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Trouble Eating And Holding Food In Mouth

Thanks for the updates, sorry you have had such a frustrating time with the vets, it is maddening that they dont seem to have listened to what you are saying about his eating, especially as this is a far more important issue than his leg right now.

Please keep up the syringe feeding even if Diva objects. If I ever need to syringe feed one of my piggies I prefer to use Oxbow critical care (for herbivores) to recovery plus, it also comes in bigger sizes so is more cost effective and can be bought online from Vet uk. I would reccomend using one or other of these products rather than mushed up pellets as they are specially formulated for poorly animals. If you need to you can add the vit C in.

You dont mention anything about metacam in your updates. Did the vet say to continue with it? It is an anti inflamatory so would be of help. What are the antibiotics he is on?

I would definitely go for a second opinion. My vet Rob is unfortunately away next week but I think @sport_billy's reccomendation would be better anyway, given their dental experience.

I really hope things start to improve soon for Diva
 
Hello everyone,
Just wrote a message and accidentally deleted it right when I was on my last sentence. Don't have time to write another one, but Diva is looking slightly better today. We started giving him a pro c probiotic last night that a pet store guy recommended to my wife. Vet actually told us to stop using Metacam and along with the 0.3 ml of baytril prescription we have been using the past few days, she also gave a prescription for trimoxazole, 3 ml a day.
Have to get going, but thanks again everyone. Did have more information to share but as I said I accidentally deleted my message.
 
But, chewing problem still an issue. Was more aggressive trying to eat his veggies this morning, but still can't seem to eat his dry food and he has a hard time eating hay, though it keeps trying again and again. So, appetite is there, just can't seem to chew well.
 
divadisco said:
But, chewing problem still an issue. Was more aggressive trying to eat his veggies this morning, but still can't seem to eat his dry food and he has a hard time eating hay, though it keeps trying again and again. So, appetite is there, just can't seem to chew well.
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I honestly think there are issues with the back teeth here at play.
 
My wife decided to see a vet she was recommended is good with small animals called, Monish Malhotra. Has anyone heard of him. Just read a brief write up on him on the vets website, but not much else. Thanks.
 
divadisco said:
My wife decided to see a vet she was recommended is good with small animals called, Monish Malhotra. Has anyone heard of him. Just read a brief write up on him on the vets website, but not much else. Thanks.
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Do you know what they mean by small animals? Small animals can mean dogs and cats, as opposed to large animals, such as farm animals. You really need a vet who is experienced in guinea pig dental issues.
 
Meet the team
here you can read the curricula of Dr. Malhotra (any experience in guinea pigs?) and all his collegues (all graduated in Romania in 2015-2016, hence still no experience at all).
Companion Care Vets Oldbury
I see only dogs and cats...
Good Luck!
( I have fear you will spend at the end a huge amount visiting many vets not able to solve the trouble... teeth procedures are delicate...).
 
Hello. Thanks for asking. Not much new, though small improvements outside of the chewing issue. We do have a appointment with the new vet tonight. His leg seems to be slowly improving and when he does move around, he doesn't limp as badly as he was before, along with his leg not being as swollen. He has really taken to the pro c probiotic mix drink. My wife gives him some through a syringe and he seems to like it. Sometimes he'll even mouth his mouth toward the syringe to get more. I think it may have also helped with feeding him as it's been easier to feed him 2 out of past 3 nights since we have started given him the pro c probiotic mix.
In addition, he has tried to eat his pellets at one point the past 4 straight days, but really was only able to eat some on Saturday. That was encouraging, but then he hasn't been as successful the past couple days. He also continues to try to eat hay, though usually not too successfully.
And while he still isn't any near to being as active or chatty as before, he's a bit more chatty and noisy. Though no where close to as he was before.
Speaking of being noisy, Disco is calling for food.
 
divadisco said:
My wife decided to see a vet she was recommended is good with small animals called, Monish Malhotra. Has anyone heard of him. Just read a brief write up on him on the vets website, but not much else. Thanks.
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Not heard of them in the Midlands area.

