# rat needs a dentist



## Lightbulb310 (Aug 13, 2012)

cleaning out the rat weeners today and noticed this guy check out his tooth! Very weird. 

Looks like he gad been bitten when he was a baby and ha caused his bottom jaw to be offset an his right hand tooth to be offset, so it just grew and grew.. poor bugger was half the size of his brothers and sisters


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## trogdorable (Feb 4, 2011)

goodness sake how often do you check these animals? =/:bash:


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## Lightbulb310 (Aug 13, 2012)

goodness sake? lol

he was 4 weeks old and had the fight that must of damaged his mouth at 2 weeks old so this happened in 2 weeks time in which the tub was opened every single day for food to be replaced and for certain rats to be taken away. 

so they get checked on daily thank you, but when you have a few hundred rats to feed,clean and water every day individual health checks dont exist im afraid. but when you open the tubs and look in you can not see the underneath of the mouth when theres 30-40 rats running around like crazy in a tub and its not something you spot straight away, its only when we took that bunch out to cull them we noticed why he was smaller, he still ate and drank everyday and was quite a character! :2thumb:


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## trogdorable (Feb 4, 2011)

must be some hefty tub to hold 40 rats . . .

you wouldnt need to look underneath him to see that monstrosity poking out. sorry but in my opinion you dont need to individually check and inspect each and every rat, a simple look around when changing the food/water. i may not be dealing with "hundreds" of animals everyday, but in my petshop thats what i do, and i have yet too miss a health problem from just doing quick glances. they may just be "feeders" , but their welfare must still be taken into consideration. if you are missing something as obvious as that, what else goes un noticed.


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## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

Lightbulb310 said:


> goodness sake? lol
> 
> he was 4 weeks old and had the fight that must of damaged his mouth at 2 weeks old so this happened in 2 weeks time in which the tub was opened every single day for food to be replaced and for certain rats to be taken away.
> 
> so they get checked on daily thank you, but when you have a few hundred rats to feed,clean and water every day individual health checks dont exist im afraid. but when you open the tubs and look in you can not see the underneath of the mouth when theres 30-40 rats running around like crazy in a tub and its not something you spot straight away, its only when we took that bunch out to cull them we noticed why he was smaller, he still ate and drank everyday and was quite a character! :2thumb:


Just because you have loads of rats that are being used for food doesn't mean that they don't deserve the same treatment as a pet rat. Feeders need to be treated well too.


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## koyotee3 (Aug 8, 2009)

:gasp:as above no matter how many you got they all deserve quality of life,which to me they are not getting no excuse:whistling2:


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## LizardFTI (Dec 2, 2006)

I was looking at your hairless rats for sale, but seeing this little guy, I am concerned at the level of attention these animals are getting. Do your pet animals get kept similarly?


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## IceBloodExotics (Sep 17, 2012)

Wow that's shocking....why would you even make a thread about it!?!?!?!?!?

Clearly you have too many...!!!


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## Loony (Aug 14, 2012)

Jeez guys why are you jumping down his throat, yes its a bad tooth but if he is eating and drinking then whats the problem, its going to be fed to a snake anyway so whats the big deal, the rat itself looks clean so he obviously isn't being kept in poor conditions. This happened to my pet rat when I was a kid and the vet had to keep clipping his tooth, personally I would cull him and feed him to something before it gets worse because it most likely isn't doing him any favors and if you aren't gonna take him to a vet its really the only option. Quit flaming guys, jeez!


