[Gpdd] [HEALTH] Not eating

[Dr Kay Dudman]

Dear Carole

It sounds to me as if Spikey has trouble with his back teeth.  I know you
can only see the front teeth easily, but behind the cheek pads guinea pigs
have molar teeth, and these can overgrow or develop spikes that can cut
into the cheeks or tongue and make eating uncomfortable.  A vet should be
able to look into the back of the mouth with an otoscope (really for
looking inside ears) without an anaesthetic in order to check the teeth,
but this doesn't give a full view.  Best to take your piggy to a vet who
has special guinea pig knowledge (e.g. an exotics specialist) and get them
to check Spikey's teeth.  In the meantime, it is very important that
Spikey is fed if he cannot feed himself...get some Oxbow critical care, or
the little green pellets from his dry food and mix these with water into a
soft paste.  Take the end off a 5ml oral syringe (chemists will sell these
for giving medicine to babies, or you could get some from your vet); you
need to take the end off so that the opening is wide enough not to get
jammed with the fibres from the food mix, but leave enough of the "spout"
to introduce it into Spikey's mouth.  Only give him half to one ml at a
time and let him chew and swallow this before giving the next helping.

It is **REALLY** important to feed Spikey as piggies can go in to liver
failure if they don't have anything to eat for 16 hours.  If Spikey is
picking up and dropping food it sounds like a teeth problem, and trimming
the front teeth alone might not be enough.  You could also try chopping
his veg up really small, or even putting it through the juicer, and trying
to get him to eat some of this (syringe again would be useful for juice).

Carole, do you weigh Spikey?  It is a good idea to weigh piggies at least
once a week and keep a record as losing a couple of ounces (roughly 50g or
so) can give you advanced warning of problems.

It might be that Spikey's front teeth no longer meet, and that chopping up
his food into smaller pieces will help, but you really need to get those
back teeth checked quickly (they could prevent the front teeth from
meeting).  Isoflurane seems to be the safest anaesthetic for dental work
(as it is a gas, it is eliminated quickly from the body after use).  If
your usual vet cannot do this kind of work, as her/him to refer you to
someone who can.  Don't wait, get Spikey seen as soon as you can.

Good luck, little Spikey, Carole will look after you

best wishes

Kay

> Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 16:39:51 +0000
> From: "Carole Appleby" <guinea_pig_8 at hotmail.com>
> Subject: [Gpdd] HEALTH not eating
> To: Gpdd at gpdd.org
> Message-ID: <BAY104-F9D07691395DBB71FCFC3798A90 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>
> Hi everyone, I am writing about my lovely Spikey. He ha always been so fit
> and well. Then suddenly he woulnt eat any veg. He tries to like he wants it
> but cant chew very well, he seems to chew for ages. So i took him to my vet
> today and he gave him a full health check. Everything was fine he even took
> his temperature (poor Spikey). The only thing he thought it might be was his
> two bottom teeth were a bit long , so he trimmed them and said hopefully
> this should sort it out.
>          I got him home feeling pleased but now hes worse i dont no if he
> cut them too short or some thing but he cant pick up anything in his teeth
> he cant seem to grip. He chases the food round and cant grip it or chew it.
> Can any one help me what is going on. He can just manage dandy leaves if i
> feed them to him but it takes him ages and you can see hes struggling. He
> was leaving food before his teeth were cut so its not just that.
>                                 Should i demand he be put to sleep so they
> can have a good look in his mouth. Or will that be dangerous for him he is
> nearly 3. I dont want to loose Spikey he means so much to me and i lost his
> brother Smoothy in April. They were my first two pigs and i want him a good
> bit longer. Please help if you can. From Carole
>