White teeth!

Shop with us on Ebay
Advertise with us
Fins us on Amazon
The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
L

lindsayfawn

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Messages
5,276
Location
Moncton, NB
I was taking the girls out for playtime and was getting Janeway out when I caught a glimps of her teeth and saw they are white! I know from reading that this means they're usually sick because their teeth are supposed to be yellow/orange. She seems fine to me, she has a little scratch on the top of her foot from Gloria picking on her a little so I put polysporin on it. I checked her over and couldn't feel any bumps, lumps or huge wounds or anything.
Is this something that I should just see what happens and see if there are any other signs or just take her to the vet? There's nothing externally wrong with her so it has to be something internally.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Linds
 
Is she a baby or an adult? I believe younger babies have white-ish teeth, not the vivid yellow/orange we're used to. Sick rats don't get white teeth, unless it's a very long and debilitating illness. Generally speaking, it's because they're not getting the right nutrition, or they're not absorbing it. I would get her into the vet asap, since it could be something fairly serious.
 
she's an adult, she's one of the girls we adopted from Clark's rescue. She's the only one that has white teeth and they all eat the same stuff, lab blocks, fruits and veggies. She seems fine though, really active, eating and drinking, she has had some proph around her eyes. I have to wait and get paid before I can make an appointment for her.
 
that's interesting. My Bill, who is about seven months old and has never been on medication, also has white teeth. He seems the picture of health.... slim, muscular, lively.
 
one of spider's babies had white teeth. she was never ill in her life until she suddenly died at nearly 3 years old (we suspect a heart attack) though she did have a weight issue as most of spider's babies did. i believe she was the last of the babies to pass on though. she never had any problems with her teeth other then being white either.

i currently have a rat with white teeth myself as well, Tasche. she does have a deep lump on her abdomen. its not even the size of a coin and has been there for about a month without growth. the white teeth i only noticed recently though. but neither the lump nor the teeth bother her in the least. other then the deformities she is perfectly healthy. much better then when she first got here. as she was a rescue i don't know how old she is. she appears to be under a year from how she carries herself, feels and looks though. everyone else has nice yellow teeth though. even the ones that have been or are seriously sick like serraphim, zen and bribery.

so i really don't know what white teeth could mean. my best guess would be a genetic deformity to a cavity... but i really don't know.
 
The young adult Liverpool girls all have white teeth.
As they continue to recieve good nutrition, I assume that their teeth will gradually change to a healthier - for ratties - colour.
 
Interesting, doing some research...

white teeth in young adolescent rats is quite normal (4 months and up)...

teeth only turn white when they have lost their essential blood supply. this means his teeth are more fragile. i do not know if blood supply can return to teeth once it has stopped, but i hope it does, and i hope i am wrong.

(I knew they were more fragile but wasn't sure why)

Oooh RKEM posted this on Goose...
Turns out that despite his teeth being bright white, they look perfectly normal. The vet said that with white teeth when it's a growth defect the teeth are smaller tha normal, his are normal sized and perfectly alligned. He is smaller than his brother (230g vs 280g for Badger) but not thin. She said that the coloration might come back after a while with me from getting a more varied diet but that it is also possible that they remain like that for the rest of his life if it's something in his genetic background.

(her boy Wombat is nicknamed the Colgate Boy)

and now this...
A rat's teeth are orange when they are healthy. I have learned (from having rats with malocclusions) that when the teeth are white they tend to be growing too quickly and are brittle.

article on trimming teeth where it is mentioned
http://ratballs.com/RatTails/Tails080.html

So the consensus seems to be malnutrition (which should resolve), loss of blood supply (not sure about resolving), genetic inheritance...but those teeth are definitely more fragile.
 
lilspaz68 said:
So the consensus seems to be malnutrition (which should resolve),
Click to expand...

it must not be a necessary thing for the malnutrition that the teeth will go white though. both rosie and even lydia (who starved to death) had yellow teeth. though they were a bit paler then my own rats (not quite as dark a yellow/orange) but they weren't white.
 
twitch said:
lilspaz68 said:
So the consensus seems to be malnutrition (which should resolve),
Click to expand...

it must not be a necessary thing for the malnutrition that the teeth will go white though. both rosie and even lydia (who starved to death) had yellow teeth. though they were a bit paler then my own rats (not quite as dark a yellow/orange) but they weren't white.
Click to expand...

Its possible they were taken care of until she decided to starve them. Or maybe some rats are more inclined towards this than others.
 
starvation is a form of malnutrition though. and lydia was starved. rosie was little better off. so yeah, i'm thinking some are more inclined then others as well.
 
hmm, yeah that could be it too. i wonder how long they have to suffer on subpar foods then for the malnutrition to change the color of their teeth....
 
I've only had her for a month and a week. She is a rescue from Clark's. I don't know how she could have malnutrition though? They get labblocks every day and fruits and veggies and some chicken or tuna every now and then and baby cereal. They're spoiled lol
None of the other 9 have white teeth...strange. So if it is malnutrition should I start feeding her ensure if her teeth are brittle?
 
has her teeth just turned white or have they been white since you got her? it could be a genetic thing too, and the experience with the one rat for me that had as a genetic thing, she was completely fine. she never had any problems with her teeth. you may just want to check them regularly to make sure they stay aligned and whole, but that might be all that is needed.

i doesn't sound like it could be malnutrition with what she is getting and i think the loss of blood, well white teeth would probably be the last thing you notice as you would have other things to worry about. i would think an injury would be a part of blood loss and that would have other signs then just white teeth.


lilspaz-in your travels researching this, did it say anything about cavities possibly being a cause?
 
her health is perfect from what I can tell, she's really active. I'm not sure if she had white teeth when we got her I just noticed the other day when she yawned. She has a little tiny red mark on her foot from Gloria picking on her I think but that wouldn't be enough to drain the blood from her teeth.
I'll get some ensure and give her some of that just in case. She's been eating the labblocks from what I can tell with out hurting her teeth.
 
I'd like to add to the white teeth debate. I just looked at Beni's teeth while giving him his enalapril. White. Then I looked at Teya's and Laila's teeth (his sisters/cagemates) and they had lovely yellowy orange teeth.

Beni has CHF...makes you go hmmmmm....
 

Latest posts

Back
Top