Dental Services
Dental disease is one of the most common problems we see with our rabbit, chinchilla and guinea pig patients. It is a terrible disease as it hurts when they eat!
These animals are all adapted to feed on tough and fibrous grasses, and these take a lot of chewing. The teeth grow throughout their life and if they are not worn down properly, or if the tooth position changes in the jaw then the teeth can overgrow or develop sharp points or spikes which can cut into the cheek or tongue.
This can be extremely painful as can easily be imagined and some animals will stop eating and starve to death without proper attention.
Symptoms of dental disease usually include eating less, (particularly the foods that need more chewing like hay) salivation and dropping foods. Some animals may show temper changes, becoming angry, throwing the food bowl around, biting the cage bars, but some want more love and cuddles from the owner.
You may hear ‘tooth grinding’ or clicking as well.
Some animals may only be seen to loose weight or produce smaller faeces.
During the consultation the vet will carefully examine the jaw bone and face, check the incisors, or front teeth, and examine the teeth within the mouth using a speculum. It is difficult to get a good view as the poor animal will usually chew and push the speculum away with the tongue, and there may be too much saliva and pieces of food floating around.
If we suspect there is dental disease we will advise a full and proper examination under anaesthetic.
We use a specialised dental ‘rack’ which holds the mouth open and examine with the endoscope (a kind of miniature medical camera) and we will usually collect photos for the record and to show you later.
The vet will then use a combination of equipment to take away sharp spikes and reduce the length of any overlong crowns. If there are loose or rotten teeth we will need to remove these.
Owners of course often worry about the risk of anaesthetic, and it is true that there is a risk, especially with these older animals, and those that are not in the best condition.
However to leave your pet in pain, slowly starving, is not fair to them.
We will give you advise on how best to reduce the risk for example, support feeding for a few days, or putting the animal onto an intravenous drip.
Please be assured that we want the same as you, a happy healthy pet , and we will try our best to make this happen.