My guinea pig is about a year old, He stopped eating a week ago. I have been force feeding him with ground up food, Vitamin C , trace minerals and other supplements. Still does not eat. Is interested but food falls out of mouth or can't be picked up.
Took to the vet who clipped front teeth and gave hime a shot - antiobotics, Still not able to chew. What should I do?
Answers:
There's a product made by the Oxbow Hay Company called "Critical Care for Herbivores" that's designed to be mixed with water and fed to guinea pigs who aren't eating. It's delicious, easy to digest, and if necessary can be put in a syringe and forced into the guinea pig's mouth. Forcing it like this isn't always necessary. I had one little guy who WANTED to eat but couldn't because of tooth problems (which sounds to be your pig's problem, too), and with him I just mixed Critical Care into a paste and he eagerly dived into a cup of it. Information about Critical Care is at: http://www.oxbowhay.com/link.sp?page=cri...
You didn't mention whether your veterinarian specializes in "exotic" animals or is just a dog-and-cat vet. Most dog-and-cat vets don't know much at all about guinea pigs, and can do more harm than good. I highly recommend finding a vet who knows a lot about guinea pigs. One way to do that is to consult a list of rabbit veterinarians, as most vets who take an interest in rabbits are equally interested in guinea pigs. Here are links to some rabbit vet lists:
United States:
http://www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html...
Singapore:
http://www.hrss.net/aar/health/health_ve...
Australia:
http://members.shaw.ca/cocoasun/australi...
All other countries (two separate directories):
http://www.rabbitvet.net/
and
http://homepage.mac.com/mattocks/morfz/p...
Tooth problems are most commonly diagnosed in the front teeth, perhaps because these are easiest to see, but there can also be problems with the back teeth. It isn't practical to examine these teeth at home, but exotics vets have a gadget that makes looking at the molars easy. If your vet didn't examine any teeth except the front ones, be sure to have the back teeth examined the next time you take your guinea pig to a vet.
Good luck to you and your pig. Please don't give up yet, as a one year old guinea pig is still very young.
Take your guinea pig to another vet. I can't think of anything else to say... Maybe he just is ready to go... Sorry. I hope that the new vet cures him. Did the vet say what was wrong? Don't force feed him supplements. Give him his normal food, but if he doesn't eat, go to another vet ASAP. Then, I think that you should give him Vitamin C. I'm not a professional, so get him checked out again.
I have a guinea pig myself and I think the problem was attended to by trimming his teeth. Sometimes the teeth grow so long that its impossible for them to eat. It may be that either the top or bottom teeth started to grow into the roof of the mouth or bottom of the jaw. He may still be in pain from this incident of over growth. It happened to my guinea pig and he didn't eat after he got his teeth trimmed for a day or so. If you give him some Romain lettuce or celery stalks, he may eat it and then you will know if he is gonna make it or not. It is most definite that when an animal quites eating/drinking hes not gonna make it. Good Luck!
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