Malo chins

[JamaisVu]

I took my chins for a vet check up and the vet said that my boy's upper incisors is not occluding properly with the lower incisors.

It's still nothing to really worry about, but they want to see him in 3 months just to make sure it's not progressing.

Of course, my mind jumped straight to Malo chins.

So for anybody that has had experience with this before, how early/late can malocclusion appear? Is there anything in particular I should keep my eye out for?

Pika is already 3, and he seems like a very healthy, happy boy. He runs normally, eats, drinks and poops normally. Loves treats and chews, and is particularly fond of flower salad.

Is it possible he's a malo chin?

I have no idea of his pedigree, since it seems he originally came from a pet store...

 

[ticklechin]

Malocclusion of the incisors can lead to malocclusion of the molars fairly quick-if the incisors are inhibiting the proper closure of the mouth the chin cannot grind down the surfaces of the molars properly and they will overgrow. Incisor malo requires the chin have its teeth trimmed very frequently if they are not kept in check by the chin itself chewing, so try to give this chin all the chew sticks it wants, keep them fresh and watch those incisors like a hawk so they don't get too long-that is when "stuff" happens.

 

[JamaisVu]

So it can appear that late on in life? It just seems that most of the threads I read the chin has problems very early on.

I'm definitely watching him constantly, almost obsessively. I put in extra chews in his cage, and much more hay. I'm glad he prefers hay over pellets, so it's easy to have him on a mostly-hay diet, to wear down those teeth. So far he's happily chewing away, and eating and ´playing without a problem. No drooling, and no weight loss.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, since the vet said that it was only a little bit in one of his incisors, so it very well could be that he chipped a tooth and is now in the process of wearing them down to the same size, but I can't help but worry. I'm a student, and can not afford to go and get him surgical treatment every 3-4th months, for a long time. I dread the thought of having to put him down, because although I haven't had him for long, he's a real sweet chin and I've already started to get really attached to him....gosh, I hope that it really is just a chipped tooth and nothing worse

Are there any better chew I can give him? He has a blue cloud stone, a pomice stone, many, many chewing sticks, all the hay he can possibly get and a timothy hay bungalow he likes to chew on. Anything else I can do to help him?

 

[Dreamlite]

It can be malo or over grown incissors. Where there any films done? Malo can show up at any point in a chins life. I have owned 3 over the yrs, tess started showing symptoms at 4 yrs old, baily at 6 yrs old and thunder at 8 1/2. Do his front teeth line up properly? Keep a close eye, cause like dawn said, if the front teeth get long it will only be a matter of time till the molars go.

 

[ticklechin]

Any chin can malocclude at any point in life, genetic malo is what shows up young. Can you get a picture of the incisors and post it, it will give me a better idea of what you got going on.

 

[HeatherLouWho]

Pipsqueak was 5 before his molar malo showed up. He was otherwise fine, but went downhill pretty fast after it was discovered. You should DEFINITELY get dental x-rays, and post them for folks like ticklechin to look at. It will give you an idea of what you are dealing with.

Fingers crossed that it's just overgrown incisors for your guy!

 

[ticklechin]

Acutally I don't want x-rays to look at, I want a acutal picture of the incisors to see how they are maloccluding.

 

[JamaisVu]

So you want me to try and get a picture of his incisors? Just a regular photo? I'll see if I can get one. He's not a big fan of being held

 

[WhiteTree]

Scamp was 3 when he was diagnosed with malo. It started with just one side having a point and the vet said it wasn't malo and that it wouldn't happen again, nothing happened for two months then he got hit hard, in the four months that followed his mouth went to **** and he was lost to us despite all the treatment we did. Post the pictures for Ticklechin, she knows her stuff, she helped me alot with my Scamp, but he was just too bad to be saved. His jaw actually shifted at the end, the vet at my work was shocked at what she say in his mouth the day before he died. I hope you don't have a malo chin, good luck.