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Post by maja01 on Jan 10, 2016 19:04:51 GMT -5
I am opening a thread - if someone will need an info. I got Vega a week before Christmass. When I picked him up at his previous owners I didn't look at his teeth, so I can only guess what happened. I think that he either broked both his upper canines while he was in a transporting box when we were driving home, or the first night he was here, since he was in a cage. I am pretty sure, he was bitting at the cage bars (or on the doors of transporting box), since the damadge on his teeth is so characteristic. Unfortunately both teeth were prettey badlly broken, not just chipped tips. The pulp was exposed and the break was not smooth. I called our stomatologist firt thing in the morning (it is an emergency, you can imagine this hurst as h*ll). Well ... unfortunately she didn't have any fre term until last friday. So we agreed to put Vega on analgetics (meloxycam) and soft food if needed in the mean time (I was not really happy with it, but there was no other way). In the mean time while we were waiting for the term, he also got ulcers/cuts on his upper lip - since it rubbed on those broken sharp ends.  Finally on friday the teeth were extrcacted. It was quite hard job, since the teeth were othervise healthy. he is now on analgetics (tramadol until yesterday, now switching to meloxycam), antibiotics (synulox) and ranitidine. On friday and yesterday I had him inside to recover properly, today in the morning he was "all over tha place" and he wanted to go out, so I put him together with Gusztav. I just switched pairs - so the boys will be in a front terrace and Iorek and Drdra in an enclosure - because I can monitor him better that way. He was allready chewing chicken back in the morning (I didn't meant it, but he found some of Gusztav's leftovers). In the evening they got rabbit chunks. broken teeth - you can see the open pulp (pink dot)  waking up after surgery - still at the clinic  two hours latter, eating ground rabbit  yesterday in the evening, sweet dreams, "high" on tramadol   |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2016 19:24:06 GMT -5
Poor bubba!
It must have been such pressure when biting bars to have broken not just one canine, but two...
So he have both frontal canines removed? That sounds awfully painful. (I literally cringed reading it ;n;) I hope Vega feels better soon.
Was there no way that they could save the canines at all once the pulp is visible?
I was wondering when he's healed up, would you be able to get photo?
I've never seen extracted canines in ferrets before so I'm intrigued.
It also sounds understandable that he's eating the chicken wings because the carnassials are the ones who break the bones.
Hopefully it didn't irritate any sore gums (If they're still healing, which I suspect are) ;u;
I also heard some ferrets can eat alright with missing canines.
Do you have any special diet plan for Vega because of his extracted canines?
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Post by unclejoe on Jan 10, 2016 20:15:00 GMT -5
I'm glad you were able to get the tooth out. That's what killed Poppy when we didn't catch the infection in time
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2016 2:08:17 GMT -5
I'm not sure if he broke them on the bars, my ferrets have never snapped their teeth off while pulling at the bars of their pet carriers on the way to the vets. It looks like someone has snapped them of with pliers, which some people do to aggressive ferrets to stop them from biting, it's a cruel thing to do but some people do it, one of the rescued ferrets at the ferret show that I go to had had his snapped of and they looked like that I'm glad he's feeling better  |
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Post by maja01 on Jan 11, 2016 4:33:48 GMT -5
Definetly they didn't snap his teeth of. The previous owners might have surrender him and din't care for him in the best possible way, but they definetly loved him and did the best they knew ... Broken teeth because bar chewing is pretty common among ferrets, but the damadge is usually not that bad. He was really unlucky ... If saving of thet teeth is possible, depends from case to case. But in most cases is better to extracte them ... In Vega's case thre was no way to be left in, since they were broken for more than a half of the lenght and the parts where they were broken, were really sharp and not "evenly & nicely" broken and were making him sores in his mouth and on the upper lip. Once the wound heals, he will be just fine. They do much better without teeth than with damadged ones. Extraction is a common procedure in cats, since a lot of them gets awfull parodontal disase (genetics, food, FeLV/FIV). It is not uncommon for a cat to get exctracted most oh his teeth, and only few left. I had one rescue ferret whose teeth were really badly broken. He was trying to escape out of cage, got stucked and was trying to rescue him - wich he managed, since the guy who was pet sitting him, brought him to our clinic for a mikrochipping and rabies titer testing few days latter. When brought he was paraglegic, had really high kidney values (they were pressed when he was stucked) and most of his teeth were broken. It was everything ok with the kidneys few weeks latter, but his spine was damadged - with physio he was able to (sort oof) walk, but remained incontinent for the res of his life (for few more years). The most of his teeth were exctracted, all foru canines and even some premolars and molars ...imediately after the extraction (we had to wait with it due to his generaly bad status) he was feeling soooooo much better, you could literaly see the change in his face expression and behaviour, even togh he was on high dose painkillers in the time we were waiting for the op. to be possible. I will make a pic of Vega's mouth after is healed. I can make a pic even now ... but is quite graphic |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2016 4:49:08 GMT -5
Definetly they didn't snap his teeth of. The previous owners might have surrender him and din't care for him in the best possible way, but they definetly loved him and did the best they knew ... Broken teeth because bar chewing is pretty common among ferrets, but the damadge is usually not that bad. He was really unlucky ... If saving of thet teeth is possible, depends from case to case. But in most cases is better to extracte them ... In Vega's case thre was no way to be left in, since they were broken for more than a half of the lenght and the parts where they were broken, were really sharp and not "evenly & nicely" broken and were making him sores in his mouth and on the upper lip. Once the wound heals, he will be just fine. They do much better without teeth than with damadged ones. Extraction is a common procedure in cats, since a lot of them gets awfull parodontal disase (genetics, food, FeLV/FIV). It is not uncommon for a cat to get exctracted most oh his teeth, and only few left. I had one rescue ferret whose teeth were really badly broken. He was trying to escape out of cage, got stucked and was trying to rescue him - wich he managed, since the guy who was pet sitting him, brought him to our clinic for a mikrochipping and rabies titer testing few days latter. When brought he was paraglegic, had really high kidney values (they were pressed when he was stucked) and most of his teeth were broken. It was everything ok with the kidneys few weeks latter, but his spine was damadged - with physio he was able to (sort oof) walk, but remained incontinent for the res of his life (for few more years). The most of his teeth were exctracted, all foru canines and even some premolars and molars ...imediately after the extraction (we had to wait with it due to his generaly bad status) he was feeling soooooo much better, you could literaly see the change in his face expression and behaviour, even togh he was on high dose painkillers in the time we were waiting for the op. to be possible. I will make a pic of Vega's mouth after is healed. I can make a pic even now ... but is quite graphic I'm glad you know what's definitely caused his broken tooth. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2016 6:18:55 GMT -5
Unfortunately, Broken teeth can happen with bars. Most of the time they MAY chip, but breakages can happen especially with the right angle or pressure, its even worse if theres a deficiency or malnutrition.
