Underweight Adult Chinchilla

[chinchillabean]

I just had a visit at the vet for unrelated reasons. My chinchilla
has an expected minor upper respiratory illness, during his exam the vet had some concerns about him being slightly underweight. He just started a small dose of antibiotics for a possible infection so It would not be the cause of his weight change. He is an 11 year old solitary chinchilla, there is no other animals that live with me. The vet has concerns about furthering the exams with xrays/sedation as it could result in death (due to his age).

Im just wanting any suggestions to help him keep weight or potentially gain some weight. He is sitting around 500grams (hes always been a small chinchilla possibly even the runt of the litter haha) I don’t want to go too crazy with treats or high sugar.

EXTRA INFO:
His current diet is filtered water, 2tbsp oxbow pellets, majority timothy hay and a blend of 3 other hays and he only gets alfalfa occasionally. Ive done my research and have confirmed the best diet plan for my chinchilla with two separate exotic animal specialists.
His enclosure is roughly 4feet tall by 3ft by 2ft. He has a play area as well and he gets dust baths 3-4x weekly.
He doesnt seem to have issues with eating and his front teeth look healthy.

[darthchinchi]

So... They can loose weight rather rapidly when they are sick.

Do yourself a favor and weigh him every week for a while.

I wouldnt be too concerned with that weight myself. But at that age they do then to get a bit more 'bony' to the touch, it's just old age (I have a 18 y old and a 15y old atm).

If he eats all of his pellets, try giving him a bit more, it won't hurt him on any way.

Food and exercise is really the only healthy way for then to gain weight.

[chinchillabean]

darthchinchi Thank you for the advice and reassurance! I will try giving him a little extra pellets, within 24 hours it looks like hes lost some interest in consuming hay unless i cut it up for him :/
Hopefully after his round of antibiotics hell be back to his old chipper self. Thank you again

[darthchinchi]

If they are sick, it's not uncommon for them to loose interest in food. If you want to be sure he's getting enough, you could get him some critical care, just to be on the safe side.

Oh, about the teeth. Normally when things go south with their teeth, it's the molars and often the roots of the molars. If you feel along his lower jaw line, it should be nice and smooth. This is a good way to check if there's issues with the molars. But it doesn't sound like theres anything up with hes teeth by the way you are describing him.

[chinchillabean]

darthchinchi
I called the vet to update them and they'll have a bag of critical care ready for me tomorrow. The vet in the first appointment said theres no signs of back molar problems that she could feel or see (no eye problems, no drooling, no lumps or bumps). She said the only way to be 100% about back molars would be xrays. Im hesitant about sedated xrays and want to way out all other possibilities before. Again I really appreciate your responses!