Any tricks to encourage Chin to Chew?

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Kara315

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 27, 2012
Messages
292
Location
Albany, NY
So eeyore seems to not really care for chews, I didn't realize how long he didn't care for them, but obviously for awhile. I don't want him to have to go through another teeth filing, and hope he starts to chew so he can hopefully avoid it. But is there anything you can do to encourage them to chew? I switch woods/shapes/sizes often to keep giving them different and fresh chews, tigger has no problem, but eeyore could really careless.
My vet recommended putting the twigs in apple juice to try and coerce him into wanting to chew on it. Any other tricks?
 
I have a female who does not want to chew as well.
She's been checked over by a vet and her teeth are fine..she just shows no interest.
I offer her hay cubes and she loves them so much she breaks them down to nothing and will go through 1-2 a day on top her normal feed.

Not sure if hay cubes are hard enough to benefit their teeth..maybe someone else could chime in on that. Sure does look like they have to chew hard to get through them.
 
I recently had to bring Jane to the vet. She seemed to be having teeth issues, no X-ray yet. I assumed she wasn't a big hay eater bc she hadn't been for the 4 years I've had her. When I got home, I took the hay out of its hanging ball and onto her floor. She's been eating SO MUCH hay it's incredible! Turns out she was just wanting an easier way to get it. :)

Vet said hay cubes aren't as good as regular hay due to the motion they make chewing regular hay, but she said they're better than nothing!
 
Hay and hay cubes are good and wear down teeth. Maybe offer primarily fruit woods, and a variety of them?
 
If trying different woods does not get him chewing, you could try soaking the wood in Cool Aid. Use the type that comes in little envelopes and requires sugar, just leave out the sugar. Soak the wood over night and then dry in the oven. It should give the wood a fruit flavor that will hopefully, given the chinchilla a reason to chew on it.
 
Thanks everyone.
I have hay cubes out, tigger chews on them occasionally. I'm going to try different hay, and also soaking the wood. Hopefully that helps. I'm sure it will take a another day or two since I'm sure his mouth is still sore from Monday.
Thanks for all the suggestions!
 
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