OK to lose 30 g??

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SCchin

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 31, 2010
Messages
164
Location
SE South Carolina
Our chinchilla had teeth filing two weeks ago. We also had him on the wrong diet. We changed him to Mazuri pellets and hay. He did CC for about a week after the filing. Up until 3-4 days ago, his weight stayed near what he was at the vet, 683 g. But, since we stopped CC (he only took 5-10 cc/day) his weight has dropped to 653 g. He seems happy, and finally, he is eating some of the pellets, about 1/2 T a day. He is also eating hay, but still not a lot. He doesn't seem to eat a lot, but I am thinking he isn't very happy about his diet change (he didn't have hay before, and had pellets w/treats). Do we give more time, or are his teeth still not right? It is two hours to the vet..... and we may need to change because even though the vet was great, he was very expensive.

I did give a few oat flakes last night, he seemed to chew them up pretty quickly. Do I need to give a raisin like Ticklechin did and watch?
 
OK, the raisin disappeared in 10 sec.

But, before the filing, he ate raisins quickly.....

We don't give raisins every day anymore, just to test him when he isn't eating well to see if he can chew.
 
Slow night here!

We gave him a small amount of CC w/acidolpholus in it just to be safe for tonight. I don't know what bloat feels like, but his belly isn't hard. He is eating a small amount, drinking water, and pooing.

I do think he is eating bedding and poo, though..... yuck!
 
He needs to be eating more. Mix the critical care as directed, and if he won't voluntarily eat it that way try adding some water until it is a consistency you can safely force feed.
 
ticklechin said:
Is this the chins first filing? What symptoms led up to the diagnosis?
Click to expand...

We noticed he wasn't chewing anymore and he had bad breath. Also, he was screaming while sleeping. Right before we took him, he had slowed his eating down dramatically. He was still in good shape as far as appearance.

He is about 5 1/2 y/o. See Hay 101 in Diet for background. This is his first filing after a lifetime of no hay... I'm not sure he is "malo" he does have molars growing into one side of his mouth, he had a large ulcer that was found when the vet filed. His incisors curve a bit too much as well. But, the roots on the xrays looked good (so maybe malo w/roots ok). The vet said he had atrophy of his jaw from not chewing hay and he had to build his jaw muscles back. I wonder if his jaw is sore from chewing more now. He really seems like he wants to eat, but he is not eating a lot. In the last few days, he is eating the Mazuri pellets, up to 1/2 T of pellets/day (but that is from nothing from pellet change) and a small amount of hay. Something is holding him back from eating as much as he should.

Today he is 658 g, so giving the small amount of CC caused him to gain 5 g.

He seems "pissed"..... I can't tell if he is hurting, or is mad from diet change still?? He really perked up when I gave him a raisin to check how long it took to eat it.
 
If his mouth was a mess, and there was not alot of drool, it can very well be he is getting used to his new occlusion especially since he dispatched the raisin with no problem. I would give him a week or so more of handfeeding the CC and then revisit trying to wean him off. If by then there still is a issue it could be the vet missed a point and he will need to be rechecked-most vets do it for little cost on a "come back".
 
Thanks! The little cost at this vet will be not little..... He charges $200 just to put him out... But I will check to see how much if a point is left. I may use the vet in JAX that Essentia uses, we are midway between the two vets. The one in JAX has Saturday hours (if the rodent guy is there, that is).

He was grinding his teeth today while giving the CC. They sound very sharp and rough. He loves the CC and licks it off of my daughter's finger or straight out of the spoon. He never takes more than 2.5 to 5 cc at a time. He ate a fair amount of pellets last night.

Any reason why he is eating poo and bedding?
 
We use carefresh.....

I was actually wondering if I should use the hay I throw out after a few days for bedding?? Maybe that would get him to eat more hay. But another change..... for this little guy, that would make everything changed!
 
In my experience hay when peed on can smell really horrible. I prefer using pine or aspen shavings for bedding. It's cheaper than carefresh, is safe if chewed on, and for me, it smells less too.
 
SCchin said:
he had a large ulcer that was found when the vet filed.
Click to expand...

I'm dealing with something similar to this at the moment. You may want to have the vet keep an eye on this to make sure it doesn't become infected. One of my girls has a mouth sore that is infected and we are treating with antibiotics and pain meds. The area hurts so she isn't licking/swallowing the food that settles in that part of her mouth. If your chin's teeth have all been fixed properly then the food (Critical Care, Hay, Pellets) might still be irritating the ulcer, causing pain and decreased appetite. In addition to the meds and handfeeding I give her a little water through a syringe after feeding to encourage her clean the food out of that area.

That's just a thought, sounds like there are several variables that could be affecting your baby. Sending healing thoughts your way!
 
How long does it take for ulcers to heal?

He was on antibiotics for 6 days after the filing (and pain med).

I did see him about a week ago eat two pellets (and like them, I can tell because he takes things he likes under the ledge to eat). But he wouldn't eat more than two. He is up to about 1/2 T now.

Thanks everyone! Any more ideas are welcome!
 
SCchin said:
How long does it take for ulcers to heal? QUOTE]


I'm not entirely sure, this is my first (and hopefully last) experience with it, we're only on day 6 of a 14 day antibiotic and we're going back to the vet so he can check everything out. I've read some threads on mouth abcesses, and one of them took a few months. 20 days on antibiotics, 10 days off, 20 days on again if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...
 
The ulcers are caused by the points digging into the cheek and tongue-they look like popped blood blisters and they heal pretty fast, I have not had one get infected yet.

To be honest, 1/2 T of pellets is better than no pellets, it shows he is at least trying to eat so his pain level at "rest" is low. Here is a picture of a point, so imagine it digging into the cheek!

toothpoint.jpg
 
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He is down to 652 g. But seems happy. He is eating about 1 T of pellets a day and some hay. I also give 1/2 t. CC for a treat.

The vet said he could only have 1 T/day of pellets. Is this true? I'm not sure this guy is going to gain weight eating hay... but I'll put a lot in tonight for a test. It's usually all messed up in the morning, but I can't tell how much he ate.
 
If he wants 3T let him have it, any pellets you get a dental chin to eat is great, the more food that is "normal" they eat the better.
 
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