• Discussions taking place within this forum are intended for the purpose of assisting you in discussing options with your vet. Any other use of advice given here is done so at your risk, is solely your responsibility and not that of this forum or its owner. Before posting it is your responsibility you abide by this Statement

Dental Teeth missing please help

Peanutthepigleto

Peanutthepigleto

New Born Pup
Joined
Jul 18, 2019
Messages
38
Reaction score
54
Points
200
Yesterday I noticed that one of my guinea pigs had a tooth at the top missing, today I checked him and the last tooth at the top is missing. Should I rush him to a vet quickly?
1592217704669.webp
 
He will need to be seen by the vet as there's nothing we can do about it online and neither can you at home.

The people who can answer or help do so voluntarily and have their lives and jobs/children to also deal with. So please do practise some patience and don't link to your other thread or post the same thing twice. I will ask for your linked thread to be deleted.
 
Last edited:
Do you know how long it has been like that?
They use their incisors to pick food up so he may struggle to pick up hay. You might have to syringe feed him if he can’t. You will need to monitor his weight.
@furryfriends (TEAS) will likely be able to offer further advice while you are waiting to see a vet
 
Has he had an accident or injury?
The 2 sets of incisors wear each other down by grinding against each other. While it is likely the top ones will regrow, the bottom ones will need veterinary attention as they will over grow.
Incisors are used for picking up hay pellets and veggies. Without his top ones he will need help feeding. You may need to hand feed him strips of veggies, and mushed pellets, however the hay is the most important part of his diet so you may need to syringe feed him a high fibre supplement to help him until they grow back.
Please get him seen by a vet
 
Piggies&buns said:
Do you know how long it has been like that?
They use their incisors to pick food up so he may struggle to pick up hay. You might have to syringe feed him if he can’t. You will need to monitor his weight.
@furryfriends (TEAS) will likely be able to offer further advice while you are waiting to see a vet
Click to expand...
My guess is about 5 days, I will monitor his weight and syringe feed him. The only problem I have is that I don't know what to syringe feed him. And my other guinea pig with no visible dental problems still needs to eat solid food. Should I keep it out of the cage and give it to him at certain times so the other guinea pig won't choke on them?
 
VickiA said:
Has he had an accident or injury?
The 2 sets of incisors wear each other down by grinding against each other. While it is likely the top ones will regrow, the bottom ones will need veterinary attention as they will over grow.
Incisors are used for picking up hay pellets and veggies. Without his top ones he will need help feeding. You may need to hand feed him strips of veggies, and mushed pellets, however the hay is the most important part of his diet so you may need to syringe feed him a high fibre supplement to help him until they grow back.
Please get him seen by a vet
Click to expand...
He had an accident recently as he fell ran of a quite high surface. While another family member was taking care of him. I checked his legs and they were fine, his teeth had never occurred to me. Should I be worried that I can't find them too?
 
Peanutthepigleto said:
He had an accident recently as he fell ran of a quite high surface. While another family member was taking care of him. I checked his legs and they were fine, his teeth had never occurred to me. Should I be worried that I can't find them too?
Click to expand...

No, but the vet needs to check whether they have sheared off at the gum or what has happened to the roots. This really isn’t something that should be left. You really do need to see a vet as a matter of priority.
 
Peanutthepigleto said:
My guess is about 5 days, I will monitor his weight and syringe feed him. The only problem I have is that I don't know what to syringe feed him. And my other guinea pig with no visible dental problems still needs to eat solid food. Should I keep it out of the cage and give it to him at certain times so the other guinea pig won't choke on them?
Click to expand...

You can syringe feed him mushed up pellets. He will need feeding regularly - every couple of hours (day and night) as he isn’t able to pick up hay for himself. Keep a very close eye on his weight to know whether you are syringing him enough
Feed your other piggy a normal - lots of hay in the cage as normal at all times. This piggy with the tooth problem likely won’t be able to pick up any food anyway so it shouldn’t be a problem

Complete Syringe Feeding Guide
 
Peanutthepigleto said:
My guess is about 5 days, I will monitor his weight and syringe feed him. The only problem I have is that I don't know what to syringe feed him. And my other guinea pig with no visible dental problems still needs to eat solid food. Should I keep it out of the cage and give it to him at certain times so the other guinea pig won't choke on them?
Click to expand...

I’m not going to lecture you but when an animal has a nasty accident it is usually best to get a vet to check them over. How would you identify a fracture otherwise?

Please read our syringe feeding guide. For now, his usual peppers dissolved in warm water to make a mash would be a good start to give him while you are waiting to see the vet

Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

Not Eating, Weight Loss And The Importance Of Syringe Feeding Fibre
 
VickiA said:
No, but the vet needs to check whether they have sheared off at the gum or what has happened to the roots. This really isn’t something that should be left. You really do need to see a vet as a matter of priority.
Click to expand...
Should I remove the hay and food pellets and give them to my other guinea pig at certain times to avoid him choking?
 
