Still not drinking or even eating properly after what happened! Now what? :/

[Buddy]

Some of you may remember the story of my chinchilla, Bubbles.
She was ill recently and under went surgery to bure her teeth down, it turned out to be bloat and bad bacteria in her gut. With that being said, she's now pooping fine, and no more bloat! She seems to have recovered from it.
However, one thing I am concerned about, she's not drinking, at all..
She is getting critical care, maybe that is why she isn't drinking. If she doesn't have critical care as much as she does most days she still does not drink! I don't want to quit it all together as she still isnt really eating her proper food. She tries to eat it atleast 3 times a day, but gives up after 2 minutes or so and just waits for a syringe to be given to her!
Is it another visit to the vet? Or is there anything I can do? It could be her teeth but the last thing I want is to put her through another operation and to put her under again.

 

[Buddy]

I need help!

 

[ChinnieMommy87]

You could call your vet and ask for a suggestion. Since they have seen her recently and know what is going on with her, it may be a good idea to keep them up to speed about how she is eating/drinking, etc.

 

[Spoof]

Stop giving her the Critical care. She won't starve nor dehydrate to death. Eventually she will drink/eat though they can go several days refusing both. They are very intelligent, why would you want to eat your veggies when you are being hand fed McDonalds for every meal? ( Critical care is high in fat and very palatable).

Edited to say that the best way for some chins is to stop completely. If you try to wean them off some just get skinnier waiting for that next small amount.

 

[ticklechin]

Stop giving her the Critical care. She won't starve nor dehydrate to death. Eventually she will drink/eat though they can go several days refusing both. They are very intelligent, why would you want to eat your veggies when you are being hand fed McDonalds for every meal? ( Critical care is high in fat and very palatable).

Edited to say that the best way for some chins is to stop completely. If you try to wean them off some just get skinnier waiting for that next small amount.

This chin has potential teeth issues that have not been really addressed, its why most likely how this chin became static in the first place. In this case, fresh of recovering from stasis with the original issue not diagnosed, telling the OP to stop feeding this chin is not great advice, IMO. The chin is trying to eat and gives up, chin is hungry but can't eat, teeth need to be looked at by a vet dentist.

Critical care is not high in fat, it has no more fat than chinchilla pellets.

•Crude Protein 16.00%
•Crude Fat 3.00%
•Crude Fiber (min) 21.00%
•Crude Fiber (max) 26.00%
•Moisture (max) 10.00%
•Ash (max) 10.00%
•Calcium (min) 0.40%
•Calcium (max) 0.60%
•Phosphorus (min) 0.20%
•Metabolized Energy 24 kcal/tbsp

 

[Spoof]

Sorry, I meant to say high in sugar and very palatable, and was just answering the OP's question of what to do to get the chin to eat.

Some will never eat pellets so long as you hand feed them, they know how to work you for the good stuff.

 

[Buddy]

She's still leavign crumbs when she does eat. I've not long changed her food, to just pellets. First time she had them she ate the whole lot in her bowl in the course of two days. Shall I carry on with the critcal care, take her to vets and get him to check her teeth?
Really didn't want her to be put under again though

 

[ticklechin]

Sorry, I meant to say high in sugar and very palatable, and was just answering the OP's question of what to do to get the chin to eat.

Some will never eat pellets so long as you hand feed them, they know how to work you for the good stuff.

You have stated that you have never dealt with a chin with teeth issues, no malo ever in your herd. Dental chins will starve to death and dehydrate, if there is pain in the mouth they will not eat and will die.

 

[AZChins]

You could take a small dish of pellets and wet it down and let it absorb all the water. Place it in the cage and it could help the chin be able to eat until her mouth heals up more and she can eat the dry pellets on her own. I do this with critical care sometimes, too, and it seems to help chins eat on their own a bit more after surgery.

Chins getting wet critical care or other handfeeding with lots of liquid added often won't drink as much water since they are getting water in what they are being handfed. I wouldn't worry as much about that as her getting good calories into her tummy everyday.

