Tabitha's teeth - but so sudden

[newtohamsters]

A few months after I brought tabs home she got very quite and the only thing she seemed to do was chew her bottle - which meant she was soaked all the time.

After a lot of trial and error she was put in a much bigger cage but still seemed wet - finally I worked out tab's teeth were the problem and she was taken to the vets to have them filed.

She has been fine since the end of feb, bimbling around, eatin sleeping etc.

any how today, I cleaned out her cage and as a treat I gave her a few chocolate drop treats. the next minute I looked round and she was dribbling chocolate. it scared the wosits out of me - first I thought it was blood!

I cleaned her up and she didn't really object, but she didn't make a nest or touch her food,

In fact when I thought about it later she hasn't been used her pouches much either.

I phoned the vets after our cleaning and asked for an appointment they didn't have any but when I described what was happening the nurse(LOVELY WOMAN) said it sounded like her teeth again, and I should book her in for a filing, if it was that fine if not the vet would look her over and see if they was anything else.

Can anyone suggest what it might be. I am bricking it here. it seemed to happen so suddenly this time. literally over night with the massive drooling.

Bless her she is so lovely, never bites ever not even when you are wiping her face and trying to clean her neck.

thanks for any suggestions

xx

[newtohamsters]

Also she smells REALLy bad, like her scent but much worse very pungent, that has only been today - is stress? she wasn;t like this yesterday.

I have just got her out and she is not drooling as badly and seems mostly dry.

any ideas?

xx

[jayne]

i'm sorry i really dont know what it could be. i'm sure one of the more experienced members will be able to help you out thought.
i hope tabitha is ok and the vet can help her :)

[pophammy]

It sounds like it is her teeth again but I expect the vet will want to check her pouches for any impacted food or for abcesses in the teeth or gums. Is the smell you describe from her female 'bits'? Females are often quite smelly at certain times in their cycles, however if the smell is really bad and not like her normal scent it could indicate an infection. I would ask the vet to check her over. Feel her tummy and check it is not swollen and look for any discharge. I hope she gets on well at the vets and is back at tip-top health soon!

[newtohamsters]

thanks guys xx

I am wondering if it may be old age, I have no real idea of age, I just know she was given away on freecycle for no reason and was about six months old, so now she would be 16 months old or so.

she is a lot slower then Willow ( just a year next month) and tonight seems so tired and fragile.

I wish I hadn't worked out her age that just completely depressed me.

why can't they liver longer

:cry:

xx

[Spuds Mum]

Dont give up on her yet!
My Peanut has looked ancient since about a year old - and is three in May!

We keep thinking that he is not going to be with us for much longer, but suddenly we realised that we had been worrying about that for longer than we hadn't (if you know what I mean).

It may very well be her teeth - and they may need clipping again - you usually find if they are slightly out of line then this is something that may need doing regularly. You can ask the vet to show you how to clip them and then do it yourself at home - thats what we do for a couple of ours. It then makes it so easy to check all of our hamsters teeth on a weekly basis and to clip them down if they do need it.

Hope that she is with you for a long long time, and that her current problem is something very simple to cure x :D

[Holly]

Aww belss her, I hope it's something simple like her teeth and that the vet can help her.

As Spud's Mum says, don't give up on her yet - my Treacle had two strokes last November and I thought we'd lose him then, he's still going strong just looking very skinny!

[Hammihog]

Good luck at the vets, I hope she is okay. Fingers and paws crossed for her :D

[sarahh]

Hi ya does sound like teeth some small animals get trouble with their teeth we had a rabbit who had to keep having his teeth filed because is misalignment of his jaw. Dribbling also sounds like teeth aswell.

I wouldn't give up on your hammy yet your doing the right thing taking her to the vets.

Let us know what happens fingers crossed

Sarah x

[newtohamsters]

I am not giving up on her in anyway, I just thought since she had an unknown history she may be older then the rescuers thought.

I dropped her off at the vets this morning, it turned out it was her teeth again. her bottom teeth were digging into the roof of her mouth poor little girl, they have now been filed (Eeek) and she came home tonight, much much happier and very excited to be home.

The last time she had them done was only two months ago, vet reckoned it would take at least four months for them to cause her discomfort again - clearly that was wrong!

thanks

NTH

[Basia]

Thank goodness, lets hope she is right as rain now. Perhaps the vet can show you how to check and maybe clip her teeth like Spuds Mum suggested.

[sarahh]

Hi ya Aww bless glad the vet sorted them out for her. Ouch digging in the roof of her mouth painful. Atleast now they have been sorted for a while. The trouble is with alot of small animals their teeth are continually growing.

[Spuds Mum]

The last time she had them done was only two months ago, vet reckoned it would take at least four months for them to cause her discomfort again - clearly that was wrong!

thanks

NTH

we used to have to clip our girls teeth every fortnight, they grew so quickly as they were misaligned and so didnt get ground down normally. It will be well worth keeping a close eye on them and maybe learning to clip them yourself - its easy, honest, once you know how :D

[souffle]

Thank goodness she is feeling better now. As Spud's mum said it would be good if you could do it yourself and would likely save vets bills too :lol: Maybe Spud's mum will make a photo guide though obviously everyone would need to have the problem confirmed by a vet and be shown how to do this before trying it.

[Spuds Mum]

Thank goodness she is feeling better now. As Spud's mum said it would be good if you could do it yourself and would likely save vets bills too :lol: Maybe Spud's mum will make a photo guide though obviously everyone would need to have the problem confirmed by a vet and be shown how to do this before trying it.

cool idea Souffle - I may just do that when I get chance!

[newtohamsters]

Glups.

I really don't think I could cut them myself. yikes.

its cost 20.50 is that expensive ( I mean I wasn't thrilled with it but given the vast quantities of cash the rats cost me its like a drop in a very big credit bill!!)

but does anyone know how much it would cost at their vets?

and I mentioned this board in relation to homeless syrians don't hate me when you all look at the hopefully cute pictures!



xx

[sarahh]

Hi ya I don't think £20.50 is that bad really. When I had a lump removed from my hamsters chin it cost me £80 just for a small lump and a GA.

Personally I wouldn't cut your hammies teeth yourself and I wouldn't do it with any of mine either. I have done nails and so has mum being an ex vet nurse/human nurse she knows what she's doing. I have had one of my hams teeth clipped in the past. Not sure how much it would cost at ours as ours is a recognised vetrinary hospital recognised by the RCVS which helps.

Sarah x

[Spuds Mum]

Our vet charges £6 - £10!
I understand sarahh's concern, but if shown how to do it by the vet, it is perfectly easy, and of course painless for the animal.
However, should you prefer, I'm sure the vet wont mind continuing to cut them down, but I would suggest if they grew to the roof of her mouth, then she needs taking at shorter intervals. :D

[newtohamsters]

I have to say it was a bit weird, cos she had been very normal up to saturday, and then in afternoon, she was drooling so badly - I had had her out most of the morning, clean out day and she had been fine, but then at about 4ish she was soaking.

I felt awful that they were digging in to her mouth. I think will jst take her back every month from now on.

xx

[Spuds Mum]

thats a good idea, and you can always practice having a look every week or so just to get used to checking her mouth and seeing what 'usual' is. :D

Hope she stays well :wink: