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Help plz! Potential dental and urinary issue

Spiritwolf525

Spiritwolf525

Junior Guinea Pig
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thank u for clicking on this thread.. i have a guinea pig named benny... hes quite old, i noticed a week ago he was losing weight rapidly... and couldnt get him to the vets due to some personal problems and no car.. i thought it was an internal problem so tried getting him to eat various things.. but finally i tried giving him a hard treat and once again noticed he was having trouble... so i looked inside his mouth.. his top teath have seem to have broken off quite a bit and he can no longer eat hard food... i need help and suggestions on wat i can give a guinea pig with only his bottom teeth... plz.. i took these guinea pigs of my sister cause they werent getting the type of affection they needed after she moved out and noticed all these problems... the other one is gaining weight fine.. its just benny.. hes also bleeding when he pees.. but idk if thats related to summit else
 

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I am far from an expert and hopefully someone with more knowledge and experience will reply soon. However I think advice would be to step in immediately with mushed pellets in a bowl if he'll have them if not a small syringe and hand feed him, you should contact your vet ASAP as guinea pigs can get ill and quickly go downhill, you should weigh him every morning to check for weight loss too. The blood in his urine could be an infection or stones so needs checking by a vet is it specks of blood or completely red? 🤔
 
CTWC said:
I am far from an expwet and hopefully someone with more knowledge and experience will reply soon. However I think advice would be to step in immediately with mushed pellets in a bowl if he'll have them if not a small syringe and hand feed him, you should contact your vet ASAP as guinea pigs can get ill and quickly go downhill, you should weigh him every morning to check for weight loss too. The blood in his urine could be an infection or stones so needs checking by a vet is it specks of blood or completely red? 🤔
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like.. red.. its not specks.. and yea the past few days ive been syringe feeding him.. with pellets that i softened with water
 
Spiritwolf525 said:
like.. red.. its not specks.. and yea the past few days ive been syringe feeding him.. with pellets that i softened with water
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How many mls are you managing to feed him a day?
Has his weight continued to decrease over the last 2 days?
 
CTWC said:
How many mls are you managing to feed him a day?
Has his weight continued to decrease over the last 2 days?
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yes i weight him not long bfore u responded.. his weights around.. 560g.. (i used a food scale) I'm gonna phone the vets again but only problem is getting there
 
Please switch to daily (each morning) weight checks and syringe feed as much as is necessary to keep his weight stable each day. It is a minimum of 60ml per day which is needed to keep the weight stable.

Any signs of blood when peeing will need to be checked by a vet.
Is there somebody who can take him for you?

His weight loss and part of his reluctance to eat could be related to the blood when he pees. For example a UTI or bladder stone is very painful and pain can cause them to not eat enough hay.
Equally though this could be two separate issues - the front teeth are used to pick up food so if they’ve snapped off he will no longer be able to do that

Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
 
Spiritwolf525 said:
yes i weight him not long bfore u responded.. his weights around.. 560g.. (i used a food scale) I'm gonna phone the vets again but only problem is getting there
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making an emergency appointment, closest can get so far is 2 and a half hrs from now
 
Spiritwolf525 said:
around 565? I'm taking him up now! thank u!
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You need to make sure his weight today is around the same as his weight yesterday. if it is less today then he isnt being syringe fed enough

PS I've moved your thread to the correct forum section and changed the title to make the issue clearer
 
Piggies&buns said:
Please switch to daily (each morning) weight checks and syringe feed as much as is necessary to keep his weight stable each day. It is a minimum of 60ml per day which is needed to keep the weight stable.

Any signs of blood when peeing will need to be checked by a vet.
Is there somebody who can take him for you?

His weight loss and part of his reluctance to eat could be related to the blood when he pees. For example a UTI or bladder stone is very painful and pain can cause them to not eat enough hay.
Equally though this could be two separate issues - the front teeth are used to pick up food so if they’ve snapped off he will no longer be able to do that

Emergency and Crisis Care as well as Bridging Care until a Vet Appointment
Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Click to expand...
Thank u! i just took him to the vets.. i had 2 options.. due to his old age they didnt want to check him with scans and all that due to not being confident in his ability to make it through being put to sleep so they suggested either anti biotics for possible UTI or to euthanise him.. ik hes not had the best life until i took him in.. and even then ik theres some things i can improve on but i wanted to give him a 2nd chance.. besides his weight loss and sore groin hes not rlly suffering anywhere else, I'm going to start blending up foods hes going to struggle eating and syringe feed him.. i also bought some syringe rescovery liquid feed for small herbies for him.. so hopefully this will bring his weight up! hes got a week... if hes not perking up by then, they then said it would be best to euthanise..
 
Spiritwolf525 said:
Thank u! i just took him to the vets.. i had 2 options.. due to his old age they didnt want to check him with scans and all that due to not being confident in his ability to make it through being put to sleep so they suggested either anti biotics for possible UTI or to euthanise him.. ik hes not had the best life until i took him in.. and even then ik theres some things i can improve on but i wanted to give him a 2nd chance.. besides his weight loss and sore groin hes not rlly suffering anywhere else, I'm going to start blending up foods hes going to struggle eating and syringe feed him.. i also bought some syringe rescovery liquid feed for small herbies for him.. so hopefully this will bring his weight up! hes got a week... if hes not perking up by then, they then said it would be best to euthanise..
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Oh bless him. How old is he?
So he's been given antibiotics, has he been given any pain relief?