Recommended below

 
Thanks. Another issue of concern in the past few days is that he doesn't seem to be popping and peeing as much as usual, which is probably related to not eating enough hay. It's hard to tell to what degree because Disco can sometimes do a lot. And they often times like to sleep in the exact same places at different times.And, overall, there seems to be more today than the past few days. But, it's another issue I am going to bring up with the vet today.
 
divadisco said:
Thanks. Another issue of concern in the past few days is that he doesn't seem to be popping and peeing as much as usual, which is probably related to not eating enough hay. It's hard to tell to what degree because Disco can sometimes do a lot. And they often times like to sleep in the exact same places at different times.And, overall, there seems to be more today than the past few days. But, it's another issue I am going to bring up with the vet today.
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How much syringe food are you getting in?
 
Hello everyone. So, just back from vets. Vets examined him and said his left back molar tooth is too long. So, on Wednesday they are going to put him back under general anesthesia and file down his left molar. Vet also gave him a couple shots, one for bloating and one for his stomach digestive system. I am worried about Diva going back under general anesthesia so soon, since my old vet used GA this past Friday to do the x-ray. I hope this takes care of the issue. I wonder if something happened to his molars when he hurt himself as he was eating perfectly fine the night before, but my wife thinks it's something natural and just a coincidence.
Poor Diva squeaked in pain when they gave him the shots and they want us to take him back tomorrow so they can give him the two shots again, the as I wrote, give him general anesthesia on Wednesday and file down his left molar.
As far as the syringe, we tend to give him about half a sachet, difficult to do anymore than that.
As soon as we Diva back home, Disco once again when up to him and rubbed his nose against Diva's mouth for about 15 or so seconds.
 
I think it's going to be full GA as the vet said they would use GA. Hope that this is the answer and Disco will see be back to normal. Either the new vet we saw is mistaken about the back molars or the old vets never took a good look at them, even with Disco under GA and telling them the morning of the x-ray to take a look at the back molars.
Once Disco's left back molar is trimmed tomorrow, what should I expect. How soon should I expect Disco to be able to eat like normal again. How long will he be feeling pain due to his back molar being trimmed. Along with continuing the antibiotics for leg/paw, plan on giving him metacam for the pain tomorrow after his left molar is trimmed.
Taking him back to vet tonight to get same two shots he had yesterday again. Hated hearing him squeak in pain getting those shots, but was doing well last night and seems to have more energy today and looking better this morning.
 
Thanks. Should add that his weight has stabilized over the past week as his weight it identical today as it was a week ago.
 
Diva had his molars trimmed yesterday morning and the results have not been good. Things just seem worse right now. They finished yesterday morning and I picked him up at 4:30. He was really out of it due to the general anesthesia. Worse than on Friday. Really wasn't able to even try to feed him until later in the night. He didn't do so well at first getting something to drink through the syringe, but slowly he started to drink and eventually we were able to feed him and he was pretty hungry. Feed him the recovery plus mix and as I said, he was pretty hungry. The food and drink helped him feel better and you can tell he was starting to get out of the daze he was in.
This morning when feed them veggies and Diva went to the dish to eat. He did eat, however was having the exact same chewing problem, but even a bit worse. My wife said we just need to give him a day or two to adjust. Vet said it might take a couple days for him to be eating normally again, I had my doubts. Early this afternoon I gave them a treat, mainly to see how Diva was chewing and he was having a hard time trying to chew.
I ended up feeding them earlier than usual as Diva was squeaking for food, which she hasn't been doing much of lately. However, when I did, Diva could really chew anything. He tried a bit of everything and he just could not chew anything to eat. So, the molar trim they did at the vets yesterday just made things worse, which now has me wondering if he ever needed it and if they ended up trimming too much that he can't chew anything now. He is definitely hungry, but just can't chew well enough to eat. He was barely able to this morning, but not as well.
Maybe I need more patience and I had doubts as do whether his molars naturally getting too big were the issue as I mentioned in a previous post. But, I feel quite discouraged and made have just made things much worse. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong and he'll start chewing and eating things much better, but as I said am feeling pretty down and discouraged at the moment.
 
Sorry you’re feeling so down. If Diva is hungry but not chewing try a bowlful of pellets soaked in water, no chewing required.
You could also try liquidising veggies for the same reason.
Sorry I can’t advise on the teeth issues but that’s outside my experience.
Still rooting for you all.
 
divadisco said:
Diva had his molars trimmed yesterday morning and the results have not been good. Things just seem worse right now. They finished yesterday morning and I picked him up at 4:30. He was really out of it due to the general anesthesia. Worse than on Friday. Really wasn't able to even try to feed him until later in the night. He didn't do so well at first getting something to drink through the syringe, but slowly he started to drink and eventually we were able to feed him and he was pretty hungry. Feed him the recovery plus mix and as I said, he was pretty hungry. The food and drink helped him feel better and you can tell he was starting to get out of the daze he was in.
This morning when feed them veggies and Diva went to the dish to eat. He did eat, however was having the exact same chewing problem, but even a bit worse. My wife said we just need to give him a day or two to adjust. Vet said it might take a couple days for him to be eating normally again, I had my doubts. Early this afternoon I gave them a treat, mainly to see how Diva was chewing and he was having a hard time trying to chew.
I ended up feeding them earlier than usual as Diva was squeaking for food, which she hasn't been doing much of lately. However, when I did, Diva could really chew anything. He tried a bit of everything and he just could not chew anything to eat. So, the molar trim they did at the vets yesterday just made things worse, which now has me wondering if he ever needed it and if they ended up trimming too much that he can't chew anything now. He is definitely hungry, but just can't chew well enough to eat. He was barely able to this morning, but not as well.
Maybe I need more patience and I had doubts as do whether his molars naturally getting too big were the issue as I mentioned in a previous post. But, I feel quite discouraged and made have just made things much worse. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong and he'll start chewing and eating things much better, but as I said am feeling pretty down and discouraged at the moment.
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I know you have said your wife doesn't want to drive there, but this is exactly why I said to go to Simon Maddock. What you are saying, I hear time and time again. I just feel so sad that people are wasting such huge amounts of money and the piggy is getting worse, rather than better. Please try and persuade your wife to drive to Northampton. It really will be worth it! Simon does over 20 guinea pig dentals per week and has been doing so for very many years. He has perfected the skill and the results show immediately. He can also do the work without the need for GA, which is much better for the guinea pig and keeps costs down too.
 
Thanks. When my wife comes home, we will try feeding him recovery mix. At least his paw/leg is improving and you can tell he is feeling better because of it. How much better he is able to move around and the squeaking, but from the beginning was more concerned about his chewing and eating issue. I will try talking to her again about it, though the only time we can even possible make it is on a Saturday morning and even then it would be difficult because my daughter has activities in the afternoon, which my wife needs to take her to at 12:30 at the latest.
However, I do understand your strong recommendation. Thanks.
 
Nothing new on Diva, but have a follow up appointment with current vet tomorrow morning that was made a couple days ago. If they can't provide us with an answer or just tells us he needs more time and Diva doesn't start getting better, then have an appointment with Simon Maddock next weekend. My wife told me to go ahead and make an appointment with them.
 
Good idea. Sadly most general vets are out of their depth with piggies due to lack of experience. The sad part is that not many will be willing to admit it.

How much food are you managing to syringe per day? It's crucial to keep his guts going for the next week til you can see Simon :)
 
divadisco said:
Nothing new on Diva, but have a follow up appointment with current vet tomorrow morning that was made a couple days ago. If they can't provide us with an answer or just tells us he needs more time and Diva doesn't start getting better, then have an appointment with Simon Maddock next weekend. My wife told me to go ahead and make an appointment with them.
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How did Diva make out? Going through something similar but could very well be related to his GA yesterday
 
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