Winston, our newest piggy, seems to be gnawing at the cage bars A LOT. He'll go up on his house and lean against the side to reach the 'roof' bars and also the side bars. He seems to be filing down his teeth as he'll do it, then sort of wiggle his mouth to see where he's at, then do it some more.
His house is wooden and he does have some chew toys, which have some teeth marks but he doesn't seem to be using them a lot for his teeth like my other 2 boys who have stripped their log hidey! Is this just his way of keeping his teeth filed? What I'm hoping is that he didn't have any chewable toys in his old home and he's just gotten used to using the cage bars, not that there's anything wrong with his teeth. I think I just notice it more with him because of the noise he makes when he does it!
He loves his veggies and hay, but will hardly touch the Burgess Excel pellet we have in at the moment - he wolfed down the Blackcurrant and Oregano when we had it, but typical P@H are out of stock at the moment. I'm afraid he's hungry so I do make sure he gets extra veg and that his hay is always full, until we manage to get some more. I'm not sure if he doesn't like the taste or that the pellet we have is too big, whilst the B&O is smaller.
I think whilst his previous owners have fed, watered, etc. him OK; they've neglected to do a bit of research and so some checks on which some things could have been avoided: he came to us with v.long nails, and his grease gland was all built up and now looks a bit sore (which I've started applying bepanthen tonight)
I did check his teeth earlier and they seemed fine (to me) and I didn't notice any obvious slanting of the incisors (reading the thread with Laura's photos which are v.useful!)
Here are some close-ups of a yawn DF managed to catch last week for a side profile:
Sorry for the looooong thread - trying to give as much detail as possible! I think I just need some reassurance that it's normal and he's OK! I'm such a worrier when it comes to the pigs! :... Could it be that he's also bored? He's on his own at the moment, but he's getting a lovely new big cage this week and a cagemate in September when we have plenty of time to bond.
His house is wooden and he does have some chew toys, which have some teeth marks but he doesn't seem to be using them a lot for his teeth like my other 2 boys who have stripped their log hidey! Is this just his way of keeping his teeth filed? What I'm hoping is that he didn't have any chewable toys in his old home and he's just gotten used to using the cage bars, not that there's anything wrong with his teeth. I think I just notice it more with him because of the noise he makes when he does it!
He loves his veggies and hay, but will hardly touch the Burgess Excel pellet we have in at the moment - he wolfed down the Blackcurrant and Oregano when we had it, but typical P@H are out of stock at the moment. I'm afraid he's hungry so I do make sure he gets extra veg and that his hay is always full, until we manage to get some more. I'm not sure if he doesn't like the taste or that the pellet we have is too big, whilst the B&O is smaller.
I think whilst his previous owners have fed, watered, etc. him OK; they've neglected to do a bit of research and so some checks on which some things could have been avoided: he came to us with v.long nails, and his grease gland was all built up and now looks a bit sore (which I've started applying bepanthen tonight)
I did check his teeth earlier and they seemed fine (to me) and I didn't notice any obvious slanting of the incisors (reading the thread with Laura's photos which are v.useful!)
Here are some close-ups of a yawn DF managed to catch last week for a side profile:
Sorry for the looooong thread - trying to give as much detail as possible! I think I just need some reassurance that it's normal and he's OK! I'm such a worrier when it comes to the pigs! :... Could it be that he's also bored? He's on his own at the moment, but he's getting a lovely new big cage this week and a cagemate in September when we have plenty of time to bond.
