Thursday, April 9, 2015

Need a Toothpick?

I filled the egg-cersizer with pieces of carrot during floor time.  Somehow Bodicea managed to get a piece of carrot jammed in her teeth.  I can't believe how much her ears flap as she tried to clear it.  She looked pretty goofy.  I started filming but became alarmed when she was still working at it several seconds later. 


I grabbed a swab to try helping her out.  In the end, Boadi managed to clear the carrot by herself.  I think picking her up to get a better look at her teeth must have worked it loose.

It's rare for a guinea pig to get food stuck like this.  Eclair once jammed a sunflower seed in her teeth (before I knew that I shouldn't feed seeds to guinea pigs).  I also saw this kind of behavior when Bertie developed malocclusion; food can get trapped when the molars are overgrown.  I knew Bertie needed to go to the vet when she started making faces like this and dropping bits of food when she ate.  It may look silly and cute, but if you see your guinea pig making faces like this regularly, it's time to have their teeth checked out by the vet.  Boadicea's incisors are nice and straight, and I haven't seen her do this again.  I bet she inhaled too large of a chunk too quickly and it got caught in her cheek.  Cheeky pig!


2 comments :

  1. I know that was very unpleasant for little Boadi, but it was also one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Her little facial expressions trying to get the food out of her teeth, and the way her ears flapped! I'm glad you were there to fix it before she got too freaked out. But she was still so cute!

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  2. I had a syrian hamster who never showed any signs of having trouble eating, and then one day I found him struggling in the corner of his cage. I was horrified to find that his teeth were extremely long and that he had gotten stuck on a horizontal cage bar. I had to cut away the bar to free him. I felt so guilty like I had neglected him, but he had plenty of chew toys and crunchy food to eat. I don't know how long it took for his teeth to grow that long. One emergency vet visit later and he was ok, but I watched him closely after that. He was so scared when he got stuck! I didn't want him to go through that ever again. You acted quickly to help out your little lady here. I don't think she had time to get scared. You're great with them. They are lucky to have found you.

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