Rat Rescue :: Becky's Malocclusion

Becky's Malocclusion

Stores Related Links RAT FAQs Rat Articles Rat Cages Rats Needing Homes Rat E-Books Rattie Secrets Pet Rat Guide Related Books

Becky was 7 weeks old when she came to us from a local vet. Her owner brought her in because she thought Becky was dying. Becky had a swollen face and concussion where she had been dropped by the owner’s unsupervised young child and somehow landed on her head.

When she came to CavyRescue, poor little Becky - who was riddled with lice - showed signs of neurological damage. Luckily, this has improved gradually over time and with using special medications.

However, due to being dropped on her face, her teeth started quickly to grow skew-wiff - the top incisors right under back into the roof of mouth and the lower incisors at a ‘v’ shape growing straight up into her upper jaw.

Becky’s teeth needed cutting every 10 days which meant vets trips and being ‘put under’ every time. As with all such treatments, there are risks involved and with Becky being underweight and not being 100% healthy (due to not being able to eat properly; the lice infestation; literally forgetting to eat due to her short attention span caused by brain damage); and lack of proper care from her previous owner), after much deliberation and research, we agreed with our vet to remove the lower incisors at the end of September 2005.

Here is a rather fuzzy photo showing Becky's top two teeth after removal. You can see how they were growing curved. If we had left it and continue having her teeth trimmed very 10 days, she could have died – either from the continual cutting of her teeth would have eventually cause bleeding (meaning she could have bled to death); the risks of regularly going under an anaesthetic; and, of course, the stress. Because it is such a big operation, we waited until she was older and stronger to remove her top incisors. (We were ecstatic when they were successfully removed early 2006, though Becky is still at risk from abscesses).

Due to complications resulting from the first lot of surgery (such as abscesses, nerve damage etc), poor little Becky has spent a lot of time at the vets, but she still remains a sweet, happy little girl.

However, she can never be rehomed due to her needing a special diet (mainly soft food), her ongoing health problems (both her teeth and the neurological damage) and therefore her need for constant monitoring.

Every day she makes great progress, both learning to pick up and then eat with her paws then pushing food to the back of her mouth to chew, (rats tend to pick up using their incisors to grasp food). Mentally she has less skittish moments and is getting more confident day by day.

Now 7 months old and with a whole month having passed without seeing the vet (the longest she has ever been away from there in the whole of her life!) Becky is doing great! She is playful, gregarious and is getting bigger every day – she is even the proud owner of a little tummy. She is a little miracle!