No Chew Toys? Not even wood?

[Pixie]

I was just told by my exotic vet that a chinchilla shoud not have any chew toys, no wood..even soft wood is not ok. They said chew toys damage their teeth. They said that in the wild, chinchillas do not chew on wood. For good teeth health, they grind their teeth and the Timothy hay is a natural way for them to also help their teeth. Again, they said absolutely no chew toys! What do you all think about that? I've never heard that before. I thought we were supposed to give chins chew toys to prevent malocclusion, but they said that was a myth.

 

[AZChins]

They do gnaw on things in the wild other than grasses...

I've never heard such a thing myself...

Chew toys are more than just a way to keep teeth worn down. In fact, I would think that keeping the chins busy with something to do would be more of a reason to have something. Even ranchers use something for chins to chew up. Without something to keep them busy they can become bored and depressed and possibly start fur chewing.

 

[Amethyst]

As Susan said, chinchillas chew on other things in the wild. They don't chew on much wood in the wild, the occasional twig, not to many trees up that high, but they do chew on rocks, they will gnaw on volcanic rock to make dust to bath in. I find it hard to believe that wood is more damaging to teeth then rocks. In the wild, their diet consists mostly of seeds, leaves, roots and desert grasses (not timothy hay, a far courser grass), they also eat cacti and flowers. Domestic chinchillas eat pellets that contain the needed amount of nutrients along with the hay. However they don't make up for the amount of chewing a chinchilla does in the wild, and I'm sure you give your chinchillas already ground up dust (like most owners do) so they aren't having to chewing the rocks to make the dust. Wood is a good choice since most don't actually eat the wood, just the bark, and it gives them something to play with to prevent boredom. They normally chew the wood or lava stones with their front teeth, grind up hay and food with the molars, so you are working all the teeth.

 

[thesmartblonde]

wow. i really have never heard that from my vet, or in all my research. chew toys really help fight boredom. and some have pumic stones attached. look at twilight chinchillas for boredom busters!! actually a GREAT alternative is loofah!! go to F&O loofah their loofah is so CHEAP!!!! and my chin pepper loves his

 

[AZChins]

They have to do a lot more foraging and chewing in the wild than they ever would for us! We give them their food pretty much ready to go so they require a lot less time to forage.

In the wild the chins still have the same urge to nibble on everything that they have in our homes. If you left a chin out in your hallway, bedroom or bathroom, that chinnie is going to chew on everything chewable and that's how it would be if they were in a more wild setting.

 

[Riven]

I'd question the vets chin knowledge. Despite what wild chins may or may not do, you do not own a chin in the wild. You own a domesticated chin, and it needs to be treated as one. :/

 

[3CsMommy]

Any pet with continuously growing teeth needs to gnaw: hamsters, rats, rabbits, degu, all of them chew on stuff in their cage to address the issues of teeth designed for much harder natural lives than they live as pets. Exotics vets tend to specialize in vet school, which makes me think this one didn't specialize in "pocket pets". I hope this vet is better with birds or reptiles than she/he is with chins, but I wouldn't return after a visit like that.

Good job asking here instead of just removing all chews on this person's say-so. Chins are notoriously under-researched by vets/official scientific publishers, so sadly, we can't always trust what "animal experts" say.

 

[Pikaia]

Unbelievable. A chin is gonna gnaw no matter what. If you don't give them toys, they will start chewing whatever they can get. Plastic shelves, houses, bars, etc. Chins are rodents and teeth are constantly growing, therefore they need to gnaw to wear them down.

Addressing the malo issue, I think chew toys can "help" prevent malo, but I think it has been determined that malo is caused more from genetic reasons? So he might be kinda right there. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Even so, I would run from this vet and never return!!

 

[Pyronymph]

Yeah, I would keep the chews and get rid of the vet.

If you don't give your chins safe chews, they will start to chew on things that really CAN do damage to their teeth -- eg cage bars and anything else they can wrap their little mouths around!

 

[Cuddlebug]

I have a rescue here that was fed and watered but basically ignored for 5 years. She rarely had chew toys and she ended up chewing on the metal shelf guards to her cage. She took chinks out of them because she needed to shew something.