Pigging Out

So we just talked to Simon and he said that Bryce's back teeth seemed to be not level. That the way the teeth grows on the right side are different than the way the teeth grows on the left side. And the ulceration were all at the very back arcave of the jaw, and it is really quite difficult for it to be seen and do. The ulceration was also not on the side where the teeth spur usually grows and filed, it's the other side of it so when the teeth grows, it grows to the cheek causing ulceration. So it's really recommended to have the teeth done before it cause ulceration so Bryce can tolerate a conscious dental. Coz he was really having a hard time with all the pain and screaming his head off when they look in the mouth.
 
fluffysal said:
How is Bryce today?
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Bryce is okay today. Still not eating fully because of the ulcers he has in his mouth. According to Simon, it looked really bad and it will really be painful. So we are still syringe feeding him and we upped the Loxicom dosage and he is also having gabapentin 3x a day. But he is trying to eat some. He did eat some pea flakes on his own, some strips of carrots, melon and a few parsley today. He is also eating some hay. We are expecting him to start eating more by Monday, fingers crossed. 🤞
 
Poor Bryce! Hope he is feeling loads better very soon and starts chomping again. Did Simon say the timescale when he needs to be seen again?
 
We just finished consultation with Kim for Bryce. She said there isn't any ulcers in his mouth and the teeth are not overgrown, although she can see some abnormality growth but it still hasn't caused any issues in the mouth. What she was concerned about is there seem to be some pain in the jaws, whether there's some root problems or some brewing abscess in it, which she can't really detect, unless they get a ct scan. But Kim said they don't really do it for guinea pigs. She isn't really pleased and is very worried with Bryce shouting/screaming his head off with how uncomfortable he is getting everytime they examine his mouth, and she knows it's because he is in pain plus his breathing is so erratic when getting stressed too much. They had to give him oxygen again because of it.

The only thing we can do at the moment is give 0.1ml Tramadol 2x a day, on top of what meds he currently have, to see if there will be any improvement and he will eat again. We are giving him a week. But if he doesn't start eating (well he is really trying to eat, just that he can't chew his food and he spits them out), his teeth will grow bad again. Then we have no choice but make the hard decision to put him to sleep. It's just too unfortunate because he is still full of life, but he can't live on syringe feeding and teeth problems for how long he will live.

😭💔
 
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Thank you all. We are home now. Bryce is perky and you won't really notice there's an issue with him. He is running around and popcorning. He is still a happy piggy. We are hoping extra pain meds would sort something out. It's such a shame that we might have to put him to sleep only because he can't eat (and he does try to eat), which is the very basic thing for any living thing to do in order to live. That's what making me so sad about this.

Plus Whitney will be alone, and we are not planning to have any more piggies because hubby's health is not as good as before. We have to give her up for adoption because she's only 2yrs old and still has plenty of years to live.

😭💔
 
anyar.dris said:
Thank you all. We are home now. Bryce is perky and you won't really notice there's an issue with him. He is running around and popcorning. He is still a happy piggy. We are hoping extra pain meds would sort something out. It's such a shame that we might have to put him to sleep only because he can't eat (and he does try to eat), which is the very basic thing for any living thing to do in order to live. That's what making me so sad about this.

Plus Whitney will be alone, and we are not planning to have any more piggies because hubby's health is not as good as before. We have to give her up for adoption because she's only 2yrs old and still has plenty of years to live.

😭💔
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Hopefully it won’t come to that. Just take each day at a time. Sending hugs to you both. ❤️
 
Would he eat Critical Care from a dish in the cage ?
Mine used to love that, especially with a bit of banana mashed in.
 
I hope he’s feeling better soon, what a lovely piggy. Poor you too, you are doing such a good job caring for him and it must be a worry. Thinking of you all.
 
It's a shame they don't do CT scans, it would perhaps help you know what's going on. My vets do them for the piggies, very expensive but useful.
I hope it turns out to be something treatable. I hope you can take each day as it comes and enjoy him without too much worry.
 
