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Guinea pig not eating despite dental work

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psychogerb

psychogerb

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How quickly should I expect my guinea pig to recover from dental surgery and start eating normally again?

She used to have an enormous appetite and was huge but lost a lot of weight when her teeth became overgrown. I go to a very good (exotic) vet who anaethetised her and trimmed all her back teeth. Apparently there was no ulceration of the tongue, just some tongue trapping.

A week later and she's still not eating very well, will eat only pellets soaked in water and a little fresh grass, she can't eat hay, picks up vegetables but drops them again. Not like her at all! I haven't seen her have a drink in weeks when I used to have to top her bottle up daily.

Will she ever get back to normal? Is it worth visiting the (hugely expensive) vet again when he's already trimmed the teeth? If she can't eat hay how often will I have to get the teeth trimmed? It really costs a lot!
 
Did she have her incisors trimmed perhaps they are to short.

My Fred got his teeth done 2 weeks ago, for the first 4 days he wasn't really interested in hay on the 5th he gained now he's back to hi original weight. He didn't have a GA so perhaps that's slowing down her recovery.

Furryfriends has a lot of knowledge of Dental pigs hopefully she'll have some advice to!
 
One of my boys has just had very minor work done and it took a few days before he would confidently use his teeth.

I would have him checked again to make sure all is ok - a follow up appt may be included in your fee already.

Could you give your location and vet name - the more vets we know of that can perform good dentals the better.

Suzy x
 
I think it can be about a week that they are still reliant on the syringe/mushed pellets. Often the teeth (incisors) need to grow a little to meet properly again.

I would consider asking your vet what they think considering they carried out the work?

Good luck and I hope your piggy starts to eat properly again soon :)
 
It can't be said that pigs with dental problems will never need to have GA to have the work done, but for a procedure to simply trim overgrown teeth, I don't see that it is necessary. It is quite possible that your piggy may need further treatment already if she is not yet eating properly to keep her teeth in check on her own as they can grow so quickly.

Depending on how poor her teeth are, she could start eating on her own with regular check ups and repeat treatments (which is why having to have a GA is so risky). Worst case scenario is that she may never be able to go back to having a normal diet and will need food that suits her.

Are you supplementing her diet with syringe food to help her gain more weight? She will need to be as strong as possible, especially if she has to be subjected to another GA.

:)
 
I've taken in a lot of dental guinea pigs, and it varies so much as to when they start to eat more normally again. With some it takes a few days, and I have had one that took nearly six months, but then began to eat for herself again.

Did your vet suggest any follow up appointments? Whilst she isn't eating very well the teeth will very quickly overgrow again. During this time it's worth getting them checked frequently. Would your vet do small amounts of dental work without GA? Just a bit of filing, every couple of weeks can keep them good enough.

Sometimes piggies need a bit of help and encouragement to start managing veggies etc again and it can be a good idea to poke little bits of food into their mouth. If you push it in to the mouth, making sure it goes well back they will then start to chew it.

In many cases, once piggies have had dental issues, it can be ongoing. Some may only need a bit of treatment every six weeks or so, but others can need much more regular appointments.

My dental pigs need a small amount of filing to their teeth every 12 to 14 days. My vet does this very quickly, without GA, and with very little stress to the piggies.
 
Thanks for all the advise. Caramel still isn't eating and continues to lose weight. I am feeding her the grass soup but she's not keen on it. I'll call the vet for advise today but if anyone knows a good vet in the West London area I'd be very interested.

What sort of price do you get charged for teeth-filing every 2-3 weeks without GA? At the moment I go to CJ Hall in Sheen, they seem pretty good but they're not close and so expensive and they do tend to add on as many drugs/procedures/GAs as they can. I'm ashamed to say I opted not to have an x-ray done when they did her teeth as it was an extra £120!

She also seems to have discharge from the eyes which worries me, this is what happens to chinchillas when the roots of their teeth are growing into the eye sockets, can guinea pigs also suffer from this?

She's an old guinea pig who also lost her cage-mate at christmas so is probably pining as well.

All in all, not a good prognosis I fear.
 
