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Health / Re: Teeth problems
« on: June 16, 2013, 09:29:17 PM »
Hello, my name is Bonnie. I have a chinchillas that I took in as a rescue who is now 8 who has the same issues it seems as your chinchilla does. We have 3 chinnies, 2 years old, 8 1/2 and my oldest is 15 1/2!!! Two years ago my 8 1/2 year old started to have issues with his teeth. Spurs, teeth growing out of alignment getting sharp points and a few cavities if you can believe it. The vet has taken out loose teeth with cavities which have grown back in. When I say taken out, she just gave them a little push and they fall out. He goes evey month like clock work to have his teeth looked at and have any issues taken care of under light anistetic. As this is going to continue for the rest of his life I spoke with our vet and owners of the clinic to reduce that amount that I pay each time. My bill went from $400.00 a month to between $150-200 depending on how severe the teeth were each time. It's pretty much $100 for anistetic and $50 for the trim. Now that being said we are able to manage it for him. I weight him twice a week and monitor his food and stool to know when it's time to go back in. We give all our chinnies lots to chew on. They only get Chinnie pellets and alfalfa pellets (mine don't like the loose hay, go figure) plus a mixture of grains suited for humans, 8 grain bulk cereal I buy at the grocery store with extra rolled oats, flax seed and quinoa added in. We cut out treats 5 years ago, no more raisins. They get apple branches, pine cubes we cut up from untreated wood and dried cactus wood instead. I can tell you that for the most part like posted above it can be a genetic thing and most likely it will need to be a long term treatment plan. It is manageable, don't give up. Our little guy is healthier and happy as always now that we have it in check but you need a good vet who knows what they are doing. Please e-mail me at Bonnie-c@telus.net if you have any questions. We have had chinnies for 15 1/5 years as my oldest is 15 1/2. I am by far an expert but can offer advise or any help that I can. I hope all goes well. Keep us posted, the chin community is a wealth of knowledge and experience. I like to think we're a great bunch who just love our fuzzies !!!!