So I have a 6 1/2 year old boar. He got a filling done for his two incisors (top and bottom) he does have a dental disease and he does have a heart condition. After the vet finished his teeth procedure. I noticed that he might be drooling? And every time I feed critical care he does this gagging motion as if he wants to throw up. I also noticed that his bottom incisors are too sort. It looks like he doesn’t have his bottom teeth, it’s there but not visible. So anything I can do? He is loosing weight for not being able to eat. And I hate it when he gags during the time in trying to syringe feed him. Any help please and thank you!
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Dental Teeth filing gone wrong?
- Thread starter Abby0720
- Start date
Bill & Ted
Forum Buddy
Hello and welcome to the forum
So sorry to hear you are having problems with his teeth. I have had two dental piggies (both unrelated) but it’s a rollercoaster ride of up and down emotions.
The cutting of incisors too short has happened to me on two separate occasions with my dental piggie Ted. It’s a common mistake that vets make, especially ones who are under the impression they need to be cut as short as rabbits front teeth, which is not the cases. Guinea pigs have much longer incisors, so that’s a real pain, has the vet done any work on the back teeth for dental spurs or just done the front teeth?
The incisors will eventually grow back and will level up as they meet each other (top and bottom) The gagging sounds like a different problem to me though? It could be spurs trapping the tongue making it very difficult to for him to swallow but I’m only making suggestions. I would get back on to the vet and ask questions, and tell him your piggie is struggling to eat and gagging on food. It may be unrelated to his teeth but only a vet could diagnose what the problem is
You will have to keep up with the syringe feeding until he can manage to eat for himself, plain porridge oats and soaked pellets in a bowl in his cage my help him. My Ted could manage to chew once he got say a small piece of veggie in his mouth but it did mean I had to hand feed him and syringe feed him for quite a number of weeks.
We have a really good syringe feeding guide here so I’ll paste you the link
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
So sorry to hear you are having problems with his teeth. I have had two dental piggies (both unrelated) but it’s a rollercoaster ride of up and down emotions.
The cutting of incisors too short has happened to me on two separate occasions with my dental piggie Ted. It’s a common mistake that vets make, especially ones who are under the impression they need to be cut as short as rabbits front teeth, which is not the cases. Guinea pigs have much longer incisors, so that’s a real pain, has the vet done any work on the back teeth for dental spurs or just done the front teeth?
The incisors will eventually grow back and will level up as they meet each other (top and bottom) The gagging sounds like a different problem to me though? It could be spurs trapping the tongue making it very difficult to for him to swallow but I’m only making suggestions. I would get back on to the vet and ask questions, and tell him your piggie is struggling to eat and gagging on food. It may be unrelated to his teeth but only a vet could diagnose what the problem is
You will have to keep up with the syringe feeding until he can manage to eat for himself, plain porridge oats and soaked pellets in a bowl in his cage my help him. My Ted could manage to chew once he got say a small piece of veggie in his mouth but it did mean I had to hand feed him and syringe feed him for quite a number of weeks.
We have a really good syringe feeding guide here so I’ll paste you the link
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
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I believe the vet mentioned something about the molars growing to the point of almost covering his tongue. But either ways it wasn’t the first time they messed up on his teeth and it’s really getting me mad. I pay so much money to make him feel better and It just seems worst. Anyways I’ll continue to feed him critical care and read the article! Thank you!
Bill & Ted
Forum Buddy
I’m so sorry, it’s such a common problem. The only thing I can suggest is looking to finding a really experience piggie savy vet who can do dentals correctly. I found one which was a 600 mile round trip but it was worth it just to get some piece of mind. He was just a normal vet who did conscious dentals and was marvellous, people travel from all over the U.K. to see him and he is in very much demand. But these experienced vets are like “hens teeth” very rare
Thank you again! I just got so much to deal with my guinea pig that I don’t want him to suffer any longer. He was eating hay before his procedure and now he doesn’t want to eat anything. I tried cutting carrots, cucumber and romaine/green lettuce. Nothing. I worry. But thank you again!
Bill & Ted
Forum Buddy
I feel for you, I’ve been there and it’s such a worry. Has the vet told you exactly what he has done? has he filed the molars at all, or is his back teeth ok?
I’d persevere for now, and weigh him daily at the same time and keep a note so you can see any downward trend, if his weight is going down then you know he is not getting enough to eat. It’s awful but make sure you look after yourself too as I know how exhausting it all is. I used to syringe feed him last thing at night then go to bed and get up around 6 and then start again. A little and often is best say every couple of hours and keep a note of how much he has each time, it will help you judge how much he is getting. If he is gagging a bit, just give him a small amount like 0.2 ml each mouthful and see how he copes, you are aiming for about 10-15 ml at each sitting, I know it takes ages x
All they did from what I remember (not the best memory) is to fix his incisors. Again his bottom ones aren’t visible. He looks like a old man with no teeth, lol. I call him grandpa. But yeah, and do you think the gagging could be a sign of fullness?
Bill & Ted
Forum Buddy
I don’t know, guinea pigs can’t actually vomit, so I’m unsure what it could be? Sorry I’m no expert I have only got my own experience of dental issues to go on. Poor lad, I do feel for you and “grandpa” Hope his teeth grows back soon and he can eat properly again.
My Ted had to go for regular dentals at an interval of 6 weeks to start with, after a bad GA dental performed by a local vet in the Covid lockdown After that up we ended up having to go every fortnight because they made such a mess of his back teeth. Ted died (PTS) just before Christmas due to a inoperable kidney mass, just before his 6 birthday and lived a great life despite his dental problems but that was only down to the marvellous vet who treated him whi was 300 miles away. The local vets are hopeless near me and have no idea with guinea pigs with dental disease x
Oh wow, I also go to a local “exotic” vet in ga too! I’m sorry about what happened to Ted! I’m sure he lived a fulfilling life! The way you talked about the health of your guinea pig sounds to me that you really really love and care for them! 300 miles? That’s far! If I may ask where is this vet?
Bill & Ted
Forum Buddy
I live in the UK and the great vet is in Northampton its 300 miles from where we live. You must live in Georgia in the US