• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

dental issues

kxitlynx

kxitlynx

New Born Pup
Joined
Apr 6, 2024
Messages
12
Reaction score
57
Points
135
Location
lincolnshire
hi, my guinea pig Bojack (4 years old) had a dental done on his teeth yesterday, as he had some bad spurs preventing him from eating, also dribbling etc.
he seems no better this morning (24 hours passed), he's hardly eating and not himself still yet, he's still dribbling, i'm syringe feeding him with oxbow critical care at the moment but i'm growing worried about him. the vet sent him away with no painkillers saying it wasn't a painful procedure so he wouldn't need it, but he still seems quite uncomfortable. he's also not pooping properly, and is pooping a hard white substance.

i have some loxicom (metacam) left from when he had a chest infection 2 weeks ago, would i be able to give him any? i find it strange the vet sent him away with no painkiller at all. any other advice would also be greatly appreciated
thankyou :(
 
Hello and welcome to the forum.

I’m sorry your piggy is poorly. I’d definitely give him some pain killers. Just because the spurs have gone his mouth will still be sore. I’m surprised the vet didn’t give some.

He may still be a bit sleepy from the anaesthetic and not pooping properly yet because he hasn’t eaten much yesterday at the vets. I’d weigh him every morning and if he’s losing weight feed more critical care that day. Is he eating anything for himself? Try him with a little pee free grass. Not too much if he’s not used to it though. After you syringe feed a piggy I find they will eat some hay for themselves afterwards.

I’m not sure what the white substance is but if you’re worried at all I’d call the vets for advice.

I hope he’s soon on the mend.
 
thankyou so much for replying, i've been beside myself with worry as he's my little baby lol
he's been picking at his hay a little bit, ive offered him some little bits of lettuce, watermelon and parsley but he doesn't seem to be very interested. but he does love grass, so i'll try him with a little bit in a moment

i was also very surprised when she said no to painkillers, considering all the other posts i've seen about metacam after surgery. but i'll give him some now and hopefully he'll perk up a little bit, thankyou :(
 
When I had a piggy have an anaesthetic the vet nurse phoned the next morning to see how he was doing. He wasn’t doing too well and she told me he should be back to normal by that afternoon. So if you are worried about him please do call the vets to make sure he’s ok. 👍🏻
 
If you are prepared to travel the best vet for dental surgery is Simon Maddock or Kim Maddock at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic in Northampton. They are very experience with the complex dental surgery need by some guinea pigs. I used to travel from Cornwall with my old boy Ted. they were the only vets that got him eating properly with regular conscious dentals to keep the spurs in check. They do both types of surgery, very knowledgeable and will give you a proper assessment of what Jack’s problems are and treat there and then if needed
 
unfortunately i'm from north lincolnshire near hull which is about 4 ish hours away, i don't drive and money is extremely tight for the time being until a couple weeks (because jacks surgery was around £200) :( he had the rest of his spurs done today and has been trying to eat some little veggies i gave to him (as well as a syringe feed) so hopefully he'll finally be getting better soon
 
kxitlynx said:
unfortunately i'm from north lincolnshire near hull which is about 4 ish hours away, i don't drive and money is extremely tight for the time being until a couple weeks (because jacks surgery was around £200) :( he had the rest of his spurs done today and has been trying to eat some little veggies i gave to him (as well as a syringe feed) so hopefully he'll finally be getting better soon
Click to expand...
No worries, I just thought it might be a better option for you in the long term. there are very few vets who can do guinea pigs teeth “correctly” and enable them to start eating a proper diet of hay etc. Simon and Kim are the go to vets in these situations. Good luck I hope you can get him chomping again
 
little update:
jacks still not eating vegetables, then again it's only been 2 days but he's still clearly very interested in them, having to syringe feed him but he's put on a bit of weight. however, his back legs are still slightly stumbling and he can't really walk properly. i put this flopping and lethargy down to his anaesthetic, but it's been a couple days now and he's still really struggling. :(
 
kxitlynx said:
little update:
jacks still not eating vegetables, then again it's only been 2 days but he's still clearly very interested in them, having to syringe feed him but he's put on a bit of weight. however, his back legs are still slightly stumbling and he can't really walk properly. i put this flopping and lethargy down to his anaesthetic, but it's been a couple days now and he's still really struggling. :(
Click to expand...
have you tried cutting the veg into longer stick shapes? Thats the only way my piggy could manage to get them into her mouth after her dental (unfortunately they trimmed her incisors that they use to pick stuff up) The regular way we cut them into chunks was too difficult for her to manage. Apart from that I'm not sure what the walking and floppy issues could be due to, hopefully someone else with more expertise can come along to advise? Sorry youre going through this, dental issues especially with vets who arent super experienced in the area is a really tough situation for both piggy and owner.
 
It could be some stiffness from the position he was laid in for the operation. I wouldn’t have thought it to be still the anaesthetic by now. See how he goes, try and get as much critical care/mushed pellets into him as possible to build up his strength he has gone through two ops in a very short space of time which will have really weakened him
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top