Dental Dental Issue in Pig

[bandit.cocoa]

my guinea pig bandit has something wrong with his teeth. i first noticed it today. he has cuts on his mouth and his two top teeth are misaligned and loose with the gums between them also looking like there’s something wrong. does anyone know what this could be or what caused it? he also cant eat properly so what can i do in the meantime to ensure he’s nourished?

 

[bandit.cocoa]

better quality photos

 

[Piggies&buns]

Please have him seen by a knowledgeable vet. Ensure the vet also checks his molars, not just the incisors.

If he cannot eat hay for himself, then please step in and syringe feed him a fibre rich recovery feed or mush his normal pellets with water and syringe that to him. This replaces the hay he is not able to eat for himself. Ensure you weigh him daily so you can monitor that he is getting enough food.

Let us know how you get on with the vet. I hope he is ok

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Weight - Monitoring and Management

 

[Free Ranger]

I agree - this is an issue a vet has to see because it can be caused by several different things. It might be something that can be easily treated with antibiotics and painkillers or it might be more serious and a vet will be able to tell you. Sorry I don't know which country you are from so I don't know how easy it is for you to find a vet. If you can put your country in the location (or county if in the UK) someone nearer to you might have a local recommendation? BTW does he have a friend he lives with that might have been fighting with him?

It looks like he's been accidentally biting himself because of his tooth issue so don't put off the vet visit as you might be getting this in the early stages. If those little cuts get infected things could get very sore, and if he's not biting properly with the front teeth it can start to affect the back teeth - generally speaking back teeth issues are more difficult to correct. If you offer him the mushed pellets or recovery food slurry on a plate he might be able to eat it himself so try this before you start with the syringe. If he won't eat it and you have to syringe be gentle around those front teeth because I bet they are a bit tender at the minute. You can try to slide the syringe into one side of the mouth around those front teeth.

People on the forum have had piggies which had to have front teeth trimmed (they grow back all the time) or even removed, and piggy can learn to manage without some of the incisors so this wouldn't be a disaster. It can take a little time for them to learn how to get the food into their mouth but it's the back teeth that do all the chewing and grinding. Veggies can be cut into little strips to make them easier to get in. When my girl started to drop veggies from her mouth it was because she had pain when biting, but when I cut the veg into spaghetti-like strips she could tuck in.

Good luck little Bandit - you are very sweet and we love you and your special teeth already x

 

[bandit.cocoa]

Please have him seen by a knowledgeable vet. Ensure the vet also checks his molars, not just the incisors.

If he cannot eat hay for himself, then please step in and syringe feed him a fibre rich recovery feed or mush his normal pellets with water and syringe that to him. This replaces the hay he is not able to eat for himself. Ensure you weigh him daily so you can monitor that he is getting enough food.

Let us know how you get on with the vet. I hope he is ok

Emergency, Crisis and Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
Weight - Monitoring and Management

He’s able to eat hay for himself for the time being but I have critical care if I need it. I’ve been hand feeding him smaller pieces of veggies by putting them past the incisors so he can chew them with his molars (the pieces are small enough for this) but this morning I checked them again and one of his incisors is missing from the root. I’m thinking it could be scurvy so I started him on vitamin C supplements until we can get him to a vet

 

[bandit.cocoa]

I agree - this is an issue a vet has to see because it can be caused by several different things. It might be something that can be easily treated with antibiotics and painkillers or it might be more serious and a vet will be able to tell you. Sorry I don't know which country you are from so I don't know how easy it is for you to find a vet. If you can put your country in the location (or county if in the UK) someone nearer to you might have a local recommendation? BTW does he have a friend he lives with that might have been fighting with him?

It looks like he's been accidentally biting himself because of his tooth issue so don't put off the vet visit as you might be getting this in the early stages. If those little cuts get infected things could get very sore, and if he's not biting properly with the front teeth it can start to affect the back teeth - generally speaking back teeth issues are more difficult to correct. If you offer him the mushed pellets or recovery food slurry on a plate he might be able to eat it himself so try this before you start with the syringe. If he won't eat it and you have to syringe be gentle around those front teeth because I bet they are a bit tender at the minute. You can try to slide the syringe into one side of the mouth around those front teeth.

People on the forum have had piggies which had to have front teeth trimmed (they grow back all the time) or even removed, and piggy can learn to manage without some of the incisors so this wouldn't be a disaster. It can take a little time for them to learn how to get the food into their mouth but it's the back teeth that do all the chewing and grinding. Veggies can be cut into little strips to make them easier to get in. When my girl started to drop veggies from her mouth it was because she had pain when biting, but when I cut the veg into spaghetti-like strips she could tuck in.

Good luck little Bandit - you are very sweet and we love you and your special teeth already x

I’m from Ontario Canada where exotic vets are hard to find but there are a few around. He does have a cage mate but I’ve never noticed them fighting before, they tend to get along well. I’m thinking scurvy so I’m giving him vitamin C supplements until we can get him to the vet, I’ve read that scurvy can be developed more easily due to stress which makes sense because we’ve just recently moved them back home after a month of living somewhere else due to renovations

 

[Piggies&buns]

Scurvy is not common. If he is on a good balanced hay based diet with one cup of of a variety of veg per day and one tablespoon of vitamin c enriched pellets per day then he is getting all the vit c he needs so the supplementation wont help. In fact, on the rare occasion we do come across scurvy cases on here, it is almost always due to the use of vitamin c supplementation - their bodies become used to higher than normal amounts which means when that level drops, even if the levels it drops to is a level which is considered normal for any other piggy, they then can get scurvy symptoms. There are a lot of scurvy symptoms , not just dental issues but we do see broken teeth and dental issues on here often for a variety of reasons - infections, misalignment, bar chewing for example not usually scurvy).

Please do weigh him daily so you can be sure he really is eating enough hay - you cant gauge they are getting enough by eye. Any weight loss will show if he isnt eating enough and that is when you step in with the syringe feeding.

 

[Free Ranger]

It's possible that there is some sort of abscess or infection that is causing the gum to swell and be softer in that area. It might well be treatable with antibiotics at this stage. And just because a tooth has come out doesn't mean it won't grow back - I found that out recently! If it doesn't grow back and there is only one incisor on the top or bottom that can actually be enough on it's own to wear down the opposing teeth without intervention BUT only if those front teeth are correctly aligned.
If the incisors are left without treatment and they have been pushed out of alignment they will continue to grow because the opposing one(s) won't be wearing them down, and eventually they all overgrow and he won't be able to close his mouth to chew anything at all. I was syringe feeding a sow with eating problems and as she wasn't biting anything she had to have her incisors burred down after about 3 weeks - actually they were too short after the procedure (not uncommon as it turns out) but her chewing was immediately much faster because she could close her mouth properly! Scurvy is unlikely - there is even vitC in hay and his cage mate shows no signs of it. I'm afraid only a vet can tell you what is happening with Bandit - so sorry if it's going to be expensive for you but treating early is usually cheaper and more effective than treating in a rush when the problem becomes serious and you're having to book emergency appointments x