Make sure you give him the majority of the critical care - a minimum of 60ml per day.
Is he able to chew veggies if you cut them into thin strips/match sticks (rather than blend them)? Usually with piggies missing incisors it is just that they struggle to pick it up but once in their mouths they can chew perfectly well (it's the molars which do the chewing).
 
Piggies&buns said:
Oh bless him. How old is he?
So he's been given antibiotics, has he been given any pain relief?

Make sure you give him the majority of the critical care - a minimum of 60ml per day.
Is he able to chew veggies if you cut them into thin strips/match sticks (rather than blend them)? Usually with piggies missing incisors it is just that they struggle to pick it up but once in their mouths they can chew perfectly well (it's the molars which do the chi can try the matchstick shapes yes, but he usually tries pick summit up and bite into them.. if not soft he just drops it and wanders off or just sits there.. hes around 6 - 8 yrs old? so ik hes nearing his time,, but i want to give him the best before then.. and no the vets didnt give pain relief
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idk y it didnt send wat i texted but hes around 6 - 8yrs old, i wasnt given pain relief for him.. and a majority of wat he does pick up he just drops.. tbh he seems to just give up without help which idm doing
 
Spiritwolf525 said:
yes, but he usually tries pick summit up and bite into them.. if not soft he just drops it and wanders off or just sits there.. hes around 6 - 8 yrs old? so ik hes nearing his time,, but i want to give him the best before then.. and no the vets didnt give pain relief
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He is a good age.

It's possible that the missing incisors are why he is dropping things. Do try the match sticks and see if that helps.

It's a shame he wasn't given pain relief - a UTI (if that is what he has) is painful and given his age anyway, I would have thought pain relief would help him out. Can you give them a call and get some prescribed?
 
Piggies&buns said:
You need to make sure his weight today is around the same as his weight yesterday. if it is less today then he isnt being syringe fed enough

PS I've moved your thread to the correct forum section and changed the title to make the issue clearer
Click to expand...
thank u!
 
Piggies&buns said:
He is a good age.

It's possible that the missing incisors are why he is dropping things. Do try the match sticks and see if that helps.

It's a shame he wasn't given pain relief - a UTI (if that is what he has) is painful and given his age anyway, I would have thought pain relief would help him out. Can you give them a call and get some prescribed?
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i can try but they didnt rlly say much bout it.. they seemed rather eager to just euthanise him.. which youd think theyd at least consider other options since its not like hes not got any hope... she felt around his stomach to rule out stones and said she couldnt feel anything and said his heart is normal.. she wanted to take a look at his back teeth but when she tried looking all she could c was grass.. which hed been trying to chew earlier i guess and she said hed have to have a surgery to clean the back teeth to get a good look..
 
I hope the antibiotics help. Cutting veg into strips is a great way to help them eat until his teeth grow a bit longer.

Pain relief should be needed.

Also while they are on antibiotics you could put some of this into the critical care to help with his stomach. I got it from Pets at Home.

IMG_4100.webp
 
Spiritwolf525 said:
i can try but they didnt rlly say much bout it.. they seemed rather eager to just euthanise him.. which youd think theyd at least consider other options since its not like hes not got any hope... she felt around his stomach to rule out stones and said she couldnt feel anything and said his heart is normal.. she wanted to take a look at his back teeth but when she tried looking all she could c was grass.. which hed been trying to chew earlier i guess and she said hed have to have a surgery to clean the back teeth to get a good look..
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Piggies always have food in their mouths and yes sedation is usually needed to check the molars properly.
 
weepweeps said:
I hope the antibiotics help. Cutting veg into strips is a great way to help them eat until his teeth grow a bit longer.

Pain relief should be needed.

Also while they are on antibiotics you could put some of this into the critical care to help with his stomach. I got it from Pets at Home.

View attachment 244020
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OH THANK U! ill def take a look around, we have one near here! i also bought some oxbow urinary support tabs, oxbow digestive support tabs and some oxbow multi vitamin tabs.. well they say they r tabs but they look like those baked treats u can buy, which i also bought for the other cavy, got some banana but he refuses to eat it even when its mashed up, guess they dont like bits of banana... and some extra greens and a huge box of hay.. i just hope I'm doing the right thing..
 
Piggies&buns said:
Piggies always have food in their mouths and yes sedation is usually needed to check the molars properly.
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yea also I'm gonna be looking around later today for some more liquid feed, can u share a link or photo of some critical care? just so ik exactly wat I'm looking for!
 
Spiritwolf525 said:
yea also I'm gonna be looking around later today for some more liquid feed, can u share a link or photo of some critical care? just so ik exactly wat I'm looking for!
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Search on Amazon for oxbow critical care for herbivores. It comes in various grinds and various flavours so you will need to see which one he will take.
There is also Emerald which tends to go down well.

The guide below will help you

Probiotics Live Gut Microbiome Transfer ('Poo Soup'); Recovery Formula Foods And Vitamin C: Overview With Product Links and Transfer Recipe
 
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