Clipping kits teeth??

[VolunteerChin22]

So I am reading my MCBA newsletter and it mentions in "Things New Breeders Should Know" that a solution to "chirping" in mothers is to clip kits teeth...this article is from 1982 - I have never done this as I hadn't heard of it nor had a need for it...big breeders, is this something you currently do? The article says there "has never been any evidence that this in any way damaged the teeth of the animal" but I am wondering about that...

 

[Tillygizmo]

I know I dont understand breeding much being the laymen( sp?) chin rescuer breeding opposer that I am ..but clipping a kits teeth sounds terrible in my opinion. I dont see why it would be neccessary and I can imagine there would HAVE to be a few instances of damage to the teeth. to say there is any type of procedure or surgery that hasnt had complications is hard to believe...

 

[Sycamore Chins]

Clipping of rodents teeth can be very damaging. You can cause vertical fractures that go all the way through the tooth and cause many problems.

I would not do it unless it was an extreme case, and honestly I value my kits so much I would hand feed it or see if another mother can handle it.

 

[ticklechin]

No matter the age of the chins, incisors should never be clipped, only trimmed with a high speed handpiece.

 

[Tillygizmo]

An example of the misinformation on chins out there...unfortunately this one could negatively affect a breeder who doesnt know what they are doing and cause harm to kits : /

 

[Dewdrop]

That hurts my teeth just thinking about it..

 

[VolunteerChin22]

I know I dont understand breeding much being the laymen( sp?) chin rescuer breeding opposer that I am ..but clipping a kits teeth sounds terrible in my opinion. I dont see why it would be neccessary and I can imagine there would HAVE to be a few instances of damage to the teeth. to say there is any type of procedure or surgery that hasnt had complications is hard to believe...

The reason it was mentioned in the article was if the mother didnt have milk in/was sore and was attacking the kits who were trying to nurse. They said "chirping" was a sign of trouble and that one solution to prevent attacks on the hungry kits was to clip or trim the teeth with a file and hand feed to tide them over. But it also mentioned that this particular rancher's wife was apt to trim them in all circumstances.

This wasn't just something I found in a petstore book or on the internet - It was circulated in the MCBA newsletter, so I wanted to ask for other ranchers' opinions about it since it seemed a bit risky IMO.

Sycamore - that's what I would do also.

Dawn, like a salon nail file?

 

[Sycamore Chins]

The reason it was mentioned in the article was if the mother didnt have milk in/was sore and was attacking the kits who were trying to nurse. They said "chirping" was a sign of trouble and that one solution to prevent attacks on the hungry kits was to clip or trim the teeth with a file and hand feed to tide them over. But it also mentioned that this particular rancher's wife was apt to trim them in all circumstances.

This wasn't just something I found in a petstore book or on the internet - It was circulated in the MCBA newsletter, so I wanted to ask for other ranchers' opinions about it since it seemed a bit risky IMO.

Sycamore - that's what I would do also.

Dawn, like a salon nail file?

I too, heard this from a large rancher. The minute I heard it, I immediately blocked it out. Knowing what I do now about anatomy, teeth, etc. I think it should be avoided at all costs.
One of those things that just cause they haven't "seen a problem" doesn't mean there wasn't one. Perhaps those animals, however few there may be, that had an unnoticed problem were the ones that were pelted, or wholesaled, and didn't have enough time to show signs.

 

[mishalaa]

I have heard about clipping kits teeth as well, to lessen damage to other kits if they start fighting and to give mom relief if she develops mastitis. It was common practice for large ranchers, a few still swear by it.

There are, however, other ways to deal with those situations that don't risk long-term dental issues.

 

[ticklechin]

The reason it was mentioned in the article was if the mother didnt have milk in/was sore and was attacking the kits who were trying to nurse. They said "chirping" was a sign of trouble and that one solution to prevent attacks on the hungry kits was to clip or trim the teeth with a file and hand feed to tide them over. But it also mentioned that this particular rancher's wife was apt to trim them in all circumstances.