No, leave them in there. But you will have to syringe feed to help him maintain his weight as mentioned above. You also need to start weighing him daily at the same time. Read the link VickiA put above re syringe feeding and see what else is recommended for syringing. But for now you will have to use the pellets.

I think it's sometimes suggested you cut the veg up into small strips to make it easier for them. You should go ring your vet now and try to have him seen.
 
Taking him to the vet this friday and i am taking all the necessary precautions until then.
 
This should count as an emergency appointment I’d say considering the injury happened after he fell off a surface. If you tell this to the vet they may see him sooner.
 
He will need to see a vet, who can check whether the teeth have broken, or whether they've been damaged at the roots, and therefore won't regrow. In the meantime, the bottom teeth will need some attention, as they will grow too long, as they won't have anything to wear against. It is important to get him checked by a vet quickly, as infection can get into the tooth root and he could be at risk of an abscess too. In the meantime, you need to cut all veg into thin strips. Don't give anything that he needs to bite down onto. You can offer softened nuggets, but often they can pick up nuggets, just fine, despite missing the teeth. If his weight is dropping you will need to step in with syringe feeding. You can watch an instructional video here Today's instructional video on our Facebook page - Syringe feeding
 
I am not able to that is the only day the clinic is able to see him, where I live we don't have many vets for guinea pigs. I also messaging the vet and about his weight. We already checked his weight and fed him small pieces of carrots peppers and a very small amount of apple. He has been walking fine so I don't think he has any fractures. He still has small pieces of his teeth left. I guess that after one broke the other one did not have enough support an just snapped off. I am not sure what I can do regarding his bottom teeth until Friday. If possible could you please give me suggestions for how many times I should feed him day and night and high fibre foods that are safe for him.
 
Peanutthepigleto said:
I am not able to that is the only day the clinic is able to see him, where I live we don't have many vets for guinea pigs. I also messaging the vet and about his weight. We already checked his weight and fed him small pieces of carrots peppers and a very small amount of apple. He has been walking fine so I don't think he has any fractures. He still has small pieces of his teeth left. I guess that after one broke the other one did not have enough support an just snapped off. I am not sure what I can do regarding his bottom teeth until Friday. If possible could you please give me suggestions for how many times I should feed him day and night and high fibre foods that are safe for him.
Click to expand...
Is he able to eat for himself? We have a few piggies here, with missing incisors (they never had them) and they eat just fine. However, piggies who lose or break them, find it difficult, as they need to learn to eat without them. If he's got small pieces of booth left, there is the potential for infection to get into the pulp cavity. This needs checking, as soon as you can get him to a vet.
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
Is he able to eat for himself? We have a few piggies here, with missing incisors (they never had them) and they eat just fine. However, piggies who lose or break them, find it difficult, as they need to learn to eat without them. If he's got small pieces of booth left, there is the potential for infection to get into the pulp cavity. This needs checking, as soon as you can get him to a vet.
Click to expand...
He can eat small pieces of veggies off our hands, I am not sure about hay.
 
he must have hay (or a fibre source in the form of mushed pellets or critical care) going through his system constantly. Being able to eat veg is not enough - it only makes up around 15% of their daily diet.
He will need to be fed very regularly if he can’t eat hay for himself - every couple of hours with the mushed pellets or critical care. It’s all in the guides that have been linked in
 
As above. And if he's losing weight then you will have to feed more often. Read the syringe feeding guide again, I'm sure they mention how often you should do it.
 
After alot of monitoring and care I realised that he is eating hay and managing pellets, we are still syringe feeding him. Everything is being monitored thank you for your help.
 
Peanutthepigleto said:
After alot of monitoring and care I realised that he is eating hay and managing pellets, we are still syringe feeding him. Everything is being monitored thank you for your help.
Click to expand...

That’s good that he is able to pick up hay.
Do weigh him daily to be sure he is getting enough
Let us know how you get on with the vet
 
Vet visit
I took both guinea pig, it did not turn out as expected. Peanut (unrelated to the tooth incident) Has lice and Cookie (tooth victim) has an eye infection but his body is fine and the vet filed down his teeth.
 
Peanutthepigleto said:
Vet visit
I took both guinea pig, it did not turn out as expected. Peanut (unrelated to the tooth incident) Has lice and Cookie (tooth victim) has an eye infection but his body is fine and the vet filed down his teeth.
Click to expand...
Did the vet examine to see if his top incisors were growing back? You can usually see little white stumps after a week at the gum line? If so then it will probably take about a month for them to grow back properly and then wear the bottom teeth and keep them in check
here is a link on the Guinea Pig Lynx web site about broken incisors and how they grow back Guinea Lynx :: Broken Teeth
good luck let us know how Cookie gets on
 
Bill & Ted said:
Did the vet examine to see if his top incisors were growing back? You can usually see little white stumps after a week at the gum line? If so then it will probably take about a month for them to grow back properly and then wear the bottom teeth and keep them in check
here is a link on the Guinea Pig Lynx web site about broken incisors and how they grow back Guinea Lynx :: Broken Teeth
good luck let us know how Cookie gets on
Click to expand...
They are growing back, he should be fine
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top