Loss Guinea pig passed due to GA

[murderouspig]

Sadly, this week my first piggie Pumpkin who have been with me for four years passed. His back teeth was overgrown and had to go under GA to do his dental work. Unfortunately his body couldn’t take the GA and passed due to gut stasis. I prepared myself for the worst before he went for his dental because he weighed about 670g and was down to 530g in his final moments. I’m trying to deal with my pain but it’s so difficult. I don’t know what I could’ve done but I know there were something I could do.

i heard that gut stasis was something that can be prevented and Google wasnt very helpful so I wanted to get some advice from here. I have two more piggies who are 1 and 2 years old. I hope to prevent this kind of situation TT

 

[bpatters]

I'm sorry you lost him.

In the hands of a good rodent dentist, general anesthesia isn't something that should cause a pig to die. The aftercare -- getting the gut moving, preventing bloat and GI stasis -- has as much or more to do with survival than the anesthesia.

What you can do in the future is be very aware of the symptoms of molar overgrowth and get them taken care of in the early stages when far less anesthesia is needed. Unlimited long strand grass hay (timothy, blue, orchard, meadow) will help keep the teeth ground down, but won't prevent problems caused by poor genetics, misalignment of the jaw, etc.

The other thing is to be very sure you pick a good exotic vet with lots of experience in guinea pigs to do any needed surgery on your pigs.

 

[murderouspig]

I thought it was the aftercare too. He wasn’t able to eat at all after the surgery and kept losing weight. The overgrowth of the molar was discovered too late because we were focused on his front teeth. So I think it’s partly my fault.

thanks for the advice, I’ll pay close attention from now on.