Hamsters' Teeth
Author: Nadia VellaSource: www.hamster-club.com
The incredible ever growing teeth of a hamster
Hamsters’ teeth continuously grow since hamsters are rodents and rodents’ teeth continuously grow. Also, hamsters are one of the few species of animal that is born with teeth. This may be fascinating but it can also be a problem.
Some hamsters may start gnawing on the cage bars and a remedy to this situation is giving the hamster dog biscuits. Dog biscuits are very ideal for hamsters to gnaw on. These will not hurt the hamster’s teeth. It is very important that a hamster has something to gnaw on. If a hamster does not gnaw, the teeth would puncture the jaw.
What happens when a hamster breaks one or more of its teeth?
When this happens, the opposite tooth becomes overgrown. This will cause complications if left unattended. The same happens if a tooth becomes crooked. A hamster may break its teeth or the teeth may also become crooked especially if a hamster is very old.
If the hamster’s teeth break, this can cause the hamster to stop eating since the hamster would find it difficult to eat. In such cases, one should feed the hamster soft food like bread soaked in milk, scrambled eggs or a hamster mix which may be softened with water.
It is very important to care for your hamster’s teeth so that the hamster can live a long and a happy life. Prevention is better than cure, so make sure you check your hamster’s teeth with a few simple checks now and then.
A small note by a fellow hamster lover Nehama Verter:
"My hamster Brownie once broke a tooth. Vet's trim hamster teeth for
really cheap- I think it was $13. So that evens out the teeth
and then they grow back normally. Even some hamsters really don't do a
good job of keeping their teeth down and the teeth get overgrown so
it's a good thing to know that you can go to the vet to easily get your
hamsters teeth trimmed down."
by Albert Saliba