Teeth issues

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Devon Picard

New Member
Joined
May 17, 2018
Messages
1
Location
Townsend
Hello! I have a ratty Names Hagrid. He's 10 months now. He developed a small lump on his cheek. It feels like swelling. I noticed when I would rub it, he would enjoy it. I also got a little peak into his mouth and noticed on his bottom teeth, one was filed at a slant and the other was long, and the top front teeth looked a little crooked maybe (I'm not sure if that's normal). He is eating and drinking still and active.

I called the vet and they cant take him until monday. Is anything I can do in the time beimg to help him at all?

Thank you!
Devon
 
Well, you may already know this but rattie teeth can look pretty crooked to us at any given moment. That's because they are actually just differently constructed from us, and can alter the angle of their teeth intentionally to a certain extent. They use this to change between biting and bruxing for example.

So that's the good news - crooked's not the end of the world. Bad news is, yeah if he has a very long tooth and an abscess (if), that's something that only the vet can resolve and you can't do much about.

But: the most important thing is that he's eating and drinking. I'm not your veterinarian (!) but in my experience that's the first question the vet asks, and the most important indicator of rattie OK-dom.

I get that Monday's a long time. If it's too long, look up 'emergency vet's near you, as they take walk-ins and *sometimes* aren't much more expensive nor lower quality (read some reviews, I'd advise) than your regular vet.

Good luck!
 
There's not much you can do for now, the vet should do a teeth trimming and prescribe antibiotic if that's indeed an abscess. And like it was already mentioned, if your rat seems comfortable and is eating and drinking, I'd way for that Monday appointment.
 
Hello again! Thank you guys for your feedback! I ended up taking Hagrid to the vet ER today because he seemed so miserable. They were able to drain the lump, it was an abscess. They have him on clavamox for the next two weeks. They said his bottom tooth broke and the other one over grew. He still has his appointment on Monday to fix his teeth. Would it break from me not giving him the right chew toys?

Can you guys recommend any good chew toys?
 
There's nothing you can do or omit to make a rat's tooth break. With an unbroken tooth, he can shorten his teeth just by grinding them against each other and requires zero toys or other purchased items to do this.

With an broken tooth, no amount of chew toys will help. So really it's just a medical issue that you have to solve, and hopefully it'll never come up again. No deeper meaning or implications for your rat parenting, I promise!
 
How is he doing now?
Hopefully the clavamox will kill the infection.
Facial abscesses are very dangerous, and he may need antibiotics for much longer then 2 weeks
 
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