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Small Animal Dental Health 🪥🦷
Dental health is a critical part of your pet’s overall health, and just like us, dental problems can cause, or be caused by other health problems.
Rabbits 🐰
Rabbits’ teeth are ‘open-rooted’ which means their teeth are constantly growing. Their teeth get ground down by the food that they eat. This means that it’s important to give your rabbits the right food and snacks. Petplace recommends RW Naturals Summerfield mix. Made from a carefully selected dried blend of carrot, pea flakes, ribwort, marigold, sunflower petals, dandelion, hibiscus blossoms and rose petals. This mix is a great natural treat and chew to encourage natural foraging instincts and chewing behaviour.
How can you tell if your bunnies already have tooth troubles? In dogs and cats, oral problems can often be detected through their smelly breath, but the signs in your rabbits will be more subtle and you’ll need to pay careful attention to spot the symptoms. Look out for weight loss, drooling, lumps around the face and not eating hay and grass. If a rabbit seems not to eat hay, it’s almost certainly due to tooth problems and an inability to chew properly.
You should check your rabbits’ front teeth every week. They should be creamy white, smooth except for a vertical line down the centre of the top ones. Rabbits don’t need to have their teeth brushed like cats and dogs, but giving them a little help like providing them salt licks and extra chews to help wear their teeth down naturally is an ideal way to keep their teeth healthy. It’s important to remember that the main way to keep rabbits’ teeth healthy is a diet of hay and greens.
Guinea Pigs 🐷
Similar to rabbits, guinea pigs’ teeth are constantly growing and having constant chews and treats is the best way to wear their teeth down naturally. Guinea pigs fed mainly on pellets or guinea pig mixes often have dental problems.
Look out for these symptoms in your guinea pigs: not eating certain types of food or any food at all, weight loss, producing fewer or smaller droppings and some will produce excessive saliva (drooling) leading to fur matting under the jaw.
Feeding a diet that includes mostly grass and good quality hay (oat, timothy or orchard hay), fruit and vegetables and only a small percentage of pellets is the best way to prevent dental problems. Petplace recommends using Nibblots For Small Animals. They are formulated to maintain your small animal’s well-being. They comprise of a crispy cereal shell with a soft fruity centre which contains a source of Omega 3 and vitamins to help promote a healthy skin and coat and can help to create bonding between pet and owner.
Hamsters and Gerbils 🐹
Hamsters’ and gerbil’s teeth grow continually, and they gnaw objects to keep them sharp and regularly worn down. It’s important to provide your hamster with suitable gnawing material to maintain their sharp teeth and stop them from getting too long, which causes health problems and pain. Petplace recomends Johnsons hamster and gerbil harvest feast. The harvest feast is a wholesome tasty treat of seeds nuts and cereals enriched with honey. We believe it is a brilliant way to keep hamster’s and gerbil’s teeth trim.
Wooden blocks or chew toys are also a benefit to keeping hamsters and gerbils entertained and their teeth trim. Petplace recommends the hide n treat forage tray. Designed to encourage foraging and slower feeding; plus, it provides pets with a stimulating challenge. Simply place the pet’s dried food, a few of their favourite treats or pieces of fruit or vegetables in and around the logs. The edible logs are made from wood fibres mixed with vegetable-based ingredients. They’re as hard as solid wood, without the risk of splintering, so it helps to wear down teeth as they’re gnawed. The forage tray is suitable for all small animals.
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