Pinta help. Re: Chin-Sling

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Cookie

Post   » Mon Jul 22, 2002 10:26 pm


Hi Pinta, our piggy has malocclusion problem and hes had his molars and incisors (due to abcess) trimmed 3 times already over the course of the last 2 months because his molars were growing inwards over his tongue.
I read about the chin-sling and consulted my vet a couple of nights ago and he was very interested in the idea and encouraged me to try out the chin-sling. I gathered the material and made the chin-sling over the weekend and put it on Whitey our piggy on Sunday night but he really dislike the sling as he kept scratching it with his feet and shaking it off. I use velcro and adjusted it so as to make sure I wasn’t doing it too tight and at the same time giving him adequate jaw support. I was wondering if I was doing something wrong. Any ideas on your experience?

Meanwhile I also bought a Oral B toothbrush for the chin and jaw muscle massage service. I gather that the idea is to do the massage from the outside pushing lightly against his jaw and chin. I hope I am doing this right.

Any idea and help is much much appreciated.


Piggy lover, Wendy
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pinta

Post   » Tue Jul 23, 2002 9:30 pm


Sorry, I couldn´t get in here earlier. Too slow.

Is your neoprene 1/8" thick. There is stuff out there called neoprene in fabric stores that isn´t the right stuff. Dive suits are made of this.

The sling is on too loose if it can be shaken off. Should be very snug like a second skin. They should be able to groom themselves and clean their faces while wearing it. There is usually only a couple of minutes of the pig trying to get it off before they get "adjusted".

It should be hard to slide the index finger between the cheek and sling but not impossible.

The massage points are right where you feel the jaw move when they eat.

I have two pigs wearing slings at night right now. Neither had any problem adjusting. One´s attitude improved a lot. I believe she´s been having muscle aches and enjoys the support.

Cookie

Post   » Wed Jul 24, 2002 9:22 pm


Many thanks Pinta,


The material that we have used are right, I think the Chin-sling just need some refinement so as to make it comfortable on Whitey.
We tried it on again last night before more adjustments. I think the sling is not tight enough as when we put the sling on and he wriggled, the sling slided and the front bit covered his eyes making him a little unhappy. I am also a little concern the jaw support bit of the sling is too close to his throat making breathing uncomfortable. Do you have any pics of how the sling looks like when it is lying flat. (If you do, I would appreciate if you could send me a copy to my email address: bunnypig@hutchcity.com)

Looks like I´ll be spending this weekend doing the Chin-sling again. :-)
btw, he is now used to the toothbrush massage thing, all we need to do is to cover his ears so that the vibrating sound doesn´t bother him. He does chew a bit of his favourite food lettuce and every now and then he would drink a little water from the water bottle by himself. I really think the sling would be the solution for his ongoing malocclusion problem. Just need to make one right to fit him.

Will keep you posted.

Wendy (Hong Kong)

pinta

Post   » Wed Jul 24, 2002 10:33 pm


There would be a pic of it flat in the email I sent you. The pattern has a slight scoop on the throat side. Shouldn´t interfere with breathing since it´s tight around the jawbone - not just unsupported flesh.

You have to be brave and get it as tight as possible. When I developed it I asked the dental vet how tight it should be. He said if the pig turns blue, it´s too tight. Lovely bedside manner.

So it has to be as snug as possible to work properly. Willie would let me know if his was too tight by bobbing his head at me. But he liked wearing his Sling and never tried to fake me out. I have had pigs try to tell me they´re dying but when I check, it turns out they were lying. After a few minutes they give up and go back to acting normally. If I can´t wriggle my finger between the sling and cheek - it´s too tight. If the finger slips in easily - it´s too loose.

A pig showing great discomfort would signal to me that there is something that needs to be looked at. Abscess? spur? Because it does hold the teeth together at rest, it would be painful if there is an abscess.

Peony only has to wear hers occasionally. She will get diagonal teeth from a weakness on one side of her jaw. After about a week of Sling wearing her teeth are back to normal and she´s fine for a few weeks until her jaw goes out again. She has a skin reaction to the exposed neoprene so the edges on her sling have to be covered with fabric. Any skin problems clear up in a few days of not wearing the sling.

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