Dental Problems even after Surgery - Advice Need

[EmmaM]

Hi - I have a boar Guinea Pig who is just under two years old and has recently been suffering with dental problems. He began losing weight so we started to monitor him and noticed that he was struggling with chewing his food and stopped eating hay.. We took him to the vet and they removed spurs on his back teeth. For a couple of weeks after this he was ok and began to eat hay and veg again. But then he began to struggle again(he would not eat hay and we had to grate his veg) so last week he had a second dental surgery where they removed spurs from his back teeth again and also trimmed his front teeth. We are now several days on from this surgery and there has been no improvement. He will not eat hay (have tried several varieties) will not eat fresh grass, will only eat some grated veg and we have to mix his pellets with water to soften them). He really wants to eat and still begs for treats but refuses almost anything we give him. We have been topping him up with critical care which he will eat but if he is not eating hay/grass then his teeth are going to be growing too long again and we cannot afford to keep having surgery on him. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[piggieminder]

I am sorry you are having these problems. I cannot give you any advise but only my support, hopefully an expert will be along soon.

 

[piggl]

Bump.

Hope your boar feels better soon x

 

[Piggies&buns]

How has he been since you made your post?

Is the vet cavy savvy and has experience with piggy dentals?
Is your piggy on any pain relief?
Are you weighing him daily to ensure he is getting enough critical care?

I think all we can really suggest is to return to the vet and have him checked again if he isn’t improving

 

[DebiGliori]

Poor little boy. This all sounds very familiar ; we had exactly the same issues last summer with a two year old boar, Merry. This summer, he's going through similar dental post-op problems. Pain relief and possibly something like Emiprid to keep his guts moving in the absence of hay, plus Critical care appropriate to his weight. We syringe fed Merry last year, six times a day for several months without his teeth growing back in a problematic fashion. I was obsessed with keeping his weight heading in an upwards direction, so that he would have the strength to grind away at the piles of hay we offered to him in the hopes of tempting him back to full health. It was a bit of a struggle, but he got there.

I know it seems as if your little boy is taking two steps backwards for every one forwards but it's possibly good to bear in mind that the route to recovery is never a straight line. Ups and downs, triumphs and disappointments but as long as the general direction of travel is largely positive, then it's definitely worth persevering. But as Piggies&buns said, a return trip to the vet would probably be a good idea.

Good luck with your little boy piggy x