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[GrayRodent]

My chinchilla was diagnosed with a terminal case of malocclusion today by a licensed veterinarian. He was in very bad condition and had to be hand fed his entire diet. I opted for euthanasia to prevent the onset of morbid problems down the road associated with this disease. If you breed chinchillas please take care to remove maloccluders from your lines. Mine was from a large chain pet store but I took the gamble it would be healthy and lost. Although the risk of this disease will always be present it can be greatly reduced by purchasing from a reputable breeder.

Although I did have to put him down I am grateful for the experience gained from raising him. I learned a lot about how to tame and train a chinchilla and for you skeptics out there that think a chinchilla can't be trained I know it's possible because I've done it and it's really fun.

[gasaraki03]

Sorry about your lose know had to be a hard decision.

[Snickerdoodlesmom]

I'm so sorry for your loss.

[GrayRodent]

I was sad to see this one go but euthanasia was the best option. He would have made a very good pet and had a very nice disposition regardless of the fact he wasn't very tame when I got him. A lot of progress was made. The veterinarians at Carroll County Animal Hospital did a very good job although they don't see very many chinchillas come in.

I've located some chinchillas at a breeder in Evans, GA (Thank you for your recommendation, Jamie). Unfortunately it's 185 miles away but I think it's worth the drive. Especially because it has Lowcountry Chinchillas in their bloodline. I will be going there tomorrow.

[mb30]

if you dont mind me asking, how did you know there was a problem and how old was your chin?

[GrayRodent]

I don't mind at all. Especially if it can help others who may be experiencing this. My chinchilla was bought from a previous owner who bought him from a pet store. He said he was four months when he got him and he had him for two months. However his coat appeared to have been primed out and very pretty so he could have been older. Apparently he wasn't eating right for a long time and this may have stunted his growth making it hard to estimate. His previous diet was also very poor and is a possible cause of this.

The most important symptom was weight loss. I weigh him on a scale very regularly and it was very stable for the first three weeks I had him. We moved shortly thereafter. The weight loss was concurrent with our recent move so I blamed it on stress from the move. In about two months the loss accelerated so I supplemented his diet with calf manna at Jamie's (chinclub) recommendation. After that his weight plateaued but I noticed he was eating less and less.

The second symptom was noticing his food was not being consumed at normal rates. He had days when he would eat huge amounts and days when he would eat almost nothing. This was suspicious because his activity level and schedule was pretty much the same each day. This can be a symptom of a tooth abscess that ruptures and re-fills.

Another symptom was half-eaten and crumbled his pellets. This can have other causes. The crumbling got progressively worse coinciding with the weight loss so I suspected this was a pattern.

Another symptom though more subtle was that he was pawing at his mouth on occasion sometimes after eating. This behavior became more frequent towards the end. This is not always an indicator but combined with the rest of the data I was pretty sure what it was by the time he went anorexic. Because it didn't happen very often that I observed I didn't think anything was wrong.

Another symptom was that his incisors were rounded instead of flat. Again this does not always mean problems but it was a related symptom in this case. I also noticed asymmetrical wear on one side but wasn't sure if it meant anything. His incisors were the cause.

The last symptom was small and scant feces caused by not eating. Some days they were good and some days there were almost non-existent. I fed extra raisins to help control it. Sometimes chinchillas do get constipated so it's not always a danger sign. In this case it became constant which is a sign that something is wrong.

His water consumption was not affected much. The last two weeks he was starting to act weak and easily agitated. He slept a lot. The last week he was laying on his side and grinding his teeth at times which is often a sign of abdominal pain. It was probably caused by not eating enough. I hand fed him for 2 days before the diagnosis was made and I had him put down.

[mb30]

thank you for your response...while i do know the usual symptoms it is very helpful to get a first hand account of the situation.

was your chin still eating hay or was his hay consumption sporadic as well?

sorry for your loss and thank you for painting such a detailed picture. it really is more helpful then just the usual obvious symptoms that you can read about very easily.

[GrayRodent]

In this particular case it seemed he always ate a proportional amount of hay to pellets but favoring pellets the last two weeks. He was eating hay all the way to the end. He'd be munching on it even on the last three days when I was hand feeding. He only ate a few blades of it though. Once the antibiotics kicked in the end of day 2 he started chewing obsessively on his shelves, put a big dent in his wooden hay feeder, and rounded the corners of his lava rocks that he usually avoided.