New chinchilla's teeth

[Rachel]

Hello!

Rescued a new chinchilla on Saturday (Zoe), who has been living on chinchilla junk food (rat food containing corn and peanuts, am informed will apparantly eat anything but particuarly enjoys whole bananas, hasn't seen hay before).

I know to gradually switch her over to chinchilla pellets and to give her hay but I am concerned about what affect it has had on her teeth.

If I take her to a vet will they be able to trim her teeth if necessary? Will she need an anaesthetic? Is there any other way of making her teeth better? I have given her a willow ring and she has tried to chew it, but not done much damage to it (whereas Sophie and Madeleine would have destroyed it in about an hour!)

Many thanks!

Rachel and Zoe and Sophie and Madeleine

 

[ticklechin]

How old is the chin? Can you take a picture of the incisors-this will be a bit of a clue if the chin is not chewing enough, long incisors mean long molars, not all the time but to put a chin under to check teeth without any symptoms is not a great idea at this point. I had a 8 year old foster chin who never had hay and only charlie chinchilla mix, no toys and the teeth were fine, chin chewed plastic.

 

[Rachel]

Hello! Thanks for replying! Zoe is seven months old. I don't think i'd be able to photograph her teeth - they are bot so big that they hang out of her mouth. But I'm sure she hasn't eaten anything today, so she's going to the vet later.

 

[ticklechin]

The incisors hang out?

 

[Cuddlebug]

I would just do a cold turkey switch for this chinchilla. The sooner it stops eating junk the better.

Ticklechin knows a lot more about the teeth than I do so I will leave that part to her. She can be a really big help.

 

[Rachel]

Zoe went to the vet, and fortunately there is nothing wrong with her teeth. Vet thought maybe she was just waiting for the junk food, and was also unsettled due to her move. Now she is eating hay and chinchilla pellets - still looks hopefully at me like she is askiing for something else, but am hoping she'll forget about her previous diet!

 

[Cuddlebug]

Glad to hear that she is doing fine. Don't give in to the pleading. She will be much healthier without the crap and will soon forget about it.

 

[Lillybabe]

Did the vet do an xray? It seems odd to me that there is nothing wrong with her teeth if her incisors are that long and she's not tearing apart chew toys.

 

[ticklechin]

Did the vet not trim the incisors?