Not Eating Broken tooth

Hope he pulls through, keep us updated... poor little dude

Okay so Trio made it through the surgery. I guess the dental situation was far worse than she thought. She said the incisors were a lot longer than they were even last week when she saw him so she trimmed those down. Also, his teeth had grown together at a weird angle over his tongue which had trapped it. She said the spikes on the molars were pointing both inward and outward so there were some sores on his tongue and on his cheeks.

She said that he was quite dehydrated so she gave him some sub-q fluids. I thought that was weird that he would be "severely" dehydrated since the Peoria vet just gave him sub-q fluids last week but better safe than sorry.

He's getting sent home with a boatload of meds - anti-inflamatory, antibiotic, pain meds, etc. They said I could come pick him up at about 1pm which is in about 90 minutes.

She said that because the molars still aren't meeting properly, this will be a chronic problem and he will need the trimming about every 4-6 weeks. Poor little guy. He's already so frail and at 5 years, not exactly a spring chicken. I wonder if the chronic procedure, the regular anesthesia, the dental maintenance are worth the stress it will put on his body.

You're such a good mom..... I'm sure he'll let you know if it's all too much for him. I think you've done more than a lot of other people might have. I'm sending you lots of positive thoughts for a quick recovery for him.....

CavyMama said:

Okay so Trio made it through the surgery. I guess the dental situation was far worse than she thought. She said the incisors were a lot longer than they were even last week when she saw him so she trimmed those down. Also, his teeth had grown together at a weird angle over his tongue which had trapped it. She said the spikes on the molars were pointing both inward and outward so there were some sores on his tongue and on his cheeks.

She said that he was quite dehydrated so she gave him some sub-q fluids. I thought that was weird that he would be "severely" dehydrated since the Peoria vet just gave him sub-q fluids last week but better safe than sorry.

He's getting sent home with a boatload of meds - anti-inflamatory, antibiotic, pain meds, etc. They said I could come pick him up at about 1pm which is in about 90 minutes.

She said that because the molars still aren't meeting properly, this will be a chronic problem and he will need the trimming about every 4-6 weeks. Poor little guy. He's already so frail and at 5 years, not exactly a spring chicken. I wonder if the chronic procedure, the regular anesthesia, the dental maintenance are worth the stress it will put on his body.

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Okay so here's my new concern: The vet gave me an antibiotic and a pain med for Trio. Am I correct in my understanding that with an antibiotic, there needs to be a probiotic? I called back to ask about it and she said that what she gave me was all she wanted Trio to get.

If there needs to be a probiotic but I was not given one, what can I use to get the same results? In the past, vets have told me that yogurt will work in a pinch but obviously, yogurt isn't good for the pigs.

Cavymama, some very good exotic vets use probiotics, and others, equally good, do not. So there's room for debate. Having had personal experience with a six-weeks-long bout of diarrhea while I was on crutches after foot surgery, and having had the cure for it be probiotics (after every other option had been exhausted), I'm definitely in favor of using them.

Benebac is one popular probiotic, and as much as I hate to promote big box petstores, it is usually carried at PetSmart and Petco, and you need it quicker than you could order it online. I believe acidophilus will also work, but the Benebac comes in several different formulations, and may be easier to feed to the pig than the acidophilus.

Isnt the question - that if the antibiotic is used without a probiotic, it can result in bloat? Incidentally, the antibiotic is Baytril.

Sorry that you both have to go thru this....please let us know how your baby, and you, are doing.

The probiotic won't totally keep her from having problems with the Baytril. Some pigs do ok with it, but others lose their appetites and require hand feeding (we can keep our fingers crossed that she's ok with it).

See https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html for more information, and for instructions on how to hand feed.

Also, I should have mentioned poop soup as a possible probiotic. If you've got another pig handy and it's healthy, you can try to get one of its caecal pellets (good luck on that, they do not like to donate), mix it in some water, and syringe it to the healthy pig.

My real concern is this: The vet didnt seem to think it was necessary as indicated by not prescribing it along with the antibiotic. So can it do what it's supposed to do without use of the probiotic?

My piggie had an URI a few months ago and I took him to the Petsmart place, Banfield, and they didn't charge me for the visit or the meds. I didn't even get my piggie there. He got it from pine bedding I was using. Told me to give the meds, if I need more, come back and he'd give me some more.

No mention of probiotics and Gumball never had an issue and got better real fast and switched bedding and no problems since.

Cavymama, yes, the antibiotic will work without the probiotic. All the probiotic will do is help ease some of the digestive problems that Baytril (and other antibiotics) can cause -- it does nothing to enhance the action of the antibiotic.

My son got sick one time and ended up w/ the diarrhea really bad from it. I gave him one probiotic and it stopped. He was on it because he has Asperger's and we had him on a special diet and anti-yeast treatments for his gut. I happened to have them in the house.

Always think about getting more, for everyone, dogs, piggies, kids... They work wonders when needed to heal the gut fast.

