Lost a tooth?

[nickoh]

During our weekly check up, I noticed one of Ollie's top teeth were missing?! Is this normal? I know teeth continuously grow, but I'm still very worried about it! It's been about 3 days and I can see a new one coming out.

I've cut down on how much food I give him cause I don't want him to hurt himself. Even picked out a few extra hard puffs from his hamster mix. Would feeding him soft veggies and fruit in place of those food pieces cause him to get wet tail/diarrhea?

[hammy2]

Missing or short? I've never known a hamsters teeth to break but some hamsters like to chew cage bars and this can lead to uneven teeth if they favour one side. Maybe someone with experience of this will comment :-/

[Fluffagrams]

Meat, my elderly hamster lost one of his top incisors back in January and whilst Meat's tooth never grew back, he was quite happy on a soft diet. You'll have to keep an eye on his other teeth to make sure that they don't overgrow as they'll have nothing to bite against. If they do start to get too long then a vet will be able to trim them for you.

I'd avoid feeding too much fruit and veg because it can give him an upset stomach in large quantities. You could feed him a bit of scrambled/boiled egg or porridge and I used to give Meat baby food too. Something like a basic chicken dinner would be ideal but make sure you check the ingredients and avoid anything containing peppers, onion or anything too salty.

[nickoh]

I think he chipped it because he likes to hang upside down from the bars on his cage but I can see a new one growing out when a few days ago there was nothing. I hope it really does grow back all the way poor little guy.

If I take him to the vet to get his teeth trimmed, will it be too short for him to bite anything?

[Fluffagrams]

Originally Posted by nickoh

I think he chipped it because he likes to hang upside down from the bars on his cage but I can see a new one growing out when a few days ago there was nothing. I hope it really does grow back all the way poor little guy.

If I take him to the vet to get his teeth trimmed, will it be too short for him to bite anything?

They shouldn't trim his teeth too short but his mouth may feel a little strange for a day or two afterwards and he might be a little bit reluctant to eat anything too hard.

The fact that his tooth is growing back is a good sign. I'd keep an eye on it and if you're a bit concerned then it's best to give your vet a call for more professional advice.

[DrKMcK]

Hello nickoh. What seems to have happened is that Ollie may have broken/chipped the tooth down pretty low to his gum and it's now growing back out. If he had actually lost it wouldn't have grown back. Keep an eye on it, as the others have said, and if it looks like the longer tooth is getting too long, let the vet trim it. It usually doesn't cost a lot and it's also a good way for your vet to meet your hamster before a real medical issue crops up. I believe our member, racing hamster makes up a meal for hammies who need a softer food. Mash up a biscuit of Science Selective hamster food...it's a complete food with all the nutrition required for a ham. Crush up a few sunflower seeds and 1 or 2 pumpkin seeds plus a little of his regular food. Racing hamster suggests using a mortar and pestle or put all the food in a plastic bag and crush it with a rolling pin. Put a wee drop of water on the crushed food and make a little ball of it. Racing hamster says they usually love this because it smells and tastes nutty. Give this to Ollie until his teeth grow out a little more and then introduce his regular food whole again. Hope this helps.

[nickoh]

I'll be sure to try that (: does it work with just regular hamster mix? I don't have any biscuits, just the tiny puffs that come with his Vitakraft Complete Nutrition mix and some dried fruit treats

[racinghamster]

Thanks DrK for mentioning that. nickoh. There are two things you might want to address here. (a) the barred cage and (b) making sure Ollie is eating his own food where possible. Feeding human foods in emergency situations is fine, but it`s always better to try and do something with their own food to make it easier for the hamster to eat it while his tooth is growing back. It should do if you can see some tooth inside the gum, but he may have broken the tooth up to that point and the tooth that is left might need trimming to stop it from growing very long, although if he continues to nibble normally, this will help maintain it somewhat, but still check his teeth every few days just to see what`s going on. Both teeth should end up the same length. If he stops eating or paws at his mouth, see a vet.

If you can find a hamster food that is in pelleted form, block form or biscuit form, this will help what I`m about to explain.

Using a pestle & mortar or a freezer bag and rolling pin. Take:

One peanut
one shelled sunflower seed
One dry mealworm
One shelled pumpkin seed
A piece of pelleted/biscuit or block hamster food, doesn`t need to be a large piece. About fingernail size.

If you don`t have any biscuit type hamster food like Science Selective, you could try some cereals like wheat biscuits or even at worst, a piece of plain dry bonio dog biscuit or milk bone. The biscuit helps to bind the mix together.

Take all of the above and mash/bash them down into a fine powder. Pull together with a teaspoon and add ONE drop of cold water. Using the spoon, fold the powdered mix together. If it`s too crumb-like and dry, add another one drop of water. Combine it until it`s like a soft marzipan consistency. Split it into small pieces with the spoon for Ollie to eat. It can be dried on a plate for later or fed straight away.

Other safe nute can be added too chopped up into crumbs. The trick is to keep him eating and maintain his weight/condition while his tooth grows back. Try not to remove things from his mix because only he will know what he can and can`t eat. Removing stuff doesn`t give him the chance.

Hope this helps and experiment with yummy nuts and seeds and a few dry insects. x

Edited to Add. Keeping Ollie away from bars would also be better. Make him a Bin cage if you need to. x

[nickoh]

I'll try that today thank you for responding I've noticed today that he's chewed his tooth down to size with his "chipped" tooth. A little short, but so far so good. He chews the bars in the morning cause he knows right when I wake up that I'm going to feed him. So maybe combatting his hunger in the earlier morning will prevent him chewing on the bars? Maybe filling his bowl before bed. This calls for testing!

His bar cage is attached to a bigger bin cage but maybe a smaller bin cage on top instead will be necessary

[racinghamster]

He`s got you well trained! He`s possibly snapped his tooth by bar biting and putting pressure on the tooth and it`s broke. If he can continue to eat his own food with some help, that`s the best thing for him. By all means feed a small amount of human foods too if you feel he needs the extra calories, but the mash up I gave the recipe for should smell nutty so he should like it. If he keeps trying to bar chew, I would definitely remove the barred section and adapt it to another bin to prevent him injuring his teeth again. Prevention is always better than cure, as they say! x