This wasn't just something I found in a petstore book or on the internet - It was circulated in the MCBA newsletter, so I wanted to ask for other ranchers' opinions about it since it seemed a bit risky IMO.

Sycamore - that's what I would do also.

Dawn, like a salon nail file?

A high speed handpiece is what human dentists use for dental restorations. You need it to have a high RPM in order to keep the heat down, dremels and the such are only 35000 rpm, high speed handpieces are 850000 rpm and up.
Just like humans, you need to keep the heat down to protect the pulp.

 

[6Dusters]

I had a first time mom who had quads here at the furball ranch over a year ago.
By day two the kits were fighting like crazy. I did clip the teeth of all four. The teeth were VERY SOFT and I was very careful to just clip a minute amount. The teeth are so micro small to begin with.

The kits were rotated after that and all grew up to be healthy animals. None suffered any teeth problems. I do agree that if done wrong it very well could lead to a serious problem.

I certainly would do it again if I had a large litter of fighting kits. Or a mother who was aggressive with the beginnings of nursing. I would also suppliment any kit with an agressive mother until her milk came in.

I think its up to each rancher.

 

[ticklechin]

How would you describe "doing it wrong"? Clipping is clipping. There have been "ranchers" that have amputated with tin snips, just because its done by a rancher does not mean its right.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

I am just wondering besides the injury hazard, does it really help all that much? I mean you aren't clipping the teeth low so not sure how it would help when they still have teeth that the end of the day...?

 

[mishalaa]

This is just a guess as I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing after a clipping they might be a little tender in the mouth? Therefore less likely to bite? Doesn't affect suckling though.

 

[ticklechin]

I am just wondering besides the injury hazard, does it really help all that much? I mean you aren't clipping the teeth low so not sure how it would help when they still have teeth that the end of the day...?

I agree, unless you are clipping to the gum line, kit still has teeth and I don't see how clipping a minute amount does any good.

 

[Claire D]

I totally agree with Sycamore Chins & Dawn - I think clipping a chinchilla's teeth (at whatever age) is barbaric & potentially causes more harm than good at the physiological level - whether the person clipping the teeth sees problems or not is irrelevant if there is damage occurring at the roots, minute fractures or any other issue.

It's yet another case of 'just because you can doesn't mean you should'.

 

[6Dusters]

I am just wondering besides the injury hazard, does it really help all that much? I mean you aren't clipping the teeth low so not sure how it would help when they still have teeth that the end of the day...?

I hardly took any of the teeth at all. The teeth are so tiny and I was very patient and cautious when clipping. I didn't hear mom kacking so much afterwards. And in my case rotation and teeth clipping was a good choice for me. The cut was blunt across taking off the fine point.

I can't imagine anyone doing severe clipping. What good could come out of that? Teeth are "live" at a certain depth.

 

[ticklechin]

A little bit of clipping is like being a little bit pregnant. Since you rotated anyway the clipping was not needed, especially on little baby kits.

 

[Riven]

I guess I was thinking along the same lines as what Dawn just said. How do you know the teeth clipping made any difference if you started rotating at the same time.

I would also like to mention that this article is about 30 years old. 30 years ago chins were rarely pets, a top chin from 30 years ago would be laughed off the table now. 30 years ago their were a lot more big ranchers, a lot less small ranchers, and much fewer mutations.

I don't know about MCBA but anyone is allowed and encouraged to submit an article with ECBC, everyone should feel free to do so. You can write an article about why you don't think people should clip teeth. About how you got started, about a show you went to, about how people helped you get started, about how you think more or less regulations should be put into place... what ever. If they are reprinting articles it's due to one of two reasons, it's an awesome article, or they don't have any new articles to print...

 

[Dreamlite]

But with chins teeth growing constant from being a rodent, can't they also become over grown. I've seen long front teeth in rabbits and guinea pigs, so wouldn't trimming help with that if don't right?