Rachelrosejones
Member
Cavy Gazer
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2016
- Posts
- 5
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2016
- Messages
- 5
I am hoping you or some of you guys can help me. My 3 year old boar, Henry, is really struggling to eat solid food and veggies. To give some background on the issue. I noticed about 1 month or so ago that he was eating his favorite treats (like carrots and hay treats) much slower than normal. He appeared to be struggling a bit, but was still able to break down the food and swallow. As I suspected this may be tooth issue forming, we kept and eye on his weight and eating habits. When he started dropping weight (3.2lbs to 2.8), we immediately brought him to our local vet who sees exotics. She took a look at his teeth and said they looked fine, and that if he continued to lose weight she could knock him out and look at his farther back molars.
Well about a week and a half later, his weight drastically dropped (2.8lbs tot 2.3lbs) and you could tell he was clearly having issues chewing and swallowing his food. We immediately brought him to the Emergency Exotic Vet (a more specialized vet) to have him looked at. They did an exam and confirmed that his molars were overgrown and that he'd need to have them filed under GA. He underwent the procedure, and was discharged. The vet told us his eating should improve, and to force feed Critical Care in the interim. She also prescribed medicine to keep his gut moving and also some pain medicine.
We noticed the very next day that he wanted to eat. He was visibly hungry. However, when we attempted to give him his nightly salad of fresh greens, we noticed he could no longer "pick up and tear" the food. Instead, he can sometimes get it in his mouth, but then cant "bite down" on the food and chew it so it goes to the back of his mouth for grinding. It usually just falls out, or he gives up after multiple attempts. What's odd about this whole thing is that he was able to do that PRIOR to the molar filing. Before his molars were filed, he was able to grab and bite into food. His only issue was chewing and swallowing. We were so concerned that the vet possibly missed something or maybe trimmed his incisors during the filing for some reason that we brought him back to our trusted local vet. She did an x-ray and looked at his teeth, and said everything looks well-aligned and healthy. No gum irritation, etc.
My question is, should we concerned that Henry is still not eating solid foods 3 days after his molar trimming? Is this common to be unable to "pick up" and "bite into" food? He is willing to eat pure veggie baby food mixed with critical care (recommended by vet since he refused critical care by itself). Any advice is recommended! I'm so worried, and love my Henry so much. He is the sweetest most docile pig, and I'd be devastated to lose him over a tooth issue at 3 years old.
Thank you!
Rachel
Well about a week and a half later, his weight drastically dropped (2.8lbs tot 2.3lbs) and you could tell he was clearly having issues chewing and swallowing his food. We immediately brought him to the Emergency Exotic Vet (a more specialized vet) to have him looked at. They did an exam and confirmed that his molars were overgrown and that he'd need to have them filed under GA. He underwent the procedure, and was discharged. The vet told us his eating should improve, and to force feed Critical Care in the interim. She also prescribed medicine to keep his gut moving and also some pain medicine.
We noticed the very next day that he wanted to eat. He was visibly hungry. However, when we attempted to give him his nightly salad of fresh greens, we noticed he could no longer "pick up and tear" the food. Instead, he can sometimes get it in his mouth, but then cant "bite down" on the food and chew it so it goes to the back of his mouth for grinding. It usually just falls out, or he gives up after multiple attempts. What's odd about this whole thing is that he was able to do that PRIOR to the molar filing. Before his molars were filed, he was able to grab and bite into food. His only issue was chewing and swallowing. We were so concerned that the vet possibly missed something or maybe trimmed his incisors during the filing for some reason that we brought him back to our trusted local vet. She did an x-ray and looked at his teeth, and said everything looks well-aligned and healthy. No gum irritation, etc.
My question is, should we concerned that Henry is still not eating solid foods 3 days after his molar trimming? Is this common to be unable to "pick up" and "bite into" food? He is willing to eat pure veggie baby food mixed with critical care (recommended by vet since he refused critical care by itself). Any advice is recommended! I'm so worried, and love my Henry so much. He is the sweetest most docile pig, and I'd be devastated to lose him over a tooth issue at 3 years old.
Thank you!
Rachel
