rat's teeth getting too long

[squishy]

I have a question that may sound stupid but.. can you clip a rat's teeth?
My rat Squishy got very sick recently, and was too tired to chew any of the chew-toys in her cage, result: her teeth got way too long and she had trouble eating (but I made sure she ate and drank properly, I hand-fed her her favorite soft foods!)... but sadly she passed away last week from her illness :cry: (rip my Squishy :heart: )
anyway, I was wondering... could she have carried on eating normally if I had her teeth clipped? Can vets do that..? I mean, is it something that vets commonly do or if I asked them to do it would they just look at me as though I was crazy..?

another question: my second rat Hinata is on her own now, and I think she's lonely... thing is, she's a pretty dominant rat and she used to fight with Squishy over food a lot, and just generally bully her. I thought she probably wasn't a sociable rat and wouldn't mind being on her own, but since Squishy's gone, Hinata seems more nervous than usual and she's developed porphyrin around one eye which isn't going away... (I took her to the vet, who said that it wasn't an eye infection, so I'm pretty sure it's due to stress...) what do you think? is it due to stress & loneliness? I wanted to get her another cage mate, but I'm afraid she'll start bullying her new cage mate too (or that her new cage mate would bully her) and I don't want that to happen... so any advice as to what I should do would be great... =)

 

[Roo]

I'm not the best at answering questions and somebody else will do better than me, but since nobody has gotten to it yet I'll give a quick one. :giggle:

Sorry you lost your ratty. It's never easy.

Yes, rats teeth can be clipped at the vet. Sometimes it'll fix itself after, other times it's an ongoing problem and they'll have to be clipped often.

Rats mourn at the loss of a friend. Give her lots of extra attention to help comfort her. My guess is that it's stress/loneliness. I have a bully-rat as well, but any time she loses a friend she's absolutely devastated by it. A lot of 'bully' behaviour can also be classified as play. Sometimes it can be hard to tell. I would definitely suggest getting her a new buddy or two and starting introductions. There are lots of threads you can look into for that.

 

[Aida]

Nope, it's not a stupid question at all!
Many rats get this form of dental "care" for one reason or another.

 

[jorats]

I've had a couple of rats who needed teeth trimming from the vet.

Hinata could very well be lonely. Is there a rat shelter or SPCA that you could foster another female to keep Hinata company. And if that doesn't work out then you could give the foster back.

 

[SQ]

As others have said, your vet can trim your rattie's teeth.
You can also learn to do it yourself.

There are established gradual intro steps that are used to intro rats.
These steps work very well.

 

[*Rebel_Angel*]

Sorry for ur loss!

 

[RKEM]

If you suspect that you're rat's teeth are too long (and it can be misleading, healthy bottom teeth are pretty long), your vet can do it. Mine does it under anesthetic and I prefer that (because she can get a good look and uses some sort of electric tool to grind them down properly and there's less risk of an injury or a tooth snapping in the wrong place). Anesthesia has its risks but it's a very short procedure and fairly safe for a healthy rat. When Boxie had his teeth trim, we would bring him in and after 30 minutes he would be up and running and eating.

Also, sometimes if there is not big malocclusion problem, one or a few trims can "fix" the issue. We never had to bring Boxie in after the 3rd or 4th trim. It seems that once they were properly trimmed and even he took care of it himself.

Vet also worked on his back teeth (I suspect she has a teeth trimming passion and was fascinated by his with but otherwise entirely healthy and solid teeth) to make sure that everything was in working order. Look for someone who sees a lot of rabbits ... as I understand they often have teeth issues and the vet will be experienced in trimming.

 

[Joanne]

If you suspect that you're rat's teeth are too long (and it can be misleading, healthy bottom teeth are pretty long), your vet can do it. Mine does it under anesthetic and I prefer that (because she can get a good look and uses some sort of electric tool to grind them down properly and there's less risk of an injury or a tooth snapping in the wrong place). Anesthesia has its risks but it's a very short procedure and fairly safe for a healthy rat. When Boxie had his teeth trim, we would bring him in and after 30 minutes he would be up and running and eating.

Also, sometimes if there is not big malocclusion problem, one or a few trims can "fix" the issue. We never had to bring Boxie in after the 3rd or 4th trim. It seems that once they were properly trimmed and even he took care of it himself.

Ditto - my Petunia had her teeth trimmed four times, the last two with gas anaesthetic and a diamond disc in a dremel tool. Her bite self-corrected and we have not had to do any more trimmings since then. If I had to get anyone's teeth trimmed again, I would definitely use anaesthetic to do it.

 

[jorats]

I also want to emphasize that the bottom teeth are naturally long. Be very sure that they are indeed too long before trimming.