We have a female Chin, her name is Kobe, and she is 2 1/2 years old. She's always been healthy and plump, a bit over 720gms. She is from a breeder and happily shares a cage with our other rescue Chinchilla for the past 2 years. About 6-8 weeks ago we noticed she was not eating, it was as if her teeth could not chew (kinda like a pair of scissors that were not aligned and could not cut properly), she would bite up hay, food, leaves, but the pieces would fall out of her mouth. She had lost weight, but her energy was good and she was active and besides the not being able to chew issue, she seemed completely fine.
Around 4/14/12, we took her to a vet, who could not get a good look in her mouth cuz she struggled too much, so he wanted to see her for another visit to do x-rays and give her anesthesia to take a look in her mouth. We felt uneasy about anesthesia so we got a second opinion from an exotic small animal specialist Vet and decided to take her in to see him instead. That visit (4-18-12) she weighted 717gms (this is after she lost some weight so they told us she was a bit overweight). The Vet gave her gas and looked (he allowed us back there to see inside her mouth) around and said she has spurs and he spent over 30 minutes trimming down her teeth with a small electric file. He explained that she may take some time to readjust to her new "bite" after the filing-down, but that she should be more comfortable. We got the Oxbow Critical Care food and liquid Metacam 10ml which we gave her for pain for the next 5 days.
After exactly one week (4-25-12), we took her back for a follow up visit with the Vet. She was still not eating properly, and we struggled to get the Critical Care food in her mouth, most of it was kinda spitted back out. She wasn't eating much on her own, and seemed to be drinking less water. We have 2 chinchillas in the cage, so had to monitor who we thought was eating what. Kobe usually loves treats and apple branches and tho she attempted to chew/eat them, she just seemed not to be able to chew anything with her front teeth. This visit her weight had dropped to 680gms, 37gms less than the week before. The vet told us to wait a bit longer, that she may just need more time to get used to her bite.
Another week goes by, and she is losing more weight, but still active and spunky and acting normal, except she's still not able to use her teeth and eat. She tries hard, but just can't seem to bite through even soft things like dried apple pieces. She would try then get frustrated and throw it down...during this whole time, and as always, we have fresh timothy Hay and orchard grass, and pellets, all available, praying she would be eating. We continued to feed her the Critical Care but she continued to lose weight, once in a while she would eat some dried apple or leaves or a bit of hay, and manage to swallow it. We take her back to the Vet (5-3-12, 2 weeks after her oral surgery) and this time she weighted 660gms. She looked fine and was active as usual, and after a quick exam he said he felt like she was starting to turn the corner and would start to gain weight back. While we were there, she had diarrhea and we had to clean her up. He attributed that to the treats (home made dehydrated apple), and said to cut back on the treas (we were giving her more treats than usual in desperate attempts to get calories into her).
Another week goes by and we notice that she is losing more weight, and when she tries to chew her bottom jaw is moving from side to side and making a clicking noise, we noticed this crunching noise a few other times in the past 3 weeks, when there is no food in her mouth but yet it sounds like she's crunching on something...it has to be her teeth??? On top of that, when she takes a bite and tries to swallow, she's unable to swallow and has to extend her neck upward and makes a strained gulping noise as she tries to swallow the little piece of food...it is heart wrenching for us to see. And we called the office and we're just at a point where we're not sure bringing her in again is going to do anything...we don't want to put her through the stress of it, and the hour trip.
But as of today 5/9/12 (her oral surgery was 4/18/12) she has lost more weight, and where she always looked good and was spunky and active, her eyes are not sparkling and she is getting smaller and more unhealthy looking. Plus, she has one day, a few weeks ago, where she had bad diarrhea, but it lasted a day that seems to have ceased...her poops look okay now, and we do distinguish between her and the other chin's poops. She gets exercise and is very active and runs all over the place, but we can tell she's going downhills and I'm making a desperate attempt to gather some info as to what this could be before we lose her. We are willing to pay the Vet bills as long as we know that it can legitimately help her, and not make her worse. A part of us wonder if the oral surgery did more harm than good, because she is not any better off and has had to go through all the trauma, gas, forced feedings, and trips to the Vet.
If anyone has experience with what I described, please enlighten and share, we assumed it was a teeth issue, I watched her closely before we took her to the Vet initially and it clearly was something with her mouth where she could not chew properly, or keep the food in her mouth, so she slowly had stopped eating, even the soft things.
