Guinea Pig Lower Incisors Extractiob

[Elle404]

Hello all! My guinea pig, Cheesecake (2.5 years old), has been diagnosed with a Macrodontia last week. Originally, we thought the main cause of his weirdly large incisors was his molars but his molars are normal. The vet recommended extraction of his front lower incisors because there is a high chance that it will be infected. I scheduled him for the extraction on the 28th, however I am in a crossroads right now whether or not I should go on the 28th, or wait and monitor him more. The vet said I can check his lower jaw near his teeth everyday by feeling it. If it’s bone hard it’s fine but if I start feeling softness that could mean it is infected and has formed an abscess. Today, I checked and everything seems fine.

The reason for my hesitation is because I had two guinea pigs before and they both died after their surgeries (Primo died after Urinary stone extraction surgery and Bud died after his Epidermoid Cyst removal). I just don’t feel comfortable right now to bring Cheesecake to this surgery, get sedated, and possibly be on pain killers fore more than 5 days if he doesn’t even need the surgery just yet. At the same time, I also don’t want to bring him to a surgery when it’s already too late.

Does anyone had the same experience with their guinea pig’s tooth extraction and/or macrodontia? What made you decide to do the surgery and how were your piggies after? How long did it took for them to be healed?

Thank you all in advance!

 

[Viennese Furbabies]

I've had three piggies with macrodontia so far. The last one is Odi who is still happily around. One vet recommend a tooth removal last year but I decided against it in the end.
But my piggies were older than your Cheesecake (about 5 years old when it started, Odi is about 6.5 years now).

All three of them were put on Baytril for the rest of their lives and they all were/are on Metacam.
Their teeth needed/need regular trims. They also needed/need help eating veggies. Everything has to be cut in stripes and my boys were/are handfed to prevent their girls to "help" with the cut food.

Odi had a CT to show if there is an abcess involved. In his case there was no sign of an abcess. But his lower incisors are getting thicker and thicker all the time. There might come a time when my vet who is very experienced with teeth issues won't be able to help any more but we will cross this bridge when we get there.

The other two boys had to be PTS in the end but it didn't have anything to do with their teeth.

Would it be possible for you to do a CT?
How experienced is your vet with teeth issues and operations?

Unfortunately, in my experience tooth problems are harder to handle on a longer term base if the piggies are younger. The issues tend to be more vicious in younger piggies and if there is an abcess involved, things can get really bad very fast.

 

[Elle404]

I've had three piggies with macrodontia so far. The last one is Odi who is still happily around. One vet recommend a tooth removal last year but I decided against it in the end.
But my piggies were older than your Cheesecake (about 5 years old when it started, Odi is about 6.5 years now).

All three of them were put on Baytril for the rest of their lives and they all were/are on Metacam.
Their teeth needed/need regular trims. They also needed/need help eating veggies. Everything has to be cut in stripes and my boys were/are handfed to prevent their girls to "help" with the cut food.

Odi had a CT to show if there is an abcess involved. In his case there was no sign of an abcess. But his lower incisors are getting thicker and thicker all the time. There might come a time when my vet who is very experienced with teeth issues won't be able to help any more but we will cross this bridge when we get there.

The other two boys had to be PTS in the end but it didn't have anything to do with their teeth.

Would it be possible for you to do a CT?
How experienced is your vet with teeth issues and operations?

Unfortunately, in my experience tooth problems are harder to handle on a longer term base if the piggies are younger. The issues tend to be more vicious in younger piggies and if there is an abcess involved, things can get really bad very fast.

Hello, thank you for your response! Yes we did a CT and so far there’s no abscess. The vet is a general vet and not really a specialized exotic vet so I ended up booking for a second opinion today to an exotic vet but the earliest available time they have is on Oct 31st. Crossing my fingers that Cheesecake will still be fine by then. Thank you again for your response!