Gerbil has a broken tooth, any advice?

[cloudyclue]

Hi, I'm looking for some advice when it comes to the best next steps to help my male gerbil, Stitch, he's roughly a year old and six months, but unfortunately had somehow broken one of his top incisors. He's been struggling to eat properly, so what I have done so far is;
- Ground and soaked his normal gerbil food (tiny friends gerri gerbil mix).
- Organic baby food both on a spoon, in a shallow bowl and on finger.
- Organic plain oats, dry and warmed up with warm water.
- Finely chopped veg.

Is there anything else I can do to ensure he can get something in his stomach? He's quite fussy for a gerbil, especially if food is even just slightly wet. I've read online that a tooth can take a week to grow, is that roughly truthful, or does it take longer? He hasn't been able to chew any toys, and now his other teeth are growing just a little too long, and he's clearly uncomfortable with his mouth, watching him is breaking my heart. Any more advice would be great! And, don't worry, I am for certain taking him to a small animal vets for opinions and hopefully critical mix?


Thank you so much!

[Markpd]

Sounds like you've got the food basis covered, is he eating ok?

I expect the vets will trim his other teeth, which will hopefully tide him over until the broken one grows back.
I'm afraid I don't know offhand how long they take to grow back, but others here will.

[LilyandDaisy]

Hello,

My gerbil broke her top tooth once. I found for the first day she didn't want to eat anything she had to chew, even if it was soft. Perhaps her mouth was just too sore. I have a high calorie syrup (Vetcal Progel) which I use for sick gerbils, and she was able to lick up some of that. I also use malt paste as a treat which many gerbils love. You could try pureed fruits which should be quite palatable.

My gerbil's tooth started to grow back within a few days and I think she was back to normal within a couple of weeks. She didn't need any tooth trimming and her new tooth grew back in straight, but this doesn't always happen. Sometimes a new tooth will grow back wonky, and may need regular trimming in the future. Sometimes it doesn't grow back at all, and then the opposing bottom tooth may need regular trimming so it doesn't get too long. However at this point I wouldn't recommend letting a vet trim his teeth unless it's really needed, but it might just make things worse by making his mouth sore again.

Still keep offering him his usual hard foods along with softer foods so that he can get back to eating them as soon as he is able.

Sometimes a broken tooth can be a sign of an underlying illness, so do keep an eye out for anything else amiss.

[cloudyclue]

Thank you for the advice,

He's definitely still struggling to eat, and eats very little even with all attempts to make the food soft, although he has been able to enjoy some organic pureed food, I've been attempting to give him some of that slightly warmed up as often as he'll take some, thankfully, he's still within the normal weight range (92grams), but if this is wrong for a male's weight, feel free to correct me! Getting him to eat foods is quite difficult, if something is a liquid or is soaked, he'll refuse to touch it. He's been trying so hard to chew on a thin stick from one of his toys, but ends up just sliding it along his mouth because he cannot chew it apart, does this help soothe his mouth, or is it his attempt to wear the other teeth down?

He has an appointment for the vet today just to double check and make sure his teeth are fine to leave until the other grows in, I just don't want them growing too long and causing pain, so it's more a procaution than anything. It breaks my heart seeing him look so defeated knowing he can't even chew on a toy, let alone eat very well, he has lost some weight, but nothing too worrying yet, I just want to prevent him from dropping below normal.

[LilyandDaisy]

92g is likely ok for a male gerbil. The overall trend is more important than the actual number - so whether it's going up or down or staying the same. Some weight loss is to be expected. I'd start to worry if he was still losing weight after about a week or if he started to look and feel bony.

If the bottom tooth grows long enough that it's touching the top gum or top of his mouth, or he can't close his mouth, then it would need to be trimmed. Ideally, the top tooth will start to grow back in before there's time for that to happen.

I think it's good that he's still trying to chew on sticks, even if he isn't able to right now. That should help keep the bottom tooth worn down after the top tooth starts to grow back.