Losing weight after surgery

[Renier]

Good day.
My chin went for dental surgery 10 days ago. He is three years old. The surgery went well but they kept him for five days for observation and syringe feeding.
He's been home for five days now, but losing weight everyday. Very little, but still dropping. I think his teeth is better. I can see he is chewing his pellets, but only from three days ago (I assume because the wound is healing). He was 578g before the surgery and he is now 540g. Does anyone know why this is happenning? Must I give it more time, or must he go back for syringe feeding?
I look forward to your kind input and support.
Renier

 

[Amethyst]

So is he eating on his own? or was the last time he ate 3 days ago? He should be eating about 2 tb (or about 30g if you prefer to weigh it) of food a day, plus about a handful of hay. If he is not eating that much he might need to be hand fed for a bit longer. He may need pain meds too if he wasn't sent home with any, you might want to talk to the vet about that.

If chins don't eat everyday their gut shuts down after about 12-24 hours of no food and they can die if the vet can't get the gut going again with medicine, so it's important to make sure they are getting food in their system.

 

[Renier]

Hello.
Thank you.
I do give him a little pain meds. He has been eating on his own everyday. I just don't think enough. And since I have two in the same cage, it is hard to tell who is eaing what. I will give it a day or two and then take him back to the vet for a few days, if there is no upswing.
Thanks again for the input. Appreciate.

 

[JamaisVu]

If you don't think he's eating enough, why not call his vet and ask if you should be trying to supplement with critical care? Just a thought.

 

[Mel]

Hello.
Thank you.
I do give him a little pain meds. He has been eating on his own everyday. I just don't think enough. And since I have two in the same cage, it is hard to tell who is eaing what. I will give it a day or two and then take him back to the vet for a few days, if there is no upswing.
Thanks again for the input. Appreciate.

Our vet told us that some chinchillas can lose their appetite when on pain killers or antibiotics. We had a chinchilla once that had a tooth trimming and then just stopped eating even though the tooth issue was fixed and any other issues were ruled out so the vet gave him an appetite stimulant medication and within a day he was eating again.
We have rescued chinchillas for about 20 years and we have had a few with teeth issues.
We were doing force feeds with critical care and the not eating had gone on way too long so it was a last resort type of thing with this chinchilla.
Might be something to ask your vet about if it gets really bad?
There is also learned behaviour with chinchillas. They get used to not eating so the longer they go without eating the harder it can be to get them going again.
Good luck with your little one!