 

[Buddy]

May I add: She's nibbling on wood, carboard and anything else she can get too.
She's never really been a big fan of hay- so she hasn't touched that. She tried dandilion- she tried her best lol
I'm not sure if it is her teeth or she's just being a lazy little girl. I hand fed her some pellets just and she kept coming back for more. I really don't know what else to do. I can't let her starve and the last thing I want is for her to be put under and find out there is no issue. I can't bring myself to put her through that stress again....

 

[Buddy]

Thing is it's been about a month since she's been recovering. Other than her eating and drinking she's perfectly normal. A little bit more of an attitude problem but other than that she seems normal :S

 

[Lillybabe]

It really sounds like malo to me. She really needs to see a vet, get a whole xray panel, and something done about her teeth. My little malo guy was usually eating his own pellets within a week of filing. It's odd that it would take her a month to be okay eating pellets. If she's still not eating pellets that's a bad sign. Also, it's odd for a chinchilla to snub hay. Especially if you have tried several kinds. My little malo guy would eat pellets, he ate them until the very end, but he barely touched hay from day one. Hay takes more effort to eat than pellets, resulting in more pain if there are teeth issues. My girls who are healthy, eat hay like it's going out of style. It is possible your little girl is still in a lot of pain.

 

[Buddy]

She's not really showing signs of pain- shes not wiping at her mouth or teeth grinding. Even before she was ill she was never really a hay eater... Not sure why..
She seems to be eating her pellets but leaving a lot of crumbs

 

[Lillybabe]

Trying to eat pellets and stopping is a sign of pain. Not eating hay can be a sign of pain. She may have had malo the whole time you've had her with it getting worse overtime. That's what malo does. My little guy was diagnosed with malo when he was about a year old and by then all of his teeth were pretty bad off. Chins can be diagnosed much earlier. Not all chinchillas teeth grind or wipe their mouth. Chinchillas don't always show pain the same way.

 

[Buddy]

Ah I see..
Well in the past 2 or so hourse she's taken atleast 10 pellets from me.. and ate them all. Seems like whatever crumbs are left she licks them up lol. I'm not sure if she's waiting for the critical care or if shes just not hungry anymore?
Shall I carry on with critical food and keep her to trying to eat her pellets?
When she was ill she wouldn't touch her food at all.. As she's been recovering she's slowly eating more and more. She would have never gone up to her food bowl before.. But now she does by herself. And she would never have taken any food from my hand but she does now as well...
I guess she's just guna have to go through another vet visit :cry3:

 

[kcbee]

She just ate 10 pellets? That's great! That's a good amount in one sitting.

I missed the very beginning of the stasis ordeal, but how did it start? And when you took her to the vet didn't they check her teeth?

 

[Buddy]

I noticed it when she wasn't being as lively as usual. And at the same time she had stopped eating. She was drinking though. Yep the first vet checked her teeth and burred them down but they said all in all they were looking fine.
The vet that I took her for a second opinion was a dentist vet and he said it wasnt her teeth, but it was in actual fact Stasis.. So she was treated for that, and since then she has started eating but leaving a lot of crumbs, and she pretty much does rely on the critical care food...

 

[Claire D]

Now that the stasis situation is resolved I would highly recommend getting your chinchilla xrayed to check the tooth roots for problems - elongation, misalignment (malocclusion) or abscesses etc.

You need a diagnosis to know what you're dealing with.

 

[ticklechin]

Teeth problems precipitate stasis, stasis does not happen all by itself. Something caused this chin to stop eating and develop stasis, and since teeth were a issue here and those of us who have dealt with teeth and vets know how little vets know about the subject, it is the most likely cause of this chins continuing issues. Chin needs a chin dentist to take xrays and do a oral exam and perio probing to start with. The longer this drags on the more potential there is for the teeth to overgrow due to the hand feeding.

 

[Buddy]

What teeth problems can't be helped??
what different kinds of teeth problems can there be?
I know leaving crumbs when they eat is a sign of a tooth problem- what problem does this usually happen with though??
Bubbles is going to the vets on thursday to see the dentist again.
I just want to be warned before hand. I need to know a little about what kinds of teeth problems they can get and what can be helped?
Hope fully all can be helped