Bottom Teeth Trimming

[Pigpi]

Hi,
My piggies are going to the vets tomorrow to get their bottom teeth trimmed.
What will this entail, will they have anaesthetic? Also how much will it cost of course if it was expensive I wouldn't refuse them treatment but I just wondered, thanks !

 

[Wiebke]

Hi! Why do they need to have their bottom front teeth trimmed? Front teeth are self sharpening and only hve problems if there is a problem with overgrown premolars. If your piggies are perfectly healthy, don't dribble, struggle to chew or eat hay or have weight loss problems, then there is NO NEED WHATSOEVER to trim teeth!

How piggy savvy is your vet? Please do not let him teeth without good reason, as he can easily make things worse or create problems where there haven't been any. If their teeth have been trimmed unnecessarily, then they will struggle to eat and that could unbalance their digestion as well as prevent the crucial premolars being ground down well (which happens best with eating lots of hay in their diet).
http://www.guinealynx.info/teeth.html

Could you please add your country to your details, so we can help you better. You can do that by clicking on your username on the top bar, then go to personal details and scroll down to location.

 

[Pigpi]

They both have a noticeable wheeze and they aren't eating too well so have been losing weight, sorry probably should have said, they are pretty long as well.
I do trust the vet she is normally very good, she says most likely the teeth need trimming but she'll give them a final examination tomorrow. Hopefully it's not a disease.

 

[Wiebke]

Bottom teeth look always too long to the inexperienced! As I said, they are self-sharpening. if they have a nice even edge to them, then they are working perfectly fine.

Please make sure that your vet is NOT treating any front teeth on spec without the presence of premolar spurs, or she will inevitably make the problem worse instead of better! Sadly, dental treatment is not something that many vets, not even small animal experts, never mind general vets are experienced with.

Weight loss can have many reasons. If they are wheezing, then a respiratory infection is the most likely culprit. Loss of appetite and weight loss is typical for it, as the need to breathe comes before the need to drink comes before the need to eat.
Here is more information on the URI: http://www.guinealynx.info/uri.html
If there is a URI, please ask your vet also for a diuretic to ease the build-up of fluids in the lungs, bisolvon powder to dissolve any build-up and overproduction of mucus. you can also place a bowl with hot water in which you put a few drops of olbas oil next to the cage.
Your vet should prescribe an antibiotic; make sure that it is given by syringe and not via the water bottle (which is totally ineffectual, as you cannot control the intake, especially not if the medication tastes horrible). If you are getting an antibiotic, please give a pinch of probiotic about 1-2 hours after the antibiotic to help prop up the guts and prevent further weight loss. Extra vitamin C to bolster the immune system can also help (about 1/8-1/4 of a human tablet).
http://www.guinealynx.info/uri.html

You may also consider hand feeding if your piggies continue to lose weight. More information on probiotics and vitamin C is included at the end. You will need to hand feed in case your piggies have any inappropriate dental treatment. If your vet is treating the teeth, please make sure that they get a painkiller like metacam.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/complete-hand-feeding-guide.115359/

 

[helen105281]

Am sure dental issues wouldn't make them wheeze. I think the vet needs to check for a URI, allergies or a heart issue.

 

[Wiebke]

How old are your piggies anyway? It is extremely rare that young guinea pigs have dental problems, and you usually don't have two guinea pigs with dental problems anyway unless they have been on a long term unsuitable diet.

Wishing you all the best. I hope that the information that we have given you will help you to figure out what is wrong with your piggies.

PS: You may find this link here also helpful: http://www.guinealynx.info/medications.html

 

[Pigpi]

Hi, thank you all so much for the advice. I beginning to realise that perhaps she has got it wrong. I did suspect URI in another thread but I think I got the name wrong. My piggies are brothers and were two in June, they are very close and not that active. They have always lived in a hutch outside due to my mum having allergies but we move them into a shed in winter.
I think a respiratory infection is the most likely cause now and I shall talk to the vet about it. She was going to examine them before trimming their teeth anyway.
How serious is URI (could they die)?
Also how much will all the antibiotics cost as I'm on a budget (I'm only 14)? My parents will pay any extra but the piggies are my responsibility.
Thanks so much everyone!

 

[Pigpi]

I have read the guinea pig lynx info and they aren't displaying any other symptoms except small weight loss and wheezing. I am going on holiday tomorrow until the 20th and my grandparents are looking after the pigs, they have done it before and know what to do as my mum had guinea pigs when she was little. But I really want to know the cause by them otherwise there's nothing I can do for a week.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you for the additional information. I assume that you are in the UK? Do you have an idea of the extent of the weight loss? Is it still ongoing?

