Symptoms for tooth problem?

[hkkjstwcl]

Can anybody tell me what are the symptoms for chins' tooth problems?

My 7 month-old mosaic male demonstrates following behaviors:
1) Scratches himself to bleed; ear and under his eye.
2) Grind his theeth when he receives massages and when he is charging to another male chinchilla.
3) Has very little appetite. He eats less than 1/2 of food that other chins eat. Other chins are sounger than him.
4) Doesn't have waterly eyes, but I think that the pink areas around his eyes are slightly wider than other chins: inside and outside.
He is caged alone, but the cage is placed close to other 5 chins. He gets lots of playtime with them.

I posted a question about ear irritation a few days ago. Here is one of the same pictures, so that you can see his ear and his eye. I haven't taken a pic of the scratch under his eye yet.

Thanks!

 

[LemonSqueezi]

Well he could have the start of fungus or maybe even allergies depending on the litter you use. The teeth grinding can be many things, Could be pissed off, and a warning or could be pain. Given he is not eating as much as the others I would definitely go have his mouth checked and a skull x ray to make sure.
How do his poos look?
When you say the other chins are stronger , do you mean bigger? Whats his weight compared to the others? Is he eating his hay?
Also how often is he dusted. Perhaps his ears are becoming to dry and itchy or he has a reaction to the dust. I have one that gets a watery eye every time he dusts.

 

[ABBY W.]

I think she means the other chins are younger than him.

Teeth grinding is very common, as a signal of pleasure when getting treats or scritches, and teeth chattering is a wanring when they feel threatened. So that by itself wouldn't worry me.

Is he losing weight? The lack of appetite concerns me, and the scratching himself until he bleeds is alarming. It doesn't sound like a problem with his teeth necessarily, possibly a fungus of some sort, dry skin, or allergies. Chins will usually experience a decrease in appetite when they don't feel well.

How often are you dusting him? What bedding are you using? What do his poops look like?

 

[LemonSqueezi]

I didn't read the younger part I read it as stronger. It does look like he meant younger though.
Teeth grinding can easily be a sign of pain and agitation as well though please don't rule that out. Our recent malo girl would grind her teeth every time we would try to pet or scritch her and it wasn't out of pleasure.

Since he is charging at males he is not bonded with and grinding teeth at them , he might just be stressed and agitated in general because of them and with the ear agitation on top of it, it could easily make him lose appetite.
Try moving the cages further away and giving separate play/out time, he sounds stressed.

As we both already asked, what kind of litter, what are you doing for the ears so far, how are is poos looking, and is he eating his hay?

 

[ann1]

Sounds like fungus to me or possibly some kind of allergies as already mentioned.

 

[hkkjstwcl]

My difficult mosaic boy...

Thank you for all your replies. He is about 7 months old, and when I got him about a month ago, he was round and much bigger than my younger chins. My other chins are about 3~5 months. Others are getting along to one another, but this white mosaic boy is a sort of introvert and maverick. He is really nervous and skittish all the time. As other chins grew, he seems to have become smaller and thinner. His fur is very strong, though; Almost three times thicker than my other chins. He sheds a lot when he meets my other male chin. Today, I let him have an alone time (play time), and he looked happier.
I use dry pine bedding. He is not eating hay too much at all. Even pellets, he doesn't eat too much. He likes treat and apple twigs, though. I am not giving my chins treats too much. Maybe one every other day. I give them an apple twig about every other day. He etas treats and sometimes apple twigs. He doesn't seem sick or in pain. But, he does not get excited about things that my other chins would get crazy about. He doesn't respond to meal times, and he doesn't even get excited about supplement (mix of oats, etc) that other chinchillas cannot get enough. (One table spoon every other day)...
His poops are small and dry, since he doesn't eat too much. They are kind of greenish, as compared to other chins' poops.
I feed my chins pellets that are all green. When I bought him from a lady in NJ, he had been eating "Nutriphase Gold Chinchilla Formula". It's a mixed formula. I switched it to the green ones because I didn't want treat him differently. Maybe I should give him more yummy mixed formula...
I have been giving my chins bath almost every day. I will reduce it from now on. Also, when I bought him, he smelled like cigarette. The smell didn't go away for a week or more. I remember that after the smell was gone on his fur, the inside of his ears still smelled like cigarette a little bit. He was coughing sometimes for a week or so. His coughing stopped soon after he arrived here.
I read somebody's post about fungus on this forum, so I may treat him according to answers to the post.
What do you think about feeding him different formula?

