Guinea Pig Lost Front 2 Teeth?

I took my guinea pig to the vet today after advice from yahoo answers and guinea lynx after I found his front 2 teeth unaligned and looking broken:


http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/1664/...





They examined him to see if he needed the teeth to be cut or somehow realigned, but then while examining they said the teeth were broken and practically fell out in their hands.





Does this pose any new problems for me because I imagine it does. My piggy is probably in less pain because with broken teeth he probably was hurting. I'm glad its taken care of and Ive taken the precaution to get him that Oxbow Critical Care with a syringe, but I'm scared about any other problems that may occur.





Has this happened to anyone else and what have you done about it? Also what precautions should I go through? Is there anything new I should worry about now that he doesn't have front teeth??? I really want my piggy to be comfortable and eating right so please any suggestions would be very helpful!!!

Guinea Pig Lost Front 2 Teeth?
That's wonderful that you got your piggie into a vet! Kudos to you!





I'll give you my own personal experience with piggie teeth. Two of my four boys have had somewhat recurrent teeth problems ranging from crooked, broken teeth, to completely missing teeth. Firstly, rodent's teeth are constantly growing, so with proper care and nutrition, their teeth should start to grow back almost right away. It took about two weeks for my boys to have their front teeth back to normal. I attributed my pig's teeth problems to lack of vitamin C, and I upped their red pepper intake. It seemed to help. If I were you, I would want to try to figure out why the teeth became misaligned to begin with. How long have you had your pig? Has he had this problem before, or was this the first time? If this is a recurrent problem, I'd talk to your vet about it to see if taking an xray might be worthwhile to rule out any jaw problems. Hopefully, this will only be a one-time thing, and once his new teeth start growing in they'll be straight and beautiful *wink*.





In the meantime, your pig may need help eating. It's great you're prepared to syringe feed - you may need to do that for a bit until he's able to get a hold of pellets and food himself. Just keep an eye on him and watch to see what he's able to handle himself. I have a pig right now who's missing one front tooth, and he's managed to get along just fine on his own while it's growing back. If you have a food scale, weigh your pig to monitor his weight. Watch his behavior to see if you notice any changes - changes could indicate pain, which can be helped with medication. Personally, though, I'd keep to this as a last resort.





You're doing great! Hang in there - I'm sure your boy will pull through just fine.





EDIT - Critical Care is AWESOME for recovering piggies, too. While mixing it with water is great, you can also try mixing it with juices, like sugarfree cranberry juice, apple juice, or pedialyte, if your pig starts to get finicky about it. You may also want to syringe him water as well if he's having any problems accessing his water bottle.
Reply:one of my guinea pigs teeth fell out shortly after i first got her. had to hand feed her, but it grew back fairly quickly. it hasn't happened again since (it was about 3 yrs. ago).





just make sure you are feeding him often enough. the oxbow critical care it great by the way.
Reply:Poor piggy! I think they might grow back... I'm interested in this question... my pigs never had that happen... You should worry about his intake of fiber, unless of course that oxbow stuff includes it..
Reply:Did they give him some pain relief? I imagine it would hurt alot and eating would only make it hurt more, the gums are probably quite red and aggravated too. I would have asked about giving him some metacam (pain relief), maybe you could ring back and quiz them about whether or not he should have it. Buttercup was on 0.14ml of metacam 3 times a day for 3 days and then 2 times a day for 4 days because we suspected she was in pain, in the end the vet did not know what it was but the pain has since subsided.





How is he eating and drinking? If he is not eating and drinking you need to hand feed him. Critical Care is fantastic, basically it is a supplement and works well with ill guinea pigs as it gives them an appetite, you need to make it into a tea concentration. It may be a good idea to use Critical Care regardless of whether he is eating or not, just to sooth everything and to give him an appetite.





His teeth should grow back farely quickly, I am just worried that he can not eat and drink properly.
Reply:i had a piggy with really bad teeth - they fell out all the time - but its okay because their teeth constantly grow. In a week they should be a lot longer. Don't worry, they usually end up okay:) mine lost both top and bottom, and he still ate fine :) if you're worried then just feed yours some kiwi, it's soft, they love it, and...it will make them feel better? :P anyway good luck!
Reply:like adelina said, hand feed him, make sure he eats, he won't be able to shell sunflower seeds very well.



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