Teeth Clipping

[madmish]

I have just noticed that one of my three girls has problems with her teeth. None of them particularly like being handled so it is hard to check these things regularly and she always comes running and takes food. However, I managed to get her out today and noticed that she kept taking food but then dropping it. When I have looked closely her front teeth have sort of curved backwards and grow in behing her bottom teeth.

I am going to arrange a trip to the vets first thing in the morning but just wondering if there is anything I should know about teeth clipping first. I have searched locally and I am going to try ringing these vets in the morning as they seem to be the most qualified with exotics in the area

www.penninevets.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=28

Has anybody ever used these vets or can give me any advice or other recommendations near to Wigan?

Really worried as I don't know how long she hasn't been eating and she has lost about 10g since I last weighed her. Tried giving her some baby food but she wouldn't have it so need to get her seen urgently

[blossombrooks]

I'm afraid I can't help with the teeth clipping info but I've heard of ways to get degus with poorly teeth to eat. If you use p@h nuggets try wetting one of those. Or I'm sure I've seen on a thread that peanut butter can be given in very small amounts but the kind with no sugar in. Hopefully someone who knows more than me will be along to help soon. Hope you get her sorted! :-)

[madmish]

thanks for your reply. I've tried giving her baby food and boiled up plain oats into porridge but she is having none of it!

On closer inspection after she finally stopped wriggling it appears she has actually snapped both of her top teeth near the root but they have not come off fully and are pointing backwards into her mouth. She keeps grinding them but I don't know if this will break them off.

How quickly do teeth grow back. She still has an appetite but keeps going for the hard food and then realising she can't eat it. She is still lively so not too worried about her not eating just yet. Just hope the vet can sort her out in the morning!

[nickymills30]

i had the same type of thing, with a female goo. My vet, didn't really know what a degu was, but knew that you don't clip them, but use a grinding type of wheel to shorten them,.

If their teeth are clipped, it can split the tooth, and cause problems, so just ask your local vet a few questions. As i say, mine hadn't treated a degu before, but understood about teeth xx

[madmish]

Well, got up and checked on her first thing this morning and she appears to have grinded the teeth off. Caught her sat chewing on a piece of hay and she happily snatched oats out of my hand so she seems to be able to eat again just not anything big and hard yet. Tried soaking a degu nugget for her but she just looked at me like I'd gone mad and ran off!

Going to try and get some water into her and will ring the vets when they open in 30mins to try and get her in today to have them checked because I'm concerned that if they snapped at an angle they might start growing back funny.

[madmish]

Thanks. Feeling a bit better now. The vet says they should grow back to normal length within 4-6 weeks and has just said to keep an eye on the bottom teeth to make sure they don't start to overgrow in the meantime and to take her in to have them burred if they start getting too long. As the 'stumps' are still sticking out the gum she said she should be back on solids within the week so hopefully she won't make any further Houdini attempts from the top of the cage!