Malocclusion Experiences and Links To Gp Illnesses

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dolleyes5

Post   » Sat Apr 29, 2017 8:54 pm


My Ziggy was 8 months old when I got him. After having him for a little over 4 months he stopped eating and lost weight.

October 2016: Took him to a local vet who supposedly worked with exotics. She told me there was nothing wrong with Ziggy after looking briefly in his mouth. Said to watch his eating and bring him back if he lost any more weight. I figured she was full of it, because I knew he was in pain, so I took him to another vet the next day who took a better look in his mouth with specialized tools and found that his back molars had bridged over his tongue. I was relieved that was all it was! Until she told me that generally euthanasia is recommended as the only option as there is not a SINGLE VET in my area who will trim molars. I told her this was unacceptable, so she told me that the only option would be to travel to Washington State University 2 1/2 hrs away. I made the appt.

The next day I saw the exotics specialist at the University and she told me that she had never seen a guinea pig with teeth that bad before, especially at 1 year of age. She told me he was Vitamin C deficient most likely. This was impossible as I had given him the best food, not to mention tons of vitamin c rich foods daily. He was beautiful, his coat was beautiful. Maybe she didn't believe me when I told her that he eats better than I do but I always made sure he had the best organic food and all the greens he needed. She performed the filing and he came out of surgery beautifully. She said that if I made sure he had vitamin c rich foods and plenty of hay she may not have to see me for months and months.

3 weeks later
bad again. Have to go back to the university. The second day out of surgery hes just as good as the first time. He eats on his own within 24 hrs! He was literally gobbling down hay.

6 weeks later
Molars have overgrown again. The exotics vet tells me that she doesn't know why this is happening so frequently so she brings up the vitamin c and the hay again. Blah blah blah, I explain again that this is not the problem. Maybe its genetic? She says this isn't possible. After going home and researching I find that it IS possibly genetic, as a matter of fact specifically with issues that occur in a guinea pig so young. He developed mites after his vet visit so I had to have him treated twice locally to get rid of them.

6 weeks later
Back at the university. He comes home not so good. I look in his mouth and notice that the teeth do not have a smooth cut, they are jagged. He seems to be in some discomfort and takes longer to recover. I think the vet probably broke a tooth somehow but I can't be certain as I can't see too far into the back of his mouth. 3 weeks later he develops on abscess on the side of his face. I take him to the vet locally who tells me she does not drain guinea pig abscesses because she doesn't want to "hurt him" ??? I take him to Pet emergency services instead, which costs much extra. For 500 they do the procedure for me. He recovers well.

4 weeks later
A second abscess develops in almost the same area as the first. I take him back to pet emergency where they tell me they do not want to lance his abscess again. They say he most likely has a root issue and his teeth will need to be removed. Not just one tooth, but maybe 3 or 4. They explain some of the teeth they will pull will be healthy teeth that they need to pull in order to get equal grinding. They have to try and have the bite aligned as much as possible. She explains the risk to me, that many guinea pigs are lost in surgery and that mandibles and jaw bones have been broken to remove molar teeth on occasion. She said the guinea pigs recover but it is painful and there were some who hadn't recovered. I had him humanely euthanized that day, as the abscess was causing him pain and I didn't think it was neccessary to put him through all of that. Even if I had gone through with it I never would have gotten him to the university in time for them to treat the abscess and pull the teeth. I had spent a grand total of 4,000.. at this point and was very angry no one had taken x rays or recommended tooth removal sooner. He stopped responding to bactrim and baytril and if he ever acquired another infection Im not sure he would have made it. Putting him down after everything we'd been through, and all of the nos we heard that we just didn't take for an answer, was one of the most painful days of my life and I will never forget it. I don't want to blame the vets, but the way we were treated was horrific and I would never want anyone to have to go through with it. Once we drove all of the way to the University over two hrs away while ZIggy was in great pain, only for them to tell us that we didn't have an appt because the front desk made a mistake. I knew that eventually my pig would get so sick and be in so much pain, and no one would be around to help him. I basically had to guess when he was going to go down again, then frantically try and get ahold of my specialist vet. Once she didnt respond to me for two weeks and I cried and cried while trying to keep my boy alive with syringes of Critical Care. The frustration I felt and am still feeling is immeasurable.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Apr 29, 2017 9:13 pm


I am so sorry you and your guinea pig had to go through all this. It sounds like you did all you could to get Ziggy the treatment he needed. You have our sympathy.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sun Apr 30, 2017 12:06 am


I'm so sorry you lost him. What an ordeal.

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