Help

[ticklechin]

Buddy, you are comparing apples and oranges as far as comparing this chin to yours, this chin has advanced dental disease with many serious issues going on, most will be fatal even if the OP does not PTS, the chin will just suffer until it dies.

 

[Buddy]

Apart from the infection on his teeth. My chins situation is practically the same. Misaligned teeth, filings, in pain and elongated roots. No matter how you see it, my chin is in the exact same situation. The only difference is Bubbles is no longer huddled in a corner in excruciating pain. A year ago Bubbles had elongated roots. Malo just wasn't a worry at that exact time. Malo is now the worry and her teeth are terrible.
I would never for one second put Bubbles down. I allowed her time to get over her last filing and she's as energetic than ever.
This chin is in pain from his filing, surely? Not from the elongated roots? This chins xrays looked pretty similar to Bubble's a year ago :S

 

[ticklechin]

Buddy, the members here who used to be on the chins-n-quills forum will remember me when I also had my rose colored glasses on about malo chins, I spent well over 15k dollars on malo chins over the 13 years I have had them doing what you say-keep em' alive regardless. And what happened, every single one died, and they died bad deaths. I tried just about EVERY treatment out there baring apicoectomy and endodontic therapy, most experimental and I can say with 100% certainty that on the 11 malo chins I had nothing worked, all died.

 

[Dreamlite]

You are missing what everyone is saying buddy. Your chin has ok roots meaning they weren't growing backwards and causing massive infections and severe pain. The surface of the teeth can be filed and smoothed which is what your chin needed. This is a completely different level of malo. How would you feel if your tooth was growing into your skull with huge abscesses? There is no cure for roots. You can maintain misaligned with filings but not roots. I would strongly advise this person to use major pain meds or do the right thing and euth.

 

[Buddy]

So are you saying everyone like me should just give up? because you were one of the ones who told me not too :S

 

[ticklechin]

You have said that your chins x-rays were fine and its only one tooth, that is what you stated in the past.

don't have pictures of her xrays. I did see them however. my vet showed me how there are lines that go straight from one place of a chinchillas head, and everything should be lined up in that line. Bubbles is line isn't bad at all. Her teeth are growing upwards slightly, but it's nothing big at the minute, and it shouldn't be causing any pain, or damage. He showed me other chinchilla's xrays that he sees and they are a lot worse than hers...

 

[Tagna]

I put my malo chin down not long after the diagnosis, a few months. I could have kept her alive for a long time I am sure. Her teeth roots were affecting her right eye and I knew for myself that there was no way I could let her deal with that. Pain meds did not help and her quality of life was just not there.

I will always recommend PTS when the x rays show what the OPs show.

 

[Buddy]

That was the diagnosis the vet told me. She wasn't given xrays this time around. Her teeth elongation weren't a major issue at that time. But things escalate. My vet said she has Malo, she has misaligned teeth. Misaligned teeth is still a sign of root elongation? I would have thought no one would have taken that possibility out? :S

 

[Dreamlite]

Malo is any problem of the teeth. Misaligned teeth doesn't always mean root problems.

 

[Anjali]

An update on my chin: I went to the doctor today, to get a painkiller for him. I have a syringe full of medicine that should last me about three days now. My father, who is a doctor, gave him the injection and the chin is showing clear signs of improvement. He left his cage for the first time since yesterday, started moving around and let me pet him even in areas where it was painful for him before, so I think the pains have subsided. He refused any syringe feeding, but after a while, it dawned onto me to just grind his pellets in the blender, without adding water, and serve them to him dry. He's been happily munching on them for minutes now and doesn't seem to be willing to stop eating anytime soon.

As for his teeth... I intend to ask the advice of more vets. Dawn, thank you for the help and I am going to respect your advice, I will probably euthanise him soon enough, before his roots actually start causing him pain. But if he can recover now and the vets believe he can still live an okay life for a couple more weeks or months, I shall postpone putting him down for a while.

 

[ticklechin]

That was the diagnosis the vet told me. She wasn't given xrays this time around. Her teeth elongation weren't a major issue at that time. But things escalate. My vet said she has Malo, she has misaligned teeth. Misaligned teeth is still a sign of root elongation? I would have thought no one would have taken that possibility out? :S

So you stated the elongation was not a big issue above, then you stated below the chin has one tooth with a bit of a curve and a few spurs, this does NOT add up to the OPs x-ray, so either you are not telling the whole story of your chins problems or you are trying to make your chins problem out to be more that it is to prove some kind of point against PTS. Heroics performed on a advanced malo chin is IMO not something to brag about, its cruel. And yes, this is the pot calling the kettle black, been there, done all that, have the t-shirt.

There were a few sharp spurs too, and one tooth had become to wide?? Is that Malo? One tooth wasn't 'straight' it has a bit of a curve to it, That has been filed down too.

 

[Stackie]

There are alot of things going on in that x-ray and if it was my chin it would be PTS yesterday. There is fairly advanced elongation, periodontal disease on the lower quadrant, at least a couple of abscesses, significant issues with the occlusal plane and some carries/broken teeth of the pre-molars, no amount of heroic care will help this chin, its in significant pain and hard decisions need to be made sooner than later.

I agree with all of this. Lots of fractures, misalignment, elongation... it's amazing this chin hasn't died of starvation or ileus because I dont' see how it would be possible for him to feed himself.

