sent off for some Oxbow Critical Care Fine Grind (Brown packet - papaya flavoured) from the internet and it has been much more popular than either the recovery or the more commonly available green packet oxbow which is aniseed flavoured. And it was easier to syringe - the other pigs were jumping up and down to get a bit. Syringing is my biggest excuse to get the lounge to 'ourselves' and watch an old movie while piggy is fed. Even the reluctant syringee can be more easily persuaded if we are relaxed.

Good luck Cookie - I hope you can get this sorted x
 
Thank you for all your replies it's so helpful. We are going to see how we get on this weekend and how he responds to pain relief (which we have managed to get) and feeding and then make a decision. I never expected to fall in love this much with piggies when we got them last year! X
 
They creep into your heart!
I'm glad you've managed to get him pain relief - what have you been prescribed?
Definitely ensure you weigh him every day so you can be sure to stop his weight loss with the syringe feeding. He wont put weight on straight away - syringe feeding is about stabilising the weight rather than weight gain (gaining lost weight takes considerably longer).
I hope he is ok and you can find a vet to carry out the dental. Keep us posted
 
Thanks everyone for there comments on cookie. We decided to have surgery in the end and our vet did it under sedation. He came home yesterday so sleepy and groggy but up and eating lots of fresh veg today. Hopefully that's him on the mend! So pleased we opted for surgery and we have him home. Thanks again!
 
Ashcave said:
Thanks everyone for there comments on cookie. We decided to have surgery in the end and our vet did it under sedation. He came home yesterday so sleepy and groggy but up and eating lots of fresh veg today. Hopefully that's him on the mend! So pleased we opted for surgery and we have him home. Thanks again!
Click to expand...

I'm so glad to hear he is ok.

Do ensure you continue to weigh him daily while he is recovering to ensure he is eating plenty of hay. It’s good he is eating for himself, but veg is only a snack plus it doesn’t wear down the teeth. He needs to eat plenty of hay anyway but also to stop the teeth from overgrowing again (fresh grass also wears the teeth)
 
This is amazing news - so glad to hear Cookie is doing better. Best wishes for the future 💕
 
So pleased Cookie is on the mend. You are doing all you can. Well done. It’s so stressful when they are poorly.
 
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