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## koyotee3 (Aug 8, 2009)

Loony said:


> Jeez guys why are you jumping down his throat, yes its a bad tooth but if he is eating and drinking then whats the problem, its going to be fed to a snake anyway so whats the big deal, the rat itself looks clean so he obviously isn't being kept in poor conditions. This happened to my pet rat when I was a kid and the vet had to keep clipping his tooth, personally I would cull him and feed him to something before it gets worse because it most likely isn't doing him any favors and if you aren't gonna take him to a vet its really the only option. Quit flaming guys, jeez!


thought you said no problem make your mind up:whistling2:ive underlined your comment


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## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

Loony said:


> Jeez guys why are you jumping down his throat, yes its a bad tooth but if he is eating and drinking then whats the problem, its going to be fed to a snake anyway so whats the big deal, the rat itself looks clean so he obviously isn't being kept in poor conditions. This happened to my pet rat when I was a kid and the vet had to keep clipping his tooth, personally I would cull him and feed him to something before it gets worse because it most likely isn't doing him any favors and if you aren't gonna take him to a vet its really the only option. Quit flaming guys, jeez!


Don't think I was flaming - every animal in our care (whether for food, work or as pets) needs to get the required vet attention when needed - check the 5 freedoms.

Yes it was apparently eating but the OP stated that it was half the size of the others, clearly it isn't eating as much as the others and that size difference should have been obvious. All animals will keep on acting as normal as they can whether they are ill or in pain - just because he can eat, doesn't mean that he's comfortable or pain free when doing so.

Could have just let this thread lie instead of bringing it back up again :whistling2:


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## elmthesofties (Aug 24, 2012)

Loony said:


> ...its going to be fed to a snake anyway so whats the big deal...


Possibly the most stupid defence for denying an animal of it's rights. I'd find it funny if it weren't so sad that some people think this way.


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## Loony (Aug 14, 2012)

I was saying it looks like a deformity, nothing that could have been predicted, not down to ill care on the op's part and its not a problem if it receives vet care, but whats the point for a feeder really, if it is eating and drinking then it will live but it most likely is very uncomfortable so might aswel cull it, also its a very common deformity with rats but is most likely hereditary so taking it out of the potential breeding pool would be a good idea considering he is fortunate that the tooth goes off to the side, with some rats like this it can go upwards and through the face which would be a much bigger problem, so cull it and keep a closer eye is what I am saying, but its not down to ill care its genetic not due to environment. Without seeing the rat in person myself I cannot say if it is hindering its life but I still wouldn't risk it breeding.


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## Loony (Aug 14, 2012)

Oh and if you do decide to feed it to something make sure you trim the tooth (After killing it obviously, before everyone jumps down my throat!) it could scratch the inside of your snake, the sharp part of some needle nose pliers will do the trick, this is a common deformity in domestic and wild rats.
And as for denying an animal of its rights, I am a firm believer in animal welfare and couldn't bare to breed my own rats or mice to feed to my pets as I have kept both as pets myself, I buy all mine frozen which hey costs more but saves me the guilt of having to look at the poor buggers every day, not condoning people who breed their own, I'm just saying I couldn't do it.


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## warrensark (Aug 23, 2012)

I keep rats as pets only and if one of my ratties has a problem like that, the tooth is either burred or clipped - please do something as eating and drinking not to mention grooming itself is going to cause discomfort


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## elmthesofties (Aug 24, 2012)

Loony said:


> I was saying it looks like a deformity...


How is it a deformity? It's a side affect of not receiving proper care. To me, that's not a deformity.



Loony said:


> And as for denying an animal of its rights, I am a firm believer in animal welfare and couldn't bare to breed my own rats or mice to feed to my pets as I have kept both as pets myself, I buy all mine frozen which hey costs more but saves me the guilt of having to look at the poor buggers every day, not condoning people who breed their own, I'm just saying I couldn't do it.


I find it a little ironic that you use this as an example for how you care about animal welfare, but it doesn't sound like anything of the sort to me. It sounds like you're interested in YOUR welfare. If you bred them yourself, you would be 100% sure they were bred and raised ethically. If you buy them frozen, they could come from a horrible place.
Also, I'm pretty sure that's the wrong usage of the word 'condone'.

I'll try and make this my last post as I'm sure this will just develop into an argument.


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