Grabbing neck with paws?

[Tikibirds]

First up - I am currently in CHINA and I left my chin with my mother. Now this particular Chinchilla is a massive pain in the rear when it comes to certain things. She is about 8 or so years old and has been "on death's door" twice. Both times for not eating and I was never told what the cause of her random unwillingness to eat was. The first time was about 2011, when I lived in Alaska. I left her in my boyfriends care while I went home for a 2 month visit. The emergency vet said she didnt know jack about Chins and just gave her some liquids and vitamins (I think) and the next day I went to a regular vet (who also didnt know anything about chins) and said it was fatty liver disease.her teeth were fine. Anyways after force feeding her for about 2 months she decided she wanted to eat on her own again.

Fast forward to last April. She randomly stops eating again. I took her to a vet (Moved to New York) that supposedly knew how to care for chins. This lady told me to pay her $800 and keep her there overnight or she WAS going to die. If I didnt do that she wanted to put her to sleep. I KNOW how serious it is when they stop eating and that it causes them to fill up with gas. After MASSIVE arguments with this vet, I get her to give me Chichiri back and she gives me critical care and bene-something. This lady never bothered to look at her teeth. I ended up going to another vet about an hour away and they trimmed her teeth but it was months before she started eating regular chin food again.

Now, My mother says she is "putting her neck with her feet" which I am guessing means grabbing at her face with her paws. Is there something that would cause this behavior OTHER then her teeth. (she is still eating on her own at this point.) She used to LOVE to chew any wood, boxes I would put in her cage but after her last bout of not eating, she never really got back into chewing everything in sight. Plus she never really ate the pellets/hay. she always there them out of the cage and only ate the "other stuff" in her food. She would choose to starve then eat the pellets. Seriously.

She is going to the vet tomorrow but the vet my mother is taking her too is the worst vet around. Like I aid, I am in China till september so there isn't anything I can do from here. :banghead:

 

[Tikibirds]

So the vet said she is FINE? She isn't eating OR pooping! He wants to do a stool sample and blood test.

 

[fluke]

Does she mean that she's curled up to the point where She's like tucking her head near her feet? I don't think I've seen a chinchilla do that but I've seen a hamster that way. If she's just pawing at her mouth and that area, it's probably her teeth. Especially if she's had to have them filed and such before. Definitely order some critical care and get started. U can order it thru Amazon prime and get it delivered pretty fast. Otherwise, I've tried to get some pellets damp to make them soft to eat. I've also tried chopping pellets into a powder and adding water...it kind of works. But anything to get that baby eating.

 

[Tikibirds]

I am not sure what she is doing, other then not pooping for several days.

The one vet said she was perfectly fine - which I KNOW is utter BS.
Another vet trimmed her teeth but totally ignored the fact the she has not popped in days and told my mother to feed her apples, carrots and veggies and gave her cat lax (which is apparently given to cats with hairballs).

:hair: For the past 1/2 a year she was getting critical care then she started eating normal food and then randomly stopped again.

 

[Cuddlebug]

Hi, how is she doing? Stop feeding her the food with treats in it. That is making things worse. Also, cardboard can swell up in the gut and cause a blockage. Don't give that to her. As you know the fruits and vegetables are a no-no and don't use the cat laxative, bad idea. She needs pellets and hay and a new vet. If she truly has not pooped in several days she is in a bad state. I hope she is still alive.