Thanks you to all of you!!:wave5:

 

[Stackie]

I may have missed it. What feed are you feeding him now?

First you need to switch him to a good chin pellet- Oxbow, PANR, you'll find a list if you do a search.

 

[hkkjstwcl]

I buy "Bif Red Rabbit"-chinchilla pellets from a local breeder. He is pretty knowledgeble. My other chinchillas love it. This pellet is all green and nothing elese in it. What do you think?

 

[Stackie]

I'd need to see the nutritional analysis..and searching through google isn't showing me anything. Would you have the time to type out the ingredients and the percentages? I've never heard of it being used for chins before.

 

[mishellyshel]

i think she meant big red

see here:

http://www.propet.com/br_rf.html

 

[Stackie]

Yeah I figured she meant big red and I searched for it; that website doesn't give the ingredients and the nutritional analysis though.

 

[mishellyshel]

it's called big red rabbit food 18%, so i am assuming the 18% means protein percentage.
which i belive is a little high, i think mazuri is 16% and panr is lower??

 

[Stackie]

Mazuri is 18%. It's the highest I would go for protein; even that is a little high for me. I feed Oxbow which is 16%.

 

[hkkjstwcl]

I just purchased Oxbow on line now. They will deliver the pellets to me in 5 days. So, those pellets with grains and other stuff are not good for chins?

 

[jarp]

No you should stick with just pellets. When you feed mixed foods chins will tend to pick through the food and only eat the better tasting items leaving the pellets which they really need.

 

[LemonSqueezi]

Back on topic here..
Was the person you bought the chin from a legit breeder or some random person?
Second since he is not eating as much, he is barely eating hay, not interested in many things or his oats, and the poos are rather small and green I would get him to a vet and get his mouth looked at and X rayed asap. The poo should not be small and too green. Usually if you see a lot of green its either pellets or hay not ground up enough or an infection (solid green and muscuosy is infection) (bits of green are food not properly chewed) and if the poos are small on top of it something is wrong. This is what our mallo girls poos looked like exactly. Small and full of unchewed hay.

Dusting everyday is way too much so the ears are obviously going to get irritated. Try once a week for now until they get better then twice a week. However his ears aren't going to make his poos small or not eat like that.
He needs to be seen it sounds to me like he is in pain, and might be why he doesn't want any chin near him at all either.
As I stated in my first post grinding need can be a sign of pain and this is what our malo girl did a lot. Doesn't mean your chin has it, it could be something simple but it needs to be checked out now and make sure.

Yes you need to switch to a better food, but right now whats more important is getting enough food into him and finding out whats wrong.
You can pick Mazuri up at many feeds stores. If you give your zip I can find you a dealer near you but you need to get that chin into a good vet more importantly.

 

[Stackie]

Yes you need to switch to a better food, but right now whats more important is getting enough food into him and finding out whats wrong.
You can pick Mazuri up at many feeds stores. If you give your zip I can find you a dealer near you but you need to get that chin into a good vet more importantly.

The reason I was asking what food he is on is because some chins will not eat a lot of a particular food. By switching to a different feed, he may eat more.

