Dental malocclusion

[Ophelie & Teddy]

Hi !

I'm Ophélie, I live in Belgium with my little piggy, Teddy.

He's 4 years old, and since two months, he suffers dental malocclusion.
He had a CT-scan that showed a left middle ear infection, probably the cause off all this (pain -> one sided chewing -> teeth overgrown -> malocclusion)

We treated him at first with doxycyclin for 3 weeks, with not much improvement ; he doesn't eat much more, and has diarrhea since we began the antibiotics.

I went back to the vet (a specialised one, for rodents, birds and reptiles), and Teddy receives now marbofloxacine, since friday, and telmisartan for his kidneys (there was a little lesion on them at the CT-scan, the vet thinks the diarrhea comes from it). She trimmed his teeth again and recommended also that I give him tramadol again, for the pain. But since we began the new meds, he's eating even less veggies and is losing more and more weight, although his diarrhea is not so bad anymore. I'm hand feeding him critical care, 15ml trice a day. Since yesterday, I'm even feeding him five a day, and I try to stimulate him as much as possible to eat some veggies. The vet said he will probably never be able to eat hay again.

I'm trying to slowly reduce the tramadol, for I see no improvement, and I'm wondering if it is not responsible for his loss of appetite and uneasiness (I'm a general practitioner, and I see this side effect commonly enough by humans).

My question is : is it possible for a piggy with dental malocclusion to live comfortably ? I'm hoping the antibiotics will eventually cure his ear infection, and that we'll "just" need to trim his teeth every 3-4 weeks. I'm ready to hand feed him every day and care for him for as long as needed, but I want him to be happy and comfortable.
Is there still hope for him ?

Thanks,

Ophélie and Teddy

 

[Sgboyd]

My girl, Navi, had dental maloclussion after a long period of grief when her cage mates passed in a short succession. It was hard to get her to eat anything and her teeth overgrew. We did trim them a few times. It gets expensive. She never did eat hay again. She tried, but couldn't. She ended up eating critical care and baby food vegetables. She survived another two years. At about a year and a half, her roots started to grow through her jaw the vet said. It had caused an abscess, and they would not remove the tooth so she had to have the abscess drained frequently. We did this on our own after a while. At around two years whatever was causing the abcess broke through the skin and I believe now it was a bony tumor and not a tooth.

Regardless, she was a pretty happy girl for most of that time and really liked her pureed vegetables. We did have her put to sleep after about two years. She let us know it was time to go and we listened.

 

[Bill & Ted]

I had a beautiful boar called Ted, he was about 3.5 years old when he started having problems eating and went completely off eating hay. After a poor dental locally I found this amazing vet through the forum in Northampton U.K. who did conscious dentals, they took only 10 minutes to carry out. Ted had developed a spur on one molar that grew out into his cheek and caused ulcers. Once the spur was filed back he ate really well and had a normal happy life with his brother Bill. We went for for regular dentals around every 5 weeks (a 600 mile round trip) until Covid came along and lock down in Spring 2020. We took Ted for a local GA dental (due to travel restrictions) which totally messed up his teeth and we were back to square one. Ted boarded in a lovely guinea pig sanctuary for 3 months over lockdown in Northampton after that, to be near the great vet so he could start to correct the damage done. We eventually got him back him in July 2020. Ted lived a lovely life, firstly with his brother Bill for 5 years then with two little ladies after being neutered when Bill died. Sadly he was diagnosed with a large mass on his kidney after a brief UTI and was PTS in December 2020.
This wonderful vet gave Ted an extra 2.5 years of relatively pain free life and Ted lived life to the full, he was an amazing character, we still miss him so much
If you have a good vet who knows what they are doing then dental piggies can have a very good quality of life, good luck with your little Teddy x

 

[Ophelie & Teddy]

My girl, Navi, had dental maloclussion after a long period of grief when her cage mates passed in a short succession. It was hard to get her to eat anything and her teeth overgrew. We did trim them a few times. It gets expensive. She never did eat hay again. She tried, but couldn't. She ended up eating critical care and baby food vegetables. She survived another two years. At about a year and a half, her roots started to grow through her jaw the vet said. It had caused an abscess, and they would not remove the tooth so she had to have the abscess drained frequently. We did this on our own after a while. At around two years whatever was causing the abcess broke through the skin and I believe now it was a bony tumor and not a tooth.

Regardless, she was a pretty happy girl for most of that time and really liked her pureed vegetables. We did have her put to sleep after about two years. She let us know it was time to go and we listened.

Thank you for sharing your experience, you just gave me a little hope

 

[Ophelie & Teddy]

I had a beautiful boar called Ted, he was about 3.5 years old when he started having problems eating and went completely off eating hay. After a poor dental locally I found this amazing vet through the forum in Northampton U.K. who did conscious dentals, they took only 10 minutes to carry out. Ted had developed a spur on one molar that grew out into his cheek and caused ulcers. Once the spur was filed back he ate really well and had a normal happy life with his brother Bill. We went for for regular dentals around every 5 weeks (a 600 mile round trip) until Covid came along and lock down in Spring 2020. We took Ted for a local GA dental (due to travel restrictions) which totally messed up his teeth and we were back to square one. Ted boarded in a lovely guinea pig sanctuary for 3 months over lockdown in Northampton after that, to be near the great vet so he could start to correct the damage done. We eventually got him back him in July 2020. Ted lived a lovely life, firstly with his brother Bill for 5 years then with two little ladies after being neutered when Bill died. Sadly he was diagnosed with a large mass on his kidney after a brief UTI and was PTS in December 2020.
This wonderful vet gave Ted an extra 2.5 years of relatively pain free life and Ted lived life to the full, he was an amazing character, we still miss him so much
If you have a good vet who knows what they are doing then dental piggies can have a very good quality of life, good luck with your little Teddy x

Thank you so much, I hope Teddy will fight like your Ted. You give me hope, thanks