Degu wet around mouth + Hair loss

[fruitbowl]

One of my degus, Niles, started dribbling about a month ago, and seemed to have discomfort around his mouth, which he kept pawing at.  It became excessive enough that I took him to the vets, where he had to be put under to be looked at.  They told me his weight was perfectly fine, and that he had small wounds in his gum because his molars had gotten too long and sharp, and were cutting into his gums a little.  He was given a pain killer for about a week after he came home, and all seemed okay.  However, the dribbling continued; at first I thought this was because his mouth must still be uncomfortable, and I tried to keep it clean, but his fur kept matting together, and eventually fell out on each side, despite my attempts to clean it.  He now has a bald patch on either side of his mouth and is still dribbling.

He eats okay, has regular hay, dried flowers, some pellets, and in himself he's still very adventurous and cheeky, but he does spend a lot of time pawing at his mouth, and there's always saliva around his mouth.  Also, on one side of his mouth, there always seems to be food crumbs, almost, like he can't get them all in his mouth, but I'm not sure if this is just him being a bit of a messy eater, or a sign of a problem.

We're planning on going to the vets again, but it's such a stressful experience for him that we're keen to avoid it if there's any other way to help him - especially as the vet has already done what they can to fix it.  Is it possible there's something they/we have missed?  Anything we could do to solve it?  Or better clean his mouth? Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

[bouncy]

Pawing and dribbling is a classic sign of tooth trouble, and I would recommend getting back to the vet.

Did he file or trim the molars at all during the visit, or take any xrays? The concern with teeth isn't just what is visible, but also what the roots are doing. Does your vet have experience with goos?

[moletteuk]

It sounds like he still has a problem with his teeth. The most common problem is that the molars can throw off spikes to the sides called spurs that are unopposed by another piece of tooth so they just continue to grow and the degu cannot grind it away against another tooth themselves. Degus usually respond reasonably well to having them ground away by a vet. As Niles is still dribbling it seems that perhaps there is another spur that the vet missed, or infection may have developed in the gum wound, or something else causing him quite a lot of difficulty.

Degus can also get tooth root overgrowth which is diagnosed by xray, but this is less likely to cause dribbling.

Definitely take him back to the vet, degus rarely show discomfort or pain, so him pawing at his mouth in an obvious way shows he still has a serious issue. Are you confident in your vet?

[fruitbowl]

Thank you both! The vet ground down the teeth last time he went, which did seem to alleviate it for about a week. He gets so scared on trips to the vets that I really wanted to avoid it, but obviously if there's nothing I can do for him he has to go.

There was no x-ray taken, but he had his molars filed down at the vets.

I'm thinking infection or, as you said, moletteuk, spurs that were missed or have carried on growing. I'm reasonably confident with my vet. I understand that they're not specifically an "exotic" vet surgery, but every time I go in and ask questions, they're knowledgeable and helpful- they seem to know a lot about how to treat degus, thankfully. I'll book an appointment asap, and hopefully we can get to the bottom of it.

[bouncy]

Good plan!

Don't worry about the hair loss for now, as this could easily be due to the stress, provided there is no other other inflamation on the skin

[fruitbowl]

Well, I called the vet who filed his teeth, and she told me that the equipment she used wasn't really "meant for small animals" so it likely missed a bit. She then recommended that we visit a vet that knows about degus, which they claimed to when we started with them, so now I feel a bit lost.

I feel peeved that for a month he's carried on in pain because they didn't have the right equipment! But I now have to hunt for a different vets that I can trust with degus. A new plot twist!

[bouncy]

Have a look on the thread in this section that contains vet recommendations. Whereabouts are you?

[skardsen]

I don't mean to hijack your thread or anything, but Finn rubs his teeth every day. He only really does it after he's eaten or chewed on something though. I recently had them both at the vet for a check up and I stupidly forgot to mention it at the time. The vet checked everything about them except their teeth. Do you think it's worth me going back to get him looked at? He's a smart little guy and he's tough enough to shrug this kind of thing off, so I don't know if he's in any real pain or not.

[moletteuk]

Your current vet ought to be able to refer you to an 'exotics' vet. Do check out our vet list just in case you live near any of them, otherwise you could check other small animal forums for vet recommendations or phone any local small animal rescues for a recommendation, or just hit the phone and ask about experience with degu dental work.

@skarsden if he is touching his front teeth you should be able to get a look at those for yourself one way or another, if he is trying to touch back teeth then let the vet have a look.