Sick Pig w URI not eating

cavy_love25 said:

I wasn't more descriptive with the title of this post, because it wouldn't be very helpful is she came down with something else later and I still have to put it on this thread, lol.

Everest
DOB ~ 03/14
Weight (most recent according to vet) ~ 1.06#

Anyway, miss Everest came down with an URI. It has been treated with antibiotics, but she doesn't seem to be getting much better. The vet (not particularly cavy savy, but gosh he tries, had done lots of extra research since I started seeing him) thinks that because she wasn't eating enough while she was sick, she made herself even more sick, and has low vitamin c. So, I am hand feeding pellet mush (yum ) and giving vitamin c with a syringe by mouth. If she doesn't improve soon, I'm going to discuss critical care with the vet.
The real point here is that I am worried about her teeth. If she isn't eating, then she isn't wearing down her teeth. How long til this is a concern? What can I do about it other than having the vet trim them as needed, if anything?

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What antibiotic did the vet prescribe? You should be giving a probiotic with the antibiotic because the antibiotic kills the good bacteria along with the bad and that can lead to bloat. I'd start the Critical Care as soon as you can get it. What are you currently feeding her?

You know what, never mind. I get the questions you asked, and I appreciate the probiotic advise, but you didn't even go near the actual question I asked. I am so frustrated with the people here. I usually hate the "I'm leaving!" posts, because they are obviously attention grabbers, but this is ridiculous. You want only one subject per pig, but you want specific subject lines. That just makes ZERO sense! If she gets sick again and it has nothing to do with "Pig w/URI not eating" then what??!! You don't want to have to open every post to figure out what it is about, but if there is a different problem, then that is basically what you are doing anyway. The problem with enthusiasts, they are all oversensitive.

The antibiotic and probiotic helps determine potential digestive tract and nutritional problems. It is a valid question when trying to determine the details of what care the pig needs next. Teeth are really the last concern at the moment. There's the potential the guinea pig could die very quickly from GI stasis if proper care is not immediately given. I can understand the frustration of having to stick to one thread when you can't change the title. I can also understand why though. A problem that happened in the past could be contributing to a current problem even if the vet doesn't put it together. If a pig ends up with 3 or 4 different problems someone is going to start looking for a common cause while the medical community for both animals and humans often don't or fail to remember/know about some other condition. If the situation came up I'd probably see if a mod could change a thread title just enough to show there is a new problem.

Teeth most likely will not have problems in the time you feed soft foods. Do not have them trimmed. Especially by a vet without experience. It often leads to cracked teeth. Front teeth may not even need trimmed in the case of illness or injury. Recently it has been shown they often wear back even over time without help. If the molars need sharp areas removed you really need to find an experienced vet. It's unlikely your vet would even know exactly what needs removed or has buccal pad separators to properly examine them. You can try to handfeed some choice bits of hay for increased fiber which helps the digestive tract and for chewing. Sometimes sick pigs will still eat handfed leafy pieces.

@cavy_love25, if you named your thread something like "Miss Everest's medical thread," it wouldn't matter what you posted on it. Would you like it changed?

And the request is not for one topic per pig, it's for one thread per sick pig, so we can keep up with all the needed information without having to chase back through a bunch of older threads.

Your pig shouldn't have any tooth problems in just the time she's on antibiotics. But if her URI is not getting better, perhaps she's on the wrong antibiotic. That's a frequent problem with vets who don't have any cavy experience.

You need to understand that if she's not eating, her teeth won't even matter because she'll die without food. An antibiotic without a probiotic CAN kill their appetite and that could be why she's not eating. To worry about something that isn't even a problem while you have a big issue with her not eating doesn't make any sense. You need to get her to eat.