I am interested in hearing from anyone with experience caring for a guinea pig after molar filing (one of our pigs had this done 3 days ago due to slightly elongated roots diagnosed with an xray) - specifically, about what your pig was willing to eat and drink and when.
Would your pig eat hay right after the dental procedure?
How about drinking?
If not, how long did it take before they felt well enough to do this?
A few important things, for those who might be worried/curious:
- We're relatively experienced guinea pig people (6 over 8 years), and have been incredibly lucky to not have anybody with a dental problem until now.
- I've searched through some old posts on this forum and also read all the pages I could find on guinealynx about malocclusion already.
- Our vet is an exotics specialist, we are happy with the care/advice we're getting, and we have checked in with her to make sure what's happening right now is normal for the recovery point we're at. I'm just interested in hearing more stories from people about what "normal recovery" has looked like for you. I am feeling kind of nervous about it based on some of the stories I've read on here, but am also reminding myself that it's the problem cases that are most likely to turn up on an emergency/medical forum.
Rosie, 4yo F - elongated roots/dental filing - recovery time/experiences?
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bpatters
- And got the T-shirt
Most pigs won't eat hay right after a dental procedure, and you'll probably have to feed Critical Care or a pellet slurry. for a day or two. They MUST eat, whether they want to or not. See https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html for help with feeding them.
You've probably discovered in your reading that there's not much to be done for elongated roots except repeated planings. The interval between planings varies with the pig, as does the recovery afterwards. Some pigs tolerate the repeated anesthesia very well, others not so much.
The medical thread for one very long-lived pig with repeated planings is over at GPC: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/th ... cal-Thread
You've probably discovered in your reading that there's not much to be done for elongated roots except repeated planings. The interval between planings varies with the pig, as does the recovery afterwards. Some pigs tolerate the repeated anesthesia very well, others not so much.
The medical thread for one very long-lived pig with repeated planings is over at GPC: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/th ... cal-Thread
When i got a very sick Guinea pig she didn't want to eat so to get her to drink i added some salt (like one percent, nothing dangerous) and since they like the taste it wasent hard and i know that mashed bannansa do hrlp them whit feeling better so i gave here some. It is individually for each piggi so it usually depends on the piggie.
Thank you! What a helpful thread, although I'm sad to see it ended just a few weeks ago. Rosie is definitely not bouncing back as quickly as the guinea pig described there, but it was comforting to see the recovery process described in detail so many times over, and in particular to see what the pig would eat. I should get a login over at GPC so I can let the owner know their experiences helped us.
The vet said Rosie's planing went well, that we caught the problem relatively early, and there was no bleeding/mouth injury, so we were hopeful her eating would be back to normal pretty quickly. We are giving critical care, although unfortunately after the dental work she switched from loving CC to absolutely hating it, so it is force feeding at this point and we are now on day 3 of figuring out how to fit this in around work schedules, etc. I am also providing more of the food she is willing to eat (pellets and veggies), even though it does temporarily throw the balance of her diet off, simply because I figure any calories she'll voluntarily take in are good and keep her teeth moving.
The vet said Rosie's planing went well, that we caught the problem relatively early, and there was no bleeding/mouth injury, so we were hopeful her eating would be back to normal pretty quickly. We are giving critical care, although unfortunately after the dental work she switched from loving CC to absolutely hating it, so it is force feeding at this point and we are now on day 3 of figuring out how to fit this in around work schedules, etc. I am also providing more of the food she is willing to eat (pellets and veggies), even though it does temporarily throw the balance of her diet off, simply because I figure any calories she'll voluntarily take in are good and keep her teeth moving.
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Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
In a couple cases, bananas have caused problems. I cannot say I've heard of anyone advising salt to water to encourage drinking (I would not do that) though products like pedialite probably have some added salt in them. You can always syringe water.
You are very new, Panda the piggy, (your first post) so you might want to read for a while rather than answer medical threads.
