Teeth

Question
QUESTION: One of my guinea pigs is not able to bite off pieces of his vegetables. He just started this today. He goes to his food and acts as if he wants it. He will sniff and attempt to bite them, but can only scrape the veggies. He usually chows down on his vegetables, but today, we have had to cut them very small for him so he doesn't have to bite pieces off. It seems he is only chewing with his back teeth. He is a very energetic guinea pig who loves popcorning and hasn't had any behavior changes. We are just concerned about his teeth.

ANSWER: Yes, you are probably right. There is a tooth problem. The most common thing is the incisors (front teeth) get overgrown or out of alignment preventing the pig from taking a proper bite.  It's actually an easy fix, but takes little courage on your part if you've never done this.

I'm going to walk you through cavy dentistry 101.

A guinea pig's teeth grow continuously. They are more closely related to fingernails than they are teeth. What I mean is that they do not have the nerve endings in their teeth that we do. So trimming the incisors is quite easy. All you need is a pair of toenail clippers.

I have a little tool that looks like a miniature version of wire cutters. You can find them in a hardware store or a hobby shop like Michael's. They would be found in the hobby shop where the jewelry making things are. I find them easier to work with because of their shape.

The easiest way is to hold the pig belly up, but in a bit of a standing position. I use a pencil to put into the mouth to hold it open. That also keeps the tongue out of the way. The incisors will be over the pencil toward you. Take the nippers and just clip the teeth. Not too short, as the incisors are longer than you'd think they would be.

Give them a clip just as if you were doing fingernails or toenails. The top teeth should overlap the bottoms just a little bit. Sometimes the bottoms grow over the front and that prevents a proper bite as well.  

You clip the bottoms in the same manner. The remarkable thing is those teeth grow back very fast. Within a week they will be back to normal.  

If you don't feel confident in trying this you can take him to the vet and they can do it for you.  It sounds much scarier than it really is. The pig feels nothing at all because there are not nerves in his teeth to give him a toothache. So don't worry that you're going to hurt him. Just make sure either you or someone else is holding him with a good grip.  

Most vets don't charge much at all to trim teeth. Rabbits also have continuously growing teeth and most vets have had experience playing 'piggy or bunny dentist.'

I hope that helps you.  As I said if you're a little skeptical about attempting it then by all means go to your vet.  But don't wait too long. If he's not able to chew properly he will not be eating what he should and that could put him in jeopardy of starvation without you knowing it.  

Please let me know what you decide to do and how he is.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: we held the little fella and checked his teeth with a pencil today like you said but we couldn't get him to stay still long enough for us to check. We did see bottom teeth but since he was so squirmy we didnt see top teeth. The top teeth are felt when he nibbles on my finger. Just wanted to know if you had any advice on another way to check? or should we keep trying? thanks a lot. ohh yeah, and we prefer not to take him to the vet unless we have to because we are on a tight budget. thanks so much

Answer

Checking teeth  

Black sow/teeth exam   The easiest way to just check the front teeth is to hold the pig belly up, on your arm. You can see from the picture how I'm holding this guy. You'll have his back resting on your arm and his butt will be between your arm and your body. That way you can stabilize him and hold him still.

Will the other hand reach over the nose and put your index finger and thumb on either side of his nose. Then you just kind of spread the upper lip with one hand and you can gently pull down under the chin to expose the lower teeth. This does not in any way hurt the pig. Very often they'll let out a squeal, not because you're hurting them, but just to say "leave my mouth alone."  If they squeal the then you can see the uppers and lowers very easily.

Once you've seen the teeth you can tell if their overgrown. I hope these pictures will help you a little. I used one of my Teddy boars and then a black sow, hoping the teeth would show up better.

The secret is to use your body to hold your pig right up close to you. You want to immobilize him so he can't wiggle. Try it and see if you don't have better luck looking at the teeth this way.  Let me know how you do.