Chinchilla advice please

Re: Chinchilla advice please

Kerry Brennand DipAVN (Surgical) RVN A1 MBVNA — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 19:50:57 GMT

Thats great news hope hes still doing well just proves we should use xrays more in smallies

Re: Chinchilla advice please

amyb — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 09:49:40 GMT

Just wanted to let you know. I found a nearer vets in Shirley who have quite alot of experience with exotics. He went to see them yesterday. They took an x-ray and found some hidden spurs, which have been dealt with and they also shaped his incisors better and hes already eating hard food. I'm so happy with him

I just need to keep an eye now for when they start growing back

Re: Chinchilla advice please

amyb — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:44:16 GMT

Thank you for your detailed reply.

He hasn't had any x-ray no, I did ask but we don't have the right facilities for it. But I think that is the next route i'm going to take. I'm inbetween dudley and wolverhampton so if you know of any people in this area who could help I would be grateful to know.

With reguards to his parents, he was from what I thought a very good breeder. I saw many of her chins of all different ages and they all seemed well. She shows alot of her chins also.

Hes not having metacam anymore due to that reason and hes been on oxbow critical care since the beginning of this problem.

I don't think hes eating any of his dropping and i'm a little worried that being he hasn't been eating any hard food, his teeth will be growing back quickly anyway. So i think a dental and x-rays with a chin expert is the next step.

Re: Chinchilla advice please

albatross — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:21:15 GMT

were xrays taken?

malocclusion is nearly always not just the part of the tooth you can see, but the roots growing into the jaw. Long incisors at his age often indicate hereditary tooth problems, so do you know about his parents or siblings?
Drooling, or wet fur around the eyes can be an indication of this.
we and many of our friends insist on xrays first because treating the bit you can see but not the bit you can't is not a good idea.
clipping chin's teeth isn't often done these days - a lot of vets use a dental burr as it's kinder and less likely to split the teeth or loosen the roots.
you need to get him eating - but if he's given metacam for pain, then it often is an appetite suppressant. You should also have been given probiotics at the start.
with a mouth ulcer he will also feel poorly and not want to eat.
Giving supreme science recovery, or oxbow critical care will help.
the other problem is that chins get all the nutrition from the second passthrough of their droppings through coprophagy, so if the first are poor quality or ignored then he won't be getting the nutrition he needs.

If xrays have not been done I'd ask for these before you can proceed further.
depending on where you are in the country I can point you in the direction of chin-competent dental experts.

Re: Chinchilla advice please

amyb — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:01:40 GMT

I think he is rather liking the sympathy and I'm giving it to him.

Thanks very much for the advice

Re: Chinchilla advice please

Kerry Brennand DipAVN (Surgical) RVN A1 MBVNA — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:41:55 GMT

With the rose hips dry them out first...we did ours on the logburner......thats a start taking it from the spoon....sounds like hes just being a man!!!!! Wants all the sympathy!!!!

Keep us posted how hes doing

Re: Chinchilla advice please

amyb — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:37:38 GMT

He wasn't too fussed about the syringe feed in the bowl, althought my other chin loved it but he did eat some from a spoon. I will try mixing some pellets in and also get some rosehips. I tried a small bit of apple just now and he did nibble it

Re: Chinchilla advice please

Kerry Brennand DipAVN (Surgical) RVN A1 MBVNA — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 12:22:25 GMT

Hiya....I have two young male chinchillas who luckily have not needed any dental work yet.....it does sound like yours is liking the attention of being syringed fed and almost needs to re learn how to eat for himself. Have you tried to put the food you syringe him into a bowl in his cage in case its the taste of that he likes? You could try mixing this food with his pellets. Are there any particular foods he really likes......mine like rosehips........have you tried small bits of fruit like apple, raisin or orange?

I am glad he has recovered from his ordeal ad maybe his mouth is still a little tender with the ulcer.