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Dental Guinea pig still losing weight after dental surgery

Dilly's Piggies

Dilly's Piggies

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Hello, my 4 year old sow Harriet had dental surgery 2 days ago to burr overgrown incisors and one side of her back molars. She did nothing but eat the day she came home which was a great sign but now the painkiller has worn off she's a bit reluctant to eat normal food, they haven't prescribed any medication to take at home. Harriet has lost a further 80g since coming home and I just want to know if this is normal? I have read it can take them a week to get used to their 'new' teeth, but she's only 800g now, very thin, she can't afford to lose much more... She's being syringe fed daily, she does eat her vegetables well providing I cut them up very small and she will nibble thin strands of hay. Her incisors top and bottom are still slanted with a sharp point even after the surgery so I don't know if they did it properly either. Any help is appreciated on whether I should be concerned or if this is normal, thanks.
 
I’ll tag @furryfriends (TEAS) the experiences dental member. @Bill & Ted could you shed some light?
how often are you syringe feeding? Have you tried her on grass, if she’s used to it?
 
Siikibam said:
I’ll tag @furryfriends (TEAS) the experiences dental member. @Bill & Ted could you shed some light?
how often are you syringe feeding? Have you tried her on grass, if she’s used to it?
Click to expand...
She gets about 45ml of critical care throughout the day split into 3 feedings, I haven't tried fresh grass yet as she's not used to it, I will try giving her small amounts and see if she does better on that instead
 
You also need to weigh daily at the same time to see how she’s doing. If she’s losing you need to up the syringe feeding. You ideally need to be getting in 40-60ml over 24 hours.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
 
CavyConnoisseur said:
Hello, my 4 year old sow Harriet had dental surgery 2 days ago to burr overgrown incisors and one side of her back molars. She did nothing but eat the day she came home which was a great sign but now the painkiller has worn off she's a bit reluctant to eat normal food, they haven't prescribed any medication to take at home. Harriet has lost a further 80g since coming home and I just want to know if this is normal? I have read it can take them a week to get used to their 'new' teeth, but she's only 800g now, very thin, she can't afford to lose much more... She's being syringe fed daily, she does eat her vegetables well providing I cut them up very small and she will nibble thin strands of hay. Her incisors top and bottom are still slanted with a sharp point even after the surgery so I don't know if they did it properly either. Any help is appreciated on whether I should be concerned or if this is normal, thanks.
Click to expand...
I find they eat immediately and they don’t need to get used to their teeth. From how you describe the incisors, it doesn’t sound like they’ve done them properly. They should not be slanted!
 
If she is loosing 80 gms in weight In a couple of days then she is not eating enough food. Piggies can be sore after a dental and drowsy after anesthetics but the pointy incisors does sound alarm bells to me, although generally vets often cut the incisors far too short, so that’s not an immediate problem, but if the incisors have not been filed to remove points then you do have to wonder what else might have been missed?
I would always advice any owner experiencing dental problems in Piggies to go see Simon or Kim Maddock at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic, In Northampton. They are the good standard in conscious dentals and will generally sort the teeth and get them eating almost straight away.My Ted was eating hay within minutes of the first dental he had with Simon, something he had not been able to do for months before and after a poor previous local dental.
Hope you can take her if she doesn’t improve soon x
 
She seems slightly improved tonight, she has put on 15g since yesterday and is now eating more hay and can manage bigger pieces of lettuce, she's still not 100% though...

This vet has done dentals on my piggies before and they've always done a good job, I'm not sure why they haven't seemed to do Harriet well, I know they were busy with emergencies that day but it's not the point, I paid a lot of money for her to have that done so I am quite annoyed. The clinic isn't letting anybody inside atm because of the virus so I wasn't even able to speak with the vet that did the surgery and I wasn't able to see her teeth before I brought her home.

I've noticed that she is holding her head to the left, her left ear flicks and her eye closes when she eats like she's in pain, she also opens her mouth wide as if food is getting stuck in there quite often, it doesn't sound like they've done it right at all... :( I can't get her to Simon as I don't drive, he's too far away unfortunately. I suppose I'll have to give her a few more days and if she's no better take her back and pay hundreds more to have it done again... ugh, wish I lived in Northampton. :/
 
I dear it does sound like there is something not right there. Food juggle (as I call it and that sort of gagging) is a sure sign foods getting stuck somewhere. Is there no possibility of a friend or family member who could take Harriet. Simon does conscious dentals and is very reasonably priced around £60 plus a one off consult fee which I‘m not sure of now but nowhere near what I have paid for a dental with anaesthetic
Hope you can get her better soon x
 
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