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Advice please - Eating after dentals

Welcome to the forum

Has your piggy had dental work done?
Are you syringe feeding your piggy if s/he isn’t eating?

Every situation is different.
We have a vet in this country who is expert (and does more dentals than any other vet) and carries out dental work without anaesthetic and piggies generally start eating again immediately. But, we also have others coming for advice whose piggies take considerably longer to start eating again - it can be because the dental work hasn’t been completed properly, the piggy is still experiencing some pain in the mouth/not been given pain relief, or simply because piggy has lost confidence in eating because they had been in pain previously and is still expecting their mouth to hurt
 
Hello and welcome to the forum. I hope your piggy starts to eat for themselves soon.
 
Thank you for replying so quickly. She had her teeth filed as they were not growing straight and food was getting stuck and decaying. She stopped eating and lost weight quickly. We separated her from my other pig (thought it may be bullying) but still not eating so took her to the vet. He did the procedure under anaesthetic (using gas) yesterday. She has eaten small pieces of lettuce but not much. She’s not on pain meds and i wasn’t advised to syringe feed her. She’s on antibiotics. To be honest the vets here are not great and i was just handed her back without even seeing him again. I can feed her with a syringe if you can advise what. I would more than likely be able to buy pain meds too without prescription (this is the Bahrain way!) if you can advise..
 
HelenBrown said:
Thank you. I’m pretty anxious. They may be small but they take a huge space in your heart!
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They do. They are amazing animals. You could use some of her pellets soaked in warm water to make a watery mush. Some piggies will eat it off of a spoon or from a bowl. If not you have to syringe it. Use a small 1ml syringe. You might have to cut the tip off but make sure the plunger can’t come out. Weigh your piggy everyday at the same time and if she is still losing weight feed her more. Your vet might have a bag of critical care or you can get it from Amazon. Good luck.
 
Please do syringe feed her either a recovery feed such as Oxbow Critical Care or mush her normal pellets with water. Eating veg unfortunately isn’t enough as it isn’t high enough fibre to keep gut function and veg doesn’t wear the teeth down.
You will also need to weigh her daily so you can be sure she is being syringe fed enough recovery feed in each 24 hour period to keep her weight stable each day. This can mean syringe feeding every couple of hours throughout the day to get around 60ml (more if possible) into her.

Syringe feeding a piggy who isn’t eating hay is essential. They need constant hay fibre going through their gut and lose weight as soon as they reduce their hay intake.
Ensure she is offered lots of hay at all times. As her surgery was only done yesterday, she may still be feeling a bit off due to the anaesthetic and may be experiencing some pain but its important she eats hay again soon.

Pain medication is usually given but we are a UK forum and under UK regulations so only a vet can prescribe any medications and dosages based on clinical symptoms and the piggy’s weight.

The green links below will help with further information on the importance of syringe feeding and how to do it

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
First Aid Kit: Easily available non-medication support products for an emergency
Weight - Monitoring and Management
 
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Piggies&buns said:
Please do syringe feed her either a recovery feed such as Oxbow Critical Care or mush her normal pellets with water. Eating veg unfortunately isn’t enough as it isn’t high enough fibre to keep gut function and veg doesn’t wear the teeth down.
You will also need to weigh her daily so you can be sure she is being syringe fed enough recovery feed in each 24 hour period to keep her weight stable each day. This can mean syringe feeding every couple of hours throughout the day to get around 60ml (more if possible) into her.

Syringe feeding a piggy who isn’t eating hay is essential. They need constant hay fibre going through their gut and lose weight as soon as they reduce their hay intake.
Ensure she is offered lots of hay at all times. As her surgery was only done yesterday, she may still be feeling a bit off due to the anaesthetic and may be experiencing some pain but its important she eats hay again soon.

Pain medication is usually given but we are a UK forum and under UK regulations so only a vet can prescribe any medications and dosages based on clinical symptoms and the piggy’s weight.

The green links below will help with further information on the importance of syringe feeding and how to do it

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
First Aid Kit: Easily available non-medication support products for an emergency
Weight - Monitoring and Management
Click to expand...
 

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I will soak this to mush and I’m off out to buy a syringe. She weights 625g and is 20 months old. I’ll call in at the animal pharmacy & see what they can recommend about pain meds. Thank you 🙏
 
Hello and welcome to the forum
So sorry your piggie has had to have dental work. It can be a long haul to get your piggie eating properly again particularly when it comes to eating hay. As above syringe feed until your piggie is maintaining a stable weight. You can also hand feed small bits of veggies and grass. If your piggie is not eating regular grass then try a tiny bit first and see how that is tolerated, if ok increase gradually. Grass has silica on its leaves like hay and can be substituted for hay in these situations, it will help towards keeping the teeth ground down. Do call your vet and ask for pain relief such a Metacam/Meloxicam which is an anti inflammatory and pain relief drug, ideally dosage should be twice day as GP’s have a very fast metabolism
Good luck, it’s not easy physically or emotionally looking after dental piggies. I would put her back with her friend if they get along well as she needs the support x
 
I’d buy 10 x 1ml syringes and then prepare a few for use as per the guide.
 
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