Guinea Pig Broke Her Tooth/ What to Do Next?

[Donna Janae Trumps Mommy]

Title. I pulled her out of the cage for some floor time. I didn't have a good enough grip on her and she got excited and jumped out of my hands before I could put her down. It wasn't that far of a fall and she seemed fine. So, I didn't think to check her mouth. When I fed her a crunchy treat, I noticed she wasn't eating it like she normally would. She still ate it but she had some trouble at first. She seems fine and she still wants to eat (except she refused the bell pepper). I read some where that their teeth keep growing. But the size between her two top teeth are significant. Does she need to go to the vet?

 

[Claire W]

The tooth should grow back over the next few weeks but keep an eye on it. If she’s struggling to eat hay, you may need to syringe feed her recovery food or mushed up pellets. Try either cutting her veg in to match sticks or grate it to see if she can manage to eat it that way. If she’s really struggling to eat, you may want to take her to the vet x

 

[Piggies&buns]

Rodent teeth do grow continuously and a broken tooth will regrow again. As it isn’t broken below the gumline, it should be ok. However, we cannot know for certain and would always recommend a vet check particularly after any fall in any event - just to check there aren’t any other injuries.

Hay is the most important part of the diet so it is that which you need to make sure she is able to pick up and eat plenty of. They use their incisors to pick up food so if she struggles then you may need to assist her.
Ensure you weigh her more regularly (routine weight checks are done weekly but do it more often if you have any health concerns, daily weight checks are recommended in that event). If she is struggling with hay, then support feeding with mushed pellets or recovery feed would be needed to keep the weight stable.
You can cut her veg into sticks and you can hand feed them to her - it will also help to ensure she gets her share if her cage mate is able to eat quicker for a while!

Weight Monitoring and Management

 

[weepweeps]

Also you could weigh her daily for a few days just to make sure she is eating enough hay as you can’t really tell by eye. I’m sure it will grow back just fine. I have a piggy with only three incisors and he’s absolutely fine.

 

[Free Ranger]

The two bottom teeth look even. The ideal situation is that the good top tooth will keep wearing against those bottom two until the short tooth catches up and joins in. The teeth do keep growing pretty fast, and the top and bottom ones keep each other short all through their lives. This might only take a week or so to sort itself out.

So keep an eye on the growing tooth and also on the bottom teeth - if the biting surface starts to slant to one side it'll be because she is having trouble eating evenly. Sometimes a tooth cracks near the gum line and is tender so piggy avoids using it... then they start to chew on one side, then the back teeth start to go a bit wonky and that's when it gets expensive. So help her by cutting her veggies a little smaller so she is not struggling to manoeuvre them into her mouth. Weight might go up and down by about 30-50g per day but if it starts to drop and keeps dropping it will be because she's not eating enough hay. Weigh her in kitchen scales - but put them on the floor to do it if she's a jumper! You might find something like a snuggle sack is handy for moving them about safely... mine love them