The canine "trimming" is actually illegal---At least as far as I'm aware.
I'm sure most people wouldn't opt of that either since its a risky thing.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 11, 2016 7:38:15 GMT -5
Unfortunately, Broken teeth can happen with bars. Most of the time they MAY chip, but breakages can happen especially with the right angle or pressure, its even worse if theres a deficiency or malnutrition. The canine "trimming" is actually illegal---At least as far as I'm aware. I'm sure most people wouldn't opt of that either since its a risky thing. It is illegal in the UK but unfortunately some awful people still trim canines off |
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Post by maja01 on Jan 11, 2016 8:09:29 GMT -5
Forgot to answer the feeding plan question. He is stil on transitional diet and I was surprised how well he excepted the raw food since previous owners fed him kibble (low quality one) most of the time. I guess this was one of the reasons why the teeth broke, anyway. But, luckily for both of us, here and there he got meat, so he was at least used to the taste.
His diet is based on chicken, but gets also rabbit and swine&venison organs. I give him smaller chunks when meat is on the menue, mix organs in a soup with some added meat and he only gets smaller bones. He was eating fine that way until last sunday when he got those sores and cuts on the lip. So, from monday till yesterday he was back on ground food, since I didn't want him to chew a lot (with chewing there was more rubbing of the lips on that broken teeth). Yesterday he eate the chicken back he found. Still, yesterday and today I gave him smaller pieces of meat and smaller (crushed bones). I am able to work at home today, so I can observe him and see how much and how he eats.
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Post by maja01 on Feb 8, 2016 8:20:40 GMT -5
I promised to post a pic of Vega's mouth when he will be healed. So here it is For first few days after surgery he was on minced food, than I gave him smaller pices, now (for sometimes allready) he eats just like the rest of the gang. Meaning raw food (large pices of meat, bones) and whole pray. If you don't know he is missing teeth, one would not notice. In that month and a half since he is here and was transitioned to raw, he got 160g and much nicer and softer coat. Probably, if it woudn't abouth the teeth problem, he would gain even more, but since it was a bit hard and painfull to eat, before teeth were extracted he dropped below the initial weigth ...   |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2016 13:36:11 GMT -5
Wow, that is a brave vet! I get pretty worried about extracting canines, but uppers are a bit less risky than lowers! So glad he is doing so well now! He must feel so much better  |
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Post by maja01 on Feb 8, 2016 14:31:57 GMT -5
She is a great and experineced dentist, she is a diplomate of American & European veterinary dental college. But had quite hard time getting them out, since afterall, these were healthy teeth ...
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Post by Celene on Feb 8, 2016 14:55:19 GMT -5
Wow, it looks like the gums have healed very well! I'm just adding to the info in case somebody in the future looking for info on broken canines finds this thread. It is VERY common for ferrets to chip their canines or break of the bottom, particulary on the bars of cages. If it's just the bottom part, it usually heals up just fine. Sometimes a canine that has been broken but is left intact can get infected, so it's always good to check for an abscess around the gum, any swelling, redness, pain, etc. Over time broken canines can also become a "dead" tooth and need removal. This is my girl Mocha. Since her tooth was broken before we got her I'm not sure what caused it, but was already broken when we got her so has been like this at least 1.5 years. It is more discoloured than the other teeth, but her gums are healthy and there is no pain.  Also just another photo to show how broken teeth can heel over. This is a dog's canine (not mine, but from a local raw group). In the first photo you can see the exposed nerve, but the vet said to leave it as is. The second photo is 2 weeks later, you can tell the tooth is already starting to heal over and the nerve isn't visible.  |
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Post by linsul on Feb 8, 2016 15:37:05 GMT -5
I had no idea dogs teeth can heal around an exposed nerve, that's amazing! The more you know!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 8, 2016 16:13:01 GMT -5
I'm happy to hear that Vega is feeling much better  |
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