Just the hot weather and the the cool down we have been experiencing in the UK can be responsible for some lost weight and URI.

Wheezing can be due to respiratory tract problems; your vet needs to check the lungs carefully. Not every respiratory issue displays all the symptoms - or even any of them!
Allergy has to be taken into consideration when a course of antibiotics is not doing the trick; the same goes for any heart issues, which can manifest as persistent/repeated respiratory problems. The latter is however more unlikely in your case, as you have two boys displaying the same symptoms at the same time; that argues more for an infectious or environmental issue.

Normally, a vet will treat with an antibiotic at first to see whether it is a respiratory problem. That should not cost the world. If your vet prescribes baytril (which is the only officially licensed antibiotic), then we strongly advice you to get a probiotic. Baytril can cause soft poos and is a bit of an appetite killer; it is especially harsh on the guts. You can get a cheap probiotic from pet@home if necessary; it is not quite as good as the online products, but it will do the trick in a pinch. Baytril is especially foul tasting, so you either want to syringe it quickly and then give something strong tasting like ribena afterwards or you can mix the dose with a bit of ribena and syringe it like that.

URI can kill (sometimes very quickly) or leave a piggy with lifelong lung disease if it is not treated and healed out properly. Any piggy with breathing issues needs to be seen by a vet. It is not an issue that can be left.

 

[Pigpi]

We are just about to go to the vets now, I'm a bit worried but hopefully they will both be fine. I've tried to keep the day as stress free as possible for them as they get very stressed in the vets. We have changed vets recently as the old vets were very noisy and the vet was rough.
Yes we are in the UK. I weighed them both this morning and they both weigh in the 900gs but in Apri/early june they weighed 1100g is that sufficient weightless?
Thank you all so much and ill give u a update when we get back.

 

[Wiebke]

That is quite a major weight loss that needs investigating! It is not dangerously low, but it is over 100g.
Fingers firmly crossed!

PS: We have got a piggy savvy vets locator on the top bar which we try to update as much as possible. Sadly, not all areas are equally well serviced, but it may be of help for you.

PS2: It might be a good idea to weigh your boys once weekly to catch any developing problems early on.

 

[Pigpi]

Back from the vets now...
The vet agreed that it was a heavy weight loss, she also said that the one guinea pig looked much smaller than the other. She wasn't sure what the cause was but she said that I was feeding them the correct amount but they just weren't eating it so I'm hand feeding them now.
She listened to both their chests and they both hand a bit of food maybe spinach stuck in their back teeth which could have been causing the wheeze so I'm avoiding stringy veggies now.
Alf had a limp as well and he has been diagnosed with in growing toe nails and arthritis which is very rare at such a young age.
I need to come up with a care plan to help them gain weight fast especially as winters coming does anyone have any ideas what food can help them get a bit chunkier. Also I need to be careful of Alfs leg and does anyone have any ways to make life easier and comfier for him?
Thanks so much everyone you have really helped me!

 

[Wiebke]

Sweet corn is an energy dense veg, so you can include a whole cob twice weekly while that is in season and you can up the amount of pellets you are feeding. The vast majority of the food intake should be hay, though, to ensure good gut, dental and general health. In my experience, it doesn't help piling up empty calories into a piggy; they will just melt away when there is a problem with with food intake or processing.

Have you checked your hay or hay storage whether there could be a problem with that, especially during the heat? Has your vet had a good look at the back teeth (once the spinach was removed)? By the way, spinach is very high in calcium and should only be an occasional treat.

Could these threads here help you?
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...or-a-balanced-general-guinea-pig-diet.116460/
https://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk...veg-and-fruit-list-with-vitamin-c-grading.42/

 

[Pigpi]

Yeh I agree it's not that they didnt have enough food but they simply weren't eating, so I am really going to monitor their eating to make sure one isn't eating more than the other as well.
They get their hay from a hay rack and also I put hay on the floor and they do eat plenty of it so I think it was mainly that they weren't eating their pellets. The vet had a really good look at all the teeth and hopefully everything's sorted now. I never really give them spinach but a woman down the road has lots of piggies and she makes these 'treat cakes' for them and she occasionally gives me one too. The pigs love them and they are filled with loads of veggies and they had one of those about a week ago just before I noticed the wheezing so that could be it.