5 year old boar not eating

lawngnome78

Post   » Fri Mar 09, 2018 5:53 am


Hello all,
My husband and I went away for a week and hired a friend to care for our pigs. Jack was diagnosed with congestive heart failure back in October and has been on two meds every 12 hours since then. Back in December we had the same person care for them with no incidence.
This time, when we arrived back home two weeks ago, I noticed one of them not eating with as much enthusiasm as he used to. I also saw his lower incisor was split, looking like he had an extra tooth growing up and behind the existing ones.
I had the tooth trimmed by our vet, hoping he would improve. Instead, over the past ten days he has declined. I am syringe feeding him (to his dismay: he is independent and would prefer to feed himself) cc and pureed veg/fruit mix hours each day.
It seems to take a long time for him to clear the food from his mouth. I wonder if his enlarged heart that at his last x-ray exam the Dr noticed is pushing up on his trachea maybe also pushing on the esophagus?
He picks up food and drops it, constantly looking for something he can manage to eat as I feed him.
His poops are as normal as they can be considering his condition.
It's very risky to give him a fill dental exam because that requires anesthesia.
If anyone has any knowledge we would really appreciate advice! I plan on taking him in today to ask for an x-ray. I just need to know if he can recover from this. It's no way for a pig to live the rest of his days if these are it! On the other hand his attitude seems positive so I'm not giving up on him.
Thank you all!!

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Fri Mar 09, 2018 10:49 am


That's a classic sign of a problem with the molars. Take him an exotic vet with experience in rodent dentistry and have him evaluated.

lawngnome78

Post   » Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:16 pm


Thank you, bpatters!
He did have an evaluation done while awake nine days ago, where they said his molars looked ok. Do you think he will need to be under anesthesia to have a thorough exam of the molars?

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Fri Mar 09, 2018 12:28 pm


It depends on the vet -- some insist on anesthesia, others can do it without.

But even if he does, they usually just "whiff" them under for a few seconds, and then they're awake again. It's not like having to put them under for a surgical procedure.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Fri Mar 09, 2018 7:34 pm


An xray can provide much more info if the teeth are involved.
www.guinealynx.info/malocclusion.html

lawngnome78

Post   » Fri Mar 09, 2018 10:22 pm


Thank you both so much!
Jack just needs to make it to Friday. The vet agreed that he must have a molar that she could not see on the initial exam that is causing the issue and her first available opening is Friday. He may not survive the anesthesia, but he definitely will not survive without being able to eat. It breaks my heart to watch him look at the food his cage mate eats: he wants to eat it but just can't.
It concerns me that I do not recall ever seeing a vet use the buccal separator during exams, and I did look on the dental veterinary registry for a small animal dental vet for Ohio but we have none.
Doing the best I can for the little guy. Managed to get all 3 tablespoons of cc in his belly today so that was a small victory! I hope we can just get through the next six days.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Fri Mar 09, 2018 11:13 pm


Three tablespoons of CC is not NEARLY enough to keep him alive. He needs 100+ cc. of Critical Care for every kilogram he weighs, every day, split into 6-8 feedings throughout the day and night. Adjust up or down depending on how much he weighs, and down if he's eating some on his own.

This is not optional. He will hate it, and it's called "force feeding" for a reason. But without it, he will die. Guinea pigs, unless many other mammals, secrete stomach acid all the time, not just when they're hungry. If food is not moving through their GI tract, that acid will eat holes in the stomach, sometimes all the way through, and that's fatal. Lack of food can also cause GI stasis and bloat, and those are full-on medical emergencies.

What city are you in/near? This pig needs to be seen before next Friday, and there's bound to be a vet somewhere that can take care of him.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Mar 10, 2018 1:22 pm


bpatters knows of what she speaks. She had a guinea pig with a stomach ulcer.

Ditto on getting more food moving through on a regular basis.

lawngnome78

Post   » Sat Mar 10, 2018 4:30 pm


Bpatters,
The directions on the cc I have say mix 3 tablespoons of the dry with enough water to be able to feed the animal, for each kilo of body weight. Jack at his healthiest weighed one kilo. 3 tablespoons per kilogram of weight of the animal. What am I missing? Once I mix it, it's way more than just 3 tablespoons of food. I am feeding him about 4 times a day.
I called all the exotic vets in the state of Ohio and no one has any availability before the 16th.
Jack has lived longer than anyone expected, having been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, fluid on his lungs back in October last year. This is why my vet didn't rush to do the molar treatment in the first place. She doesn't think he can survive the anesthesia.
Thank you so much for the info. I will feed him more often than only 4 times from now on.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sat Mar 10, 2018 5:09 pm


That's probably about right. I was assuming that it was the 3 tablespoons of already mixed stuff you were giving, not before mixing. Sorry, my bad.

lawngnome78

Post   » Sat Mar 10, 2018 5:14 pm


Oh that's ok! I appreciate your expertise so much. Relieved to hear I'm not missing something.

lawngnome78

Post   » Tue Mar 13, 2018 7:21 am


Update on Jack:

He is still scheduled for the molar trim this Friday, but yesterday I took him in so he could be evaluated to see if I'm doing enough for him to be healthy enough to make it to Friday. I can tell he is skinny and am trying to manage his pain with meloxicam, but I hate the thought of bringing him Friday and the doctor looking at him and saying, "why did you wait so long to bring him in???" Hard for me to tell since I see him daily if he's truly in bad shape. I know he isn't showing signs of pain, like trembling or pawing at his mouth, but just needed a dr's advice.

They gave him fluids and showed me how to give subcutaneous injections of pain meds and stasis meds, even though he is producing poops, they are small and shriveled. No surprise since he is only eating cc.

I brought him home last night and fed him and he was in much better shape after getting hard core pain meds and fluids. Looked fatter and was kind of spacey!

When that vet tech came in with all those syringes with meds I need to give him daily till friday I wanted to cry. I thought maybe one shot a day for the little guy, they made it sound easy, but she came in with 20 syringes! He needs FIVE a day (2 every 12 hours, one every 24 hours)! In the same general area!

When she showed me how to give the shots, he jumped, whimpered, then jumped up into my arms! She and I looked at each other like, "AWWW!" She said she's never seen that. Poor guy.

If these are his last days, I can't be giving him 5 shots a day. On the other hand, if this gives him the best shot at surviving the anesthesia/molar trim on Friday then I have to! I went home last night telling myself, NO WAY NO HOW I CAN'T, but after sleeping on it and feeding him/medicating him this morning, I got the guts to have my husband help me and we got two shots in. Poor little guy!!!

The dr did NOT tell me if I DON'T do these shots he WILL NOT make it; how it went down, is I came in because the meloxicam was not making a difference in his pain, and when they noted the condition of his stools and how dehydrated he was, they advised subcutaneous meds. Makes sense.

I just wonder if we can do without all the shots till friday. What if I keep them on hand and if he shows signs of pain or starts letting the cc fall back out of his mouth and I can no longer feed him like I need to, then give them?

Thank you for listening!

Post Reply