You are very new, Panda the piggy, (your first post) so you might want to read for a while rather than answer medical threads.
Has anybody noticed their guinea pig making a clicking/cracking sound in/around their mouth after this procedure? It's not a constant thing, but I'm definitely not imagining it, and we're frustrated that Rosie is still basically not eating or drinking anything except some veggies and pellets, plus the critical care we've been forcing (and now some water). It makes me worry maybe there is something cracked or broken, or that she has a jaw issue, but maybe it's just a nervous tooth-grinding (or very slow chattering) thing that isn't a big deal.
Update: it looks to me like one of her bottom front incisors is leaning forward at a different angle from the other. I'm worried the noise I've been hearing may be a cracked/broken tooth; I found a photo on an old thread here that unfortunately looked similar.
It's been 5 days since her dental work, and she is still not drinking on her own, and still is not eating any hay. She does seem hungry for the things she can eat - pellets, lettuce, and bell peppers - but just eats them extremely slowly, in miniscule bites that she chews for a long time. Most of her food intake is the critical care we're forcing (and just used up).
She's still not very active, and spends some of her time outside of her hut in a corner puffed up, so we're worried this might be mostly a pain management thing, although the question of why she's in pain is a big one. We have no way of reaching the vet or any other exotics specialist on a Sunday, so we gave Rosie an additional dose of Metacam just a little while ago (today's total will be less than the total for the day of her dental procedure, so we know it's an amount that was ok with the vet short-term).
She is now eating a slightly moistened mash we made of finely ground hay and pellets, which is kind of surprising/encouraging - she wouldn't eat the critical care on her own like this, and we only made the mash because we ran out of critical care. Maybe it's because she likes the taste better, or maybe it's because of the extra Metacam? Or both or neither? There's probably no way to tell, so we'll just do this for as long as it works and call the vet first thing tomorrow.
It's been 5 days since her dental work, and she is still not drinking on her own, and still is not eating any hay. She does seem hungry for the things she can eat - pellets, lettuce, and bell peppers - but just eats them extremely slowly, in miniscule bites that she chews for a long time. Most of her food intake is the critical care we're forcing (and just used up).
She's still not very active, and spends some of her time outside of her hut in a corner puffed up, so we're worried this might be mostly a pain management thing, although the question of why she's in pain is a big one. We have no way of reaching the vet or any other exotics specialist on a Sunday, so we gave Rosie an additional dose of Metacam just a little while ago (today's total will be less than the total for the day of her dental procedure, so we know it's an amount that was ok with the vet short-term).
She is now eating a slightly moistened mash we made of finely ground hay and pellets, which is kind of surprising/encouraging - she wouldn't eat the critical care on her own like this, and we only made the mash because we ran out of critical care. Maybe it's because she likes the taste better, or maybe it's because of the extra Metacam? Or both or neither? There's probably no way to tell, so we'll just do this for as long as it works and call the vet first thing tomorrow.
I am feeling a little torn about what to do next. I got Rosie in to see the vet yesterday.
I was wrong about the tooth - it's normal and healthy. Sometimes it's good to be wrong.
Cracking sounds - tooth grinding due to pain or nausea. Listening to this is excruciating. She does it all the time.
Two blood draws (yesterday and last week) both showed liver problems, although the vet is careful to point out that these do not definitively prove there's a liver infection or cancer; this could be due to her decreased food intake (even though we've been pushing as much critical care as we can and getting her to eat the things she will still take gladly).
All signs just point to her simply being in a lot of pain from a cause we haven't been able to address, or at least address well eough (refusing hay and water, puffed up in a corner some of the time, lots of tooth grinding). The vet definitely thinks she would be eating normally by now if her dental problems were the true root cause of her symptoms; she thinks they were likely an indicator of something else going on that was causing her to eat and drink less (the original issue we were so worried about and brought her in for).
Doubling her dose of meloxicam for pain and adding in metaclopromide to increase her appetite yesterday have not helped noticeably. Right this second, she is actually gobbling her lettuce almost like a normal pig (actually, eating it faster than she has in weeks), but she still won't touch hay or her water bottle that we've been able to see.
