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Not Eating New pig not eating veggies, tooth issue?

SamIAm

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Ok, I will preface this by saying that I've never had a pig with tooth issues. But a few weeks ago I lost one of my guys to heart disease. Last Tuesday I adopted an aby from my local humane society. They said he was 10 months old and that seems about right I think. He was very scared the first few days (totally normal), but was eating hay and pellets. He wouldn't eat any veggies and hasn't since.

I have tried putting a salad in his cage, he seems totally uninterested. I cut up very small pieces last night and mixed them with his pellets because they had him on some kind of food with dried pieces of something in it, but he just ate around the veggie pieces (I use Oxbow pellets). So this morning I cut some carrots and pepper into slivers and tried forcing it. He would maybe take some nibbles with his front teeth but otherwise just pushed it out with his tongue and didn't chew at all with his molars. He's still eating hay and pellets just fine. My husband went out to the garden and got some fresh cilantro, he would eat some of the stems (when forced), otherwise, nothing.

Has anyone experienced this? I'm debating whether he's just stubborn or if there's a problem. His front teeth look good, they appeared not to line up great but it must have been the way he was holding his jaw because they're worn evenly. He does seem to tire semi-easily and the poor thing has lost 1/3-1/2 of each ear (no clue and previous owners claimed they didn't know either). He hardly makes any noises at all (I haven't heard a wheek or annoyed chatter, but have heard a few squeaks when held). I'm guessing he's had a rough life. But otherwise is acting normal. No blatant signs of illness so far (no sneezing, discharge, etc). Any ideas?
 

bpatters

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Don't just cut the food to put on his pellets in small pieces. Mince it into tiny pieces so he can't eat around them very easily. Pick one veggie, like bell pepper, to start with, and do that for 4-5 days, then try him on a larger piece. If he eats it that way, feed it that way and start mincing another one. It'll work better if you do one vegetable at a time rather than offering a variety.

Can you post a picture of his teeth?
 

SamIAm

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So as you can imagine with a still semi skittish pig, a picture was a little tricky, but here's what we got.


image.jpg

And I did grate a green pepper and added it to his pellets, we'll see how it goes. Thank you for the suggestion. I couldn't get him to eat an Oxbow veggie treat that my others go nuts for, but I went and got him some Oxbow barley biscuits and he did nibble on that. Yay! I also got him some vitamin C drops, which I don't necessarily like, but I am very doubtful that he'd eat a tab, and at least this way he'll get some vitamin C until I can get him eating some veggies.
 

SamIAm

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Update: Fritz is eating his pellets with minced green pepper! Thank you bpatters for the suggestion! And he's discovered that he LOVES his Oxbow barley biscuits! I initially gave him one, which he reluctantly ate over about 6 hours, but I gave him another last night which he took from my hand and ate immediately. I've been using a grater to mince the pepper and threw in a larger piece last night (by larger I mean like about half the size of a pencil eraser) and he ate that. So today I switched to a slightly larger bore grater, we'll see how that goes.

And thank you again bpatters! I was really worried about him, but I'm pretty sure now that he's just stubborn! I don't know what I'd do without this forum! :)
 

foggycreekcavy

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As long as he eats hay, it's doubtful he has a dental issue. More likely he's just new and nervous and perhaps hasn't had veggies much before.

Will he have a cage mate? Once he's with a pig that eats veggies, he probably will too.
 

SamIAm

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I'm not sure if he'll have a cage mate or not. I have 6 boys, including him. 2 are together, but the other guys don't seem to be so friendly towards others. I will certainly try after his quarantine, but I'm not holding my breath. I do have two boys "together" in a large C&C, but separated by a set of grids in the middle. They seem to really like that arrangement and I often times see them looking for the other one obsessively when I have one of them out with me. But put them together with no grid and it's a no go. So we'll see but even if I can't find him a friend among my guys I could potentially make another C&C and have a common wall with my other solo guy.

I don't really want to get another guy (not that I wouldn't love another one), but I don't really have a good spot for another cage if they wouldn't get along. Fritz will for sure be in the same room with my other guys though. He'll be able to see, hear, and smell them all.
 
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