How to prevent molar spurs

[ChocolatPocky]

Hi! I'm a new chinnie owner and have had my Chinchilla, Mr. B, for about a month now.

On Friday he started rubbing his mouth/grinding his teeth and kind of wincing in pain. I brought him to the vet and she says he has points on his molars that are causing inflammation in his mouth, so I am going to take him to get them shaved down by a specialist vet soon. Right now he seems fine and is still eating/drinking at least, but a bit underweight which might be bc of the molar spurs. I feed him a regular diet of Oxbow Essentials Chinchilla pellets and timothy hay, occasionally feed him rose petals, dried Chinchilla safe flowers, bee pollen, rose hips and dried dandelion leaves. I also provide him with lots of apple/pear sticks (which he loves stripping) and vine toys.

I did some reading about molar spurs/points, and read it can be genetic etc, or from eating habits. I'm wondering is there something I can do to prevent him from getting molar spurs or at least slow their growth? I don't know Mr. B's past history but noticed he likes to eat a lot of pellets and is not really into pumice stones or harder things other than apple sticks, so maybe he's not chewing enough fiber? Maybe I can crumble some pumice into his food to encourage him to chew on those? Try different types of hay to encourage hay chewing? Anyone got any tips? Thanks!

 

[Amethyst]

The only thing that they chew to wear down molars is hay, and to some extent bark. Chew toys like pumice and sticks are chewed with their incisors, you don't want the chin actually swallowing rock so I wouldn't add it to their food. Different kinds and cuts of grass do wear down teeth differently though, since they require more or just different chewing. So long as the teeth are lined up properly the different kinds of hay (oat, meadow, orchard, mountain, etc) should help wear them more evenly instead of grinding down the same way everytime.

 

[ChocolatPocky]

Oh that makes sense, thanks! Once he gets his molars fixed hopefully they'll all be lined up.

I'll buy some different types of grasses to encourage him to eat more hay. I do wish companies sold bags of mixed hay though, now I'm gonna have big bags of each one!

 

[ChocolatPocky]

Oh actually Oxbow has a 4 pack of hay! Yayy

 

[ChocolatPocky]

The only thing that they chew to wear down molars is hay, and to some extent bark. Chew toys like pumice and sticks are chewed with their incisors, you don't want the chin actually swallowing rock so I wouldn't add it to their food. Different kinds and cuts of grass do wear down teeth differently though, since they require more or just different chewing. So long as the teeth are lined up properly the different kinds of hay (oat, meadow, orchard, mountain, etc) should help wear them more evenly instead of grinding down the same way everytime.

Btw is there a ratio/amount you suggest? I heard they're mostly supposed to eat timothy hay so do I just sprinkle in the other types?

 

[Amethyst]

Keep it at least 50% timothy hay. That 4 pack of hay the oat (which is a grain hay not a grass hay) should be just about a handful a week. The botanical hay is timothy with treats mixed in it so you want to limit that one to about a handful worth a week too. I have two hay holders, so what I do is I put always put timothy hay in one hay holder and either more timothy or something else in the other. I normally only buy one other hay at a time, we don't those variety packs here. You can also get the timothy/orchard hay mix by oxbow too, I think they are starting to realize variety is better .