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[Chinlala]

Hi everyone, I adopted lala a couple months ago and about a month ago her fur started getting wet! I looked into her mouth and noticed her teeth were super overgrown so I brought her to the vet and had her teeth trimmed. Now all is fine, she's eating well, playing.. Everything seems fine but she's not chewing on her toys!! I have a pumice rock, some lava blocks, and apple orchard sticks but she's not into any of it! I tried rubbing raisins on the apple orchard sticks and lala will nibble for a few moments until there's no raisin flavor left. I can't keep doing this every 3 minutes to have her chew... And I don't want to keep bringing her to the vet every few months (if I can help it)! Any reason? Suggestions?

[kageri]

None of my 11 really chew on lava/pumice blocks.  When the blocks were new it was interesting to crunch a little and now they don't care.  They are also rather picky about sticks bought online.  If they are thick apple branches that have been boiled, baked, and just overall heavily sterilized they don't like them.  They like the green layer just under the bark the best and the fresher the better.  Twigs that are only baked not boiled and are younger so there is more green layer is the most desirable.  For my own I don't even bake.  I get organic apple branches and scrub them off in the tub.  Some people want everything they give to their chinchillas to be well sterilized though.  To get us by until the spring local apple branch trimming I got some kiwi from an individual and then I bought a variety from here http://rondaschins.com/ .  The flowers, herbals, and biscuits from there are also good.

[GrayRodent]

If you want to go the store-bought route I recommend using treak-k-bob and buy some refills that have the long cylindrical wood pieces. Mine constantly chews on those. There certainly are cheaper things that are just as good or better. Your chinchilla may be sore from the filing for two or three days. Sometimes filings don't get everything. If there is no improvement after a week or if you notice weight loss consult your vet. Please weigh your pet every week and keep track of its weight.

What is your chinchilla's diet like? Sometimes tooth problems occur because they are given the wrong kind of pellets. Sometimes it is because they are not given loose hay to eat.

Often these kinds of problems occur because the skull itself is physically malformed. If it is this kind of malocclusion there really isn't anything you can do about it. Personally, if I had this kind of problem, I would see if it clears up with one or two tooth filings depending on how bad you want to save your pet. If it goes beyond that I would consider euthanasia. You can keep him alive by repeated tooth floatings for a time but eventually the roots will overgrow and cause other problems in the skull and eye sockets.

My first (rescue/ second hand) chin had malo and I had him put down right after the diagnosis and immediately purchased a new chin from a reputable breeder. The vet did conclude it was structural but I think it was probably related to poor diet and neglect from the previous owner. He expected his teeth would have to be done more than once so I thought it was better to have him put down. His health was also very poor overall.

If you get your chinchilla from a reputable breeder the chances your pet will inherit that are very low. If you've obtained your pet from a breeder they may be interested in hearing from you as a reputable breeder will pull chinchillas from breeding if that occurs. They may do an necropsy to confirm the cause. Usually it is fairly easy for an experienced veterinarian to tell by looking directly at the teeth. If most of the teeth are effected and ground at an angle it is terminal. If the rest of the teeth look normal and there are just one or two teeth overgrown there are many possible causes for that, anything from injury, to getting something stuck down by the base of the tooth and should be reversible but not always. If that is the case some owners opt to have the two teeth (opposites of each other) removed and it seems to work.