Previous Message

Dear Bev,

I had already replied to your previous question (yesterday) at http://members.boardhost.com/tenrec/msg/1428138518.html

Gerrits (1997) refers to jaw abscesses in Echinops telfairi:
" Another health issue are dentition problems and jaw abscesses, which caused the death of 4 animals. The first signs were that the animals stopped eating without loosing their interest in food. They would smell and lick the food or bite in it and let go again or would only eat soft food. After a few weeks the animals did not show any interest in food. All animals which had this problem died. Examination of the mouth showed inflamed gums and rotten teeth which could easily be pulled out. In one animal a veterinarian cleaned the mouth and removed loose teeth while the animal was under anaesthesia. This had no effect. The cause of these problems is unknown to me. It might have something to do with an excess of softfood or a lack of hard food. Therefore I regularly feed the animals dry catfood and hard insects such as beetles, grasshoppers and woodlice." ( http://www.tenrec.org/gerritse.htm )

I would still suggest taking the animal to a vet familiar with small mammals. If the condition is not treatable, at least the suffering can be alleviated.

Best regards
David


--Previous Message--
: I have a male tenrec who has not been eating at
: all for too long.....only drinking water.
: We have looked in his mouth and it seems that
: his teeth are going frot and maybe has a
: little abscess.
: I googled it and it seems like this does
: happen
: and then because they are not eating they die.
: He is an old boy......nearly nine years old.
: I do not want him to suffer. Can anyone
: suggest
: what I can do?????????
:
: --Previous Message--
: i've got to little tenrecs. one of them is ( i
: believe) female, she weighs 70kg (the male
: weighs 100)
: she eats well enough (haven't seen her drink,
: offer it from time to time, doesn't seem
: thirsty)
:
: the problem is the she isn't all that
: active,she sometimes shake, when she walks,
: and she walks slowly.
:
: her eyes look similar to the males,(clear)
: (and he is more active) and her nose is mostly
: wet (not running)
:
: i red on the internet, that in common
: hedgehogs this cold meen she is cooled down
: (they walk in a terarum , with tempeture
: 22-28C) their advice were to massage the
: tummy, and give some bodyheat.
:
: i've done this for two evenings now (thougt it
: best, since they are active at night) and she
: became a totally different tenrec, walking
: (nearly running) fine, and washing.
:
: has anyone experienced anything similar? is
: she sick? is it normal? does tenrecs have a
: sleep period???
:
: from the voried sick Mette
:
:
: