teeth length

temblabamomo · Aug 24, 2011

I paid for Quinn's teeth to be trimmed last week, I paid again for them to be trimmed this morning, all of which has been a bit traumatic for my little guy who's already been through so much (enucleation, probably PT, etc.)

I don't have a pic at the moment. But can someone please tell me - are the top incisors supposed to be shorter than the bottom? I have looked at a million pics of rat teeth, and compared Quinn's with my other boys'. They keep leaving the top incisors at a length that I feel is too long. I'm at my wit's end with my vet leaving me uncertain about their knowledge and abilities. Presently, his top and bottom incisors are of equal length. This is an improvement over this morning - his bottoms kept getting stick in front of his top teeth and it took a lot of wiggling of the jaw to get them to go back into place. Christ, I really wish I had a pic. 3 different docs at the "exotic" clinic say the teeth are okay, but my baby can't chew.

This is heartbreaking. I know Quinn probably has little time left with what is likely a PT, but it seems to be slow-growing, and it blows that any remaining time he has will be spent in misery because of his teeth.

victoria · Aug 24, 2011

If he has PT, he may not be able to eat hard food because of the PT and not his teeth. I've never had rats with teeth issues so I can't offer much more insight than that.

temblabamomo · Aug 24, 2011

victoria said:
If he has PT, he may not be able to eat hard food because of the PT and not his teeth. I've never had rats with teeth issues so I can't offer much more insight than that.

We're not sure yet if it's PT...poor boy has had so much going on. We thought before his enucleation that he was resistant to hard foods because his eye was hurting him. The vet expected him to start eating again after the surgery, but after a week he was still eating only soft, and I noted his teeth look overgrown. Another vet trimmed only the bottoms. Today they took a bit off the top, but after getting home with him they still look long...it's just uncertain as to whether the teeth issue is on account of PT, or if they got out of control because of the eye pain and no vet has ever trimmed them proper. It's just very frustrating to have an exotic vet who constantly leaves me reason to second guess them :gaah:

victoria · Aug 24, 2011

temblabamomo said:
victoria said:

If he has PT, he may not be able to eat hard food because of the PT and not his teeth. I've never had rats with teeth issues so I can't offer much more insight than that.

Click to expand...

We're not sure yet if it's PT...poor boy has had so much going on. We thought before his enucleation that he was resistant to hard foods because his eye was hurting him. The vet expected him to start eating again after the surgery, but after a week he was still eating only soft, and I noted his teeth look overgrown. Another vet trimmed only the bottoms. Today they took a bit off the top, but after getting home with him they still look long...it's just uncertain as to whether the teeth issue is on account of PT, or if they got out of control because of the eye pain and no vet has ever trimmed them proper. It's just very frustrating to have an exotic vet who constantly leaves me reason to second guess them :gaah:

For sure. It's very hard to find a good vet, let alone one that listens to and works with you.

jorats · Aug 24, 2011

The top needs to be shorter than the bottom.
Here's a great read on trimming rat teeth: http://ratballs.com/RatTails/Tails080.html

temblabamomo · Aug 24, 2011

jorats said:
The top needs to be shorter than the bottom.
Here's a great read on trimming rat teeth: http://ratballs.com/RatTails/Tails080.html

Urgh, my work blocks that website, but the name is familiar, I believe I read I this last week. I'm sick to death of my vet knocking him out, and not trimming enough. My other boys' have top incisors that are about 1/3 the length of Quinn's. If I thought I could do it myself, I would, because this is getting ridiculous.