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I
got Sophie in November 2002 - she had been living with two (unrelated to
her) sisters since weaning, and as I'd agreed to have the sisters, I
just couldn't leave Sophie behind! (Sophie was born in July 2002, and
the sisters in August 2002)
All did well for several months (they continue to share a cage), gaining weight steadily till the summer of the following year. Then quite suddenly Sophie's weight began to slide little by little, although in herself she seemed very well, her usual active, interested self. I monitored this weight loss for quite some time, wondering "Could it be the summer heat which has caused her to lose her appetite?" I also wondered about her diet - were the pellets and the hay ok? Yet I knew it was unlikely there was a problem there - I always use good quality feeds, and the other two girls continued to gain weight on exactly the same diet. Then again, were the other two allowing her to share the food bowl? I tried to observe what was going on - again I couldn't see any reason why she wasn't eating enough - Maya and Heidi seemed as happy as ever to share. In every other respect Sophie seemed totally herself - it was a puzzle.
Time came to ask the vets
advice, and the first thing he did was have a quick look at her teeth (I
knew the
front ones were ok, nice and yellow and even, but it takes a vet to
check the rear teeth!) Right away he spotted the problem - spurs..
Spurs (little overgrown tooth edges) occur when the natural grinding of teeth (which keeps the teeth in trim) continually "misses" an edge, so it continues to grow - Sophie had developed a few very small ones, and would need an operation to grind them down again. It came as quite a shock - at not even a year old it hadn't even occurred to me - she was VERY young to have developed tooth problems.
The operation was done the very next day, and she came through it very well. Apparently the spurs, though small, had caused a bit of damage to her inside cheek - poor soul must have found it very uncomfortable to chew - no wonder she had been eating less. So now we had to encourage her to eat again. For the first day or two I gave her a painkiller, to make her more comfortable, but she didn't appear to be eating. We began a daily weigh-in, and began syringe-feeding her a handmade mush (I got the recipe from a breeder-friend) - she took to it quite well, and soon we had a routine feed a few times a day. The same breeder friend suggested that in her experience some chins take a long time to revert back to solid food, so I had to be prepared for that. Just as well I was - it was almost two months before she went back to her food bowl! Suddenly one day she decided solids were "ok" and from there the hand-feeding stopped. I suspect chins who experience pain when chewing have to get over their little "mental block" about chewing in their own good time. She gained all the weight she'd lost and in fact reached an all-time high in February of this year. I had hoped that would be the end of it, though again I had been warned it may recur.
Sure enough, in March 2004 Sophie started losing a little weight again. This time I wasted no time and we were off to the vets to have another look at those teeth. Another spur operation was called for. This time the spurs were very small indeed (but I suspect enough to cause her not to eat). Since we'd been so "hot off the mark" this time, I'd hoped to get her back onto solids much more quickly this time, especially since no damage had been done inside her mouth this time around. Two weeks now since this last operation, and I'm afraid we're still hand-feeding - perhaps she WILL go onto solids more quickly, but she isn't ready to yet!
Another wee spur op in summer 2005 - she perked up immediately and is right as rain!
I'll keep you updated! :)
N.B. I think the moral of the story is this - if your chin is losing weight, get it checked out by a vet, even if your chin seems fine in every other respect. Tooth problems aren't always so obvious, and the symptoms can be very subtle indeed. Weigh your chins regularly - sometimes it's the only guide you'll have as to how well your pet is doing - regular weigh-ins will very quickly tell you if something may be amiss.
Postscript: On 27th January 2006 I came home from work to find Sophie gone :(. She'd been in perfect health for many months and had had no toothy problems or weight anomalies, so I suspect her death was unrelated. Maybe her heart, perhaps a stroke, perhaps an underlying condition we never ever knew about. It was very much a shock, as she was so very young and had been a happy-go-lucky wee thing right till the end. Missing you, poppet.. This is a pic I took of her two days before she left us.. She never grew up to be as robust as I'd wanted, but her weight was stable, and she was the cutest, smartest, friendliest wee thing :)
(Last Modified 04/01/2000 )