Guinea pig

Question
Our class guinea pig is about 6 months old and his teeth are beginning to fall out?  What can we do to help him?

Answer
Hello.
I am not an expert on guinea pigs, only rats. I have never had a cavey as a pet, or known anyone that did. However, I have done a bit of research into your poor Cavey's problem.

First and foremost, I recommend that any animal that is in pain, sick or injured in any way should be taken to a Vet as soon as possible. They can give you the proper diagnosis, and treatment, unlike some one who has not seen what your pigs mouth looks like.

From what I have read, teeth falling out is not to bad, because they will grow back, as rodents teeth continue to grow through out their lives. HOWEVER. Your Cavey may have injured it's self to cause the teeth to fall out, or have a vitamin deficiency, and that needs to be assessed by a vet. Also, the teeth on the opposite side may need to be trimmed so that the new teeth grow in properly, and do not hinder eating. You may need to feed softer food, but I am not sure. Here are some snippets from sites I found, and some Web page addresses. I recommend that you do a bit of research to better care for your pet. By the way, I wanted to make sure that bedding wise, you were not using pine or cedar wood bedding. They have wood oils that are toxic to all rodents, causing cancers,upper respiratory problems and scared lungs. Carefresh bedding(fluffy Grey or white fibrous material like paper) causes allergies, and I have seen some weird allergic reactions in my rats on Carefresh, such as swollen feet and face, not to mention severe sneezing. Aspen wood shavings are the best to use. No oils, no dust and the best for oder control.



Here is a section of a website: http://www.oginet.com/pgurney/


One of the most common injuries to a guinea pig is incisor tooth damage. This is usually the result of them being dropped by their owners or leaping out of their hands as they are lowered back into their quarters or onto the ground, see handling.

If the teeth are very loose as a result of the injury they are best pulled out. They are going to fall out anyway, within a short time, but as long as they are left in it is going to be very difficult for the guinea pig to eat. Once they are out, the animal quickly learns how to scoop it's food in if it's the bottom teeth, or manipulate it's tongue to draw in the food if it's the top ones. Where the cavey has lost one set of teeth as above, it is advised to trim the opposite set well back, so that the two sets can regrow in balance.

If both are knocked out, help with some syringe feeding, but it is amazing how quickly the teeth come through again and they get back to normal feeding.

If only one of the top or bottom incisors is lost and the other remains firm, then the guinea pig simply carries on as usual. However, check after a week or so, when the new tooth has really started to grow and trim the good tooth back down to it's level.


Another good site with lots of info, and news letters: http://www.guineapigsecrets.com/

This is also a good site, go to the bottom to read:
http://guinealynx.info/teeth.html

This is a really good site, and answer for falling out teeth:

(Q) My guinea pigs teeth break quite often, and she is finding it difficult to eat. What can cause this, and is there anything I can do?

(A) Make an appointment for your guinea pig to see a vet as soon as you can, as you need to find out what is causing her teeth to break.

It can be the result of a fall or fighting, and in these cases a vet clips the teeth to make sure the affected guinea pig has an even biting surface.

Sometimes where teeth break very easily, or fall out if knocked it can be a sign of vitamin D deficiency, as a lack of this vitamin in a guinea pig's diet will lead to a calcium deficiency. This lack of calcium will result in poorly mineralized teeth and bones. A guinea pig gets its vitamin D from two sources that are diet and sunlight, and vitamin D deficiency only happens when both of these sources are not there.

Excessive vitamin D is also harmful, but if your guinea pig is severely affected by a vitamin D deficiency, your vet may advise supplementing your guinea pig's diet with one drop of cod liver oil a week, or a calcium and vitamin D supplement.

It is important that your guinea pig gets hard food at this time to make sure that the teeth are kept even. Soft foods will let the other teeth grow uncontrollably, but obviously you have to balance this out in the short term to make sure your pet gets enough food.



I hope these help you, and you can fix your Cavey's problem. You can easily find more info by calling a vet, and doing a Google search for "guinea pig teeth falling out"

If you had a rat question, I would be able to give you more complete info, I feel bad that I really can't tell you what to do about Guinea Pig teeth, but I have done my best :0)

Good Luck!
Becky