# HELP! chipped tooth



## Runefaust (Nov 13, 2008)

Hi. New owner here. I got a lovely female hedgehog for my birthday, and I've trying to do my best to take care of her, but a week ago, she took a pretty heavy fall. she started nose bleeding and got a contusion on her lower left leg. I was oviously worried, so I tooke hr to the vet, and she said it was fine, that she probably needed some rest. Since she was walking and eating normally, I relaxed a bit. Well, today, after a somewhat casual mouth check, I discovered poor Maiche (that's her name) has her lower front left tooth almost completely gone. I saw no blood or scars, but, you know, she has no tooth! Is there anything I can do to help her?


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## Melissa (Sep 19, 2008)

Aero chipped the tip of his tooth. He used to get scared very easily and quickly put his visor down.. Well if he was on a hard surface (floor, vets table etc) he would hit his teeth. He does it on his bowl too. Well one day I noticed that the pointy tip was gone. There is however a significant amount of tooth and I dont think it chipped far down enough to get the nerve. And he doesnt show pain with it.

Does Maiche show signs of pain? Is she eating and drinking alright? If she is showing signs of pain I would suggest taking her back to the vet and possibly have it removed (or fixed if they can do that for animals). If you notice a problem, you can soften her food up with some warm low sodium chicken broth.

Also when the vet did the full check over after her fall why didnt he notice the tooth? 

Give her extra snuggles for me and keep us updated..


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## Runefaust (Nov 13, 2008)

Oh, she's as active as ever, eats and drinks normally (lots of both) and doesnt show signs of pain, as in, she lets me handle her just fine. Her chipped tooth can still be seen, but it is mostly gone. No bleeding or difficulty at chewing, so far.
And I think she's a bit tired of snuggles. I think I cuddle her too much. She's probably thinking "Ugh, this CREEP won't leave me alone!"
This is her: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v738/ ... A50065.jpg


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## sebian (Aug 29, 2008)

OMG that's the cutest picture I've ever seen. 

I would like to snuggle her if she's tired of your snuggles


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## Zalea (Sep 12, 2008)

That is an absolutely adorable picture. You have a beautiful hedgie. 

I hope her tooth turns out not to be a problem. Like Melissa said, if there's any sign of pain another vet check should be in order. Watch her carefully and go from there. 

And welcome to the forum. Sorry it was under these circumstances, but hopefully the rest of your time here will be more positive.


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## Runefaust (Nov 13, 2008)

Thanks for the welcoming guys. I think she trusts me enough, and seems to be acting normally around me, so I hope that, if I see any problems, I'll spot them right away
Yeah, she is quite cute indeed. She likes to bite a lot, though, and she seems to be completely inmune to the air puff thing. 
Im still a bit worried about the contusion down there. It isnt weirdly colored or anything like that, but it seems bigger than her other leg area


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## sebian (Aug 29, 2008)

Did the vet give you something for the swelling? I'm not sure if that can be helped with antibiotics . I'm also not sure how practical icing her little leg-- perhaps a cool-ish (not cold :shock: ) bath and just let her walk around in it? Is she limping at all?


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## Runefaust (Nov 13, 2008)

no, she's not limping or anything, really. She can run quite fas as it is, in fact. The vet didnt give me anything for it, just recommended some resting time. I already tried icing a little the leg, without getting her too cold, but the swelling sort of just settled as a bigger area.


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## sebian (Aug 29, 2008)

As long as it isn't infected and/or hurting her, maybe it will just go down with time. Just keep a very very very very very close eye on her and be very very very gentle.


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## Runefaust (Nov 13, 2008)

Yeah, I'll probably do that. Thanks for the advice.


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## zoologist (Sep 2, 2008)

That picture is absolutely precious! I wish Cloud would sit still for one like that... haha.


I also had a problem with my hedgie's teeth. Cloud is missing one of his 'vampire fangs', but the vet said that it was perfectly fine, and that they eventually lose a few teeth with age. As long as she's eating/drinking normally i don't think you have to worry


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## Runefaust (Nov 13, 2008)

zoologist said:


> That picture is absolutely precious! I wish Cloud would sit still for one like that... haha.
> 
> I also had a problem with my hedgie's teeth. Cloud is missing one of his 'vampire fangs', but the vet said that it was perfectly fine, and that they eventually lose a few teeth with age. As long as she's eating/drinking normally i don't think you have to worry


Yeah, but she's only 3 months old, so i'd rule out it being due to age. Luckily, she seems to be eating and drinking just fine.
By the way, she was completely asleep when I took the picture. I offered my hand as a shelter, and she cuddled inside and slept peacefully. I got just enough time to get the picture before she awakened


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Does she have a water bowl or bottle? Quite often they can chip teeth on the bottle.


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## Runefaust (Nov 13, 2008)

Nancy said:


> Does she have a water bowl or bottle? Quite often they can chip teeth on the bottle.


Yeah, I read about that here, so I got her from the beginning a watter bowl.


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## Zalea (Sep 12, 2008)

Runefaust said:


> She likes to bite a lot, though, and she seems to be completely inmune to the air puff thing.


Usually a hedgie only bites after a warning, and not immediately. It's probably that you smell good and she wants to taste to see if you taste good too. If she starts licking you, you should just move the place she's licking away from her mouth slowly. Mine has only bitten me twice, more than a little nibble. And that was only when I've smelled like chicken (which he had just eaten some of so he was like "OOOH MORE"), and when he was licking my hand trying to anoint with it.


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## Runefaust (Nov 13, 2008)

Zalea said:


> Runefaust said:
> 
> 
> > She likes to bite a lot, though, and she seems to be completely inmune to the air puff thing.
> ...


I've found out that she does bite unanimated objects too, when trying to crawl deeper into a place. sometimes, when I have her, she actually prefers to bite my fingers instead of pushing her way out.


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## Melissa (Sep 19, 2008)

Zalea said:


> *Usually* a hedgie only bites after a warning, and not immediately. It's probably that you smell good and she wants to taste to see if you taste good too. If she starts licking you, you should just move the place she's licking away from her mouth slowly. Mine has only bitten me twice, more than a little nibble. And that was only when I've smelled like chicken (which he had just eaten some of so he was like "OOOH MORE"), and when he was licking my hand trying to anoint with it.


I wanted to bold *Usually* Aero doesnt give warning.. So you cant always go by this. The vet tech tried to argue with me before his surgery after I told her "watch out he is in pain and he is bity today" She was like "no its ok hedgies give warning bites" I was like "Not this one" "She was like they all do" I was like "OK watch" Literally when I said that he clamped dont on her finger and made her bleed. My eye brows when STRAIGHT UP saying "I told you so!" And had a smug smile.. But also sad for him that he bit her out of pain.. but that is a different story..


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## Zalea (Sep 12, 2008)

That's true, Melissa. There are hedgies that are more prone to biting, I'm sure. I just wanted to give a heads up about keeping an eye out for the signs of biting to keep the number of nips to a minimum. I wasn't trying to insinuate that all hedgies give warning signs, just that often there's a warning and people aren't quite sure what to look for.  
I can't believe a vet tech would assume something is ALWAYS true like that. You would think that in working with animals a lot they would know that there will always be some animals whose behavior can be different from the norm.


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## Melissa (Sep 19, 2008)

I saw you put Usually.. No worries! 

Oh and I guess thats why the girl is just a tech and not a Vet because she hasnt learned quite yet. LOL :lol:


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