Degus with broken teeth and feeding

[jezzer]

Hi all, first post on here sadly because of a degu with a problem! (Apologies for the long post)
Our 5 month old blue degu was drooling this morning, he is often wet around the mouth after drinking but this was thicker and dripping from his mouth. Could find no obvious reason and read it could be due to infection so off to the vet it was.
Vet found he had a sore tongue and worryingly his top front teeth were broken off and hanging on by a bit of flesh which he removed. Now we are not sure if the teeth were broken before or after the drooling because he lept from the cage this morning and gave me a nasty nip which I do not think he could have done on broken teeth.
Vet gave pain relief orally and we have to do daily for 5 days. Problem is food and feeding. Vet suggested vegetarian baby food watered down by syringe. He is not that keen, either on the food or the syringe in his mouth, but we are persisting.
Question’s are, how much watered down baby food should we try and feed him? And is there anything better we could try? Usually eats degu nuggets which we have tried mushing up in water but again not too keen. He has had a go at a degu yoghurt drop but does not seem to have got much of it.
Any help appreciated, he seems OK at the moment but know how quickly lack of food can affect them.
Thanks

[smux]

No such thing as a "degu" yoghurt drop, firstly...degus for the most part aren't very keen on dairy products. Not to say he doesn't like it, of course...one of mine (Theresa) loves chocolate and she sometimes gets a tiny bit as a treat :-P

He should be fine without eating for a day or so at least, he has a supply of food in his mouth that'll keep him going if he can't find food, so don't worry too much about it...just persevere with the attempts and try everything you can. The amount you feed him is up to you, any amount you give will help. With the baby food, I wouldn't have suggested watering it down...only if it doesn't squirt out of the syringe properly. Once he gets hungry he won't be as fussy about the food.

If all attempts fail and he is obviously in need of food, take him back to the vet and he'll hopefully be able to put the guy on a intravenous drip to feed him...I don't see that happening though, just leave a small bowl with some mushy nuggets in, he'll eat it if he gets hungry enough.

Is he still drinking okay? I notice feeding is mentioned, but not drinking...As he has his bottom teeth, this shouldn't be a problem, but it's worth checking to be sure. Also, if he is, it has been suggested in this forum that camomile tea in their water can provide natural remedies to the same problems it helps in humans...you may also be able to put other supplements (no idea what specifically, would need advice from someone more in the know than me :-)) in his water to ensure he's getting at least some of what he needs.

Main advice...persist, as you are, with the feeding...they hate it, but it's keeping them going. Feed as much as you can, but if they struggle too much give them a break for a bit :-)

[deguconvert]

I'm going to disagree with Smux here. I would continue trying to find a food that your boy will eat. If he has been having trouble with his teeth for a while, and it culminated in what you discovered at the vets today, then he may well be low on any storage in cheeks or on his body. A loss of food source for a day for two could be traumatic for him if his health is less than optimum. So with that in mind, have a look at this link . . . deguworld.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=health&action=display&thread=6023
You can make this mixture in a looser more watery manner, and it should be quite tempting to him. You should probably hold him in your hand and feed him so that he is able to eat in peace. Any of your other degus (if you have multiples) will want to tuck into it as well. Hopefully this is something you can put together. Another option so that he doesn't loose too much weight is to get kitten milk and syringe feed him with that.

[moletteuk]

If you find a mushy food or food mix he likes, maybe he would lick it up for himself? Presumably his molars are OK so he should be able to do the grinding chewing still once his tongue settles down.

You might need to keep an eye on his teeth for quite a while, his bottom teeth might overgrow with nothing to bite against.