The vet thinks putting her on baytril to address a possible/likely infection is a wise next step. We're leery of this because of a bad past experience specifically with baytril, but the vet rightly points out that since she's already not eating, we're already dealing with one of the main side effects we're worried about.
I was wrong about the tooth - it's normal and healthy. Sometimes it's good to be wrong.
Cracking sounds - tooth grinding due to pain or nausea. Listening to this is excruciating. She does it all the time.
Two blood draws (yesterday and last week) both showed liver problems, although the vet is careful to point out that these do not definitively prove there's a liver infection or cancer; this could be due to her decreased food intake (even though we've been pushing as much critical care as we can and getting her to eat the things she will still take gladly).
All signs just point to her simply being in a lot of pain from a cause we haven't been able to address, or at least address well eough (refusing hay and water, puffed up in a corner some of the time, lots of tooth grinding). The vet definitely thinks she would be eating normally by now if her dental problems were the true root cause of her symptoms; she thinks they were likely an indicator of something else going on that was causing her to eat and drink less (the original issue we were so worried about and brought her in for).
Doubling her dose of meloxicam for pain and adding in metaclopromide to increase her appetite yesterday have not helped noticeably. Right this second, she is actually gobbling her lettuce almost like a normal pig (actually, eating it faster than she has in weeks), but she still won't touch hay or her water bottle that we've been able to see.
The vet thinks putting her on baytril to address a possible/likely infection is a wise next step. We're leery of this because of a bad past experience specifically with baytril, but the vet rightly points out that since she's already not eating, we're already dealing with one of the main side effects we're worried about.
Here is an update and summary of recent problems in case anyone else has seen a pig go through something similar and has thoughts about anything else we could ask our vet about when we check in again tomorrow. Rosie is still showing signs of unexplained pain, not eating hay or drinking on her own, and being kept alive by critical care. At the same time, she is not behaving like a pig on the brink of death - she is generally alert and loves to run all around the house when we put her on the floor with our other guinea pig. So we're frustrated and running out of options, but not at a point yet where the vet has suggested euthanasia.
- 20 days ago: lost interest in favorite foods (carrots, red pepper) at late night feeding, chewing more slowly
- 19-16 days ago: no improvement; tried to get to a vet right away and finally found a local exotics specialist who could see her (our regular vet and multiple backups we found were all 100% unavailable); started critical care as she stopped eating hay on her own and we weren't sure whether she was still drinking (slurped it right up from syringe).
- 13 days ago: blood test #1 results came back and showed possible liver problems but vet noted it could be due to eating less; x rays showed elongated roots and arthritis in lower back - no other problems/mysteries; vet filed molars; started meloxicam; started refusing critical care and this became more truly force feeding; definitely not eating or drinking on her own, except for lettuce and pellets; spent a lot of time resting or puffed up in a corner.
- 7 days ago: Vet did visual check of teeth due to terrible grinding/cracking sound (pain/nausea). Increased meloxicam dose. Added metoclopramide. Daily weighs continue to show fluctuation but more or less downward trend.
- 6 days ago: Blood test #2 results increased vet's concern about liver function. Behavior the same.
- 5 days ago: Started enrofloxacin for possible infection. Started to seem weaker (hips looked kind of loose, unhappy but not fighting us with as much strength during feedings).
- Today/last few days: no change in eating habits, but her energy/strength seems better; weight is up a surprising/worrisome 60 g from low point 4 days ago (increments of 10, 20, then 30 from day to day) and stable from yesterday to today (830ish); visibly fatter but not bloated (guts do not sound hollow); eliminating waste but just not as much as a normal pig would (has been like this for awhile). But we also slightly increased the amount of critical care we were making for a day or two because we were worried she wasn't getting the fully prescribed amount (some is always left on the bowl/spoon and we can't get her to lick that off). Vet is worried about gut function. Stopped metoclopramide today; vet wants to see how she does for a day without it in case it is causing intestinal cramping. Started poop soup from healthy pig; Rosie's poop has been soft but definitely not diarrhea most of this time. Has started gnawing on her wooden hut (hasn't done this in ages - maybe a sign her mouth is feeling better? or maybe gnawing because she's in more pain, in general?) but still won't touch hay, although she noses around in it a lot and keeps making us think she's finally going to turn a corner and go back to normal.
