Top two teeth broken off

[danuutka]

Adventures never end with Miki.. around midnight last night I startled him whilst he was biting his cage bars, which has resulted in him breaking his teeth straight out. There was some blood, and one tooth came out longer than the other.

The teeth are broken at gum line/further up possibly. Miki has really gotten startled by the whole fiasco, and hasn’t moved from his corner pillow overnight. I’m not sure if he’s been trying to eat overnight, he did munch on some chopped up veg last night but I can see that he hasn’t touched any of his food in the cage.

We’re going to call our vet as soon as it opens to get some more pain relief, and try to get him seen. Is there anything I can do for him? I feel so guilty for causing this

 

[VickiA]

Hope you get on ok at the vets. His teeth should grow back eventually but he may need his lower incisors trimming in the meantime as there’s no upper teeth to grind against them.
He will in time adjust to his teeth. In the meantime he will have difficulty picking food up. Please offer him softened pellets and hand offer him strips of veggies (matchstick size) once he gets food onto the back teeth he will still be able to grind it. If he’s struggling to eat hay please step in with syringe feeding

 

[Bradshaw Piggies]

Please don't feel guilty. Accidents can happen.
Hope all goes well at the vets. Keep us posted.

My boys are sending lots of healing vibes!

 

[Swissgreys]

We had this exact same scenario with Ruby less than 2 weeks ago.

It is great you are seeing the vet. I think their mouths are painful, so some pain relief for a few days is good.

Initially the only thing Ruby could eat was hay, but she was a bit reluctant, so I put huge piles of as many different types of hay as I could all around her cage. Usually she just has a couple of hay trays, but I put this stuff everywhere so she could access it without any effort at all times.

Ruby was able to eat pellets softened with water and turned into a mush so that was a good start. I also added a small amount of mashed banana to encourage her, as I was keen to avoid syringe feeding at all costs! I just used her regular pellets, but did also have Critical Care and Recovery Formula on hand just in case.

Finally I cut a piece of carrot (one of her favourites) into different shapes - a thin disk, a long flat peel and a matchstick - and offered each of these in turn to see what shape was easiest for her to manage.
After that i cut all her fresh food into matchstick size pieces for a week.

Her top teeth reappeared after about 3 days, and we are currently keeping a close eye on them to make sure they come in even.
She is eating normally again.

 

[Bill & Ted]

You may find beetroot stick out of the Bistro Salad bags handy for hand feeding him, I have done this on numerous occasions with two dental piggies. Bill lost one or the other incisors on several occasions and Ted had doggy back teeth and required lots of hand feeding at times.
Porridge oats are good for piggies suffering teeth loss too, just put a good handful in a bowl for him

There is a great page on the Guinea pig Lynx website showing how incisors grow back and what to expect
here it is Guinea Lynx :: Broken Teeth

Hope they grow back well x

 

[danuutka]

Thank you all for your responses!

Miki was seen by the vet, and because he broke one of his teeth quite high in the gum, we’ve been given antibiotics as a precaution. He has also been given Metacam!

Thankfully, Miki is acting exactly the same as usual - he’s zooming and popcorning around. He’s eating hay, and I’ve picked him grass to munch on today too. He’s also been getting all of his regular veggies either cut into matchstick pieces or grated (he’s on a high water diet bc of bladder stone issues and also refusing to use his bottles). He’s only needed help with eating a couple of times!

We are also avoiding syringe feeding st all costs, because Miki builds negative associations with it and then each time is tougher and tougher to feed him

 

[Bill & Ted]

Aw great he’s eat8ng for himself again, the AB’s are a good thing with the break being high up as infection in the gum line can effect the way the teeth regrow x