640g-448g, difficulties in finding cause. Long post, sorry.

Hi,

My chinchilla Egon is now 12 years old, and he’s always had some issues. But now I can’t seem to help him, he’s losing weight fast. My regular vet has sadly fallen off a horse and is badly hurt, and we can’t see her anymore. We have no vets with chinchilla experience nearby.

6 years ago we had similar issues and we went 300 km away to a vet that many claim is good with chinchillas. They made x-rays and said Egon has malocclusion and is going to have to be put down within a year maximum. His teeth are going to pierce his eye-socket, they said. He’s now 12, and this hurt my trust in these vets a little bit – but I’m saving up so we can go there again. Everyone makes mistakes and I really need to try everyone I can at this point.

Egon has the following issues:
• Few droppings, they’re small and thin. Usually hard (though they’ve always been).
• He paws at his mouth.
• Gnaws teeth sometimes.
• One of his incisors grows too fast and is cut every 2 months at one of the local vets.
• Doesn’t eat hay, and has never eaten hay except when he was < 2 years old. He's never liked toys.
• Weights 448 grams, usually weighs 620. Was at his normal weight 2 months ago.
• Eats critical care with appetite and begs for more. Eats 2-3 pellets every day but crumbles these. Still going down in weight however.
• A bit of a watery eye, but very much less than what he’s had the first time (6 years ago).
• Runs around a lot and talks a lot when doing so. Doesn’t seem to be constipated? Though for every day he’s less and less playful.
• Gets metacam once every day (2 drops) because of his teeth so he would be able to eat. He’s been on metacam for several months, but we give him a lot less than he’s prescribed for.
• He’s sometimes a bit wet under his mouth. I suppose his teeth are causing this?

We brought him to the vet recently because he didn’t eat so much and he made strange noises from his nose when he was running, like he was sneezing. The vet looked in his mouth (after cutting his incisors) and said one of the back teeth looks irritated (the flesh is too much red, not sure how to translate – hope it makes sense) or swollen.

She also heard a strange noise from his heart or lungs, but wasn’t sure what it was. The other two times we went there to cut his teeth the vet didn’t hear these sounds anymore, so she ruled out heart murmur.

Wow. Can anyone even bother reading all of this? I’m not sure where to begin and we couldn’t get an appointment before the 28th. Could it be his teeth? Could it still be malocclusion?

I’m guessing surgery is out of the picture since he’s so old. This pains me a lot. I would pay anything for him to survive just one more year.

Yours sincerely,
Stefan

Your list of symptoms really sounds like he has a full blown case of malocclusion involving the roots. He is not eating (and therefore, losing weight) because his teeth hurt.

I would have the vet do xrays to be sure. Be prepared, there is no cure for this and he is in great pain. All you can really do is load him up on painkillers or put him down and give him an end to his misery.

I'm so sorry. I've lost two to root elongation, so I know how much it sucks. What it really comes down to is quality of life. For my chins, after they were diagnosed, I decided to medicate with metacam, and monitor the following:

1. That they could eat their normal food (hay, pellets, treats)
2. That they were maintaining a stable weight
3. That they were acting normally/ playing normally

When they were no longer doing these things, then I knew their quality of life was gone, and that it was time to let them go.

It sounds like it is time for you to assess Egon's quality of life. The fact that he's lost so much weight, and that's he's relying on critical care feeds makes me think it might be close to his time.
I'm so sorry

I agree. He has ever symptom possible for root enlongation and there is no treatment for that. I would find a reliable vet and get the xrays repeated. You can post them here for review if you are uncomfortable with the vet. Where are you located? We might be able to help you find a good vet with chin experiance.

Newt said:

I'm so sorry. I've lost two to root elongation, so I know how much it sucks. What it really comes down to is quality of life. For my chins, after they were diagnosed, I decided to medicate with metacam, and monitor the following:

1. That they could eat their normal food (hay, pellets, treats)
2. That they were maintaining a stable weight
3. That they were acting normally/ playing normally

When they were no longer doing these things, then I knew their quality of life was gone, and that it was time to let them go.

It sounds like it is time for you to assess Egon's quality of life. The fact that he's lost so much weight, and that's he's relying on critical care feeds makes me think it might be close to his time.
I'm so sorry

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I agree with the above. It doesn't sound like your chin is doing well. He is probably in a lot of pain. Root elongation is very painful. You've done all you can for him. I wouldn't allow him to suffer any longer. I'm so sorry.

Thanks all of you, it's tough hearing that he's probably going to be put down, but I really want to make everything in my power to help him. He's still very playful and jumps around.

This is how his X-rays looked 6 years ago, but they're unfortunatly a little bit blurry:

View attachment Egon_Röntgen2.jpg

If you're still around, can I ask you guys something?

How do you best handle death of long-aged pets like these? I've had him for almost half of my life and he, in some ways, saved me when I was a teenager and was very depressed.

Having to put him down feels like I'm turning my back on him. I can't see myself getting another animal ever, especially not a chinchilla given how difficult it has been to find a vet that knows what a chinchilla is.

Cuddlebug said:

Your list of symptoms really sounds like he has a full blown case of malocclusion involving the roots. He is not eating (and therefore, losing weight) because his teeth hurt.

I would have the vet do xrays to be sure. Be prepared, there is no cure for this and he is in great pain. All you can really do is load him up on painkillers or put him down and give him an end to his misery.

Click to expand...

I'll try to get him over to the far-away vet again, thank you for your advice.

Newt said:

I'm so sorry. I've lost two to root elongation, so I know how much it sucks. What it really comes down to is quality of life. For my chins, after they were diagnosed, I decided to medicate with metacam, and monitor the following:

1. That they could eat their normal food (hay, pellets, treats)
2. That they were maintaining a stable weight
3. That they were acting normally/ playing normally

When they were no longer doing these things, then I knew their quality of life was gone, and that it was time to let them go.

It sounds like it is time for you to assess Egon's quality of life. The fact that he's lost so much weight, and that's he's relying on critical care feeds makes me think it might be close to his time.
I'm so sorry

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He still plays a lot, although I can tell he's getting less playful each day. He's started to like sitting around on my shoulders and he's not been like that before.

Thank you for your advice.

Dreamlite said:

I agree. He has ever symptom possible for root enlongation and there is no treatment for that. I would find a reliable vet and get the xrays repeated. You can post them here for review if you are uncomfortable with the vet. Where are you located? We might be able to help you find a good vet with chin experiance.

Click to expand...

Extraction of the tooth is just a temporary solution, I guess?

I'm located in eastern Sweden, 250 kilometers south of Stockholm. There's no certified vets in this country as far as I know, but Roslagstull is a big animal hospital in Stockholm and they're the ones who took the x-rays. I've also had x-rays a year ago in a city nearby by a rabbit vet, but he said he couldn't see any signs of any tooth issues. Sigh.

Thank you.

Kansas City Chinchillas said:

I agree with the above. It doesn't sound like your chin is doing well. He is probably in a lot of pain. Root elongation is very painful. You've done all you can for him. I wouldn't allow him to suffer any longer. I'm so sorry.

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Thanks for your advice.

Update:

Today some of the droppings had bubbles on them, but the droppings were thin and hard like he was constipated. Over here they say:

"Droppings covered by mucus or stuck together in long strings surrounded by a viscous liquid with air bubbles, the animal will need to see a vet as this symptom is more serious than simple diarrhea or constipation."

Could it be something in his digestive system that's wrong?