Thank You

Question
Hi I just wanted to Thank You for helping me with my question I asked you about a week ago. I send you the picture of my sisters hamster. She took the hamster to the vet and they cut the tooth. The tooth grew from the bottom,it was to long to big that it reached to its cheek. The hamster is doing better now. Thank You once again for taking the time to answer my question.

Answer
Hi

I'm glad you got in touch with me so that this situation could be sorted out.  The key thing now is to make sure that this hamster keeps its teeth short.  Do you know why it overgrew so dramatically?  Often if one of the top teeth is missing then the bottom ones overgrow - it would definitely be worth checking every week to make sure that it is OK.  Their teeth grow quickly and must be kept at a reasonable length - it is therefore important to make sure this hamster gets plenty of opportunity to file it down - you can do this by giving it food that contains hard biscuits - you can even give dog biscuits, the treats that you have to gnaw to get food off are good, or you can get pieces of wood in pet shops that they can chew and are safe.

While your hamster is recovering it might be an idea to make sure he has plenty of seeds to eat as they will help gain weight - such as sunflower, sesame, linseed, pumpkin.  You could also give a little baby food for a few days - (I give the powdered creamy porridge oats that I mix with water) as this will give valuable nutrients and help him put on some weight.  It is important however that you only give this for 2 - 3 days and also give a good dry hamster mix with biscuits as eating soft food alone will make him a bit lazy and right now you do need him to chew his food to make sure his teeth stay short.

Regards
Sheila