Vitamin C & Calcium

[LucyF75]

Just under 2.5 years ago we adopted a female chinchilla called Chilli, who we were told was about 2.5 years old giving us an estimated age of 5.

For the past year or so however Chilli has suffered with her teeth and after many visits to our local exotic vets, an x-ray and 3 teeth being removed (her gums were in a bad way at one point and they were very loose) we were told yesterday that her cheek teeth don’t seem to be growing as expected and that her current drooling is probably more due to issues with her roots which had been noted as a potential issue on the x-ray she had last year (we weren’t told this at the time unfortunatley). I should say that Chilli doesn’t have much trouble with her eyes at the moment and I think the vet was speaking about her lower jaw - we were a little shocked and upset at the time so didn’t take down any details. We had thought that her roots were fine and the problem was just down to spurs made worse as she won't eat hay The vet suggested the best way forward would be medical management so we are now giving her a mixture of antibiotics and an anti-inflamitary.

We are obviously very upset especially given how young Chilli is that she is in this position. We don’t over feed her treats (just half a small shredded wheat here and there) but she has never eaten hay or vegetables - no matter what type we’ve tried. Given that the vet thinks her teeth aren’t growing much though I’m now thinking this might not be a problem. She eats Supreme Selective Science pellets.

I've been reading about the use of vitamin c and calcium for chins with teeth issues. We’ve never given her these supplements before and I’d like to give it a try - ideally in liquid form as between my husband and I we don’t have too much trouble administering her medication with a syringe so could be confident she was getting what she needed and I'm not sure she'd eat tablets. She weighed 500 grams at the vets yesterday and other than the dental issues seems to be in good shape. She loves being out with us in the evening and will snuggle with my husband on the sofa!

Does anyone know where I could buy these liquid supplements in the UK and what an appropriate dose would be?

Thank you!

 

[kalani.anela]

Hello! I'm not sure about the supplements, I'm hoping someone more experienced will answer that, but the fact that your chin won't eat hay probably contributes to the problem- hay is an essential part of a chin's diet. And I'm pretty sure chins can't eat veggies... Hopefully somebody more experienced will comment as well!

 

[Amethyst]

I'm not sure about the supplements I think they help if the chin's teeth aren't developing right, like not forming hard coating (meaning needs calcium) or teeth are falling out/ loose caused by vitamin C deficiency. I could be wrong though, but on a high quality diet, they shouldn't need supplements, the right amount of calcium should already be in the pellets, as well as vitamin C. I don't know about the food you are feeding, it's not a brand I know for sure is good (but I also don't live in the uk). Too much calcium can actually cause issues like bladder stones so unless the vet says the chin is low on and needs calcium it's best not to give extra. If you want to add more vitamin C into the diet the best way I think is feeding dried rose hips, they are a chin safe treat and most chins love them. Rose hips are very high in vitamin C, just like in humans extra vitamin C is just peed out so you don't have to worry you over dosed.

As to the not eating hay that is a big problem, they need hay to properly grind down their molars or you will run into issues of those teeth not growing properly, since they don't have room to inside the mouth, and you end up with roots growing up into the skull and/or down into the jaw. Hay should make up about 75% of the chinchillas diet, so finding a hay she will eat is very important. You don't just have to go with timothy hay, if you haven't already, try all types as well as all brands. Hay is hay so the cheaper brands are fine if the chin will eat them, some chins refuse to eat the more expensive hay brands. Also as said chins shouldn't have vegetables (or nuts, fruit, seeds, or animal products) anyway so it's good that she wont eat them.

 

[LucyF75]

Thank you for the replies. I am waiting for a delivery of some different hay types based on a recommendation from a previous post but she really doesn't seem keen to eat the hay - I don't know if this might be due to how poor a condition her cheek teeth were in - the vet said it was quite chronic and her jaws would bleed when touched - and that she is now missing 3 of them. As we adopted her then I'm not sure what her eating habits were before - she did have hay in the cage with her when we collected her but I didn't think to ask if she ate it.

I'll order some rose hips as well.

I am confident her pellets are of a good quality as I did quite a lot of research when she started having the problems.