Last night while trying to get Kato to drink a syringe of Boost, I noticed that his teeth looked a little funny. On closer inspection and after comparing him to Artax, I realized that his top teeth were crooked, and one had grown pretty long.
I don't know how long it had been that way, but maybe that's why he hasn't been eating. (Or maybe because he hasn't been eating his hard food, his teeth aren't getting sufficiently ground down.) Either way, something to fix. Victor took him in this morning and the vet clipped his teeth. He's eaten better today, and seems a bit more active.
This is a lesson. We (me, Victor, and the vets) have been focusing on his lungs and assuming that his disinterest in eating was related to that, but one shouldn't forget to check for other things.
Posted by Abita at July 25, 2006 10:35 PMHi Abita,
Oh I hope that was his trouble! Just because I am a worry wort, I wanted to say to make sure his long tooth didn't puncture something in his mouth and maybe cause his an infection or something. I'm sure the dr checked all that. I'll keep my fingers crossed he improves.
With all the antibiotics he's been on for the respiratory infections, I'm hoping that an infection would not take hold, but I'll ask the vet to double-check that on Friday. (I've also been sniffing, because an abscess will smell.)
I also think his jaw is looking swollen, but again, what came first: the long teeth, or is whatever causes the swelling causing his teeth to be misaligned so the can't get ground down properly?
I just looked back through every picture I've ever taken of him, and in all of the he seems to have a more prominant jaw than the other rats, but tonight it definitely looks different. He's not happy with my fussing around it, but he isn't acting like it hurts when I touch him there.
I suppose the swollen look to his lower face might also be from the corticosteroids...
If it's not one thing, it's ten.