Our other Chinchilla would be devastated if something happened to Kobe...we would be also.
Thank you in advance, and as much as I appreciate compassionate words, please only respond if you truly feel that you have good information or insight to share.
And if you feel it in your heart, please help us pray for Kobe to get well.
Gratefully and Respectfully.
Around 4/14/12, we took her to a vet, who could not get a good look in her mouth cuz she struggled too much, so he wanted to see her for another visit to do x-rays and give her anesthesia to take a look in her mouth. We felt uneasy about anesthesia so we got a second opinion from an exotic small animal specialist Vet and decided to take her in to see him instead. That visit (4-18-12) she weighted 717gms (this is after she lost some weight so they told us she was a bit overweight). The Vet gave her gas and looked (he allowed us back there to see inside her mouth) around and said she has spurs and he spent over 30 minutes trimming down her teeth with a small electric file. He explained that she may take some time to readjust to her new "bite" after the filing-down, but that she should be more comfortable. We got the Oxbow Critical Care food and liquid Metacam 10ml which we gave her for pain for the next 5 days.
After exactly one week (4-25-12), we took her back for a follow up visit with the Vet. She was still not eating properly, and we struggled to get the Critical Care food in her mouth, most of it was kinda spitted back out. She wasn't eating much on her own, and seemed to be drinking less water. We have 2 chinchillas in the cage, so had to monitor who we thought was eating what. Kobe usually loves treats and apple branches and tho she attempted to chew/eat them, she just seemed not to be able to chew anything with her front teeth. This visit her weight had dropped to 680gms, 37gms less than the week before. The vet told us to wait a bit longer, that she may just need more time to get used to her bite.
Another week goes by, and she is losing more weight, but still active and spunky and acting normal, except she's still not able to use her teeth and eat. She tries hard, but just can't seem to bite through even soft things like dried apple pieces. She would try then get frustrated and throw it down...during this whole time, and as always, we have fresh timothy Hay and orchard grass, and pellets, all available, praying she would be eating. We continued to feed her the Critical Care but she continued to lose weight, once in a while she would eat some dried apple or leaves or a bit of hay, and manage to swallow it. We take her back to the Vet (5-3-12, 2 weeks after her oral surgery) and this time she weighted 660gms. She looked fine and was active as usual, and after a quick exam he said he felt like she was starting to turn the corner and would start to gain weight back. While we were there, she had diarrhea and we had to clean her up. He attributed that to the treats (home made dehydrated apple), and said to cut back on the treas (we were giving her more treats than usual in desperate attempts to get calories into her).
Another week goes by and we notice that she is losing more weight, and when she tries to chew her bottom jaw is moving from side to side and making a clicking noise, we noticed this crunching noise a few other times in the past 3 weeks, when there is no food in her mouth but yet it sounds like she's crunching on something...it has to be her teeth??? On top of that, when she takes a bite and tries to swallow, she's unable to swallow and has to extend her neck upward and makes a strained gulping noise as she tries to swallow the little piece of food...it is heart wrenching for us to see. And we called the office and we're just at a point where we're not sure bringing her in again is going to do anything...we don't want to put her through the stress of it, and the hour trip.
But as of today 5/9/12 (her oral surgery was 4/18/12) she has lost more weight, and where she always looked good and was spunky and active, her eyes are not sparkling and she is getting smaller and more unhealthy looking. Plus, she has one day, a few weeks ago, where she had bad diarrhea, but it lasted a day that seems to have ceased...her poops look okay now, and we do distinguish between her and the other chin's poops. She gets exercise and is very active and runs all over the place, but we can tell she's going downhills and I'm making a desperate attempt to gather some info as to what this could be before we lose her. We are willing to pay the Vet bills as long as we know that it can legitimately help her, and not make her worse. A part of us wonder if the oral surgery did more harm than good, because she is not any better off and has had to go through all the trauma, gas, forced feedings, and trips to the Vet.
If anyone has experience with what I described, please enlighten and share, we assumed it was a teeth issue, I watched her closely before we took her to the Vet initially and it clearly was something with her mouth where she could not chew properly, or keep the food in her mouth, so she slowly had stopped eating, even the soft things.
Our other Chinchilla would be devastated if something happened to Kobe...we would be also.
Thank you in advance, and as much as I appreciate compassionate words, please only respond if you truly feel that you have good information or insight to share.
And if you feel it in your heart, please help us pray for Kobe to get well.
Gratefully and Respectfully.
