Malocclusion Experiences and Links To Gp Illnesses

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Amadeus-sFam

Post   » Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:30 am


Since my gp has had 2 malocclusion treatments already and will likely need more in the future, I want to be pro-actice about future problems. I have heard that malocclusion is often related to heart problems. I am wondering what the frequency of this is and if there are any other illnesses malocclusion can be linked to. I am a newbie here so I hope that this is okay but would you mind providing the following info?

1) Name/Guinea pig breed/age

2) How old when first malocclusion treatment and how many treatments since
3) Heart problems/other illnesses experienced by pig (please specify before or after onset of malocclusion)
4) Treatment
5) Did treating the other problems (eg heart prob or others) hinder, delay or stop the malocclusion?

Here is my own:
1) Amadeus/Sheltie/4.3 years
2) 4 years at first treatment (2nd treatment was 2 months after first). He has had 2 treatments total.
3) None that I am aware of but am suspicious. He is sleeping lots and doesn't like hard food any more.
4) Massage with toothbrush to jaw; awaiting chinsling (malocclusion-related treatment)
5) ------
Thanks!

[Feel free to post any malocclusion experiences. Specify if they seem to be linked to an illness. Malocclusion can start because an animal is not eating, allowing the teeth to overgrow and aggravating the problem -- Lynx]

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Nov 11, 2006 9:16 am


I'll make this a sticky and we'll see if we get anyone posting info for you.

I will broaden it to include experience with malocclusion (hope you don't mind).

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kristina
Supporter in '12

Post   » Sat Nov 11, 2006 9:58 am


1) Casper / American / Born in January 2003. Will be 4 years old.

2) First treatment in December 2005. He was 3 years old.
Second treatment in April 2006.
Third treatment in October 2006.

3) Pee eye, since about 2 years old.
Developed muscle knots on left side of jaw. June 2006.
No other medical issues known.

4) Massage to jaw.
Tried Chin-Sling. Casper had a very runny nose and seemed depressed with it on. He also developed a second muscle knot on the left side of his jaw after wearing the Chin-Sling for a couple of days. Stopped using it but will try it again in the future.

5) After treating Casper with massage and pain medication (Metacam) he did not need his teeth trimmed for another 5 months (total time between treatment for malocclusion was 6 months).

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Amadeus-sFam

Post   » Sat Nov 11, 2006 10:08 am


Thanks Lynx for the adjustment!:)
Thanks Kristina for the info.

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mkkayla
Supporter in '14

Post   » Sat Nov 11, 2006 8:33 pm


Hershey/American/Age unknown (rescue at least 3-4 years old)

First treatment 9-1-04 ?age
second treatment April 2005
third treatment Aug. 2005
fourth treatment May 13, 2006
fifth treatment May 25, 2006
sixth treatment June 14, 2006
seventh treatment June 26, 2006
eighth treatment July 15, 2006

Has had chronic issues with intermittant soft stool/diarrhea started before tooth issues and continues today; this is treated with Flagyl and/or handfeeding when needed. She also had one UTI in Nov 2004.

Treatment other than frequent trims/filing: I have a chin sling; but she hates it and it caused sores on her ears so I am not using right now; also used the toothbrush massage. However most effective treatment seems to be giving corn husks daily which I'm doing now and its been almost 4 months YEA!!! since last tooth trim. Coincidence, perhaps, but I'm not going to stop corn husks anytime soon. Her stool issues were exacerbated during the frequent tooth trims this summer; don't know if diarrhea contributed to the need for frequent trims or if her teeth issues caused the diarrhea. She lost close to 300 grams during that period; she has gained about 150 of that back, I don't think she will ever get back to her previous weight but as long as she stays in the 900's I'm happy.

Previous history prior to rescue obtaining her-severe scurvy-related to her current issues? Who knows.

HollyT
Get on your bike.

Post   » Sat Nov 11, 2006 9:19 pm


I'm really not able to confirm or deny Wooly's teeth issues being related to heart problems as no vet was able to do a necropsy (there was a vet conference and my 1 vet plus 4 back ups were all out). I had suspected she might be a heart pig merely because she was always a lap pig, hardly ran from me, and honestly it was just a feeling I had. It's nothing but speculation however.

She began picking up and dropping her vegetables and her incisors were slanted. She could not masticate hay. Oral exams and skull rads showed no molar overgrowth and we were somewhat stumped. She was put on baytril which seemed to cure the problem almost immediately. She also wore a chin sling for a very short time which we struggled to fit her properly. It took some time to get it right which leads me to believe the baytril was curing an abcess in the jaw or under the gums, not seen on xray rather than the chin sling grinding the teeth correctly.

We thought she was healed (able to eat properly without sling) until one morning about a month after she was better, she was in severe distress. There was severe laboured breathing as seen in heart failure pigs. We gave her a rescue dose of lasix and lotensin to see if it made a difference but it did not. She died on the way to the vet (going for oxygen).

I regret not being able to do a necropsy as I don't really know what happened. My vet has said she could have thrown a clot. We really don't know if heart failure was related somehow to her death or to her teeth issues. It's all speculation but thought I'd share anyway.

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amy m guinea

Post   » Sat Nov 11, 2006 10:03 pm


1) Nevy/American/3 years when he died
2) 3 yrs when first showed signs of malocclusion. Had molars planed but they really didn't need much planing. This was in Feb 05.
3) No heart problems
4)His jaw was misaligned. Had about 7 chiropractic treatments. The first one was amazing, he was pain-free and for a couple of hours was his old self. His muscles were too weak to hold the jaw in place. Hand-fed CC for three months, on metacam and baytril. Euthanized 5/24/05, because was in pain and couldn't eat anything on his own, was losing weight despite hand-feedling. He went from 3lbs 2oz. to 1 lb 8oz.

I personally feel that if I had known more, and had gotten him to an animal chiro sooner, and tried a chin-sling (I didn't know about them, or GL then), he might have had a better chance. I think he hit himself in the cage somehow and his jaw became misaligned and I was ignorant and didn't notice the warning signs (weight loss, not eating certain foods).

I'm sure I know the day he hit himself in the cage, he was running around squealing like he was crazy, I took him to the vet immediately and while this was a good vet that untimately recommended me to a great cavy-savvy vet, they did not know why he was acting so strangly and thought maybe a bug had bitten him.

If only I had known what had happened and right away had his jaw checked. I had no idea. Malocclusion is so insiduous, it happens slowly until you see your pig is sick.

Sorry for sort of rambling, but I hope you get some good info from this thread.

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Amadeus-sFam

Post   » Sun Nov 12, 2006 12:36 am


Just a quick thanks to everyone for the info. Please keep it coming!

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salana
GL is Just Peachy

Post   » Sun Nov 12, 2006 4:24 pm


1) Einstein/Abyssinian lethal white/died at 2.5 years

2) First tooth trim at 3 weeks, more than 30 trims in lifetime

3) Lethal white with blindness, deafness, no incisors, tongue entrapment with frequent molar spurs, elongated lower molar roots. Molar spurs led to frequent ulcers. Ulcers led to cheek abscess. Also had degeneration of intestinal villi leading to malabsorption. His heart was normal at gross necropsy.

4) Molar trim under anesthesia at least once a month, Metacam every day for a while, frequent hand-feeding, soft food.

5) Malocclusion was about the only problem of Einstein's that could be treated (other than the ulcers and abscesses that developed from the malocclusion)

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MysticBlueRaven

Post   » Sat Nov 18, 2006 8:12 am


1) Bandit/English male /age-unknow
2) Not sure if he was ever treated for malocclusion, before I adopted him, Also he suffers from anal impaction, lengh of time he had this unknow.
3) none
4) He was treated 10/31/2006 Molar floated under anesthesia, insors trimmed, Metacam evreyday for a week. Hand feed every 3 to 4 hours,Check and jaw massages 3 times a day.Went back to the vets for a check up and observation on 11/10/2006. He started to eat and drink while at the vets office. stitched brand of food to Kaytee Fiesta and to alfalfa hay.That is what he ate when he was at the vets.Curretly he eating alfalfa hay and pellets,prefers to drink water from eye dropper , will drink water from his water bottle only if I hold the bottle. Still can't not rip or tare food yet. Total weigh loss was 8 onces, has gained back 2 onces.
5) none that I am aware of

fluffyguineapigs

Post   » Tue Nov 21, 2006 6:57 pm


Poppy tan and white medium / long haired piggy: heart and teeth problems

Poppy was 2 1/2 years old when she developed malocclusion around 3 months after suffering trauma (broken jaw) following an accident when my mother stumbled while trying to catch her.

Although Poppy seemed to recover well with metacam, she started losing weight very quickly around 3 - 4 months later. When I looked ather teeth they were obviously slanted.

After taking her to the vet she had her teeth planed under general anaesthetic. Never, ever do this - the vet did not use gas and she was zonked out for around a week. She was still unable to eat for another 3 weeks and had to be continually hand fed critical care.

Finally she was able to eat - but her teeth needed trimming again one week later and she was unable to eat again. She again underwent a general anaesthetic for the 2nd time in a month for a teeth trim.

This was even worse than before - the vet had almost removed one of her incisors so she was unable to pick food up, and her molars had been filed down too much so she was unable to chew. She had to be hand fed entirely for 8 weeks. I have never seen a more unhappy pig than Poppy. Although she still wanted to eat - she couldn't.

I was told by the vet that euthanasia would be the only option and I was around a day from choosing this option when I did a google search and found the Cambridge Cavy Trust. They referred me to a rodentologist over 100 miles away but it was well worth it. They were able to trim her molars without anaesthetic painlessly and without fuss in less than 5 minutes.

At first she had to have her teeth trimmed every 3 weeks, then longer each time. Finally we went over 8 weeks with no sign of the malocclusion returning.

Then around 3 weeks after we last went, heartbreakingly Poppy suddenly developed heart failure. It was in the middle of a heatwave and she had very laboured breathing. We rushed her back to the rodentologist and she responded to Lasex. This worked for about a week when it returned and we left her at the rodentologist for hospital treatment.

Although Poppy had heart failure and severe fluid retention (but not in lungs), she unfortunately pretended she was less ill than she really was and as a food loving piggy tucked into her food with as much gusto as before. After keeping her under observation without meds, she suddenly took a downturn after five days and did not respond to lasex.

She passed away at the rodentologists

Before she died the rodentologist pointed out stryations on her incisors caused by severe stress to the body as a result of illness or malnutrition. Although there is no way to prove this I believe that her malocclusion damaged her heart in the same way that it can in humans who have suffered prolonged malnnutrition and anorexia.

She was predisposed to heart problems - in retrospect she always used to have laboured breathing usually in hot weather sometimes, but would always recover on her own - and the heatwave must have put too much strain on her damaged heart.

If she had received meds sooner and her condition made stable, she may have been able to live out her natural lifespan with diuretics, as the rodentolgist was able to show us several long term heart survivors.

Hope this helps x

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mkkayla
Supporter in '14

Post   » Tue Nov 28, 2006 1:38 pm


Update: Hershey is going tomorrow for molar planing. July 15 to Nov. 29, guess I can't complain. Still sticking with the corn husks though 4 1/2 months is way better than every 2-3 weeks.

I don't think there is ever a pig more appreciative of handfeeding than my Hershey. She sits there and takes as much as I can give her and seems to enjoy the whole process.

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