seasalt
New Born Pup
Hi! I found this lovely forum while researching ways to help my boy. I am hoping that perhaps there is advice on how I can better advocate for him at our vet and maybe make him more comfortable. My little dude is miserable. We have been to the vet three times now and each time has felt more hopeless than the last.
This is a boar who is only 1.5 years old.
16 days ago I noticed he was acting off and had stopped eating. He had lost weight and refused food and water so I rushed him to an exotic vet the next day who found that his bottom incisors and back teeth were overgrown. He also had very crusty eyes.
They did dental work under anesthesia and sent me home with only antibiotics, nothing for the pain.
Ever since I noticed him refusing food I have been syringe feeding oxbow critical care and he fights me very hard each time. This did not improve after the dental.
After 7 days I ran out of antibiotics and he was not improving at all and still losing weight. I returned to the vet but the original exotic vet we had seen was out and we saw another in the same clinic who did not seem to know much about guinea pigs. She checked his teeth and said there was 'no reason for him to be acting this way'. He has lost about 150 grams at this point. She said there was a small sore on the gum near the back of one of his molars but that his teeth were fine. I insisted that there must be something wrong, or something more that can be done for him. She sent me back home with more antibiotics which she underfilled (Instructed to give for 7 days but was only given a 5 day supply), Meloxicam, and Metoclopramide. I have been giving all medication as instructed as well as continuing to syringe feed and we have seen no improvement and he continues to decline.
I returned to the vet two days ago and the original vet we saw is still out. The vet we saw the second time said to just keep syringe feeding and he will come around. They have so far refused to do any further diagnostics and check on him further, and that this is all normal for a post-dental piggy. They said to come back in two more weeks if he doesn't improve. So now currently I only have the Meloxicam and Metoclopramide, and we are averaging about 90ml of critical care a day before he starts resisting so hard I am not sure if I should keep pushing him. I feed him a few ml every hour, as much as he will tolerate.
He seems very weak and at this point he has lost 230 grams over two weeks. His eyes are still crusty, although there is no nasal discharge and his lungs sound fine. His hair is starting to fall out and he is just a zombie. I am so worried I am going to wake up one day to find him having passed. Worse, he has been so miserable and lethargic he just sits in one spot until I grab him for syringe feeding. He has been quarantined from the other piggy in the house which I think has added to the misery for them both.
While feeding he moves his head strangely and he grinds his teeth very hard on one side only, like it is bothering him. I just feel like there is something more here going on, but I think the lack of support and pain management after the original dental may not have set us up for success. Any advice would be so appreciated as this is my first piggy with dental issues. My vet thinks I am being paranoid, so maybe! But I would like to know if there is something more I could be doing for him.
This is a boar who is only 1.5 years old.
16 days ago I noticed he was acting off and had stopped eating. He had lost weight and refused food and water so I rushed him to an exotic vet the next day who found that his bottom incisors and back teeth were overgrown. He also had very crusty eyes.
They did dental work under anesthesia and sent me home with only antibiotics, nothing for the pain.
Ever since I noticed him refusing food I have been syringe feeding oxbow critical care and he fights me very hard each time. This did not improve after the dental.
After 7 days I ran out of antibiotics and he was not improving at all and still losing weight. I returned to the vet but the original exotic vet we had seen was out and we saw another in the same clinic who did not seem to know much about guinea pigs. She checked his teeth and said there was 'no reason for him to be acting this way'. He has lost about 150 grams at this point. She said there was a small sore on the gum near the back of one of his molars but that his teeth were fine. I insisted that there must be something wrong, or something more that can be done for him. She sent me back home with more antibiotics which she underfilled (Instructed to give for 7 days but was only given a 5 day supply), Meloxicam, and Metoclopramide. I have been giving all medication as instructed as well as continuing to syringe feed and we have seen no improvement and he continues to decline.
I returned to the vet two days ago and the original vet we saw is still out. The vet we saw the second time said to just keep syringe feeding and he will come around. They have so far refused to do any further diagnostics and check on him further, and that this is all normal for a post-dental piggy. They said to come back in two more weeks if he doesn't improve. So now currently I only have the Meloxicam and Metoclopramide, and we are averaging about 90ml of critical care a day before he starts resisting so hard I am not sure if I should keep pushing him. I feed him a few ml every hour, as much as he will tolerate.
He seems very weak and at this point he has lost 230 grams over two weeks. His eyes are still crusty, although there is no nasal discharge and his lungs sound fine. His hair is starting to fall out and he is just a zombie. I am so worried I am going to wake up one day to find him having passed. Worse, he has been so miserable and lethargic he just sits in one spot until I grab him for syringe feeding. He has been quarantined from the other piggy in the house which I think has added to the misery for them both.
While feeding he moves his head strangely and he grinds his teeth very hard on one side only, like it is bothering him. I just feel like there is something more here going on, but I think the lack of support and pain management after the original dental may not have set us up for success. Any advice would be so appreciated as this is my first piggy with dental issues. My vet thinks I am being paranoid, so maybe! But I would like to know if there is something more I could be doing for him.
