Injury Guinea pig broke his tooth and can’t eat: Cartier

[fancy]

Two days ago I was doing a check up on my guinea pigs and I noticed that one of them had food stuck between their teeth. His name is Cartier and he is an Abyssinian piggy that I bought from a pet store to accompany a guinea pig (Jacques) that I adopted from a friend whose piggies gave birth. Cartier taught Jacques how to eat veggies and dry food. He has gained healthy amount of weight since I got him, and his fur quality is much better than when he was at the pet store. I have had him for about seven months (I suspect he’s only about 8 to 10 months old) and I know that he is very good with grooming himself, so he would never have food stuck between his teeth. I took a closer look and noticed that one of his top front teeth was coming off, but not fully detached. I did some quick researching online on this forum and professional sites and figured that he would be ok since there was no blood and he was still eating. I know it is definitely not a vitamin C problem because I make sure to give my piggies lots of veggies, fruits twice a week, and add vitamin C supplements in their dry food and water. I honestly suspect that it might be because he jumped off of my sister’s lap a couple days ago and landed right on his face.

Then, today I checked up on him again and both of his top teeth had fallen out!!! I panicked and monitored him for a couple hours. He is able to drink water and eat hay that reaches his molars but can’t pick up dry food or veggies (and he keeps trying!) He doesn’t seem tired or less energetic so I think he’s alright for now, but I can’t say for certain. I tried bottlefeeding him with a blend of kale juice, pellets, water, and vitamin C drops. He didn’t like being bottle-fed very much but he ate about 3 tablespoons of the concoction. He also really liked when I dipped the fuzzy tops of hay into the blend (and his brother keeps stealing them too). I think I’ll call them hay-sicles.

I am relieved to say that his teeth are visibly growing back but I don’t know how long it’s going to take. I’m worried that vet fees in my area will be high, but I don’t want him to feel worse. Is there anything I can do to help him eat or take care of this situation? Or is taking him to a vet the only option?

 

[bpatters]

Teeth grow quickly, and it's good that his are already visibly growing. But the emergency is that he MUST eat. So he'll have to learn to like being hand-fed until he can eat on his own. Here's a thread on hand-feeding: https://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/threads/115000-Handfeeding-a-guinea-pig. Be sure to read posts (broken link removed) and (broken link removed) .

You can also cut things in matchstick-sized slivers and push them into his mouth until they reach his molars. He can then chew and eat them. You can give him hay and any relatively firm food (think bell peppers, carrots, etc., and not things like cucumbers) that way.

 

[Beatrix187]

Yes it is extremely important that he eats as guinea pigs can lose weight very quickly and it si extremely hard for some to grain it back! It is a big relief he still eats his hay and drinks water, as those are the most important. However, you do need to syringe feed him a lot to make sure he gets enough food and doesn't go into GI stasis. Best of luck, it can be tough!

 

[fancy]

Thank you! The thread was very helpful. Cartier is eating fairly normally now after a couple days of bottle feeding, he got used to it! His teeth are definitely growing very fast. Do you have any suggestions for the next steps to take? I’ve read that I should probably get his bottom teeth trimmed in a few weeks so they grow evenly with the top ones...

 

[bpatters]

You probably shouldn't get his bottom teeth trimmed, as the top ones will wear the bottom ones down when they get long enough. But you'll have to keep an eye on them to make sure that happens.