Hagrid, Neville, and Percy Have Dental Disease

Hello again, readers,

This post is has to be one of our more upsetting updates, I'll start from the beginning;

We mentioned a while ago about Neville and Percy's development of overgrown incisors - Neville began suffering first. They both lost an awful lot of weight and started having dental appointments at the vet every month. We had hoped their condition would've stayed at that. We have had a few cases of overgrown incisors during our time which never progressed any further throughout the animals life.

A couple of weeks ago, Neville and Percy's dental appointments/incisor trims changed from being a monthly occurrence, to a biweekly (two weeks) occurrence. Around about that time, Hagrid began suffering with overgrown incisors too, suggesting the gerbils had a hereditary strain.

*Neville lost an incisor*

Tragically, Neville's condition continued to progress at a rapid rate. After Neville's appointment to trim his incisors, within 10 days we had to put him to sleep due to his condition becoming excruciatingly painful and unmanageable. 

Neville's incisors were misaligned and also had slight malocclusion of his jaw leading to excessive drooling and overgrown incisors, the roots of his molars had elongated which started causing complications with his eyes. That's not all; the pain from these conditions lead to disordered eating - Neville was emaciated and malnourished. We were quite surprised how quickly it seemed to take over him, it was horrific to see.

Neville demonstrated classic symptoms of Dental Disease. This disease is unfortunately incurable but can be treated/managed to some degree - all depending on the individual. It can be managed for some time, however there often becomes a point in which euthanasia is the kindest and most humane option for the animal affected.

After losing Neville, during Hagrid's and Percy's next dental appointment we asked for an extra thorough examination of the each gerbils condition to see if their disease had progressed any further.

Hagrid hasn't progressed since he recently developed abnormalities with his incisors.

Percy on the other hand has began showing signs of abnormal/elongated molars (not spurs) which could indicate possible root elongation as well.

At present, although Percy has lost weight, he isn't suffering and his condition is still manageable with very frequent dentals. He is able to maintain his current weight (though he is still thin) and still manages to have a nutritious diet. Currently he is not in any pain, though there will likely become a point when painkillers have to be introduced.

You can keep up with Hagrid and Percy on our Instagram.