teeth question

rachelmz · Jul 5, 2009

So, I'm going to be rescuing a chinchilla from a friend of a friend of a friend (you get the idea). Right now she has the chin in the cage with a dwarf rabbit. I was emailing the lady and she said this:

"Both of them are girls. Ms. Moonchkin, the chin, is about 4 years old. Her top teeth are very yellow and not in the best condition because she refuses to wear them down on pumice or the wood toys I buy for them, so they grow pretty long and then break off. She has a yellow beard right now, I think from the liquid supplement I put in their food. I have the chin on the rabbit food."

Hm. I'm sure that explains the situation entirely. Unfortunately, I won't be able to get to the chin until next week. Does she need to see the vet? What should I do about the situation?

tunes · Jul 5, 2009

I would have her teeth checked by a vet for sure. Even just chewing pellets should keep her teeth in decent shape, and they definitely shouldn't keep breaking off. If they get so long that they break off, or if they are that weak, there's a problem.

I would stop whatever "liquid" supplement she is using. If the chin is on good quality pellets (which rabbit food can be, depending on the type), she doesn't need any liquid vitamins and it's probably crap from a pet store anyway.

rachelmz · Jul 5, 2009

Does anyone know a good vet in eastern PA? I live in the Allentown/Whitehall area.

starleomach · Jul 5, 2009

Peggy always says it all and says it best.
There is a vet listing by state spot here http://chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=104

ticklechin · Jul 6, 2009

The yellow chin could be from drool also, I would check the tops of the paws for discoloration also.

LemonSqueezi · Jul 11, 2009

I just wanted to update that this chin has come into the rescue. Her teeth are not yellow but pale white. The bottom incisors are over grown and obviously broken while the top are crackly looking. She has obvious signs of malocclusion and has an obvious large bump on her jaw line that is either an abscess, spur or root? It is only on one side and is right where her fur is balding from all the drool. You can tell the chin is in discomfort. Some how she is still pooing but they are very tiny and far from normal. To top this off the chinchilla was kept on red cedar and has decent upper respiratory infection. Her eyes are watery , her mouth and chest wet from drool. The previous owner claimed she didn't notice because of lack of time however we are pretty sure this is bs and the above comment confirms it. If the owner was able to tell someone that the teeth crack and break off then she knew something was wrong but denied knowing anything. This animal was in obvious distress and even holds her mouth open and crooked. She was caught on on craigslist trying to "rehome" both the chinchilla and the rabbit while neglecting to mention any health problems and neglecting them in general. She posted a picture of them and long story short the person was stupid enough to post their # which was public and showed the address and home location on google. After a threat from a rescue calling animal control after trying to explain that her chin needed help asap, she gave in and surrendered the chin to me after calling our vet. It took me a good few days to convince her to though. It was like prying nails.
The chinchilla is not currently with me I drove her up to the rescues house. She's been given a baytril injection for the URI, Metacam for pain ( which was obvious) and critical care and sub q. She was looking pretty lethargic when I picked her up. She has since perked up. We are waiting for the vet to get back to us so we can bring her in get x rays and see the damage. I am hoping we can save her but I've been told by many and read in many places that sometimes the most humane thing to do is euthanize. I hope this is not the case as we will try to do anything to save her as long as she is happy.

rachelmz · Jul 11, 2009

Aw... I hope she can be saved. I knew the situation was bad, but I didn't realize exactly how bad. I'm glad she was taken somewhere. Thank you for helping her, and again I really hope she can be saved.