No change in hay eating habits post 2 dentals

[Puckerfish]

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd make a fresh thread to perhaps get more visibility and advice.

My piggy stopped eating hay by about 50%-75% about 2 months ago. Since then he had one dental under GA and one conscious. Both times he was on strong metacam dose for at least 2 weeks, and after second dental he was on tramadol as well. However, there has been no improvement after either. He is about 150g down from normal weight.

In the past 2 months I have tried at least 25 different hays, served in different methods. He eats fresh grass but too much gives him soft poop, plus I can't grow enough to replace hay 100%. He gets 1 tbspf dry food a day and a cup of veg. He eats those fine with no struggle or crumbles.

Would be grateful for any advice.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd make a fresh thread to perhaps get more visibility and advice.

My piggy stopped eating hay by about 50%-75% about 2 months ago. Since then he had one dental under GA and one conscious. Both times he was on strong metacam dose for at least 2 weeks, and after second dental he was on tramadol as well. However, there has been no improvement after either. He is about 150g down from normal weight.

In the past 2 months I have tried at least 25 different hays, served in different methods. He eats fresh grass but too much gives him soft poop, plus I can't grow enough to replace hay 100%. He gets 1 tbspf dry food a day and a cup of veg. He eats those fine with no struggle or crumbles.

Would be grateful for any advice.

Hi

Is the weight stable as it is or is your piggy continuing to lose weight? What is his age?

These things are going to play into any tips we can give you since they are two different problems. The age can also play a role in weight recovery chances.

What you can consider is offering additional voluntary support feed from a bowl instead of a syringe, especially if the weight loss is ongoing or picking up again.
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

 

[Spaniel]

Did the vet do an X-ray when he had the dental? Was that all clear?

 

[Puckerfish]

Hi

Is the weight stable as it is or is your piggy continuing to lose weight? What is his age?

These things are going to play into any tips we can give you since they are two different problems. The age can also play a role in weight recovery chances.

What you can consider is offering additional voluntary support feed from a bowl instead of a syringe, especially if the weight loss is ongoing or picking up again.
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

It's just about stable only with critical care feeding, without it slowly trickles down as he is eating some hay but not enough. He's 2.

Tried leaving the critical care in a shallow dish in his cage in between feedings, however he does not touch it ever.

Also the more critical care I feed, the less hay he eats. He's not hungry for hay if he's full of CC all day.

However this does not help the problem of him not eating his hay post two dentals with strong dose of pain killers, when he theoretically should be - with critical care it's just a vicious circle of dentals as that's not going to help his teeth. I am starting a new job, I was working only part time only but in order to take care of him properly I need to make more money. But that means not being able to be home to feed him throughout the day. Really feel it's loss loss no matter what I do. He's only two, and I will not be able to feed him for the rest of his life every 2 hours.

Did the vet do an X-ray when he had the dental? Was that all clear?

Neither vet found it necessary as he was not sore and spurs were not serious. Ellie said the spurs were very mild and in theory he should have been able to get through it on his own just with pain meds. Pretty much the same thing the local vet said.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi

Thank you for the clarification. I haven't been around much in the last few months and am not familiar with your situation.

If the spurs are not serious but he still struggles to eat enough and needs ongoing feeding support, then perhaps there is another underlying issue that is causing the dental overgrowth as a secondary complication and not as a primary one?
His inability to regain weight and to support himself on his own at an age where he should be in his prime and at his life-long heaviest are pointing towards an ongoing issue. With older piggies it is more normal for them to not regain lost weight after a serious health issue.

Perhaps an x-ray of his head from the side and his middle ear capsules from above may be worth discussing with your vet? It can sometimes be difficult to work out what is behind a persistent problem when clear clues are absent.

 

[Frankie&Pinkie]

My first piggy had a minscule cut inside his mouth caused by tiny spurs, imagine if you had a sharp tooth and it kept rubbing your mouth. Painkillers don't help that type of pain at all. Smooth all spurs even tiny ones. How about a test for thrush that can cause discomfort in the mouth and again painkillers don't do much for that. Also tooth root issues / jaw problems are not often visible from a dental, you need an xray for that.

It's awful when you don't know how to help them, and feeding crtical care for life is no way to live for you or him, I've been feeding my own piggy like that for 4 weeks and it's hard work. I'm sure you can find the problem, but it may just take a bit of time and guess work, get xrays done if you can.

 

[Spaniel]

It's just about stable only with critical care feeding, without it slowly trickles down as he is eating some hay but not enough. He's 2.

Tried leaving the critical care in a shallow dish in his cage in between feedings, however he does not touch it ever.

Also the more critical care I feed, the less hay he eats. He's not hungry for hay if he's full of CC all day.

However this does not help the problem of him not eating his hay post two dentals with strong dose of pain killers, when he theoretically should be - with critical care it's just a vicious circle of dentals as that's not going to help his teeth. I am starting a new job, I was working only part time only but in order to take care of him properly I need to make more money. But that means not being able to be home to feed him throughout the day. Really feel it's loss loss no matter what I do. He's only two, and I will not be able to feed him for the rest of his life every 2 hours.





Neither vet found it necessary as he was not sore and spurs were not serious. Ellie said the spurs were very mild and in theory he should have been able to get through it on his own just with pain meds. Pretty much the same thing the local vet said.

Do you think he’s well enough to have more tests? I’d probably go for X-rays and bloods next as it sounds like something underlying.

How long has it been since he lost his partner? Did he get to say goodbye? Was he ok in between then and you trying him with the baby?

It’s really tough when you can’t work out what’s going on

 

[Puckerfish]

Hi all, yes that's what I thought since the start, that the teeth issues are secondary. From my experience and research it's often the case, so teeth keep overthrowing if the issue isn't found.

Yes he is well enough, in fact, apart from not eating hay his behaviour has not changed since all this started. He looks and behaves like a normal piggy.

He lost his neighbour a few months ago, but it was only his neighbour because they did not get along. He did get to say goodbye. He did not care for the body just one sniff and went. He ate fine for a month or so after that.

The issues started when introduced to baby and when starting a new batch of the same hay.

The baby has not been with him for a long time now and I've tried 34 different brands/types of hay since. So I don't think it's hay quality issues.

His weight is stable now with 40-50ml of critical care daily. I've tried more but then he didn't eat hay at all and his poop was just soft and resembled critical care. I give 10g of home grown grass daily. More than that bloats him and worsens poop.

I'll try to get an x Ray as that seems to be the best course of action now.