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Dental for Trixie

Chaz

Chaz

Junior Guinea Pig
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Trixie has to have a dental tomorrow. We've been given recovery food for tonight and metacam. She won't eat the recovery food. Ive tries but she refuses. She's eaten maybe 5ml. But she's eating nuggets and veg, possibly some hay, but she does not like that syringe food.
What do I do?
 
Are you weighing her regularly at the moment, and has she lost weight recently?
I'm not the right person to give advice on this, just sending you good wishes for tomorrow. :)
Could you give us some more details about why she's having the dental, e.g. is she suffering from maloccluded molars?
 
Good luck tomorrow. Just keep trying little and often. Have you got someone to hold her while you feed her as that helps a lot.
 
ScrufflesRules said:
Are you weighing her regularly at the moment, and has she lost weight recently?
I'm not the right person to give advice on this, just sending you good wishes for tomorrow. :)
Could you give us some more details about why she's having the dental, e.g. is she suffering from maloccluded molars?
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She has lost weight, which is why we took her to the vets. They said something about the right side of the back teeth. So they're going to sort the back teeth, I think
 
weepweeps said:
Good luck tomorrow. Just keep trying little and often. Have you got someone to hold her while you feed her as that helps a lot.
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Yeah my dad's holding her and we're getting a tiny bit in each time. Maybe she's just not hungry. As I said, she is eating normal food, it's just taking a little extra effort
 
The fact she is losing weight means she is not eating enough hay, and the syringe feed is replacing the hay intake.
She should not be able to fill herself up on veg and nuggets because jointly it only makes 25% of her daily food intake (hay being 75%). Equally eating veg and nuggets is therefore not enough.

You are looking to get a minimum of 60ml of syringe feed into her each 24 hour period. The daily weight checks are your guide as to whether she is getting enough.
Little and often will likely be needed.
 
So she went in for the dental. The vet found worse things than they anticipated. She's had two teeth removed. They were just so misaligned because of her age. Also, they found an abcess so she's on antibiotics. They managed to feed her, and she's on painkillers now. Poor baby Trix.
 
Poor Twixie 😞 did the vet remove two of the incisors (front teeth) or molars (back teeth)? I don’t think it’s advisable to remove the molars as the opposite teeth have nothing to wear against?

I am tagging in @furryfriends (TEAS) who is our dental expert

What antibiotics have you been given? x
 
I don't know much until I pick her up. I had a phone call. Not sure where anything is or what been removed, but I'm sure the vets kniw what they're doing.
 
I tried syringe feeding again. Then realised she doesn't like the syringe. So I finger fed her instead. She lapped it up. I also came to the realisation that it's a packet per kg. Trixie isn't a kg. So I did a quarter of the packet, because she's eating some solid foods as well.
 
Chaz said:
I tried syringe feeding again. Then realised she doesn't like the syringe. So I finger fed her instead. She lapped it up. I also came to the realisation that it's a packet per kg. Trixie isn't a kg. So I did a quarter of the packet, because she's eating some solid foods as well.
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Was her tooth removed? It’s a bit of a concern because the opposite tooth won’t have anything to wear against.
How old is she?

The amount of syringe feed you gives is dependent upon what her daily weight checks are telling you. If she loses weight each day then she needs more. If she maintains then she is getting the right amount. It’s all linked to how much hay she is eating independently.

You are aiming for at least 60ml of recovery feed per 24 hour period (as I say though, the weight checks are your guide).

I hope she is ok
 
Piggies&buns said:
Was her tooth removed? It’s a bit of a concern because the opposite tooth won’t have anything to wear against.
How old is she?

The amount of syringe feed you gives is dependent upon what her daily weight checks are telling you. If she loses weight each day then she needs more. If she maintains then she is getting the right amount. It’s all linked to how much hay she is eating independently.

You are aiming for at least 60ml of recovery feed per 24 hour period (as I say though, the weight checks are your guide).

I hope she is ok
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I'm not sure. They didn't tell me. It might be one top and one bottom, in which case nothing would be growing. I'm sure the vet knows what they're doing. Shes 5.5 years old. She's not losing weight. And obviously she's eating on her own too.
 
Chaz said:
I'm not sure. They didn't tell me. It might be one top and one bottom, in which case nothing would be growing. I'm sure the vet knows what they're doing. Shes 5.5 years old. She's not losing weight. And obviously she's eating on her own too.
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I would call up and check which teeth were removed - you should have been told. It’s a huge deal for a piggy to have teeth removed and having to do it should only ever be a very very last resort.
 
Piggies&buns said:
I would call up and check which teeth were removed - you should have been told. It’s a huge deal for a piggy to have teeth removed and having to do it should only ever be a very very last resort.
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They said they were badly misaligned. I need to call them anyway about the length of the antibiotics.
 
