[Gpdd] Health - Cocoa is sick: good wishes and advice

[cmartinez36 at comcast.net]

I haven't been keeping up with the digest this year, (new job = extra time) but I keep the Digest in my heart. But I'm off this week and getting a chance to see what's going on with OPP (other people's piggies). 

I just want to encourage Suzy through my experience. I had a (LAPS) guinea pig named Snowball who had bad teeth problems.  He first showed the signs at 2.5 yrs old. His lower molars were so misaligned that they grew inwards, so they would begin to trap his tongue as they grew. An exotics vet told me she had never seen that before. I got Snowball a chin strap, which did help somewhat, and the vet extracted his one molar that was especially messed up, but he still had the problem.

Anyway long story short, we have a vet who is extremely confident in doing anesthesia on guinea pigs. He is one of eight veterinarians in Texas who is a certified avian specialist, so I conclude that they are more used to working with the tiny mouths. He has performed surgery on two of my pigs with very good results. Maybe he could consult with your vet by phone or email. He looked up something on a vet's news list for me, and it showed me that he is willing to keep checking to see what new findings develop. He kept Snowball with a good quality of life for two and a half years. Snowball died at five years one month, but that had to do with bladder stones, nothing about his teeth. 

I went to this vet opposed to subjecting my piggie to anesthesia, but he did such a thorough job convincing me that he would do it correctly, that I came to see it as a disservice not to use anesthesia. I don't know what kind of anesthesia your vet uses, but it makes a difference. This one uses gas, and says that is better than an injection. because if it is too much or too little he can quickly adjust it. And as soon as they quit breathing the gas, the effects basically stop. I think the recovery time is about 20-30 minutes.  So it allows him to do a better job trimming, the piggie is not terribly traumatized as they would be without anesthesia, and they quickly recover. (I tried three times without anesthesia too, to the eventual horror of my other vet) Snowball and our other little guy Apache have tolerated it very well. 

Our vet was so adept at trimming Snowball's molars, that we would be in and out of the clinic in about an hour. I'd give Snowball Metacam for pain for a couple of days after, sometimes syringe-feed him with Critical Care and he was fine again for several weeks. I could always tell when he began to need a trim: he started chewing more slowly on lettuce, apple slices, baby carrots. It was simple maintenance. Really the only other alternative was to put him to sleep. 

So every situation is different, and we send Cocoa and your family the very best, whatever is the right way for you all to go. If I can help you with other info, feel free to send me an email.

Carla, slave to Apache and Remy
remembering our Snickers and Snowball, now grazing at the Bridge