 

[hkkjstwcl]

Worried

Hi. Thanks for all your help. My zip is 20910 (home) and 20005 (work)... DC or Maryland are good. Virginia is too far from me.
I will bring him to a vet ASAP. I hope that I would be able to do it tomorrow (Saturday). I never thought that he might be in pain...
The lady whom I bought him from sounded like a breeder, but I don't know. She wrote on her craigslist ad that he reacts to sound. I think that she knew that he was a nervous chinchilla.
The breeder in MD whom I buy supplies gave me a list of vets who know about chinchillas. They are in Maryland, and kind of far, but my BF will drive me and Adonis (the difficult boy) there. But, I heard that sometimes, vets are clueless and give chins wrong antibiotics, etc, and kill chins.
I wander if the vet can fix his problem. What if he has tooth problem? Do you know how vets can fix it?
My BF told me not to hold him too much because he runs when I try to hold him. I am good at catching chins, so I end up catching him and give him long massages. He trys to run away a few times, but usually once I get him, he seems to enjoy my massage.
If he is hurting or has digestive/tooth problem, should I not hold him too much?:thinking2::confused2:

Thanks for your advices.:heart2:

 

[LemonSqueezi]

If the breeder ( if its a legit quality breeder) suggests the vets then they should be ok.
Heres what the vet should do (Check inside the mouth with a scope) then regardless of what he finds he should take an x ray of the skull to see further what is going on.
I can't say he can or can't fix it because I do not know the problem. It might not even be a tooth problem but what you are describing sounds enough to make me say it needs to be checked out.
It could be something simple or complicated or something completely different. Might be nothing at all but what you describe shouldn't ever be ignored.
The only way to find out is exam and x ray.
When you go the vet make sure you write down everything you need to tell him and habbits. Grinding teeth, no interest in some treats, barely eating hay, grumpy, small green poos, not eating as much as others. Save some of the small green poos and bring it with you so he can see.

Stackie I agree completely but he should be eating a lot of hay then at least and the OP says he barely touches it. And even if he doesn't like it and eats a little the poo shoudln't be like that.

OP TMS (Sulfa) or Baytril are most common antibiotics. If he tries to give you clavamox , orbax, or anything like that then you know he doesn't have a clue.

BOOTH FEED-TYSON'S CORNER
8455-L TYCO ROAD
VIENNA, VA 22182
Phone No: 703-821-1206

They have 3 bags of the 25 lb bags in stock fresh just bag it and freeze it and it will last and you will save money.
I wish you luck! I hope its nothing!

 

[hkkjstwcl]

Update

Hi!!!
I have just come back from a vet. My BF drove me to Virginia. The vet office is open 24-7, and there are four vets who are specialized in exotic animals at all the time. But, it cost me a lot. With a late fee of $30 (We were a bit late), it was $147 with medications.... But, Adonis, my chin, needed it, and my BF does not have time during weekdays. So, he looked into exotic animal vets that are open during weekends.
Basically, the doctor said that Adonis looked just fine. She examined inside his mouth and said that everything appeared to be normal. She prescribed anti-inflammatory and antibiotics for the scratches in his ear and under his eye.
She said that grinding teeth is what some chinchillas do, like some ladies in this forum had told me.
Adonis is really skittish, and the vet lady was surprised about it, too. She said that he should refrain from dust bath for a while, and after that only a couple times a week.
He is caged alone, but on top of that, he should not have playtime with other chins for a while.
About his super slim appetite, she said that it might be from his pain. But, he is 7 month old and weigh 390 g, so he is normal. She told me that if things won't get better and he keeps losing weight in 10 days, he should come in for xray and maybe diagnostics.
She said no to fungus, too.
I am glad that everything appeared to be ok. Another thing that we found out is he LOVES car rides!! He looked so comfortable and just love the vibration and everything. We should put him in a carrier and take him to car rides more often. He needs lots of alone time away from other chins and needs special attention from us.
Other chins are happy and easy, and I prefer that way.... But, Adonis happens to be difficult, so, as a mom, I have to accept that.
In the future, he still might get along with my other chins and be happier.
Thanks again!!!! :wink2: