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Vet unwilling to refer piggy to Cat & Rabbit clinic

Squeaks is back in the hutch and recovering from his ordeal - poor little sausage was vibrating like an electric toothbrush while I held him before Kim examined him :wub:
The good news is that his molars are good, no need for burring them whether with or without GA. Also his chest is clear so if he did have a URI on the 20th, it is all gone now. Kim could not find any sites of pain or discomfort on physical examination, no sign of any jaw/tooth root abscess etc. His broken incisor has now started to grow, but doesn't look right, and has a dark line running up it. Kim says the other lower incisor also now is out of alignment. The upper incisors had grown somewhat longer than normal due to not being able to wear properly against the lower ones, so she burred them to a good length.

Her assessment is that inflammation started in the germinal cells (?) of the lower incisors, which causes them to grow abnormally and also weaker, resulting in initially the slanted wearing and then the break in one. She doesn't think there is preseently any infection anywhere, so no antibiotics were prescribed today, but it could happen. She has upped the Metacam to 0.4ml twice daily and I need to keep an eye on him, make sure he is eating enough and watch for signs of pain/infection. He will go back on the 31st March to see how he is doing.

I suppose the thought is that if he is not in pain then he will eat 100% normally and so his teeth will wear normally. I forgot to ask whether his lower incisors might eventually start to grow normally, or whether there's always going to be a problem with them and the way his teeth wear. :hmm:

When I got home, as he's lost weight I gave him some recovery food, he was happy to take a few syringe fulls, but didn't want any nuggets. He did tuck into the grass though when I put them back in the hutch and picked some fresh grass. But I don't think I'm going to be vastly popular if I get him out for Metacam and weighing twice a day :rtm:

So, a little progress but no final answers - yet ...
 
Squeak‘s incisors sound a bit like my rainbow piggie Bill’s. He broke one at the gumline which grew back but all four grew strange, wore thin and irregular over time. Simon used to burr his incisors when doing Ted’s molar spur, he always check Bill’s molars but said they were perfect. Simon always laughed and said between them the boys could make a perfect pair of teeth 😆

Bill never had any problems eating at all, unlike Ted
 
Just on my way home after seeing Kim again. Squeaks is about the same as at our previous visit. His molars are still fine (hooray!) But the lower incisors are no better. The broken one is spiky and brittle, the other is a bit discoloured, both those point to pulpitis, inflammation of the tooth pulp, which can't be cured, only managed with long term metacam. He doesn't have any abscesses etc but they could happen so I need to check regularly for them.
I don't need to take him back if nothing changes, so I'll have to go to my usual vet when I need more Metacam. I hope he becomes a regular Metacam junkie soon, that would make giving it to him so much easier long term :P !
 
Poor Squeaks and poor you, such a shame he's no better, fingers crossed he gets no worse either. For tiny creatures they can be a big worry. Hope he gets to like Metacam soon.
 
Poor Squeaks. So sorry your peggies are causing you trouble.
but I do have it on good authority that metacam is very yummy.
sending big hugs.xx
 
I hope Squeaks get used to his daily fix, will you need to get his incisors burred regularly with the C&R? lucky for us we were already taking Ted for his molar spur so Bill just had his tidied up at the same time.
 
piggieminder said:
Poor Squeaks and poor you, such a shame he's no better, fingers crossed he gets no worse either. For tiny creatures they can be a big worry. Hope he gets to like Metacam soon.
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rhymer said:
Poor Squeaks. So sorry your peggies are causing you trouble.
but I do have it on good authority that metacam is very yummy.
sending big hugs.xx
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Thank you, @piggieminder , @rhymer . It would have been nice if his teeth could have gone back to normal, but as I was worried originally that there was going to be a problem with the molars, Kim's assessment of the situation is actually quite positive. Squeaks is still happy in himself, I just need to keep his mouth comfortable with an appropriate dose of Metacam, and occasional burring of his incisors, which can be sorted through my local vet. And as Kim said, at his age he's quite likely to start getting arthritis, but as he's already on an anti-inflammatory, that pain is already dealt with ...
 
Bill & Ted said:
I hope Squeaks get used to his daily fix, will you need to get his incisors burred regularly with the C&R? lucky for us we were already taking Ted for his molar spur so Bill just had his tidied up at the same time.
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I think it will be ok to have my local vet burr the incisors as and when necessary; the vet I try to see usually did a decent job no problem 2 or 3 times already and Kim was happy for me to go back to them. I don't really want to make a longer trip than necessary in present circumstances, though of course I'll go back if there are any developments that warrant it.
Merab's Slave said:
Poor Squeaks.
Hope he’s going to be happy with his daily fix
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He's getting there slowly ... I wonder if they ever realise that the days when their slave doesn't make them eat stuff out of a plastic tube are the days when their mouth or whatever hurts more...
 
Qualcast&Flymo said:
I think it will be ok to have my local vet burr the incisors as and when necessary; the vet I try to see usually did a decent job no problem 2 or 3 times already and Kim was happy for me to go back to them. I don't really want to make a longer trip than necessary in present circumstances, though of course I'll go back if there are any developments that warrant it.

He's getting there slowly ... I wonder if they ever realise that the days when their slave doesn't make them eat stuff out of a plastic tube are the days when their mouth or whatever hurts more...
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That’s great your local vet can do it. We used to go to a lovely vet in Devon who could do Bill’s if we were desperate to have his burred, she was very good at it too, just not as good with Ted’s molar spur as Simon/Kim as she just didn’t get the experience
 
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