Just letting off some steam!!!

One of my guinea pigs has been sick for two weeks. He was not eating at all and he was put on a course of antibiotics. Since then there has been no improvement. I have been syringe feeding him for the past two weeks and nothing. I think that his teeth are overgrown, but my vet does not seem to agree with me. I have researched malocclusion on the web and I have printed off alot of material. My guinea pig has all the symptoms. Well in the morning I am going to call every vet within a 60 mile radius to find one that is experienced with malocclusion. I refuse to take Fred, my guinea pig to another idiot. I know more about my guinea pigs and their health than any vet that I have seen in the past three years. I am so sick of paying 50 dollars each time to get an antibiotic that costs only 6 dollars. I hope that I can find a vet that knows what they are doing, I am so frustrated with all this. Thanks for listening.

I hope you can find a vet that knows something about guinea pigs! I have an African Pygmy Hedgehog, and finding a vet who knows anything about them isn't easy where I live. I hope your little guy gets better!!!!!

Hope everthing works out. I had a guinea pig when I was a kid. Brown/white straight hair named Alvin. I had him for a little over 5 years I believe. He was a mess. :laughing2

I used to own guinea pigs, and my Vet didn't have a clue about them either. I took matters into my own hands by doing tons of research into their health and care and usually just went in and got what meds I needed to fix the problem myself, without bringing them in. I did have one pig with overgrown teeth and thats one thing you can't fix yourself, but I ended up showing the Vet how to trim them

I suggest finding a Vet that specializes in small animals if you can, and just for the sake of other Guinea Pig owners who come along to your Vet after this, you could do what I did and buy the Vet a nice big book on Guinea Pig health ( I'm pushy aren't I? ) It may not help with everything but it will keep the Vet from giving prescriptions for things like Amoxil which is toxic to piggies.

Good luck with little Fred

I found a vet this morning. She is about an hour away, but it is worth it. She agreed with me on the phone about Fred's teeth. I hope she is good. She only sees avian and exotics so hopefully that is good. Thanks for the info and support.

I hope she can do something to help him!

My husband took Fred to the vet this morning. I was hoping for some good news but its not. The vet said that his teeth are in really bad shape. She said that one side of his molars needs to be removed, but she does not feel that she could perform the surgery. She is only experienced in cutting and trimming them. She told my husband about a lady at Ohio University who is experienced in removing molars, but she is really hard to get a hold of because she does not have a practice and it is about 4-5 hours away. She is going to put him under in the morning and try to cut and trim them as good as she can. She said that with him being weak that he may not make it through. She said that the problem should have been taken care sooner and that the vet I have been seeing for the last year should have known that Fred's teeth needed to be trimmed, but she was not comfortable doing it and ignored it. Even if he does pull through it the vet said that he may not be able to correct the problem and he will not be able to eat and that the best thing would be to put him down. I hope that he pulls through, he is a tough little piggy. He is the toughest one I have. He rules the nest around here and my other 5 piggies know it.

I would really appreciate it if everyone could keep him in their thoughts.

Thanks

I am sending up prayers that Fred will make it!!! Please let us know how it goes tomorrow!!!

Positive energy coming to Fred, and you Nicki. Please let us know how it goes.

Fred came through surgery this morning. It took longer than what was expected. The vet said that one side of his molars was grown into the other side of his gums over his tongue. The vet is keeping him until in the morning. The vet feels that he should be able to eat in about 3 days after he is not sore anymore. She wants to repeat the surgery in about 4 to 6 weeks because there is still more work to be done. She could only work on him for about an hour because she didn't want to cause anymore trauma to him. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Fred is home. Poor little thing, I feel so sorry for him. He has been through alot. The vet filled him up with fluids this morning before he left. She sent some hand feeding formula home with him. I just got finished feeding him. I am trying to take it slow, I don't want to push him because he is so sore.

The vet showed me the part of his teeth that she cut out. They looked horrible. She said that they had completely grown over his tongue. I am taking him back in on Monday so she can check him over and make sure that he is getting enough fluids. She said that he may not start to eat for a good while, it may even take about 3 weeks before he starts to eat on his own completely or he may suprise us and begin in a week. She wants me to keep the solid food away for about 3 days and then introduce some soft vegetables and fruit for about 3 days and supplement it with the hand feeding. After about 6-8 days I can introduce pellets but still hand feed if he is not getting enough.

Thanks everyone for the warm thoughts and prayers, it worked!!!!

I'm so glad to hear that Fred came through the surgery!! I hope the next surgery goes just as well for him!!!! This is good news!!!!

I am glad Fred will be ok! I think it's great, too, that you found a vet you can trust! Do you have pics of Fred?

Fred is doing great. It has been a week since surgery. I am still syringe feeding him but he is starting to eat veggies. Yes!!!!!!

We had a check-up at the vet and she said that things look good.

We had a little problem with lice. He must have picked it up at the vet. So I had to treat Fred and my five other piggies with Advantage. I also treated Kiki. I have only been scratching all over for 3 days now. I think that they are crawling all over me. The vet told me that they could not live on me. It is all in my head.

Just wanted to give everyone an update. Thanks for the board magic, it worked!!!!!!!!

As soon as I can scan some pictures, I will post one of Fred.

I'm so glad to hear fred is doing so well! Can't wait to see the little guy!