Chewing machine!!!

[Directorthiang]

Hi all, I've had to put down a chin due to malocclusion, so I'm always on the lookout for symptoms of dental issues. My younger chin, Dash, has to go in every year or so to have burrs on his teeth filed down due to some trauma he suffered as a baby, so most of the time my sights on set on him...

BUT....

Lately, my older chin, Powder (he's approx. 8 years old), has been going through willow sticks like a junky. Normally, when I clean the cage each week, I'll put three new long sticks in, and it will typically take the boys the week to chew most of the bark off of them.

But over the past week and a half, I've noticed that Powder will chew a stick clean in a single night. In fact, during play time two days ago, instead of running around the entire time, like he usually does, he did laps then paused for decent lengths of time to chew the sticks I had down on the floor of his play room. Usually, he ignores them. Now, it seems he can't get enough of them.

I was thinking maybe he was having teeth problems, but then, if that were the case, wouldn't he be avoiding chewing hard things?

I'm at a loss. We moved to a new place three weeks ago, but they've both seemed to settle in effortlessly. But this new chewing fascination has me a little worried.

I bought him a pumice chew block this afternoon, and he's falling asleep on it in between chewing the corners off.

Any ideas?

 

[melbur10]

I'm also inclined to say teeth problems usually lead to NOT chewing not the other way around, perhaps he's just developed a 'taste' for the certain type of wood or he just felt the need to chew more. At any rate, chewing and chewing more is always a positive!
I had a girl who went through fairly severe stasis and wouldn't chew for many months during and after and all of a sudden two or three weeks ago started going through sticks like they were the most amazing things in the world, she also would not touch regular timmothy hay for the longest time and now is back to eating it... Chins can be odd. Maybe your chin was some how uncomfortable in the old place you lived in and now that you have moved he's happier and wants to chew?

 

[Directorthiang]

Yeah, I'm not sure. He was acting a little "off" a week ago... and his poops got a little small. I just got him out, now, and he's active and happy, but his poop doesn't look right. Looks a little slimy and puffed up, so I think he will be getting a vet appointment tomorrow to be tested for giardhia. Maybe his chewing so much was his attempt at stabilizing an uncomfortable gut situation.

 

[Spoof]

I think you have answered your question there - you are correct that he probably has something going on.

Willow bark is a natural anti-inflammatory and painkiller in large quantities. If you google it you'll find it has been in use for thousands of years. Chinchillas are pretty adept at deciding how much of what they need and in this case he is dosing himself with a good bit of old fashioned aspirin.

I would have your vet check for anything that would cause a sudden onset of pain or inflammation, including teeth. It may also just be that the stress of moving has caught up with him and he is feeling under the weather (and not showing it due to good "drugs")

 

[ticklechin]

Chins with gut issues brewing can excessively chew, they are trying to get more fiber.

 

[Directorthiang]

I took him in today, unfortunately, as we've just moved to the area (so tired of moving new places), I took him to a place that said they saw exotics and could get me in, but they didn't seem to have any real clue about chinchillas.

The vet said that his poop didn't look "diarrhea" like, so she didn't think it could be giardia, or that anything was wrong. When I told her that the last time he was diagnosed with giardia, his poop looked almost perfectly normal, except darker and more wet, she kept asking me if I was sure. Wth? Am I sure he has giardia?? No, that's why I'm at the vet asking you to do a dang fecal exam to rule it out!

So irritated.

Next she says that she'd be very surprised if he has giardia, since local water agencies screen for it and sanitize their water to eliminate it. I told her that there were still very small amounts in tap water that wouldn't harm humans because we're so big, but for a chin it could really cause problems. She disagreed and said it was incredibly rare. ?!?!?!

She then told me that I needed to get 15-20 fresh poops for them to do an accurate fecal test, if I was SURE that I wanted to proceed with one. (Never had to have that many before, or assure my doctor that I wanted a test done.) Then, when I voiced concern over having to wait 48 hours for the results to come back from the lab, she said she'd weigh my guy now so that as soon as the results come in, they can prepare his meds if necessary. So they proceed to weigh him on an ancient looking scale that has moving weights and come up with a weight of 500 grams.

Uh.... no way. Not three months ago, he was at the vet for a check up and weighed 325. So I asked them to weigh him again (he's squirming on the giant scale), and they come up with 500 grams again. Seriously, not possible. The digital scale we have at home reads 327. So she says, "Well, no problem. We can give him slightly smaller doses when we get the meds."

Uh, we're going to wing a metranidazole prescription dose? When it can be a lethal neuro-toxin!? So I ask if she's heard of albendazole, and she says, yes, but it doesn't work for giardia. She then asks if I've heard of panacure?

I'm frustrated. This whole ordeal stressed my guy out, cost my $80, and now their both looking miserable in their home and I can't tell if it was the vet making them act worse from the sheer stress of it all, or if they really do have giardia and are slowly dying from it. I'm panicked but don't know what else to do but wait.

They're both still eating, but their poop looks funky. I'll be sleeping downstairs listening for night time activity and probably making myself sick over it all until I get the results. Meanwhile, does anyone know of a good chin vet near Dixon/Davis, California?

 

[ticklechin]

Dr. Petriz at the UC Davis exotic pet center, I would try to get in there ASAP.

 

[Directorthiang]

Thank you, I'll call and set up the appointment asap. He's acting better today... more like his usual self.... and still eating and pooping fine. I haven't noticed any stretching yet, today, and the poops look more normal. Vet called and said it was a negative on the giardia. She has no idea now what it could be.

I'm wondering if all the stretching yesterday (that was the first time I'd seen it) was the result of me feeding him so many treats to get him to poop for the fecal sample.

Any ideas what else could cause this? I didn't want to stress him out more last night, but my hubby and I are going to do a hair ring check, even though his penis seems fine and he's never had a hair ring before... I'm also going to try and check his feet and legs, since he seems more sensitive than usual to have the base of his back touch (near his tail).

But other than that, I have no clue. Could just be the heat, but we're keeping our home consistent at 70 degrees... does a/c bother chins? Vet listened to his lungs and didn't hear anything strange....

Also, does benebac sometimes give them bloated poops?

 

[ticklechin]

The stretching is a classic symptom of gas and/or stasis. The poo, was it slimey or hollow inside? Look like swiss cheese? Did or does it smell bad?

 

[Directorthiang]

Poop wasn't hollow. It was solid and when I squish it, it just flattened, some. It didn't fall apart or smear. It looked wet and very dark.... sticky enough that it would stick to my finger, but not leave slime behind. Doesn't have a smell at all. Some poops came out normal sized and shaped... others came out with little pieces attached to them.

Tonight, he seems to be favoring his butt. He's sitting on his back legs, and hopping on them like he doesn't want his butt touching the ground. Also caught him grooming his genitals. Penis looked fine... not red or inflamed, and as he had it almost totally out of the sheath, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary to indicate a possible hair ring.

He just isn't acting right. He's still eating, but looking around the cage, I'm noticing things that someone has been chewing on (probably him), that have never been chewed before. The wooden frame of the cage, the paper lining the cage... someone is chewing/eating that stuff.

If it isn't giardia, what other kinds of stomach/gut issues can they have? He's pooping regularly and they're not small, so I don't think an impaction. Could some other kind of parasite or bacterial infection be the culprit?

He has an appointment at UCD tomorrow morning.