One other possible pieces of the puzzle: I think that for the last 6-9 months or more, Rosie has been drinking more than a normal pig, maybe 1.5-2x as much as our other guinea pig. We never brought her in to the vet for this, mostly my partner disagreed about the increase in water intake (and he does more guinea pig care than I do, and so is really in a better position to notice patterns with them) and we never noticed anything else wrong with her. Now, of course, I'm worried that it was a sign she was in pain and that she's had something terribly wrong the whole time that was just slow to develop, or which was painful but not inherently life-threatening (until it became painful enough to decrease her appetite, leading to elongated roots and even more pain from those).
- 20 days ago: lost interest in favorite foods (carrots, red pepper) at late night feeding, chewing more slowly
- 19-16 days ago: no improvement; tried to get to a vet right away and finally found a local exotics specialist who could see her (our regular vet and multiple backups we found were all 100% unavailable); started critical care as she stopped eating hay on her own and we weren't sure whether she was still drinking (slurped it right up from syringe).
- 13 days ago: blood test #1 results came back and showed possible liver problems but vet noted it could be due to eating less; x rays showed elongated roots and arthritis in lower back - no other problems/mysteries; vet filed molars; started meloxicam; started refusing critical care and this became more truly force feeding; definitely not eating or drinking on her own, except for lettuce and pellets; spent a lot of time resting or puffed up in a corner.
- 7 days ago: Vet did visual check of teeth due to terrible grinding/cracking sound (pain/nausea). Increased meloxicam dose. Added metoclopramide. Daily weighs continue to show fluctuation but more or less downward trend.
- 6 days ago: Blood test #2 results increased vet's concern about liver function. Behavior the same.
- 5 days ago: Started enrofloxacin for possible infection. Started to seem weaker (hips looked kind of loose, unhappy but not fighting us with as much strength during feedings).
- Today/last few days: no change in eating habits, but her energy/strength seems better; weight is up a surprising/worrisome 60 g from low point 4 days ago (increments of 10, 20, then 30 from day to day) and stable from yesterday to today (830ish); visibly fatter but not bloated (guts do not sound hollow); eliminating waste but just not as much as a normal pig would (has been like this for awhile). But we also slightly increased the amount of critical care we were making for a day or two because we were worried she wasn't getting the fully prescribed amount (some is always left on the bowl/spoon and we can't get her to lick that off). Vet is worried about gut function. Stopped metoclopramide today; vet wants to see how she does for a day without it in case it is causing intestinal cramping. Started poop soup from healthy pig; Rosie's poop has been soft but definitely not diarrhea most of this time. Has started gnawing on her wooden hut (hasn't done this in ages - maybe a sign her mouth is feeling better? or maybe gnawing because she's in more pain, in general?) but still won't touch hay, although she noses around in it a lot and keeps making us think she's finally going to turn a corner and go back to normal.
One other possible pieces of the puzzle: I think that for the last 6-9 months or more, Rosie has been drinking more than a normal pig, maybe 1.5-2x as much as our other guinea pig. We never brought her in to the vet for this, mostly my partner disagreed about the increase in water intake (and he does more guinea pig care than I do, and so is really in a better position to notice patterns with them) and we never noticed anything else wrong with her. Now, of course, I'm worried that it was a sign she was in pain and that she's had something terribly wrong the whole time that was just slow to develop, or which was painful but not inherently life-threatening (until it became painful enough to decrease her appetite, leading to elongated roots and even more pain from those).
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