Elongation X-rays

[Jaina_Organasolo]

Hi all,

I thought I would share some recent (3 days ago) X-rays with you all.

The Chin in question is Ted, he's a 2 1/2 year old dark ebony. He's always been light and kinda scraggy. He was born one of 3 but his siblings turned on him, damaging his lip and his ears. His breeder handreared him and he's very sweet.

About 3 months ago I had noticed he was eating less hay (unlike him as he loved Redigrass more than anything else on the planet) and just after that he developed an eye infection which was treated with anti-biotic drops. A week later, the infection turned into an Upper Respiratory infection for which we treated over 6 weeks or so.

His cagemate contracted the URI so we treated him too. We are in the process of weaning his cagemate off critical care - we are now down to 10ml a day with him and his weight is stable.

I noticed that Ted began to drop weight more (having already lost some either due to the URI, or maybe his teeth ran him down and caused the URI) and he's now at around 530g; he was 660g at his heaviest and he feels really skinny. I also noticed he began to chew in an exaggerated slow manner.

We took him to the specialist who did a dental and x-rays on him friday. He had a spur on the side of one of his top teeth that was rubbing the inside of his cheek. This is probably what had caused the chewing issues and the weight loss. He is now chewing much better although we are handfeeding.

I have to say they did a good job with him though as he was perky right from the vet office and is now eating syringe feed like a champ and acting normally (bar not eating).

Sadly he has root elongation also. His bottom roots are all pretty long and the vet is concerned about one of his upper roots particularly.

I'm all for sharing knowledge and info so I thought I'd share his X-rays. This is my second Malo chin so I know whats coming. He's on pain relief and his vet is a good exotic specialist (even if it means a trek to get him there)

Any comments or advice appreciated.

 

[ticklechin]

The elongation is advanced I am sad to say and x-rays 2 and 3 looks like there is something going on at the apex of the roots, infection.

 

[Claire D]

I agree with Dawn - is Ted still on antibiotics, Julia?

 

[mark miller]

I have often wondered if there is a link between severe traumatic injury at a very young age and severe health problems that show up later later in life with chins. Growing up around 2 large breeding herds of chins, I've seen this occur at least a dozen or more times with no prior genetic background links or instances of it with siblings born later. I believe this can happen with humans as well. My son had a severe fever which resulted in a seizure and he stopped breathing for almost a minute when he was only 1 year old. He appeared to make a full recovery. Within the next 5 years he developed severe teeth, vision, and asthma problems none of which were common in our family history or with his siblings. The doctors had no explanation for these issues except to say they were probably effects from the seizure that showed up later. We were lucky that eventually his vision improved to normal, teeth straightened out on their own and he no longer has asthma problems. I have seen a similar pattern with too many chins that had traumatic injuries or stopped breathing and were revived at birth end up having other severe health problems occur later in life that can't be genetically traced and doesn't occur with any of their siblings to believe it is just coincidence and not directly related to the prior injuries or traumatic episode. I have even seen chins develop malo at a young age after suffering a traumatic injury when younger with no prior history of malo in their lines and no other future cases of it with their siblings leading me to believe it was a direct result from the earlier trauma and stress that chin went through. These are just my thoughts on the matter based on my many years experience and observations I've made breeding chins.

 

[Jaina_Organasolo]

Thank you all. He's very well in himself just now, he's not on any anti-biotics but is on pain relief. If he's not starting to eat by himself by the end of the week, I will take him back and discuss it further with the vets.

There's no known history of Malo in his lines :-(

So far I've owned a total of six chins. 2 died of stasis, One was PTS with malo aged 2 1/2, One has malo aged 2 1/2. One is 100% healthy but only 7 months old and the other one is still recovering from the URI but is doing well.

I feel cursed. None of them have had unknown backgrounds, and none of them have been from dodgy breeders. :'-(

 

[ticklechin]

I feel exactly like you do, cursed with chinchilla health issues. Its like you name it I dealt with it, for the first time since I have had chins 11 years I have no chronic illness or hand feeding. Its how a pet is supposed to be, fun.

 

[Tillygizmo]

What does PTS stand for? Peridontal ...yadda?

 

[ticklechin]

Put to sleep.

 

[2manypets]

Put to sleep

Oops, posted at the same time.

 

[Tillygizmo]

oh :/