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Old 12-16-2015, 08:14 AM   #1
NessaDale
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Default Maddie Won't Chew!

My little girl won't chew on anything! Wood, toys, mineral blocks, doh biscuits! Any suggestions? Her teeth have grow all the way up into the top of her mouth and she is going to the vet today to have them clipped, but I want to avoid future visits!

She will scratch things, but does not like to bite often. I give her toys with treats inside and she only uses her claws to get in.
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Old 12-16-2015, 08:32 AM   #2
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Default Re: Maddie Won't Chew!

Hi NessaDale. I hope the tooth trim goes okay and doesn`t cause her too much stress, but if her lower teeth are growing too long, they will stop her eating and she will gradually lose weight. Some hamsters just don`t chew a lot, while some will keep gnawing on things until it`s destroyed!

Diet: Normally, a hamster`s food will keep their teeth in good order as they use their front incisors to nibble down food and then use their back molars to `chew`, just as we do. Sometimes front teeth can be misaligned or don`t meet properly. Ask your vet to check this although I`m sure they will do.

Once the teeth are trimmed, she may or may not want to bite down on anything too big or too hard right away, so break up anything hard like extruded biscuits (usually don`t get eaten by hamsters) but it helps to break them into smaller pieces all the same.

Soak/wet biscuits for her to manage them better. Using a small piece of bonio might help or you can mash this with crushed nuts and sunflower seeds to taste nutty and keep her appetite going. It`s all about getting her to eat and to maintain her body weight. A pestle & mortar is a great took, I use mine a lot.

What age is she? x
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Old 12-16-2015, 08:34 AM   #3
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Default Re: Maddie Won't Chew!

I just had a look at your last update on Maddie & with the damage done to her mouth back then it's possible her teeth just aren't growing back quite the way they should be so the top & bottom teeth grind down, it may make chewing uncomfortable for her & it does sound as though you tried most things, have you tried whimzees? Most hams will chew those if they can but if her teeth are now misaligned she may need to have them clipped regularly which can be as frequent as every two or three weeks so you'll need to keep a close eye on them & watch how she manages with her food if that is the case.
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Old 12-16-2015, 09:17 AM   #4
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Default Re: Maddie Won't Chew!

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Originally Posted by racinghamster View Post
Hi NessaDale. I hope the tooth trim goes okay and doesn`t cause her too much stress, but if her lower teeth are growing too long, they will stop her eating and she will gradually lose weight. Some hamsters just don`t chew a lot, while some will keep gnawing on things until it`s destroyed!

Diet: Normally, a hamster`s food will keep their teeth in good order as they use their front incisors to nibble down food and then use their back molars to `chew`, just as we do. Sometimes front teeth can be misaligned or don`t meet properly. Ask your vet to check this although I`m sure they will do.

Once the teeth are trimmed, she may or may not want to bite down on anything too big or too hard right away, so break up anything hard like extruded biscuits (usually don`t get eaten by hamsters) but it helps to break them into smaller pieces all the same.

Soak/wet biscuits for her to manage them better. Using a small piece of bonio might help or you can mash this with crushed nuts and sunflower seeds to taste nutty and keep her appetite going. It`s all about getting her to eat and to maintain her body weight. A pestle & mortar is a great took, I use mine a lot.

What age is she? x
Maddie is just under a year (born March 15th). She was very sick, lost teeth, went half bald, lost weight, and the vet thought I'd lose her. Since then she has gained her weight back to a healthy weight and 90% of the fur has grown back. She randomly stops eating and the vet thinks she is sorting her food for the treats (her favorite is a rice Krispy type of grain I call puffs) anD doesn't eat the pellets. From day 1 she never chewed but since she lost teeth it was never a problem before. Since she's feeling better and her teeth are not falling out, her not chewing has let them grow almost into the roof of her mouth. She stopped eating yesterday (hens vet trip today). She didn't like the dog biscuits I tried and she only scratches her toys. I don't want this treatment to become a regular thing.
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Old 12-16-2015, 09:35 AM   #5
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Default Re: Maddie Won't Chew!

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Originally Posted by cypher View Post
I just had a look at your last update on Maddie & with the damage done to her mouth back then it's possible her teeth just aren't growing back quite the way they should be so the top & bottom teeth grind down, it may make chewing uncomfortable for her & it does sound as though you tried most things, have you tried whimzees? Most hams will chew those if they can but if her teeth are now misaligned she may need to have them clipped regularly which can be as frequent as every two or three weeks so you'll need to keep a close eye on them & watch how she manages with her food if that is the case.
I've never heard of a wimzee. I live in Canada, maybe there is another name for them.

