"The Guinea Pig Vet" - dental

[luckyandsammy]

Has anyone been to the guinea pig vet in Matlock for a dental?

I suspect Remi needs a dental, he had a check up at the vets in December and the vet said his teeth have small spurs on them. She didn't recommend doing anything with them at the time as he went in for another issue. However, I recently noticed that he is a bit weird about eating hay. He circles his hay pile a lot before he settles on a piece of hay to eat and then he kind of paws at it as he eats. His poos have gotten smaller. He eats nuggets normally.
I would like to book him in to see Ellie to get his teeth looked at & do a dental if he needs it, but I'm wondering if this could be done on the same day?
It's a 2 hour drive (4 hours both ways!), so it would be great if I don't have to travel twice.

I would take him to a normal/closer vet, but I have bad experiences with that so I'd rather not get his teeth messed up!

Please tell me about your experiences at the guinea pig vet, and if you managed to get a dental done on the same day as your initial consultation?

 

[Lady Kelly]

I'm thinking the Cat and Rabbit clinic in Northampton might be your closest vet if you are specifically looking for conscious dentals

 

[luckyandsammy]

I'm thinking the Cat and Rabbit clinic in Northampton might be your closest vet if you are specifically looking for conscious dentals

They are the closest but unfortunately they are not taking on any new clients at the moment, I called a couple of weeks ago as my rabbit needed one.
He ended up having it at a normal exotics vet but the price was ridiculous and the "exotic" vet they have at the moment is not that experienced

 

[luckyandsammy]

Oh and since I mentioned cost, how much does everyone usually pay for dentals?
My rabbit's recent one was £410 and I'm pretty sure that's a lot more than vets normally charge...

 

[Lady Kelly]

Oh no, that's a pain but then they are popular. I believe the guinea pig vet in Matlock has consulted with Simon in Northampton about his practice for dentals and does similar though started much more recently so obviously not as much experience. I know one or two people have mentioned going there (not necessarily for dentals) but my brain won't let me remember who.

 

[Claire W]

I’ve personally never seen Ellie Whitehead but just to give you an idea of what some vets charge, my Ella has recently had an incisor removed under GA and the cost all in including medication was around £160 - £180 and I remember that £56 of that was for the GA I think it was around £75 for the tooth extraction and the rest was on medication. She’s needing lots of follow ups which I’m so far not being charged for as I think it’s included in the overall surgery cost

 

[luckyandsammy]

I’ve personally never seen Ellie Whitehead but just to give you an idea of what some vets charge, my Ella has recently had an incisor removed under GA and the cost all in including medication was around £150 - £160 and I remember that £56 of that was for the GA I think it was around £75 for the tooth extraction and the rest was on medication. She’s needing lots of follow ups which I’m so far not being charged for

Oh wow, that's crazy! Where is your vet?
I definitely think mine are overcharging, obviously the cost for a guinea pig will be slightly less than for a rabbit but the £410 I paid for Charlie was without the consultation before the visit, that I had to pay £59 for
I need to shop around, but at the same time I don't want to see a vet who doesn't know what they are doing as when one of my previous guinea pigs had his teeth "trimmed" he ended up not being able to eat by himself, as his teeth were too short.

How is Ella doing after her dental? Can I ask why she needs lots of follow up visits?

 

[anyar.dris]

My piggies' vet is Ellie Whitehead. She is a very knowledgeable guinea pig vet and we are confident on her. Although we haven't seen her for piggy dentals coz we go directly to C&R to see Simon and Kim whenever we have piggies with dental problems. I'm not sure how much she charges for dentals but we have never paid more than £300 for our piggies' issues, i.e. neck abscess operations, lymphoma diagnosis and medications. Ellie will also do procedure the same day depending on her schedule and how needed it to be. She once drain the abscess of Bryce in the neck that same day we went for a consultation.

 

[Claire W]

Oh wow, that's crazy! Where is your vet?
I definitely think mine are overcharging, obviously the cost for a guinea pig will be slightly less than for a rabbit but the £410 I paid for Charlie was without the consultation before the visit, that I had to pay £59 for
I need to shop around, but at the same time I don't want to see a vet who doesn't know what they are doing as when one of my previous guinea pigs had his teeth "trimmed" he ended up not being able to eat by himself, as his teeth were too short.

How is Ella doing after her dental? Can I ask why she needs lots of follow up visits?

My vets are located in Rochdale, they’re called Vally Vets but there’s a lot of competition around here. I actually have only been with Valley since changing over in December and I already have more faith in them than my previous vets. They’ve been brilliant. A small animal consultation is I think £45.

Ella lost half her tooth in March and was ticking along nicely until it started causing her issues about a month ago and she started struggling to eat so the vet said she’d be better off if we just removed it. She’s having follow ups as her mouth is still sore and there’s a slight chance she has bone cancer in her jaw and vet wants to see her weekly to make sure she’s healing as she should as she stopped eating but she’s finally turned a corner and is eating more and doing better. You can read her story here Ella has a bottom incisor missing