Dropping weight and not chewing...

[Directorthiang]

My chin, Dash, has been losing weight for a couple of months. I just realized it about a month ago when I noticed that the food bowl and hay weren't going as quickly as they once were. He was 540 grams back in January, and is now at 490 grams. I took him into the vet two weeks ago for a dental check concerned about maloclussion and they discovered some spurs on his molars. I requested a dental x-ray but the vet said she didn't have dental films and that I would need to take him to a "specialist" for those.

In any event, they ground down the spurs and she said everything else looked great. Dash came home and started eating right away. But the amount of food he's eating is still very little and he's still dropping weight! When he went in to file down his teeth, he was at 500 grams. Now he's lost another 10 in the past two weeks.

Any ideas??? He's not chewing on twigs anymore and refuses hard treats. and his poop looks normal but he's pooping only a fraction of the amount he used to. I've been feeding him critical care the past several nights because I'm concerned about his weight and stasis, but his eyes aren't watery, no drooling, he eats soft treats, and happily runs in his wheel every night. I'm at a loss.

Thanks,
Stacey

 

[Rascal]

My chinchilla refused to eat ALL solid food(boring pellets and hay, sweet dried fruits, whatever she needed to chew on) and her weight kept dropping till around 500g, I could only feed her critical care to maintain that weight.

First is to make sure that your chins' teeth nd the tissue around the teeth (I mean the pink part, no infection or inflammation)are fine, no spurs develope again. No drooling doesn't mean his teeth are fine, that's my experience, because my chins never drooled when she had teeth problems, I had to bring her for a vet visit every week because I couldn't knew when her teeth gone bad again.

There was infection around her teeth, no wound inside the mouth, after on antibiotic for a couple of week then stopped and making sure that the teeth were fine, she still refused to eat any solid food. Me and the vet didn't knew the reason, but when my dental surgeon took off my 4 wisdom teeth, I just didn't wanna to try on chewing on anything because I was afraid of pain, I think that may be the answer for her.

I tried different kinds of pellets and hay, at the same time se was on a regular schedule for critical care, after 3 months nightmare, she started to eat again. And, fortunately(touch wood) no teeth trimming after all.

She was 5-6 years old, and she's now 13 years old girl.

Be patient and keep trying, sometimes we can only wait for them.

I think I may not help, but that's my experience.

 

[starleomach]

He may have some spurs they missed, you may want to schedule another appoinment.

 

[Directorthiang]

I took him back in again today and the vet looked again but found no spurs. Rascal, your story gives me hope! Thank you! Occasionally I'll see him eating a few pieces of hay and think he's fine, but then he feels so dang skinny and seems to be pooping so rarely, that I get panicked. The vet said to give him some time and see what develops. He's holding at 500 grams now according to her records (my scale must be off). Sooooo.... I guess I'll just wait and see for a couple of weeks.

Thank you both for your replies.

 

[Rascal]

You're welcome, I got many helps in CnQ so I think sharing is very important for every owner. They shared what they did and I tried their method and then my own method comes out.

If Dash is not eating properly, you have to feed him. Mine was about 500g, and I fed her about 60-80 ml to maintain her weight.

It's very dangerous that they eat less than normal, they need energy and if the intake is not enough, they will "use" the energy stored in the muscle and liver which will generate an engymze(?how to spell...forgot) and if the engymze is too much, it may lead to liver failture.so, be sure you feed your chins enough.

My way was(she was not eating anything):

Mon:fully fed
Tue:3/4
Wed:3/4
Thu:1/2
Fri:1/2
Sat:fully fed

and so on...I didn't fed her full everyday because I wanna to let her felt hungry so she could have space to feed on her own(I lost and she won for 3 months:cry3. If your chins is still eating a bit, then maybe feed 20-30ml critical care and you can make your own schedule for how much you should feed everyday.

 

[Claire D]

Still no xrays? I would strongly recommend finding a vet who can take & interpret chinchilla dental xrays for you - without a proper diagnosis you are a bit stuck TBH because you could be trying to treat something which is occurring at the tooth root level.

 

[Rascal]

I am sorry, I think I miss something, mine had x-ray, so better to have an x-ray to see his roots having problems or not.

 

[ticklechin]

Dental filing is a "art" and a regular vet can easily "butcher" a filing and cause more harm than good, in my experience, and I did experience it when I was lazy and had my regular vet file a chin who usually saw the dentist 100 miles away. If this vet cannot take dental x-rays they really have no business doing filings. If he does not start eating in 14 days after a filing either the job was done poorly or there is something else going on in the mouth and a x-ray is needed. I would seek out a vet dentist or a specialist who has seen alot of chins.

 

[Bostongirl'sChin75]

I went through this with one of my chins and after 2 filings a month apart, found out that she had a tooth that was loose and had gotten food and Critical Care stuck under it and was infected. After the tooth fell out and my vet put her on antibiotics for 10 days to clear the infection, Herby was fine. They also filed down her front teeth, as well. Did your vet look at those?

 

[Directorthiang]

Update...

I took Dash to see a specialist, because according to my home scale, he was still dropping about 10 grams every five days (vet's scale showed him holding steady at 500 grams since the dental filing, but he used to be around 580).

The specialist did an oral exam under anesthetic first to check again for any missed spurs from the previous vet. None. So she then did dental x-rays to check for root elongation or abscesses. None. She said he has PERFECT teeth.

And yet, the amount of food being consumed each night is still vastly smaller than it was before and he's not gaining weight. She was stymied. So she prescribed a small dosage of metacam to see if he was suffering from any pain that we couldn't locate a source for.

That night, about two hours after his first dose, he was chewing on sticks during playtime!! He hadn't done that in MONTHS! So I've been giving the metacam daily and the food consumption hasn't changed much, but he's hopping around more, chewing sticks and hard treats more, and seems generally happier.

What the heck? Does anyone have any ideas? Granted, the poor little guy is a pretty tore-up critter; suffered some kind of nasty accident as a youngster that tore his ear, took off many toes, resulted in a leg amputation, and God only knows what else...

I'm just baffled.

 

[Stackie]

Could you possibly post the x-rays for us to take a look at?

 

[Rickman]

Not that it's a 'cure-all', I've seen and heard LifeLine from chocolatechinchillas.com can do some marvelous things!
Read the first page on her websight, and it explaines a lot.
My herd gets it once or twice a week.
Good luck with him!

 

[ticklechin]

Lifeline is not going to help the root cause of the not eating, it would only cover up the problem. I love lifeline and use pounds of it for my chins also but I don't see the point of using it in this situation. The chin is in some pain, that is obvious, now the cause needs to be found.