Dental Dental Surgery

[cheeseandpeas]

Hi I have a four year old pig (Broccoliese) who I rescued two years ago from an owner who didn't care for or feed him properly, he had mites and poorly formed feet but has gone on to do really well with us.
I took him to the vet today with A sore area under his chin, the vet asked if he dribbles and he has been the last few days. The vet has determined he has sharp back teeth that are growing in the wrong direction and rubbing his tongue. She has recommended surgery to file down his back teeth, she says this may need doing every six months increasing to every month if the problem persists. My piggy is a very good weight (over a kg) and has not stopped eating, and I guess what I'd like to know is do people have experience of this? Is surgery really necessary? Also how do people feel about taking a pig in every month to have surgery is it fair on a piggy? Thank you in advance. x

 

[Gem789]

Hi I have a four year old pig (Broccoliese) who I rescued two years ago from an owner who didn't care for or feed him properly, he had mites and poorly formed feet but has gone on to do really well with us.
I took him to the vet today with A sore area under his chin, the vet asked if he dribbles and he has been the last few days. The vet has determined he has sharp back teeth that are growing in the wrong direction and rubbing his tongue. She has recommended surgery to file down his back teeth, she says this may need doing every six months increasing to every month if the problem persists. My piggy is a very good weight (over a kg) and has not stopped eating, and I guess what I'd like to know is do people have experience of this? Is surgery really necessary? Also how do people feel about taking a pig in every month to have surgery is it fair on a piggy? Thank you in advance. x

Hi, I'll tag @furryfriends (TEAS) as she runs a dental sanctuary for guinea pigs and has a lot of experience.

 

[helen105281]

Are you able to travel at all? There is a vet in Northampton that deals with dental issues on a daily basis and is able to perform conscious dentals where possible. He regularly treats the pigs at the sanctuary mentioned above and some do need monthly dentals. He is dealing with 2 of my dental pigs at the moment. He is on holiday until the 18th though. Here is the practice, the vet is Simon Maddock.

The Cat and Rabbit Care Clinic

 

[Wiebke]

Hi!

Guinea pigs have the fastest growing teeth of all rodents. The trick with overgrowing teeth is to initially burr (not file) in very short intervals to prevent them from overgrowing again and not to wait until they have overgrown. This however requires conscious dentals, as that may have to happen every 2-3 weeks at first depending on the severity of the problem until the chewing rebalances and the intervals between treatment get longer until a yearly check is all that is needed. Often there is an underlying issue that causes a guinea pig to start chewing unevenly; this needs to be resolved. It is often something that happens only gradually and needs ongoing support during that time as the dental balance slowly returns. If teeth are allowed to overgrow again, then you have to start back in square one.
Unfortunately many vets are dead-set against conscious dentals because the way rodentologists handle dentals (often sadly wrongly); sadly this blindly ideological stance does not benefit the guinea pigs.

If you can please go and see Simon Maddock at the Cat&Rabbit Care Clinic in Northampton for any follow up treatment. He combines experienced vet care with conscious dentals where appropriate, and is the vet with the most experience in dentals in this country since he sees on average 2-3 dental guinea pigs from all over the country a daily basis. He looks after the guinea pigs from The Excellent Adventure Sanctuary that caters for guinea pigs with chronic dental problem that have often been given up by other vets and come into the sanctuary as a very last resort. Unfortunately, he is away for Easter school holiday.
The Cat and Rabbit Care Clinic

On a personal basis, my Hywel would not have had that last year of his life without Simon and the team at the Cat&Rabbit, as my local vets simply couldn't cope with his recurring dental root abscess when it came up again during Simon's holiday.

 

[cheeseandpeas]

Thank you, that sounds much more hopeful! So I will send him to my vet for the initial treatment as he's booked in for Monday and I'd like for him to be comfortable sooner than later, but I'll see if I can get him booked in at Cat&Rabbit after Easter for follow ups. Thank you so much x

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you, that sounds much more hopeful! So I will send him to my vet for the initial treatment as he's booked in for Monday and I'd like for him to be comfortable sooner than later, but I'll see if I can get him booked in at Cat&Rabbit after Easter for follow ups. Thank you so much x

All the best - I am in the same boat as you with my 5 year old Nesta, who now looks like she could be working on something dental and has stopped eating as soon as "Uncle Simon" has gone on holiday and there are no other dental savvy vets to be found near here...

Please be aware that the mouth is so sore after dental treatment that guinea pigs usually can't eat by themselves for a bit, so you need to keep on syringe feeding. You may find the section on care for dental guinea pigs in our syringe feeding guide helpful. Make sure that you get painkiller and know how soon after the treatment you can give it.

Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

 

[helen105281]

Good luck, I would call the Cat and Rabbit sooner rather than later as they get booked up so quickly. Think we are all anxious for Simon to return, my Maud had a bladder flush just before his holiday but I need her seeing again as she has not been herself since, whereas she was ok after her first flush a few weeks earlier. May have to bite the bullet and get her seen locally instead until her appointment on the 20th. If only he could be cloned.