Update on Bryce:

Just got home from C&R. Kim was quite positive with Bryce. She said considering he's not eating by himself, his back teeth looks alright. Yes some of his teeth are growing wonky or not same level with the other teeth, but overall they look okay and hasn't caused any ulceration. So she filed them all down to make it better.

His top incisors were long so she needed to trim that as well. But Bryce has broken his lone lower incisor. Not sure when or where because when I checked him last night after the last feed, his bottom tooth was still there! So it must have been on the way to Northampton today. Kim said it must've been the one that causing him pain last week when she saw him. She said when she put the clamps to the cheeks in his mouth today, she managed to file the teeth fine and no fuss at all. But when she put the clamps to the top and bottom of the mouth, that was when he started screaming a bit. But overall he was good today. No need for gas or oxygen too. She was quite happy too that when she was examing his jaw that he isn't flinching or reacting much to it. So it means he isn't having much pain.

Kim gave us more Tramadol and Gabapentin along with the Loxicom. She said it is looking like that helped really a lot with the pain management for him, so she wanted us to continue with it for a long time. I mean last week we were looking like we would put him to sleep, but around Monday, he started eating cucumber, carrots, melon, etc. again (by handfeeding coz he can't pick up the food). He does try to eat by himself but he still can't.

He was like a little baby piggy again after every feeding because he is running around the living room and popcorning, looking so happy. I think these past few days must have been the first time since March that he trully had felt pain free or almost pain free. You wouldn't think he has arthritis with the way he runs around the house!

Our next appointment will be on 4th Sept and hopefully he would be good again then and at least eating hay by himself. 🤞🤞
 
Merab said:
It’s nice to have some positive news.
Hope you and hubby are doing ok with all the travelling and worry
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Thank you. Hubby was so tired yesterday and he slept around 11pm and managed to only wake up once. I went to bed at 2:30am after the last feed. I woke up at 8:20am having cramps on my left leg, then managed to get back to sleep almost right away. Woke up again at 9:30am having cramps on my right leg! 🤦‍♀️

Bryce is still the same today. Not eating by himself still but he is a happy chap. Whitney was also walking around and doing some happy chatters and wheeking this morning according to hubby. We put her on a diet because she has gained so much weight and she is getting lazy because of it (sleeping most of the time). She's only on hay, some grass, cucumber, some pellets and salad leaves. No more treats, pea flakes and fruits. She took advantage of all of those when Bryce started having issues with eating.
 
Update on Bryce:

So he had his teeth checked by Simon yesterday. Simon was happy that his teeth are much better than he last seen it. He said that the first four teeth at the back was starting to grow so he filed all of them. Bryce has always been a fiddly piggy who hated his mouth checked over, but after Simon filed the teeth, he seemed to relax and probably thinking that his mouth is okay. Simon didn't touch the very back teeth because that would make Bryce screaming like a banshee and he would need to have gas for that. But Simon didn't think there is anything wrong in that end for the time being. He also trimmed his top incisors. Overall everything is okay with Bryce. He is eating hay now since Saturday and has figured out how to pick up food. Fingers crossed his dental will be starting to get into longer intervals. He is booked again after 2 weeks.

Update on Whitney:

She had her spay yesterday. Kim saw her yesterday morning. She checked everything and she said overall there is nothing else wrong with her apart from being a big fatty piggy. It was also a very good thing to spay her even though the cystic ovaries are not that big (marble size according to Simon who did the op) before it gets worse. Kim did say that Whitney's right nipple is starting to get crusty. So the decision was just appropriate. Whitney did very well. She was eating when we got home. She was obviously still sleepy but she started eating hay right after I put them back in their cage. She was pooping and peeing fine as normal. Her post op check next week can be done at our local vets and no need to go back to C&R unless we see some issues. Hubby said this morning that both piggies are eating fine.

Now as for me and hubby, we still need a lot of sleep. We left the house at 4:30am yesterday and got home at around 8:30pm. Hubby went to bed at 10pm and me at 2am as it was me assigned to do night feeding and stuff for the piggies. I just woke up an hour ago but I want more sleep. 😴😴😴

Here they are yesterday while we were driving home.

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