Dental Issues - third piggy

[arb_hz]

Hello,

In last 2 years we have had 2 piggies that stopped eating completely and we lost both of them after prolonged battles ( one survived for 7 months only on critical care, and other 2 months). Both had multiple trimmings but neither of them ate at all after just their first trimming. So we have had very bad experience with trimmings.

Now a third of our piggy has stopped eating completely. He has a swelling on his right cheek but the doctor says it's not abssess. He was on Baytril and Meloxicam for 2 weeks but the swelling didn't subside. The vet has now also added another antibiotic (Septrin).

If the new medicine route also doesn't work, the vet suggests removal of molars but is not very confident if this will resolve the problem.

My question is, are dental issues that common? We follow all the best practices ( unlimited hay, normal healthy food) but this is third piggy in 2 years and it's not going well.

Also is their anything else that we can try? The vet is exotic vet ( and really knowledgeable)and he says it seems to be a genetic issue.

Thanks

[Lynx]

I'm sorry for the loss of your other two guinea pigs. Teeth issues can be a challenge to deal with.

Do you have a veterinary dentist you could see for a second opinion?

[SardonicSmile]

Maybe a chin-sling is worth looking into?

[Lynx]

You could write Pinta to see what her opinion is - or ask her to post here.

I don't know all the specifics of what she would look for - but I know the skill of your vet/veterinary dentist in evaluating the teeth and looking for overgrowth of the molars (I imagine) is likely. You might want to reread what she has written here:
https://www.guinealynx.info/chinsling.html