Teeth issue? Turning pellets into powder

[Chinnyluver]

My chins are at my parents house while I am at college. My dad does a great job with them and I don't worry about their level of care so I don't think that is related to this issue but when I came home yesterday I noticed that one of the cages' food bowl was mostly powder. I had noticed this a bit before but figured he had just finished off a bag and it was from the bottom. But with this, they have literally taken the food down to the a powder, everything in the bowl. I checked both girls' teeth and they aren't pointy or excessively long. I gave them both a treat to try to see who it was and I think I know. Her bottom teeth are a bit longer than the others but she is able to eat and doesn't appear uncomfortable so I'm not sure what to do. Could she need them filed even though they're not pointed or curling in? They have plenty of wood, louffa and lava chews but ran out of lava a while ago, which I just stocked up on. I don't think that would have led to the change that fast though? Just looking for thoughts and experiences. Again, she's eating, doesn't appear to have lost weight and has access to chews. Thanks!

 

[Amethyst]

You can't see all the teeth without an x-ray and a sedated visual exam at the vet, so the molars can be checked. The chews only work on the front teeth, the molars are what they use to grind up their food, if doing so is painful some food will fall back out (creating crumbs in the bowl). It could be as simple as a spur on a molar that needs filing, or a sore in the mouth, or as serious as malo, but as I said without an x-ray or at least an exam of all the teeth and mouth you can't tell. What wears down the molars is the hay (pellets are too soft to do much good), which is why it's so important. Also different types of hay wears down teeth differently, so a variety is best.

 

[ticklechin]

I have had a lot of malo chins and turning pellets to powder was never a symptom. Reason being is this, when the teeth get to the point of being a issue with eating there is more spit than usual, the spit clumps the pellet dust and it packs in the teeth, upon a oral exam the packed pellet dust is a symptom. The only way to tell if there is a issue is weigh the chin on a daily basis the same time of the day for a couple of weeks, if the weight goes up and down a few grams there is no issue, if the loss is gradual there is a issue.

 

[Chinnyluver]

Thanks for the replies. I am going to try to get her into the vet, as I can't take her to school to weigh her every day.

 

[Chinnyluver]

Is there a type of hay that helps grind them down more than others? They are on primarily oxbow timothy.

 

[Amethyst]

Is there a type of hay that helps grind them down more than others? They are on primarily oxbow timothy.

Well stocks wear down teeth more then the leafy parts, but not all chins like them. What I do is buy a big bag of timothy, and then one smaller bag of something else each time. So they always have timothy but the other type changes every few months. It's not so much a matter of one type wearing down the most it's more that each type of hay they need to chew differently so it's not the same chewing motion all the time. What probably wears teeth the most is the scrub grasses they eat in the wild, lol, but those have very little nutritional value, so they have to eat lots of it. I doubt a pet chin would even touch scrub grass, other grass hays taste better. Chins also eat bark too, so make sure your chew sticks at least sometimes have bark on them, most bark is more coarse then grass. My guys get about half a dozen fresh (no chewed yet) sticks/twigs per day.