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aranel05

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2013
Messages
63
Location
Canada
Hi everyone,

I am worried about my rat Martin. He has had a rough week. Last Sunday, I noticed that he had an infection due to bumblefoot (Did not notice the bumblefoot until I noticed the swelling/infection). I got him into the vet as soon as possible (Tuesday afternoon). While waiting to go to the vet, I noticed he was having a hard time eating. I figured this was due to him not being able to balance well, since he couldn't use his foot at all (by Monday, his foot was super swollen). But he would kind of vibrate his front paws when attempting to eat, and also seemed to have a hard time chewing. I soaked his hard food in water, and he ate it that way.

The vet put him on Baytril for the infection, and by the next day the swelling went down. However, on Thursday, I noticed he had a huge lump under his chin (If this was there earlier, it must have been very small, as neither the vet or I noticed it). I took him to the vet, she had to lance it (it was an abscess).

He is still acting weird, though. He isn't eating his regular food (Oxbow Essentials Regal Rat Food--he has been eating this for over a year), and still seems to have a bit of a difficult time chewing. I gave him a piece of a cracker today, and he was able to hold it and eat it, but seems to eat a lot slower than usual. He has also lost a lot of weird. And, unlike at the beginning of the week, he won't eat his hard food if I soak it in water.

He is also making a weird bruxing sound thst he has never made before. Rather than the noise he used to make while bruxing, it sounds like sharp clicking noises (if that makes any sense). He also starts making this noise after he eats. When I was at the vet, she clipped his teeth. I do not know if this would have anything to do with it.

This evening while I was letting him and his friend out to play, I let eat the end of my smoothie (Spinich, banana, apple, water). He enjoyed licking the remains of it, but then starting making the strange bruxing noise again. He then became very agitated, started rubbing his face, and tried to hide under a towel. If touched him at all he would shriek and try to run away (this is not normal). He is also still walking funny, but I am assuming that this is because of the remains of the bumblefoot.

What should I be feeding him if he wont eat his food? He is more likely to eat soft food right now. I have a good blender, so can mix him up something to eat through that. Also, how many times should I feed him the soft food (if I leave it in the cage, my other rat will eat it)? I guess I should also add thst his foot is no longer swollen, the bottom is just still sore.
 
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I am also worried that the eating issue could be due to the way his teeth were clipped. I believe the vet did all the teeth at once. I didn't really see the clipped part, but I caught a glimpse of it and it looked a little uneven. Could this be causing the different bruxing noise/the difficult time chewing?
 
Can you get a video of him? The abscess under his jaw, his teeth issues could all indicate a tooth abscess, which is horribly painful and could cause the uneven bruxxing. Can you get a pic of his foot as well?
 
I will attempt to take a video/pictures. I looked at his top teeth this morning, and one indeed appears to be longer than the other (the vet must have clipped his teeth wrong). When I took him to the vet to get the abscess lanced, she checked for a tooth abscess (this is what we both thought it was when I described the neck abscess to her), but she said that his teeth looked fine. He is also still on Baytril. I don't know if this would make a difference if he actually had the tooth abscess.

Pictures to come soon! I am waiting for him to calm down a little after my checking his teeth.
 
My videos are not the greatest, and it is hard to hear noise.

This is a video in which you can her the weird bruxing. On my end, the video sounds like he's making squeaking noises. Note that this is not how he sounds in person. When I listen to him simply through my ears, rather than through the audio of the video, it is definitely not squeaks, but clicking noises (video his teeth). View My Video

This video is of him after eating. Notice that he starts to become agitated (This video takes place before the first one). View My Video

(Sorry the second video is upside down)
 
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The first video cannot be seen as it just flattens him out, the 2nd video, hurt my neck and made the blood rush to my brain and it was the Good video to watch LOL

Sometimes after a too short tooth trim, their mouth and teeth feel funny, and they sometimes will rub at their face, and even not eat solids. Try him with some nice soft food and see how that goes?
 
Sorry--just realized that the video was somehow turned upside down!

What kind of food would be a good soft food? For some reason he won't touch his regular food, even when I soak it in water and mash it up. Today I mixed the food with baby food, and he just ate licked the baby food off of his regular food.

This video might work better than the first one. I think he still looks warped, but the audio is a little better. View My Video

Thanks for your advice.
 
I wonder if your boy needs some metacam for pain management. A tooth abscess can be very painful. Also, if he still on Baytril? He will need abs to fight that abscess on the chin.
 
I wonder if your boy needs some metacam for pain management. A tooth abscess can be very painful. Also, if he still on Baytril? He will need abs to fight that abscess on the chin.

