# Tooth abscess, ten teeth pulled, what's causing this?



## ItsSayrah (Apr 4, 2013)

Hi! About a month ago, I got my hedgehog Winston out to play and noticed he had a swollen mouth. I immediately made him an appointment to see a vet, the vet said that he had a tooth abscess so after a few more visits, ten teeth pulled and plenty of antibiotics later, the doctor thinks he should be fine.  He's going to get a checkup in a few weeks. But what my main question is, 10 teeth is A LOT to be pulled, so I want to know if anyone knows what could possibly be the source of this problem?! The only vet that I could find any where close to my area that will even SEE a hedgehog is the one Winston's currently going to, he's a great vet but he doesn't know *MUCH* about hedgies... :?


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## GoodandPlenty (Feb 4, 2012)

Are you feeding a lot of soft food? Such as baby foods? I've seen a lot of references that soft foods expose teeth to more risk of bad teeth than hedgies that eat a lot of kibble.

I'm not really comfortable with feeding Sophie soft foods for that reason. I find that I have to feed baby foods with her, because we have had to deal with diet issues to keep her weight up. She mostly gets kibble, but is getting a dollop (as little as I can get away with) every day.

Will she have tooth problems later? I don't know. But I'm making the best choices that I can now.

I have inquired here before about care of teeth, whether vet 'cleanings' are possible or desirable and on what schedule - but have never gotten much of an answer there. Her mouth is off limits to me, so a vet would be my only option. The vet here is very nice, but not really knowledgeable. It's a very long trip to a vet that knows hedgies and they won't talk to me at all if they aren't getting paid. No free advice.

Best practices for tooth care? I still really have not a clue. It seems to be something that few people know very much about.

With that many lost teeth, soft food may be, or become a requirement for your situation. You can't help that, and hedgies that lose a lot of teeth typically do well so long as diseased teeth or removed and they are generally healthy.


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## ItsSayrah (Apr 4, 2013)

I'm feeding him Blue Buffalo Weight Control formula, which seems to be hard enough kibble. I have the same type of problem with the vet here, good but not very knowledgeable about hedgehogs. My mother knows a domestic animal vet and he thinks that the problem could be a nutritional issue, whether the fact that he doesn't deal with exotics matters, I'm not sure. I'm just hoping that someone replies on here and says that it just sometimes happens without really having an ongoing problem source. Because I really don't want him to lose anymore teeth.


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