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Health / Malocclusion
« on: April 30, 2013, 07:41:18 AM »
Hello,
My chinchilla Ninja is about 13 years old now. He's always been completely healthy except for some fur biting and even that stopped in the last year.
However to my complete shock he's stopped eating. Even raisins! He takes a raisin in his paws and then drops it. He hasn't been eating pellets, just leaving them kinda maimed around his bowl. He hasn't pooped properly in over a week. Like, some days I don't think he poops at all. And the fur under his chin is matted and I've read that's cause he's drooling.
I'm quite sure it's his teeth. Reading up on this malocclusion, I see a vet and file down his teeth but only a very experienced chinchilla vet. He's always had chew toys but he's lost the interest he once had. He's just getting old and tired.
My question is this: He's getting old, I don't want to put him through a surgery that will scare him to death anyways, I don't want to risk something so invasive, and I likely can't afford to spend the money that will require at this point.
I'm looking for feedback if anyone has gone through this with their chinchilla and what their thoughts are. I'll call a vet today to ask about their experience and the costs but my Ninja is so old already....
Putting him down would be so hard but I can't let him starve in his cage. He's drinking water and probably managing to get a tiny bit of food down but he's lost weight so there's no doubt he's not eating properly.
Sad times. Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated.
Leslie
My chinchilla Ninja is about 13 years old now. He's always been completely healthy except for some fur biting and even that stopped in the last year.
However to my complete shock he's stopped eating. Even raisins! He takes a raisin in his paws and then drops it. He hasn't been eating pellets, just leaving them kinda maimed around his bowl. He hasn't pooped properly in over a week. Like, some days I don't think he poops at all. And the fur under his chin is matted and I've read that's cause he's drooling.
I'm quite sure it's his teeth. Reading up on this malocclusion, I see a vet and file down his teeth but only a very experienced chinchilla vet. He's always had chew toys but he's lost the interest he once had. He's just getting old and tired.
My question is this: He's getting old, I don't want to put him through a surgery that will scare him to death anyways, I don't want to risk something so invasive, and I likely can't afford to spend the money that will require at this point.
I'm looking for feedback if anyone has gone through this with their chinchilla and what their thoughts are. I'll call a vet today to ask about their experience and the costs but my Ninja is so old already....
Putting him down would be so hard but I can't let him starve in his cage. He's drinking water and probably managing to get a tiny bit of food down but he's lost weight so there's no doubt he's not eating properly.
Sad times. Any thoughts or feedback would be appreciated.
Leslie