She grinds her teeth a LOT. I hear her all the time, I don't know if she does that to help grind them down or from agitation, bit I know she does it obsessively. She was moved into a detolf cage last week and it's at the head of my bed so at night she.lays beside my head and just grinds.

Since her injuries, she has puss come out of her cheek pouches so a few times a month I open her mouth and wipe it away. I did that yesterday and that's when I noticed her teeth didn't look right.

When I get home I'll take a picture if she will let me. They have a gap in between them and one of them has grown much farther then the other and it has a spot half way up that is thinner then the rest of the tooth.
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Old 12-16-2015, 10:09 AM   #6
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Default Re: Maddie Won't Chew!

Whimzees are also known as antos dog chews, another chew you could try is greenies again a dog chew.

Have you spoken to the vet about her pouches? If she has a recurrent infection there she will most likely need a course of antibiotics or even more than one course if it's persistent.
It does sound as though her teeth aren't growing correctly any more & unfortunately that will mean regular trips to the vet as there's no other way of dealing with it, only regular clipping.
I would also ask the vet to check the back teeth if this hasn't been done, they may well be fine but with ongoing problems with the front teeth they may not be wearing down either.
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Old 12-16-2015, 10:45 AM   #7
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Default Re: Maddie Won't Chew!

Oh, the poor love. I didn`t know she`s had previous injuries to her teeth. It will be a battle of wills now to make sure she is getting the right nutrition and that he teeth are either lost or beginning to regrow. The puss from her mouth/pouches doesn`t sound good. I went though similar with a gerbil I had and I know how difficult it can be to keep them interested in food. I wish you well with her and hope you manage to find a routine that suits her. x
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Old 12-16-2015, 10:53 AM   #8
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Default Re: Maddie Won't Chew!

I took a picture of her teeth. Im thinking that the middle where the one tooth is very thin is where shes been grinding them. Im worried it will snap and she will swollow the shard. Vet appointment is in about an hour and a half.

I gave her a dog buiscut again (milkbone) and shes licking it, so maybe she will start chewing them when her teeth are better. And i found a store that sells Wimzees, so I'll pick up a pack of small ones.

Trying this link cuzz photobucket wont upload it:

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Old 12-16-2015, 10:59 AM   #9
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Default Re: Maddie Won't Chew!

Quote:
Originally Posted by cypher View Post
Whimzees are also known as antos dog chews, another chew you could try is greenies again a dog chew.

Have you spoken to the vet about her pouches? If she has a recurrent infection there she will most likely need a course of antibiotics or even more than one course if it's persistent.
It does sound as though her teeth aren't growing correctly any more & unfortunately that will mean regular trips to the vet as there's no other way of dealing with it, only regular clipping.
I would also ask the vet to check the back teeth if this hasn't been done, they may well be fine but with ongoing problems with the front teeth they may not be wearing down either.
The vet wanted to look inside the pouches and the back teeth, but said that they would need to put her to sleep to do it and they did not think she would survive because of how sick she was. Videos online show a vet clipping teeth quickly without putting them under (except one video I found) so I'm hoping its like cutting nails, fast ad painless. But because they didnt want to put her under, her back teeth have never been checked.

She was on two types of antibiotics when she was at her worst and from them she developed an ear infection and had to be taken off of one of them (the stronger one). The vet still thinks she will die at any time, so they are more concerned with comfort then cure, they think its a tumor but have not looked into it for fear of putting her under/stress killing her.

She is much stronger now so I'm hoping they will be more optimistic this time. They havent seen her in a few months, just kept refilling her antibiotics, which she ran out of and stopped taking about a month ago.

TBH, she seems to have gotten stronger faster off of them then on them; all her hair grew back when she stopped them and she gained weight. Her only remaining symptom (minus her teeth) is the small puss discharges every now and then and they dont seem too worried about it. Last time she went they didnt even take a sample (I opened her mouth and pushed some out for them, but they said they didnt need it).
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Old 12-16-2015, 11:34 AM   #10
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Default Re: Maddie Won't Chew!

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Originally Posted by racinghamster View Post
Oh, the poor love. I didn`t know she`s had previous injuries to her teeth. It will be a battle of wills now to make sure she is getting the right nutrition and that he teeth are either lost or beginning to regrow. The puss from her mouth/pouches doesn`t sound good. I went though similar with a gerbil I had and I know how difficult it can be to keep them interested in food. I wish you well with her and hope you manage to find a routine that suits her. x

Thank you. It has been tough, but I refuse to give up on her. Vet thinks she came from a bad breeder like a puppy mill setting. As long as she fights so will I, and probably past that point. She is my first personal pet (not counting family dogs and such) and I will give her the best I can.
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