# Rat - over grown teeth need help



## shane (Nov 28, 2008)

I took in a rat from someone on craigslist who said he couldn't take care of it anymore but with it the problem of an overgrown tooth. 
I like animals and am the type of person who would stop on a road to help the turtle cross, or to pick up a stray dog and take him to the nearest humane society, so I thought I could help by taking in a rat that was in a bad condition.

His teeth, in particular his right tooth, has GROWN up into his skin where he has dry blood. My first instinct was to buy some chews for him but he isn't chewing them and doesn't appear to be eating either for that matter. Have been giving him soft canned cat food which he is licking up now.

Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do about his overgrown tooth? Most people in my area would be like "it's just a rat, get rid of it!" but obviously I'd like to help it in anyway I can. I'd like to avoid having to spend big bucks at a vet (if they even work on rats in the first place) if at all possible, but as a last resort if it came to that then I'd have to go ahead and do it.

Any advice on what can be done would be to save this guy's life would be appreciated!


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Poor buddy. Because the tooth has pierced the skin he's going to need a vet to do the trim for him. Once the trim makes everything even again you could probably do it yourself. I will have to dig out the link on how to do it properly and what to use. Its a pictorial so it should help. When their teeth don't align anymore they don't evenly grind down (rats keep their teeth down by bruxxing or grinding their teeth). Each tooth has an opposing tooth that lines up and grinds it down with this jaw motion. When a tooth gets broken, or something happens (some older rats develop "rubber jaw") that one tooth without a properly aligned opposing tooth will grow long and can grow up into the rats head 

I will show you examples of my girl when I first noticed her malocclusion










and after her trim at the vets









Then weirdly enough, it seems the root was damaged and split and created a 3rd incisor...we are late on our trim but they had some trouble at the clinic and only emergencies and prior appointments were accepted. I hope she makes it to Saturday as rat's teeth grow fast! :-\
I will take pics after her trim on Saturday...


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