Removal of canine teeth?

Question
Hi Jacqui,

Recently our boy, Bob broke an upper canine. Our vet removed the remaining root, and the other upper canine which had been identified a few months before as discoloured/diseased.

We had him on soft food for a few days and then put him back with his buddies. We were happy he was eating kibble ok and then went away for 4 days leaving them in the care of a friend.

When we got back I checked on my guys and found Bob totally flat and as limp as a rag doll. I managed to get some food and water into him and took him to the vet the following morning.

His lower canines had pierced his upper lip and was obviously very painful, hence he wasn't eating.

He has been on glucose drip and has regained his energy but we need to resolve the problem.

I am based in the UK, who are only just really starting to get into ferrets as pets and our vets don't get to treat them that often.

The options discussed were removal of the lower, healthy canines, with risk of damaging the jaw, or of blunting the teeth by removing the tip and then filing them down a little. The risk being of exposing the root.

I would appreciate any guidance you could offer and any other ideas / problems or consequences we should consider.

Many thanks for your time

Sarah (and the magnificent 11)

Answer
Hi Sarah:

Wow, what a predicament you are in!  Poor little baby you have there, but soooo very lucky to have such a loving family who is willing to help him out.

I can only speak as to what I would do if I found myself in your situation. Here are the options as I see them:

1.Having the lower teeth "blunted" - they *should* be able to do this without interrupting the root of the tooth, however, IF THEY DO interrupt the root, you will have the necessity of then doing a root canal (just as in people, so it will make the tooth painless), then gluing on blunted tips onto the teeth with dental glue, again such as that used in people. This would be a permanent solution and would leave him with blunted teeth that would be painless, but not really functional since they have nothing to hit against on the upper side. So, this could be a LOT of expense for basically nothing when finished except pain relief (which I believe can be achieved in another way....see below).

IF you decide to go this route, tne thing you will want to do is discuss the cost with your vet before starting  - this could be a very expensive procedure. If it were me and the cost is high, I would get several estimates and then compare not only the cost, but the experience of the vet in doing dental work on very small animals - not all are experienced in doing root canals on very small pets such as ferrets.Obviously this would keep the strength of Bob's jaw intact, which is an added bonus of having this procedure done, but if he eats only soft mush after surgery, does the vet feel the jaw will be weakened to a point where it will be a problem even with soft food?  This is something I would definitely need an answer from th vet for before proceeding or making a decision.

2. Your second option is to remove the lower canine teeth and plan to to put him on soft food the rest of his life. Since Option #1 really leaves you with useless blunted teeth that hit against nothing anyway, this may be your best option (minus consideration of the weakening of the jaw, of course).I'm not sure why the vet thinks this would compromise his jaw, but apparently he has reason for concern. Please discuss this in depth with your vet and be sure Bob's jaw strength wouldn't be too compromised with removal of both canines before proceeding, but as far as eating without the teeth is concerned, you could soak his regular (crushed to a powder) kibble until soft, but you would need to be sure it isn't left out too long (over six hours I would guess) because it would quickly deterioriate not only in nutrition, but also it would quickly begin to decay, which could cause all kinds of tummy problems.  Here in the US there are several soft foods that I'm not sure if you have there or not. One is made by Hill's Diets and is canned, made for cats, called "A/D feline canned food"; there is also "Carnivore Care", another prescription diet you can only get at vet offices.  

Assuring that the food he eats is changed often enough that he is getting constant healthy, FRESH nutrition is probably the only negative I can find to this option. Just removing the lower canines would not be that expensive, recovery would be fairly quick, then life afterwards would quickly adapt to him just eating a different way. ...which would quickly become "normal" to him, I believe. If there are other ferrets in the cage, you MAY have to monitor to be sure HE is the one eating the "mush" food - but that shouldn't be hard to do, even if others want to join in on eating the mush, it wouldn't hurt them in any way...just be sure he has enough available at all times.

There is one NON-prescription ready-to-mix (with warm water) diet called Uncle Jim's Duk Soup Mix, which you can get online at Ferret Depot which is great for ferrets - you add water to it. It's usually used for sick or recovering ferrets, but in this case, I would *think* he could exist on it IF you decided to have the canines pulled. The only thing he may be missing is the necessary fat content for a completely healthy ferret diet. You may be able to adapt by adding a tablespoonful or so of olive oil a couple times a week..check with your vet in regards to whether this would be enough "fat" for him, or monitor his weight and you can add animal fats to the food (chicken) if he has any problems maintaining weight. Again, though, you could basically make the same thing by totally pulverizing a high quality diet such available there in the UK (not Frankie Ferret, the other one, but I can't think of the name of it right now). I believe the other one *I think* is a bit higher quality than Frankie Ferret (wish I could think of the name of it; but I'm sure you are familiar with it).

Given the above two options, to me it seems that the answer is probably pretty simple and is going to be rather inexpensive compared to what it *could* have been.  I do think he will do just fine without his canines, even tho it's not really something we encourage, especially as a solution to a biting ferret, etc., but in your particular case, I believe you have absolute reason to remove the teeth for his protection and health.

I think you will be surprised how quickly he will adapt once his little mouth has healed from the surgery. Be sure to keep him on completely mushy food until it is completely healed. He may even surprise you and eat kibble once he's completely healed - without having seen this done before and having anything to go by, it's hard to tell. I know ferrets are incredibly adaptable creatures and if you will just watch him closely and be sure his needs are met, he will be just fine without those teeth.

I try to base all my replies on my own experience or knowledge I've gained over the years with other people's ferrets, but this is truly the first time I've come across this situation. I wish I could say that I've seen 10 or 100 of these and here is how it turns out....but I have not. I have concerns about compromising Bob's jaw strength and would want to discuss this with your vet in depth before making any decision. IF you feel the jaw will be okay or can be reinforced some way (?) to strengthen it, surely removing the canines would be the way to go. I wish it were that simple for you....I pray that you will be given the wisdome to make the right decision for this little one. I can see that you love him and want only the best for him and my heart is aching along with yours.

Please stay in touch with me and let me know what your decision is and how he does?  I am very concerned and my thoughts and prayers are with him and also with you as you make this difficult decision.  I will be anxious to see how he does in the near future - I'm sure he will be much better than right now and with just a bit extra care, I think he will surprise you!  I would like to encourage you to email me personally at thunder.paw.ranch@gmail.com and update me if you would. I will be anxious to hear of your decision and where you go from here.

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers