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Post-Teeth Barring Help

gingersquid

gingersquid

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I'm wondering if any of you can help us with some advice on our 4 year old boy and Post-dental care.

On Monday we took him to the vets as he had lost weight and wasn't eating properly. They admitted him and put him under, so they could check his teeth. It is worth noting at this point that he kept fighting the GA, so they had to use ketamine to put him under. His back molars were overgrown and had cut his tongue, so they trimmed them but them also did his front teeth as well. He was very docile and spacey when we brought him home. But we started on his post op care and doing Critical Care feeds every 2 hours.

Tuesday there wasn;t much improvement so my husband rang the vets and they finally gave us pain medication, and we made various pastes from fresh veggies to try and keep his gut working.

Yesterday his weight had stabalised, and he started trying to eat more foods. However he can't seem to chew on them properly. He managed to have a little bit of grass, but we were continuing on with critical care feeds every 2-3 hours. We also made a puree out of carrot and red pepper that he seems to love.

However this morning, when we did his weight check he has lost 10g. He did manage to eat a small lettuce leaf and tried eating grass again. If we strip the fresh food and gently push it into his mouth, he will slowly start to chew on it. He has an unlimited amount of fresh hay as well.

His temperment over the past few days is very quiet. When he's not out having feeds or cuddles he will just sit in his cage, occasionally wondering around. But when he is out he is abit more himself.

I'm wondering if I need to take him back to the vets (or a different vets), or if this can be normal for post dental recovery?
Thank you in advance!
 
Hi, I am sorry to hear of the position you are in.

I have had one dental piggy and generally speaking you would be looking to see great improvement once the GA has worn off and the dental has been done correctly. How much painkiller is he on and which type? Post dental in which a wound has been made, such as his tongue, a decent amount of painkiller could/would be needed for a couple days to help things for a bit. For instance my boy had ulcers in his cheeks and he was on 0.22ml of Dog Metacam for 4 days afterwards.

If I was in your position, I would be getting him back to the vets, perhaps a different vet as if he is healthy otherwise, there is a chance his dental has been done incorrectly.
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
 
piggl said:
Hi, I am sorry to hear of the position you are in.

I have had one dental piggy and generally speaking you would be looking to see great improvement once the GA has worn off and the dental has been done correctly. How much painkiller is he on and which type? Post dental in which a wound has been made, such as his tongue, a decent amount of painkiller could/would be needed for a couple days to help things for a bit. For instance my boy had ulcers in his cheeks and he was on 0.22ml of Dog Metacam for 4 days afterwards.

If I was in your position, I would be getting him back to the vets, perhaps a different vet as if he is healthy otherwise, there is a chance his dental has been done incorrectly.
All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures
Click to expand...
He is on Metacam 0.44ml once a day. I'm wondering if he should be on more perhaps
 
My dental piggie Ted was always given 0.4ml x twice day Dog metacam (which is 1.5 mg strength as opposed to Cat which is 0.5 mg) from Simon Maddock at the Cat and Rabbit Clinic in Northampton. He had to go for regular conscious dentals for a number of years due to a molar spur which grew out into his cheek.

There is certainly room to discuss a bigger dose. Piggies won’t eat if they are in pain
You sound like you are doing a great job, keep up with the critical care/mushed pellets and hand feeding which is.encouraging him to eat and use his jaws

It is often the case that vets burr the incisors too short, this happened to my Ted at another vets I first went to, his incisors where so short they didn’t even meet together. It also takes some time for piggies to get “used” to their teeth when they have been burred
 
Sorry to hear your piggie is having dental issues, my Pepper had a dental under GA last week and I was in a very similar situation, on Friday afternoon to Saturday he stopped eating and I was syringing him every 1.5hours to help him, we went back to the vets for a pin injection and a gut stimulating injection and I was given the gut stimulant for him to take 3 times a day, pepper was also on 0.4ml of meloxadyl (same as Metacam dog version) twice a day, he finally started eating for himself on Sunday night and has been getting better each day, today he tried to eat some nuggets for the first time. We are still giving him a few top ups and his weight is still down but persevering as worked and his is back to his usual cheeky self!
 
we took him back to the vets today and he gave us pain medication to last until tuesday, gave him some fluids but said there's not much else he can really do as it looks like he is having trouble swallowing so he is wondering if its a neurological.

I'm just going to keep doing what we are doing and hope he gets better. It's so hard
 
Thank you! He went downhill alot overnight so this morning we made the decision to help him across the rainbow bridge. I'm devistated but he had told us it was his time. His cage mate has taken it well, he seems to be more worried about us than anything.

But thank you all so much for your lovely words
 
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