Lost Teeth

[Evie&Uma]

Hi all, does anyone have any experience of Guinea Pigs being ok after losing teeth?

We noticed our 9 month old sow eating strangely this morning so we had a look at her and her top front teeth are gone. She's eating hay and nuggets ok but struggling with big salad leaves, she's kind of ripping them apart instead of the fast nibbling they normally do and then giving up and walking away. I hand fed her earlier smaller bits of leaves and she was fine with that and I've also given her water through a syringe just in case she can't work her bottle.

I've made her a vet appointment for Monday but the lady on the phone sounded very grim about it and told me to keep a close eye on her over the weekend.

She seems ok in herself but over the last week she has been very grumpy (hip swaying & rumbling) with her sister!

I was wondering if this has happened to anyone else and the gp has been fine?

Thanks in advance.

 

[PigglePuggle]

Never happened to me yet but I believe its fairly common for piggies to snap off their front teeth and they often grow back fine. As long as the back teeth are ok you can just slice their veggies to replace the role of the front teeth, just be aware the bottom incisors may overgrow if the top ones arent there, and of course the vet should take a look to see where the break is and if there are any sharp edges and how the teeth roots look.
@furryfriends (TEAS) is our dental expert but I think also @Swissgreys had this issue with beautiful Ruby the bitey queen not so long ago?

 

[Swissgreys]

As @PigglePuggle has said our sweet, bitey pig Ruby has lost one or more teeth on several occasions.

I wrote a thread about it here:
Oh Ruby by The Boring Big Slave

But in essence the best thing to do is to cut the usual veg into different shapes and see which ones your piggy can manage.
We also feed mushed pellets to ensure no weight loss, which Ruby willingly eats by herself.
Usually within a week - 10 days things are back to normal.
Just keep a close eye on the teeth to make sure top and bottom look even as they regrow.

 

[Evie&Uma]

Thank you so much for the replies, I’m so glad to hear that it may not be too serious.
@Swissgreys I just read through your previous post and Ruby sounds so similar to our Evie especially the crazy cage biting! She is managing to eat hay and managed leaves and stuff tonight when they were chopped fairly small, it’s bigger leaves she is struggling with.

I’ll get her to the vet on Monday for a checkup and hopefully everything will be ok and they will grow back. Thank you all again x

 

[Bill & Ted]

This is quite common and your piggies teeth should grow back fine within 3-4 weeks provided there’s no infection. Have a look at this link here it will explain how the teeth will grow back, the bottom incisors will grow a little bit long but once the top teeth grow down they will wear down the bottom ones to the right level and angle
Guinea Lynx :: Broken Teeth

If you encounter any problems at all regarding her teeth make an appointment with the best dental piggie vet in the Country, Simon Maddock at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic in Northampton

 

[Evie&Uma]

Hi. Just wanted to say that I took Evie to the vets yesterday and he said that her teeth haven’t fallen out she has snapped them off! He said that she may have caught them while chewing something so she just has two little stumps remaining. He can’t see any reason why they won’t grow back so I just need to check them weekly to make sure they are growing fine, he also trimmed her bottom two as they were becoming too long. Apart from that she is a healthy little pig and as he described her “a feisty little one as well”!

For now I’m going to completely pander to her and cut all food into nice little strips I’m basically her slave!

Thank you again for the advice, this was my first post here but I’m definitely going to hang around!

 

[Bill & Ted]

Hi. Just wanted to say that I took Evie to the vets yesterday and he said that her teeth haven’t fallen out she has snapped them off! He said that she may have caught them while chewing something so she just has two little stumps remaining. He can’t see any reason why they won’t grow back so I just need to check them weekly to make sure they are growing fine, he also trimmed her bottom two as they were becoming too long. Apart from that she is a healthy little pig and as he described her “a feisty little one as well”!

For now I’m going to completely pander to her and cut all food into nice little strips I’m basically her slave!

Thank you again for the advice, this was my first post here but I’m definitely going to hang around!

That’s great news, hope she will have a full set to chomp away on in no time