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[BLS Chins]

The top teeth seem a bit long and I would keep a close eye on them. If he goes off eating, starts drooling or lose any weight, I would repeat the xray and check for any growth

[Jessica T]

Hi everyone who had posted on here and was offering help.  Firstly, thank you!  It's safe to say Gus is back to normal.  We never did figure out the problem.  Though my husband and I still maintain it was an issue in his mouth.  He is back to eating on his own, and full of beans when let out of the cage.  Never been so happy to find him trying to chew things he isn't supposed to!

The pain killer (metacam) that he was on certainly helped, it enabled him to accept food, which in turn gave him energy and kept his gut healthy.  As well, Critical Care was a life saver.  My vet recommended mixing in a small amount of unsweetened apple sauce.  I did this, and he was successfully wanting to eat 1.5-2 tablespoons (dry volume) of it a day.  I'd give it to him as 1tsp (dry, but mixed with water and applesauce) at a time....so 6 times a day.  Getting up in the night and coming home for lunch were well worth it, small sacrifices to make for a loved pet!!

I'm telling you this in case you encounter a similar problem, or ever are in a situation where syringe feeding is necessary.  Again, this kept him alive and I am thankful for knowing the few tricks I did to get him eating it.

Thanks again for the help and support, wishing you and your chinny(s) health and happiness!

[GrayRodent]

I'm very relieved. I love to see success stories!

[corvus]

Not eating may be due to many factors, not eating may cause a series of complications. If shes eating now thats very good. From my experience, id recoment checking up at diferent vets, a specialist in exotic small animals, rodents especialy. I went to 3 vets some multiple times and the first two said the chin was fine, blood was fine. First vet botched up her leg so she couldnt walk propertly for months and had severe leg problems because of a failed attempt to take blood sample. Second vet took a blood sample fine but couldnt read the results correctly. Third vet noticed the blood urea was 12 times out of norm instnatly, and there was a tooth spurr that was going into her cheek at the very back ( 1st vet examined her teeth twice and didnt see it, second ,once for about 15 minutes and didnt see it.

It most likely was a bad kidney, a managable state that with luck could left the animal alive and well if properly medicated (could but didnt, she was getting on the upp and upp and then she just died suddenly hence were not sure it was the tooth or the kidney), altho that kidney could have been a complication not the cause. The spurr may have caused kidney problems due to bad diet, the kidney may have caused the spurr due to not eating and grinding teeth as much as she should have. It may have been something else. Chins are so small and exotic its hard to diagnose them and hard to heal them and theres not many specialists experienced with them.