Yogurt is a probiotic which will work for humans but not guinea pigs because they're lactose intolerant. If you ever have a guinea pig suffer from bloat, I don't think you'll ever give an antibiotic without a probiotic. I might be wrong, but it seems to me that Baytril is tougher on their digestive systems than Bactrim. My pigs normally eat less while on Baytril, even while taking a probiotic. I've never noticed them losing their appetites while taking Bactrim.

I agree, Pinky, that Baytril causes more digestive upsets than Bactrim. But I've read that it's considered a more powerful antibiotic, so it's frequently given to cavies. They can't take any of the -mycins, so Baytril and Bactrim and Flagyl are mainstays for treating infections for them.

bpatters said:

The probiotic won't totally keep her from having problems with the Baytril. Some pigs do ok with it, but others lose their appetites and require hand feeding (we can keep our fingers crossed that she's ok with it).

See https://www.guinealynx.info/handfeeding.html for more information, and for instructions on how to hand feed.

Also, I should have mentioned poop soup as a possible probiotic. If you've got another pig handy and it's healthy, you can try to get one of its caecal pellets (good luck on that, they do not like to donate), mix it in some water, and syringe it to the healthy pig.

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How do you do that?? I haven't seen mine make their special poo. I don't need it but you never know...knowledge is power.

Yeah, most of mine eat theirs before I would even be able to get to it. It makes sense though, to use it.

@faye_arv, as far as I can tell, it's mostly luck. The owner is not going to be happy about the theft, and will cooperate not at all.

You can sit them on a towel or pad in your lap, and feed them there. Keep your hand under one side so if they try to bend down to get the caecal poop, you can keep them from it, and rescue the poop with a q-tip or something. Look every so often to see if there is one, but usually they eat them as soon as they appear.

The regular poops will be the numerous brown beans that you see, caecal poops are greener and much softer.

A probiotic is a NESSICARY thing IMO because I have had a piggy die from antibiotic intollerance and diareah. The benebac works WONDERS. Just besure to give it 1-2 hours before to protect the gut and 1-2 hours after to sustain the gut.

Of course your piggy needs fluids more than once a week. Sub Q fluids can be done every few hours in severe cases. Talk to people on guinealynx about chronic teeth issues. There are a few people on there who's piggies need frequent filings and they bought a file themselves and do it themselves after learning the proper technique. Unless there is a medical reason for the teeth issues then with a proper hay diet he should be able to get his teeth back to where they are supposed to be fairly easily. Their teeth can grow like 1/4 of an inch a week (at least my piggy does) My piggy Tweet breaks his teeth chewing the bars every 3-4 months. I just noticed yesterday that he couldn't eat his carrot I handed him so I knew what he did. He usually breaks one or both of his uppers to the gum and it usually takes 6 days of hand feeding veggies twice a day (since he seems fine with eating pellets, hay and drinking fine) and after that he is able to pick up and eat his veg by himself.

You can give your piggy canned pumpkin (not the pie filling just the plain pumpkin) but you HAVE to feed the critical care as well. You really need to feed him very frequently especially if he cannot eat hay. I would say 10-20 ml every 2-3 hours (please correct me if I'm wrong but I remember it being ALOT!) round the clock until he can eat hay or pellets on his own otherwise the other health issues will catch up to him. O and also water that often too to wash down the food. You can mix critical care/pellet mash with APPLE juice not orange juice. Never give citrus juices as they are very acidic and can cause mouth sores as well as exasterbate any stomach/diareah issues from the meds.


As long as you stay on a high fiber diet you should not have issues with bloat. But if he is NOT taking in a lot of fiber if he has not been eating much you might want to get some infant gas drops and admin those as well as you get more fiber back in his diet.

Seriously talk to some people on Guinealynx about teeth issues many people there DO have chronic piggies and have been doing it for several years. They should have some great advice...

So okay, here's the story:

The vet gave him an antibiotic and pain meds. So far he's had 4 doses of antibiotics and 2 doses of the pain meds. She said he had a bit of a URI but I think the antibiotic is working because the heavy nasal breathing seems to have subsided.

She said that his malocclusion wasn't caused by the points on the molars and that trimming them down, won't fix it. She said she can't be sure what exactly is causing the malocclusion but most likely there is a physical, or possibly neurological, reason.

His molars don't meet so he doesn't have much in the way of a grinding surface. It also means that eventually the points on his molars will re-form and he will need regular (about every 4-6 weeks she said) trimming maintenance. Of course that also means regular doses of anesthetic plus the regular regimen of pain meds and antibiotics to follow.

On the upside, he did willingly take both pellet mash and Critical Care from the syringe today (not at the same time, obviously LOL). He didn't take much of either one but it's a start.

Is this an exotics vet? Go over to Guinea Lynx and search the Emergency and Medical forum for "molars AND points" (without the quotes). Set the responses to come back in posts rather than topics. You should find quite a few people whose guinea pigs have had their molar problems corrected, and some suggestions for handling the problem.