He is still on Baytril. He will be on it for a few more days. I have been giving him infant ibuprofen, but would metacam be better. I noticed today that he has been picking at his foot a lot. The foot is no longer swollen, but has sores on the bottom. Would tea tree oil or something help?
 
Maybe diluted tea tree oil.
I would go back to the vet, ask for a recheck which should be cheaper than a regular visit. Ask for more baytril and explain how he is still not eating and you realize he's in pain and if you can get some pain management for him. Also, you could ask the vet if perhaps an antibiotic for abscesses might be better for abscess like Clavamox.
 
Thanks! I shall do all of the above! He seems a little better today, I think.

Also, cleaning the remains of the abscess (it was lanced) with saline: Is this OK?
 
And one more dumb question: Could his now uneven top teeth be causing his strange behavioural issues (As I said before, it appears (it is hard to keep him still to look long enough right now) that one of his top teeth are bigger than the other). I.e., could this be causing the weird bruxing and avoidance of regular food? I am worried the vet did something wrong when she clipped his teeth. After feeding him vegetables today, I noticed he still acts strange afterwards -- he starts bruxing and is now kind of tilting his head to the side, and rubs his face (I will be taking him to the vet later this week).
 
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One of my rat's teeth used to chronically overgrow because her bite was off. We used to knock her out with gas to trim her teeth with a diamond disc. It was very controlled and the teeth could be trimmed evenly without worry of the teeth splitting and causing more pain.
 
Hello again.

I have an update and another question: I took Martin back to the vet last week. I was told that the pain he is experiencing (he was not able to eat any hard food, and when I fed him soft food he would get extremely agitated and start shaking his head) was due to his teeth. The vet gave me metacam and orbifloxacin, and scheduled me for another appointment so that she could knock him out with gas, and fix his teeth.

For about three days after his dental work, he was still very sore (the vet told me he would be). Yesterday morning he was finally eating his hard food again, and seems to be getting back to his normal self. However, today I noticed that his lower inscisors are completely uneven. It looks like one of them chipped off, as only one inscisor is visible to me. He seems to be fine, and ate a cracker without appearing to be in pain (Also note that he is no longer on metacam). Are his now uneven lower inscisors going to lead to more issues, though? Or will eventually will they even out (by his grinding).
 
I spoke too soon: He is indeed having a difficult time eating hard food again. Poor Martin: he was finally able to eat his regular food again, and then his tooth cracked or chipped :( .
 
I think you need to change your goal:
Not to have Martin eat his regular food again, but to have Martin be able to eat at all, pain-free.
Your vet put him on a pain killer and an antibiotic. If he was on an antibiotic, then she must have thought he had an infection (and this may have been why he was finally comfortable for a bit). If he has an infected tooth, it needs to come out. If you do not remove an infected tooth, when the antibiotics wear off the infection will come back.
He obviously has more going on than uneven teeth. You vet needs to determine the underlying cause. If his tooth is broken, it may regrow. If it has actually fallen out, that may be a good thing because if it fell out it was obviously not healthy. However, if he is still having pain, then there is still a problem (probably infection).
He needs to go back to the vet to have her reassess him and keep investigating this problem. Make sure he has regular trims to keep his teeth from over-growing, and make sure he has soaked lab blocks (soft food) at all times.
 
Thanks for the advice! Last night and this morning he was actually eating his hard food again (by himself, I did not force him to do so). Now he's sleeping on the belly of his brother, who is laying on his back his his feet in the air.

I was able to take a closer loom in his mouth today, and all of his teeth look better than yesterday, one lower inscisor still smaller than the other. This is odd, since last night while I looked in his mouth it looked a lot worse. Actually, after the vet did dental work and was talking to me, she told me that if she did not know any better, she would have thought that he was a different rat--she said that his teeth looked completely different from the teeth she saw three days prior to her working on his teeth. She told me before that his bottom teeth and front teeth looked strange/uneven before, but when she looked again they looked fine (other than the chipped top inscisor from the previous vet's bad clipping, which she fixed).

The vet told me that he does not infection. When I took him in for a re-check, she wasn't able to look at all his teeth while awake, and did not have time that day to give him gas to knock him out. She put him on antibiotics in case there was an infection she couldn't see before she could give his mouth a more thorough check. He had also just had the abscess drained, so was continuing antibiotics for that (now there is just a scar where the abscess used to be). After knocking him out and was able to look at his mouth in detail, she told me that there was no infection.

(Oh, and I have had soft food out for him at all times)
 
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I'm glad to hear that he doesn't have an infected tooth. Keep on top of his teeth and don't let them get too out of whack. Hopefully this is a transient thing and will self-correct after a bit.
 
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