Could you even ring a vet today? Just until you can get her to one? Did the vet give you any pain relief for after the procedure? One of mine recently had dental work and the vet didn't give me pain relief for after so he struggled with eating for a couple of days, I took him back to the vet and left him in for them to feed for the day as he wasn't even taking syringe feeds from me, and they gave me some metacam which he took for a couple of days afterwards and I think that helped him gain confidence with his new teeth.
The problem with them not eating apart from the teeth growing again very quickly, is their wee digestive systems will stop working too and gastric stasis could be a problem. When mine wasn't eating afterwards he had to have an injection from the vet to keep his guts moving too.
Ring the vets where the procedure was done for immediate advice, as she doesn't sound in a good way. I've got my fingers crossed for her, let us know what the vet says, good luck xox
 
Also just to add, I thought a few days after mine had the procedure that he wasn't going to make it either, he seemed so poorly, but after just one day at the vets he was like a different piggy! So with the right treatment they can pick up as quick as they go downhill, so don't lose heart, keep positive! xox
 
I have only dealt with one piggie with toofie probs.......i'd be straight back to your vets that treated Caramel and immediately ask for advice :)
Whee all cross paws for little Caramel, i know what you're going thru and it's not an easy road, but if you can get things sorted and have a routine of hand feeding and then teaching Caramel to eat again it can be successful, furryfriends who's already resonded had a little girlie who was dependant on critical care then finally learnt to eat by herself, so yes it can be done!
Wishing you and Caramel all the best xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xx>>>xx>>>

Just a note, are you weighing regularly? was it weekly before? if not i'd be considering daily before and after hand feeding so you know what Caramel is taking in this will help you for what amounts to feed :)

Our piggie was great straight after an anaes for eating but then i'd have days where he'd be so disinterested............. if this is the case maybe just maybe the dental work is not suiting Caramel......i had to ask for more back dental work rather than the incisors..... rolleyes i'm in OZ and we're still not up to date with everything mallethead
 
Thanks
I've rung the vet and going in on Thursday, I've been giving metacam but vet says there are other painkillers we can try and that we need to double check for infection.
 
psychogerb said:
Thanks for all the advise. Caramel still isn't eating and continues to lose weight. I am feeding her the grass soup but she's not keen on it. I'll call the vet for advise today but if anyone knows a good vet in the West London area I'd be very interested.

What sort of price do you get charged for teeth-filing every 2-3 weeks without GA? At the moment I go to CJ Hall in Sheen, they seem pretty good but they're not close and so expensive and they do tend to add on as many drugs/procedures/GAs as they can. I'm ashamed to say I opted not to have an x-ray done when they did her teeth as it was an extra £120!

She also seems to have discharge from the eyes which worries me, this is what happens to chinchillas when the roots of their teeth are growing into the eye sockets, can guinea pigs also suffer from this?

She's an old guinea pig who also lost her cage-mate at christmas so is probably pining as well.

All in all, not a good prognosis I fear.
Click to expand...

How's it going?

Archie had a watery discharge from one eye when he had trauma to the inside of his mouth, due to a tooth spur cutting into his cheek.

We have found that by filing teeth every 12 days, we keep on top of any problems.

My vet charges me £15.08 for dental work.

Try cutting up grass into small pieces and adding it to the syringe food. This helps to encourage them to chew food.

How much Metacam are you giving and how often?

Can she eat anything for herself? How much syringe food are you giving per day?

I am willing to have a chat with you on the phone if it would help. xx
 
Hope Caramel starts eating and gaining weight again soon,
Keep us posted and good luck at the vets
xx
PS I puree'd my piggys favourite veg when she had her last dental done although she was able to eat again straight away....it just gave her more options....
 
Thanks Furryfriend!
I'll let you know how it goes at the vet today. I noticed in the last couple of days that Caramel's face/jawline is enlarged on one side so I think it may be an abscess. Looking at internet info on abscesses in guinea pigs it sounds like the whole thing needs to be removed rather than just lancing it which sounds invasive and I imagine would have to be under another GA. I also read that these could cause liver changes making the guinea pig unwilling to eat which would explain why she won't even take liquid feeds at the moment.
Any experience of abscesses?
 
My piggy, Toffee, got an abscess after her teeth were done the first time.

To get rid of the abscess she had a 40min GA where it was cut out. I had to keep cleaning it out twice a day. She also got septrin, flagyl and a painkiller. She was kept on the antibiotics for weeks until about 2 wks after it was cleared up. She's fine now although had another dental yesterday so I'm keeping an eye on her.

Hope you get your piggy sorted asap - with abscesses I think the sooner you can get them treated the better.

xx
 
It does sound very like an abscess. One of my dental piggies, Wilfie, had a very large and deep abscess lanced and drained just over a week ago. As the abscess was deep into the tissues of his jaw, Simon had to attach it to the skin which enabled him to leave it open allowing me to flush it daily. Wilfie has been on the antibiotic Zithromax (which is the very best antibiotic for treating abscesses) daily, and so far things are going incredibly well. In fact he's eating better than he has for months.
 
How is little Caramel doing now? I'm in a similar situation with my pig, Chipy. It's so difficult! I am giving him critical care via syringe. I hope your little one is doing okay. what did the Vet say?
 
Hi All
thanks for all the support guys. I left Caramel at the vet last night for another hugely expensive visit! Does anyone have pet insurance for small furries - I could really do with some, or the name of a more reasonably priced vet in West London? The one down the road from me is much cheaper but wouldn't know a guinea pig if it bit him on the.....anyway..

It's definately an abscess and the vet's going to scrape it out and give me all the antibiotics and stuff to keep flushing it, is this hard to do? I'll be on my own every morning this week with noone to hold her down!

She's over 6 years old and I'm really worried that in the long run her life will now just be one long series of stressfull procedures with no quality of life left.
 
I was given a syringe to flush Toffees abscess. I'm on my own so had to hold her whilst doing it but it wasnt too hard to do.

When Ebony had an abscess I put her on the sofa with cushions either side to keep her in place when I flushed her abscess.

Hope it heals up quickly,

x
 
Hi All
unfortunately I don't think Caramel is doing well, she had the op on Friday and I picked her up on Saturday. Since then I've flushed her cheek out 3 times a day (the solution goes in but, however much I rub the cheek, not much comes out) and tried to get recovery down her 3 times a day too but she's showing absolutely no will to eat or swallow her liquid feeds, she's completely listless, lying flat, eyes sunken and puts her chin to the floor so I can't get to her mouth. Now her breathing has become noisy, maybe she inhaled some of the liquid I'm trying so desperately to get into her?

I'm perservering so far but seriously questioning the wisdom of putting her through all this misery.

I'll be absolutely heartbroken if she has to be put down but at 6 years old I guess it has to happen at some point.
 
Can you get Caramel back to the vet for an emergency visit today? It could be her only chance, I know it feels wrong trying to force these things upon them, especially when you say she's a bit older, but I'd give it one last shot and see what the vet can do today for her. I really hope she pulls through for you, it must be so hard seeing her lose her will, but they can come back around quite quickly so you never know. Fingers crossed, let us know what you decide to do xox
 
Hi
Thinking of you at this difficult time. I would certainly visit the vet again asap for more advice, I have no experiences of abcesses and don't know the healing period. Maybe worth getting the vet to show you how to flush the abcess out again?
We had a dental piggie that we fought very hard for 5 months. But one day we woke up and just knew that she could not carry on and her quality of life had disintergrated. She no longer wanted to eat her critical care and would avoid the syringe, which she had previously loved her Critical Care, so we made the difficult deciosion to PTS.
We knew that it was the right decision for her so I'm sure whatever you decide it will be the best decision for your pig. From reading your previous posts it obvious you have done everything you can so far for Caramel and that you love her very much. You will make the right choice for her because you love her.
x
 
well the vet agreed that it's a last ditch attempt but we're giving her a couple of days on Vetergesic painkiller and baytrill injections to see if that picks her up enough to start eating by herself again since she won't take force feeding (the food was all still in her mouth from this morning's attempt) and has probably inhaled some into her lungs. Ironically the abscess is looking good and flushing well, she just seems to have given up.

thanks for all your good wishes.
Psychogerb (but don't have any gerbils anymore, just chinchillas)
 
I'm so sorry to read this about Caramel not doing as well as hoped. I really hope this round of antibiotics and painkillers helps her. I know it is so stressful, I have a piggie recovering from dental work as well and my heart really goes out to you and Caramel.

please keep us updated.

Lynn
 
Sorry to hear this, please take furryfriends advice, her vet Simon has done wonders for so many of her piggies and others that she's piggie sat :)
Healing vibes and loves from us all xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Well all, sorry to report that Caramel died last night, I think something (fluid, liquid feed) had got into her lungs and caused an infection which put her off eating but she never really showed any fight and the vet said (and advice on this site suggests) that the only way to keep their insides moving following dental work is to syringe feed so we had no choice since she showed no interest in eating herself.

Although the vet gave her frusemide and antibiotics the infection on the lung didn't clear up and her breathing just got worse over the day.

Last night we gave up the syringe feeding and just offered her greens as the vet advised and gave her an injection of painkillers, I think by then she wasn't really with us anyway. She didn't move once I put her back in the cage and was very peaceful, I'm glad that she died on a big mound of hay in her own cage and didn't have to be put down.

Thanks for all the phone numbers and offers of alternative vetinary advice, if either of my chinchillas get ill I will definately ring them, I'm not really sure about his vet, so will scout around for an alternative in West London.
 
One more thing that's nagging me, could the abscess be a result of the dental work she had done (filing of molars under GA)? I saw a different vet for the abscess, but at the same practice, and he was careful to emphasize that this was a coincidence and could have been building up for a long time....
 
I'm really sorry to hear about Caramel :( I'm glad her passing was peaceful at least. As for her abcess, I may be wrong but I think they can occur as a result of her overgrown teeth, or injury from dental work, but it would be hard to tell which it was, but as I said I may be wrong. Hope you're okay, RIP Caramel xox
 
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