I haven't called them yet, but Trixie's been eating without critical care. She took a load of it yesterday, but point blank refuses today. But she's eaten nuggets and a bit of hay and possibly some kale. She's not losing weight. She's possibly slightly higher than she was at the vets. Obviously, she's still recovering and I can't expect miracles. I've seen her drink loads today as well and none of the CC went to waste because the babies ate it.
 
I've decided I'll call or even take her back tomorrow. It's just worrying me that she's eating hardly anything, when she was eating CC yesterday.
 
Good luck at the vets. It could be that the pain relief she had for the surgery has all worn off now, and the discomfort is affecting her appetite. Is she on any pain relief at the moment?
 
Yeah, she's on metacam, baytril and the one that stops gut stasis. I watched her. She is literally going for the food that Domino has in her mouth. She won't eat it of her own accord, it has to be from Dom's mouth. And obviously, Doms not having any of it, so Trixie goes hungry. I don't know why she won't eat the CC or hay. Shes drinking properly at least and had some nuggets with a small bit of hay, and I'm not sure what she ate of the kale. As I say, she's the same weight, but it's not a big weight. It's 676g.
 
Definitely keep a very close eye on her weight. If she is no longer getting cc but doesn’t eat sufficient hay then she is going to lose weight.
Let us know what the vet says. It’s so important you have the full picture of what actually happened with her teeth.

Is she getting metacam a day? Is it dog or cat and how much does she get?
 
I went to the vets. The vet I saw said it was only one tooth they had to remove. It was growing incorrectly and causing impaction. She assured me that it wouldn't cause any issues in the long run. She looked in the mouth and everything's healing properly, there's no food stuck in there, so it's all going to her stomach. She is also the same weight, so it hasn't gone down. She must've been eating something.

Anyway, so the nurse came in and showed me how to get CC into her. Basically I was just being too soft and letting her get away with murder. She's also playing up for me because she knows I'll give up. So, now I know how to feed it, it's easier. I got a load into her today. She had like 30ml. She is just over half a kilo, so she only needs half the pack of science selective in 24 hours. I'll go feed her the rest in a minute. The vet said 6 small feeds a day.
I have to go back on monday, with the original vet, just to make sure they're happy.

She has 0.8 cat metacam a day.
 
Chaz said:
I went to the vets. The vet I saw said it was only one tooth they had to remove. It was growing incorrectly and causing impaction. She assured me that it wouldn't cause any issues in the long run. She looked in the mouth and everything's healing properly, there's no food stuck in there, so it's all going to her stomach. She is also the same weight, so it hasn't gone down. She must've been eating something.

Anyway, so the nurse came in and showed me how to get CC into her. Basically I was just being too soft and letting her get away with murder. She's also playing up for me because she knows I'll give up. So, now I know how to feed it, it's easier. I got a load into her today. She had like 30ml. She is just over half a kilo, so she only needs half the pack of science selective in 24 hours. I'll go feed her the rest in a minute. The vet said 6 small feeds a day.
I have to go back on monday, with the original vet, just to make sure they're happy.

She has 0.8 cat metacam a day.
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@furryfriends (TEAS) can help with the information on removal of a tooth and the impact it has on the opposite tooth for wearing purposes.

You don’t go by the packaging for how much syringe feed, you go by the daily weight checks to know his much to give. If she isn’t losing weight then she is getting enough hay independently and syringe feed.
 
The vet said to come back if her weight drops. Until then keep with the CC.
 
I've just looked at her front teeth, somthing two vets seemed to have neglected, and the two sets aren't meeting. They're completely misalligned. I don't know why they're growing so they aren't meeting each other.
 
Can you post a picture of what her incisors look like position-wise when she isn't eating?
I'm not sure that they meet when the mouth is shut anyway, but hopefully an expert can confirm how they should be.
 
When the incisors are out of alignment, the back teeth are overgrown, causing the jaw to be pushed to the side. I see you are in the UK. Is there any chance you could get your guinea pig seen at the Cat and Rabbit Care Clinic in Northampton? Simon and Kim Maddock are the best for anything dental or jaw related.
 
Chaz said:
I've just looked at her front teeth, somthing two vets seemed to have neglected, and the two sets aren't meeting. They're completely misalligned. I don't know why they're growing so they aren't meeting each other.
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I definitely agree that it would be worth getting her seen at the Cat and Rabbit vets if you possibly can. I’ve driven two hours there to get my piggy seen. It was so worth it.

Also as she’s had a tooth removed she is probably eating on one side and that can upset the front teeth too.

Is she on a good amount of pain medication?

Good luck. You are doing an amazing job. It’s hard work with a sick piggy.
 
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