The Puffer Forum

my puffer just had his teeth trimmed, and he still isnt eating, he is trying with all his little might but doesnt seem to be able to. is this lock jaw?

So is his mouth stuck open or closed? Are you sure you trimmed them back enough? What foods have you been offering?

well, i cant tell if hes opening his mouth or not really well, hes pretty small, but his bottom jaw looks cut or injured, so maybe thats why. i have started melafix to heal him up and put more live bloodworms in there to see if he can eat something soft.

his normal diet is live and freeze dried bloodworms (usually live), frozen plankton, clam and mussels and i also have ghost shrimp in there but they dont eat them anymore. right now im only doing the live bloodworms to try to make it easier on him to get a little something in his belly.

also i can see inside his mouth just fine so i think his teeth are ok, i just think his bottom part is injured so i hope it heals fast and he gets back to normal. he was eating a little after we first trimmed them, but slowly stopped being able to. he still tries with all his little might tho!

Was his mouth able to open & close properly before you trimmed his teeth? I am currently having a problem with my GSPs mouth not closing. I have trimmed his teeth at the front, but think that I didn't go far enough back, so they are still touching way back in his mouth. Before his teeth were trimmed, it didn't look like his mouth was open cos his teeth filled the gap!

he ate fine when we first got him, he was fat, hehe. but over time his teeth grew because he refused to eat the snails we gave him, and the mussels etc wernt doing the job, so we had to trim them because he couldnt eat anymore, and after that he ate a little, but now he cant eat again. im really not sure whats going on. im hoping its just the sore on his bottom lip, not sure how it got there, but i hope the melafix heals it and he is better again. if not i am at a loss on what to do for him.

How's things going with him now?

i shipped him off to dado to see if he could help him more. it was $90 to ship him, and i hope he makes it, he is worth every penny

Your father?

No, she shipped him to me....I am expecting him around noon and I'll let everyone know whats going on when he gets here.

Oh... duh...

he didnt make the trip

I got a good look at his jaw and it looks like there was an old injury there, the jaws wouldn't line up right. There also was infection in the bottom jaw, not where the teeth were trimmed but more toward the back left side. Does anybody know, do they capture these guys by hook and line sometimes? That is what the injury looks like.

If you look at my post "Tumour vs Abscess" you will see I am currently having problems with my GSP mouth. Has what would seem to be an abscess on his left lower jaw, which appears to be associated with his tooth. I wondered if there was an old injury - he also still cannot shut his mouth properly, despite my trimming his teeth short as possible. However, he is not sick with it at the moment & hopefully I will be able to keep him happy & as healthy as I can. Sorry to hear the news of the little puffer - I did wonder if he was too poorly to make the journey - I guess worth a go tho.

bigfatfish wrote:If you look at my post "Tumour vs Abscess" you will see I am currently having problems with my GSP mouth. Has what would seem to be an abscess on his left lower jaw, which appears to be associated with his tooth. I wondered if there was an old injury - he also still cannot shut his mouth properly, despite my trimming his teeth short as possible. However, he is not sick with it at the moment & hopefully I will be able to keep him happy & as healthy as I can. Sorry to hear the news of the little puffer - I did wonder if he was too poorly to make the journey - I guess worth a go tho.

he had that same exact thing for a while, it went away with melafix and he was still ok, but slowly over time got worse... it started out as an irritated absess little bump thingy, that was a little while ago tho... i hope he gets better

Awww... sorry he died. How did you ship him?