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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Re: [AlpacaTalk] trimming incisors and fighting teeth

No, we trimmed one boy's fighting teeth this way and it did crack the
tooth, although we didn't know it at the time. Later we found a big
mass of bone and gum tissue growing together... very unsightly and I do
imagine it must have been very painful for the boy. I will state
outright that trimming fighting teeth with dog nail trimmers is a very
bad bad idea.

To trim incisors, you do not wrap the wire around the teeth but just
place it on the inside of the teeth, then pull toward you with a sawing
motion. It's really not as hard as some are making it sound. I was
terrified to do it the first time, but now it's my preferred method of
tooth trimming, and I've used a Highcroft/Toothamatic type contraption
before. The wire is quiet, very fast, and you can stop if you see a
problem, like the cutting line not right. Simply realign your angle of
action. No problem. With the Toothamatic deals, you can't see anything.
You turn the thing on, push, and it's done. If there was an improper
alignment (like cutting too much) too bad, it's already done and the
major damage is done. And they cost over $100! The OB wire from
Valleyvet is only $11.49 for 11 yards! And make no mistake, using the
toothamatic doesn't require any less human help than the wire does. I
know, we've used both.
http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=30e07aab-7b6a-11d5-a192
-00b0d0204ae5

The dremel to trim fighting teeth is also not a big deal, but it does
require that the animal be restrained by either humans or a chute, and
even when we do use the chute, we still need the same amount of humans.
The chute only prevents them from running away. With the most difficult
males, we do resort to drugs prescribed by our vet. Some of the others
we can by with nothing or maybe some Rescue Remedy or Sedalia
(homeopathic remedies) to make them more agreeable.

Heather

Heather Zeleny
West Wind Alpacas
Eugene, OR

Holistic Farm and Elite Fleece
Home of Avatar's West Wind Scirocco, El Bello's Padré, Pluro grandson
Sienna Illusion, and true black full Bolivian Cosby of Chelsea Farms!
http://www.westwindalpacas.com/
http://www.alpacanation.com/westwind.asp
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/AlpacaTalk/join

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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