Hamster loosing teeth?HELP MAY BE AN EMERGENCY!!!?

my hamster wu tang was chewing on his cage bars and when I went to put a peice of cabbage (like I always do to to stop him) when he started making these awfull painful loud squirl noises and with his teeth still clamped down on the bars with his body thrashing wildly! when he finaly stopped, I had taken him out imidiately. He has two little cuts on his muzzle and is missing one of his two bottom teeth! I put some warm salt water on his tooth space and cleaned out his cuts. He seems to be doing fine now. I put down some new bedding and new water and soft warm wet oats. the poor thing, he is so scared and so am I. Please, Help! did I do anything wrong or forget anything? and baised on my other articals, I am not a bad pet owner, I use yahoo as a help line. please help me!

Hamster loosing teeth?HELP MAY BE AN EMERGENCY!!!?
You are far from a bad pet owner, you did everything absoulutly right, especially cleaning the area where the tooth fell out. So any smart answers from anyone, just ignore them.





This is the reason why bar chewing must be detered though. So give him a cereal chew bar, and also some dried out corn and a plain dog biscuit in the cage... Yummy... much nicer than metal bars. Also give him really hard nuts still encased in the shell like hazelnuts, brazilnuts and walnuts ect to chew through.. it will keep him busy for hours and is much healthier for his teeth.. Bar chewing is also linked to brain damage in hamsters, so he has been lucky.





As for the missing teeth? They will be back within a week or two. Hamsters teeth continually grow, and are prone to snapping off. It happened to my hammie while he was innocently drinking from his water bottle! But it grew back within a week. Your hamster got a shock, but will be fine.
Reply:Bless him! Mine was just plain greedy and carried on eating him normal food regardless of his tooth being missing!! Report It

Reply:I'm afraid I can't help you with your question--and I really hope you get a good answer... poor hamster =(--but you should stop feeding him cabbage. It can cause gas buildup and isn't good for hamsters.
Reply:There's a chance his tooth may grow back. Rodents' teeth grow continuously, which is why they need things to chew. It would have been a worse problem if his teeth had grown together. Even if it does not grow back, the place will likely heal and he still has one good tooth. You can also feed hamsters things like pieces of soft cooked vegetable. Mine loves a tiny wedge of fresh banana. (When I say tiny, I mean very tiny, like the size of a pea or less.)
Reply:It sounds like you did a pretty good job of taking care of the immediate concerns. If he still shows signs of pain or starts to bleed again, you may want to take him to a vet to have him checked over.
Reply:Everybody has given you good answers. All I can add is to watch that the tooth opposing the missing tooth does not overgrow because it has nothing to grind against. He may need that upper tooth trimmed until the opposing lower grows back, or indefinitely if the lower never grows back. A vet can show you how and you can do it at home with toenail clippers. Just be careful to clip nothing but tooth.





These bar chewing accidents are not that common, but I've heard of it before. It's nothing you did wrong. Many hamsters live in cages with bars, and chew the bars, without incident, for their entire lives. Your poor little one just had a freak accident. My best guess it he managed to wedge the bar between his teeth, then broke the tooth in the struggle to get free.
Reply:aww poor thing sounds like you are a good hamster parent. I would suggest losing the cage with the metal bars if he has injured himself on it and yes they do love to chew anything they can. Mine liked honey nut cheerios and graham crackers if I was eating them for a snack he would go nuts and take them from me. I made a game out of it he gave kisses to get the graham cracker or would take the cheerio from my teeth. It wasn't an everyday thing but maybe once a week just a little bit. He also like the bird seed chews that go in the bird cages with the honey.


Hope he gets better
Reply:take it to a vet asap it needs medical atention! it probly had a problem like teething thats why it always chewed on the cage bars take it to a vet to get medication for it!
Reply:First off, you did the right thing to clean his wounds, but salt water isn't advised since it can burn and sting the animal, possibly putting it into shock.





I have an old dwarf hamster that once knocked out all his front teeth. Until they grew back, he was unable to eat seeds and had to be spoon fed three times a day. The best food to give him for these feedings is a mixture of green vegetable baby food, orange vegetable baby food, and plain baby food oatmeal. You mix these up evenly in a small bowl and offer it on a spoon (preferrably not a metal spoon, as the metal smell isn't appetizing to them). The baby food mixture will give him all the nutrients he'll miss from his seeds (keep the seed bowl in his cage, so he can try and eat throughout the day). You can add dry Ouaker Oats oatmeal to his seed mixture, as the oats are soft and easy to eat and will provide nutrients and fiber. Keep up the feedings until his teeth are back and he is able to eat seeds only, then wean him off the baby food. The only thing to watch out for is that the tooth may grow back crooked (if at all), and if it over grows, he won't be able to eat and the tooth can impale the roof of his mouth and eventually kill him. A vet needs to trim his teeth if this problem comes up.





Good luck, hopefully his tooth comes back healthy and the right way.



opera.com