Urgent. Vet app in 3 hrs for CT scan.

[Luciole]

I'll try to condense this.

Arthur is 9 years and until Thursday of last week was very fat with a great appetite.

Thursday night: Huddled on floor of cage and too easy to pick up. Eagerly accepted vitamin C treats, oats and pieces of hay that I hand fed him. A bit lazy during dust bath. Weighs 664 grams (down from 698 two months ago).

Friday morning: Feisty and readily accepting any treat. Assume everything is back to normal.

Late Friday afternoon. Takes treats and favorite pieces of hay, unenthusiastic about dust bath, lethargic and hasn't touched pellets. Make app at vet school and begin force feeding him critical care. Weight down to 654 g)

Saturday night. Weight down to 640. Take him to emergency clinic. Vet feels small bump on right mandible (suggest possible root elongation :cry3.
Endoscopic exam: occlusal surfaces of teeth look perfect.
Radiographs not available so must wait till Monday for CT at vet school.

I've been force feeding him critical care all weekend (he hates me).

Question: Can tooth problems appear so suddenly? His loss of appetite was so abrupt. I've always monitored his weight and food intake and he literally quit eating his pellets overnight.

 

[ticklechin]

I hate to say it but yes, elongation can go from no symptoms to full blown malo symptoms almost overnight-had it just happen to me, the chin was over 1000 gms, eating and no problem to a drooling mess who was is extreme pain overnight and in the span of 45 days passed away, the elongation was to the point the lower teeth broke the jaw. Elongation without malocclusion is a silent killer.

 

[Luciole]

Oh God, Dawn. I am so sorry. I fear that is what is happening right now. I adopted him from a friend (who dearly loves him, as do I) who is coming over this morning to see him possibly for the last time.

Looking back, there were some signs. Occasionally, he bit the bars of his cage and would rub against them, but he was so fat that I shrugged it off.

He is free-fed both Oxbow pellets and Oxbow hay, but he really seems to prefer the pellets. I should have limited the pellets thereby forcing him to eat more hay. In an article, Dr Hoefer wrote that root elongation is often seen in chins who consume inadequate amounts of hay. But it is so hard to tell how much hay they actually eat. My guys pull everything out of the rack and eat their favorite pieces --I can never quantify how much hay is actually being consumed.

 

[ticklechin]

There are ranch chins who are not fed loose hay and do fine, IMO malo/elongation is mostly genetic and partly nutritional/chewing.

 

[LovinTheSmallAndFurry]

How is Arthur doing?

 

[Luciole]

Update: The special species vet doesn't think Arthur has dental disease and couldn't find the bump that the e-vet found. What he did find was a huge quantity of pus and smegma accumulated under the prepuce of his penis. Furthermore, the prepuce seems to have fused with the head of his penis and we discussed future surgery to correct this unusual condition. Outwardly, his penis looked normal and it wasn't until the vet tried to pull the prepuce back that we could see something was wrong.

I never thought of looking there when he stopped eating :hmm:.

I've only done hair ring checks on my chins when they show signs of it; otherwise, they just don't tolerate the procedure :hair:. Arthur is neutered and doesn't mount other chins (and trap hair under his prepuce) as my intact males do and I never noticed anything to make me suspect it. I know that I'm in the wrong for not doing it anyway. I'm asking his former owner if she ever noticed that his prepuce wouldn't retract or if the vet who neutered him noticed it. The condition may have developed spontaneously and just recently or it may have always been like that.

He is being treated with Baytril for the penile infection (and any other undiagnosed bug). If he does not show any improvement in 72 hrs, we will do a more thorough dental exam. We are holding off on the CT for now.

He really hates being force fed critical care and I'm exhausted trying to get just a small quantity into him. I'm giving him his meds in 10 minutes, but will check back to see if anyone has any suggestions. I force fed one of my other chins for over a month back in 2007 and it took forever to find the right flavoring to make him accept it.

 

[ticklechin]

Just a side note that may or may not be the case-male chins with dental problems do not clean themselves, they need to be cleaned by the owner on a weekly basis since you would not imagine how dirty it gets in that span of time. If left uncleaned it can become infected.

 

[Luciole]

Hi Dawn. You know, I've never witnessed this particular chinchilla "cleaning" himself there . Never. He is neutered. On the opposite end of the spectrum, my un-neutered males are always quite... ahem...fastidious when it comes to grooming that particular part of their anatomy. Obsessed in fact. Honestly, I think that the "cleaning" behavior witnessed by many chin owners is primarily a form of self-stimulation; any improvements in personal hygiene are just a by-product. As a result, it really becomes the full responsibility of the owner of the neutered-and-now-sexually-disinterested chinchilla to do all of the awkward grooming.

Back on topic, I haven't ruled out dental disease yet. He has regained so much energy but his weight is not as stable as I hoped especially given the frequent hand-feedings. Feedings are a real struggle and he bit me hard enough to draw blood --it's the first time a chin has punctured my skin. He is probably fighting because his soft tissue/teeth/jaw is/are sore and it hurts to have any food forced inside.

If I don't see him eating on his own by Thursday evening, I'm going to schedule an endoscopic dental exam for (hopefully) Friday. I was mistaken earlier when I said that the e-vet had given him a thorough endoscopic exam; it was actually a much simpler exam involving an otoscope.

 

[ticklechin]

I think that is a good idea, his symptoms are pointing to teeth and you can pretty much see squat with a otoscope, all the otoscope is used for is to get a quick glance at the teeth alignment but unless the points are huge or the tongue is trapped the rest you can't see.