chinchilla help

My chinchilla is 5 years old and has always been healthy until a couple of weeks ago he stopped eating. He has been rubbing his mouth and opening and closing his jaw. Ive taken him to the exotic animal vet 4 times in two weeks.  They did 4 xrays which were all negative, and filed his teeth twice. He still will not eat solid food, only liquid bird food out of a syringe. He still seems to be in a lot of pain. Help! I dont know what else to do!

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

Well it sounds as if your vet is really trying!    

Has your vet checked for the following mouth problems?   Maloclusion, cavities, peridontal disease or gingivitis, or pyoderma, which is a skin infection around the mouth, caused from saliva.

Since the mouth is part of the digestive tract maybe looking farther down the GI tract may help.  There are so many causes of GI problems in the Chinchilla it makes it difficult to narrow it down.  Maybe your vet can try checking for the following GI disorders:   nutritional deficiencies, bacterial diseases, protozoal or other parasites (Giardia ,Trichomonas, Balantidium spp,  Cryptosporidium spp, and Eimeria chinchillae), or,  stress-induced etiologies, trichobezoars( hair-balls), and Gastric ulcers,

Constipation can also be common in Chinchilla's and can be caused from insufficient dietary fiber and roughage.  

You and your vet may have to be veterinary medical detectives for this one.  Good Luck!