Guinea pig won’t chew full vegetables

[Gornamnewt]

When I give my Guinea pig Newt a full vegetable like cucumber or carrot or half of it he can’t chew it, like you can tell his trying because he’s putting his mouth on it and moving around it but when I make the vegetable into smaller pieces then he can chew it and this just started, he used to be able to chew it no problem, so I’m wondering why this is happening and should I be considered because he still eats it if it’s in small pieces.

 

[Siikibam]

When you say a full vegetable do you mean a slice or a whole cucumber? And by smaller pieces do you mean, say, cutting a cucumber slice into four pieces?

If his overall eating habits have changed, I would consider changing to weighing daily and getting him checked over just to be sure there are no medical issues.

 

[Gornamnewt]

When you say a full vegetable do you mean a slice or a whole cucumber? And by smaller pieces do you mean, say, cutting a cucumber slice into four pieces?

If his overall eating habits have changed, I would consider changing to weighing daily and getting him checked over just to be sure there are no medical issues.

I mean like 25% of the cucumber and for him to eat it it’s in like little dice size pieces

 

[Piggies&buns]

Is your piggy eating hay and maintaining his weight at each routine weight check? That is vital to know because hay is their main food source. If he is losing weight then you must step in with syringe feeding and see a vet. Weight loss with an apparent reluctance to chew could suggest a dental issue.
If you look at the link below, it shows a sample plate of the recommended amount of safe daily vegetables.

Long Term Balanced General And Special Needs Guinea Pig Diets

If you give him a piece of cucumber the same as in the picture, he should be able to bite pieces off of that larger piece and eat it without any issues. You should not need to cut it up any smaller than the picture.
If he can’t bite pieces off, then he should be seen by a vet just to check there isn’t a problem starting in his mouth.

If you are giving him a quarter of a whole cucumber each day then is too much anyway. The recommended amount is about a 1cm thick chunk each day.

 

[Free Ranger]

Have a look at his incisors (the front biting teeth). There are two at the top and two at the bottom and they meet with a little bit of overlap. The teeth should be straight - not slanting to the left or right. If they are slanting it means he is chewing to one side and this is usually caused by some pain or difficulty in the mouth - maybe at the front or maybe further back. This pic shows my rainbow girl Zara and her manky front tooth (the one on the left). You can see how the painful tooth is a bit longer than it's neighbour and how those bottom teeth have worn a slope to one side as she was chewing in a lop-sided way to try and keep the pressure off the painful tooth. If your piggy isn't losing weight and has nice even front teeth he might just be getting a bit too much veggie!

 

[weepweeps]

Hello and welcome to the forum. First steps would be to check his weight and front teeth. If his weight is ok then I’d just monitor him for a while. Weighing daily at the same time. Obviously if he’s lost weight a vet trip would be in order.

I had a piggy last year stop eating pepper. I didn’t think anything of it at first. I just thought he’d gone off it. Then at his weekly weigh in he had lost 100g in one week! So I checked his front teeth and saw they were wonky. In the end he had a tooth root abscess. But this didn’t show up until maybe 2-3 weeks later.

Good luck.

Here’s how Peppers teeth looked.

 

[Gornamnewt]

ok so I checked his teeth and his upper teeth are very very short that it looks like they are just gums and I don’t know why, so I’m gonna take him to the vet, what will they do at the vet to help?

 

[Gornamnewt]

I actually done research and it says it’s because of not enough vitamin C so if I give him a boost in vitamin C foods chopped up will that be good for his teeth to grow back?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Please do see a vet.
If he has a good diet (in accordance with the diet guide I linked in above) then his teeth breaking will not be because of lack of vitamin c. It’s more likely his teeth broke for another reason. Their teeth grow continuously so they should grow back anyway but do see a vet to check them. They will check it is a clean break and if so, they will just be left to see is they grow back.

Do you weigh him weekly as part of routine care? Weight checks are essential as it is the only way to know a piggy is eating enough hay. Hay is 80% of their daily food intake.
If you haven’t weighed him, then now you have seen the issue with his teeth you must weigh him every day at the same time of day so you can monitor his hay intake. As his teeth are broken it’s possible he is not able to pick up and eat hay and consequently he may be losing weight. Please carry out those weight checks daily and if necessary step in with syringe feeding to replace lost hay intake

Weight Monitoring and Management
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

 

[Claire W]

It sounds like he could have broke his two top incisors. My Ella broke a bottom tooth below the gum line and she has lost around 100-150g in weight but her weight has stabilised and her vet has said her tooth is slowly but surely growing back.

I would have your boy seen by a vet to have his teeth checked and make sure that’s the reason. If it is, his teeth should grow back fairly quickly