From:
"Julie_Fossa"
Date: 2007-04-30 22:28:07 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Sores in the Mouth
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi Liz,
Look, or have your friend look, to see if the sores are in the
location where the cheek touches the back upper molars. Check to see
if there is a substantial tartar build-up on these molars.
Tartar on these molars tends to get worse than other areas due to the
location of salivary glands right above them. This tartar aggrivates
the skin in the cheek that touches it, causing what my vet
calls 'kissing ulcers'.
I have two seniors here. Both are around 6.5 years of age. Both
have insulinoma, advanced adrenal disease, and pretty advanced heart
disease. Neither are surgical candidates. Both were experiencing
some pretty serious tartar problems.
We had to weigh the hazard of dealing with potentially health
threatening oral problems (which don't help the heart issues) or
using anesthesia despite the age and heart issues and cleaning the
teeth. Both had painful ulcerations in their cheeks.
After some discussion, we opted to use iso just enough to immobilize,
scrape and clean as much as possible, then give a little iso again if
they started to come out of it. It wasn't a perfect job, but we were
able to get the worst of the tartar off without hurting either
ferret. A little buprenex was used in the cheek for pain, and they
were put on Amoxi afterwards, and both came home feeling great and
soon ate kibble like kits. The ulcers healed within a few days.
Since the vet or tech won't be polishing the teeth, the tartar will
build up again quickly so brushing (q-tip) or some other means of
wiping those teeth will help slow it down.
They can also check at this time to see if any of the teeth need to
come out. While it sounds terrible, it's usually a pretty easy task
(when you're just watching!). My kids that have had teeth pulled do
very well, afterwards. Another 6.5 year old had two molars out of
one side, and came right home and started eating kibble, and he went
to the vet because he quit eating and had a red line on his gumline.
Worth checking to see if this could be the cause of the ulcerations
and not wanting to eat.
Good luck!
Julie
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "Liz" <tvliz24@...> wrote:
>
> A friend of mine brought over his female ferret last night because
of
> the sores in her mouth and he wasn't sure what to do. (Why do our
> ferrets like to do this on the weekends?)
>
> There were sores lining the insides of her upper lip. She had lost
> weight and wasn't eating well.
>
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