An update on my chin: I went to the doctor today, to get a painkiller for him.

What kind of painkillers did they give?

 

[Anjali]

I honestly had no idea, he was feeding himself just fine. He loved anything crunchy. :/

The drug is called Meloxicam. It's supposed to be injected subcutaneously.

 

[ticklechin]

Here in the USA we give meloxicam orally, never sub-Q. And if it is going to be used long term it needs to be used with something like pepcid to help offset the chance of gastric bleeding and ulcers. Just like people with a chronic painful disease, using pain meds just covers the problem up and that is fine if the owner wants to proceed with supportive care, just make sure you are in for 110%, are there for the chin 24/7/365 and whatever its costs to maintain because anything less that that don't bother.

 

[EMSChins]

That was the diagnosis the vet told me. She wasn't given xrays this time around. Her teeth elongation weren't a major issue at that time. But things escalate. My vet said she has Malo, she has misaligned teeth. Misaligned teeth is still a sign of root elongation? I would have thought no one would have taken that possibility out? :S

Buddy - this is going to sound mean and it really isn't meant to. You have been a member on this forum long enough and should have read enough threads about Malo and root elongation to know that they are basically one and the same. You go from one thread where you say that your chin isn't that bad off to another comparing your chin to one with a worst case scenario. I have noticed that you pop up everytime someone has a Malo or Stasis thread and compare Bubble's situation to whatever they happen to be experiencing at the moment.

I am not trying to make light of Bubbles situation but when people come here asking for advice, I don't think it is very helpful to constantly be bringing up your situation instead of giving them genuine helpful advice. More often than not you end up hijacking their thread to focus on yourself.

If you have already started a thread on a topic - please stick with that one instead of bringing it up in every other thread that might be even the remotest bit similar. It just gets old and it isn't very helpful to the OP.

I will get off of my soapbox now.

To the OP, I apologize!

 

[Anjali]

Here in the USA we give meloxicam orally, never sub-Q. And if it is going to be used long term it needs to be used with something like pepcid to help offset the chance of gastric bleeding and ulcers. Just like people with a chronic painful disease, using pain meds just covers the problem up and that is fine if the owner wants to proceed with supportive care, just make sure you are in for 110%, are there for the chin 24/7/365 and whatever its costs to maintain because anything less that that don't bother.

It won't be long term, I am only going to give him a couple of shots these days, to relieve him of the pain, and in a week, we'll probably PTS. :<

 

[tunes]

I'm a little confused Anjali. If you have made up your mind to put this chin to sleep, why keep him alive for another week of suffering?

Buddy, I would be very surprised if I was one of the people who told you to keep a malo chin alive. I don't believe in it. I will never encourage it. So when I tell you that malo is incurable and a chin should not have to keep suffering for it's human, that's what I mean.

 

[AZChins]

Sometimes it's hard to say good bye.

But, this is a very damaged little chin. It would be best to end the suffering. It's hard to do, but it must be done. I can tell you from experience that you will only regret letting a chin suffer longer than he or she has to suffer.

The medication helps a little, but the animals are still hurting when they get to this point.

(Root elongation is a huge deal, other forms of tooth issues can often be solved without too much of a problem but root elongation is impossible to fix.)

 

[NiftyKat]

I just think a lot of you are being terribly mean to these people. I'm not even talking about the advice or anything, it's the way you are speaking and treating the situation. Yes, you can't always be nice and comforting, but basically the whole time you guys have just been mean with your advice, and not caring. Some people on here know how to offer advice in a caring manner, and others on here are just rude and too blunt, especially in a situation where PTS is most likely evident. Having a pet die is HARD! Be nice and understanding about it. Don't constantly berate them into doing what you think is right and being rude when they don't want to do it exactly your way. Some of you have said you've also tried all you could to save a chin in these situations. Yes, you've experienced it, but everyone has to go through everiences themselves. They are doing it out of love, thinking they know what's best. Just PLEASE, offer your advice in more caring ways, especially in these types of situations. Sometimes it's hard asking questions on this forum once you actually have your chins as everyone seems to just throw their advice at you and get mad if you don't take it. You should want people to feel comfortable coming to you guys for advice and help. Please, just think of that when handing out advice. I am speaking strictly of Anjali's situation.

 

[tunes]

Niftykat - Don't self police. If you have an issue, hit the (!) button.

And FYI, I have had more than my fair share of pets die. Do you think it's easier for me than it is for you? Do you suppose while I held my dog's head in my lap and wept until I threw up that it was EASY for me to let him go? I begged the vet to do something for him, even knowing that he was 14 years old, a giant breed, and had long outlived his projected life span. Don't ever condescend to me about how HARD it is for a pet to die. Nothing irritates me more than people who think they are the ONLY ones who know how it feels. Just because every time I lose a chin, a dog, a horse, a cat, a rat, or any other animal in my care I don't post about it doesn't mean that I don't feel deeply every single time. It only means that I don't need the drama of everybody in the world knowing my business and that I prefer to grieve privately.

No one is even attempting to be mean to the OP. Everyone, however, is concerned about a chin who is in agony with a mouth full of pain, knowing it cannot ever be fixed, no matter how many trims you do. Is the animal alive because it's enjoying the pain or because the owner can't let go? I said it before and I'll say it again, quality of life should ALWAYS come before quantity.