Charlie is my first chin, my extra special fluff. Last week he suddenly stopped eating, became very flat and withdrawn and developed slightly wet eyes. I took him to the vets for x rays and treatment. I asked the vet to call me while he was still sedated so we could discuss his prognosis. However, the vet decided to bring him round after looking at his x rays. She has told me Charlie has no spurs and no upper root probs but he does have moderate lower root elongation. She says he is too well to euthanise (I totally agree) and apart from the lower root trouble he is in perfect health and therefore deserves to be given a chance if we can control his pain. He had not lost much weight only a few grams and is a healthy 718gs. If his quality of life deteriorates then we will let him go.

The vet kick started him with a vetergesic pain relief injection and subcut fluids. To my surprise when i collected him he was bright and full of beans and eating a little by himself. A complete change around to the chin I had dropped off at the vets that morning. I topped him up with 10mls of OCC and a little water.

The next day i gave him some more subcut fluids and commenced him on 0.1mls of metacam twice a day. When he is completely eating by himself the metacam can be reduced slowly until a maintenance dose is reached.

Sorry for the poor photos but here are his x rays (the best i could do). I hope you can see them.







I have no experience with chin x rays (only human ones!) but am i right in thinking that i can see upper root elongation also? Can anyone who has seen a lot of x rays let me know what they think and how serious his dental problems are? Any advice and opinions would be appreciated. I need to know if the course of action i'm taking for Charlie is right for him because I don't want him to suffer

Here is my special lad I am so very sad this is happening but..... the good news is that Charlie's pain is being managed very well with metacam which he is currently having 0.1mls morning and night. He is eating normally and with gusto and has his sparkle back again! He has put on 10gms in weight so I am delighted. His eyes are completely dry and he is lively and happy! Yay! Long may in continue!

So sorry he has root problems (I can't read xrays myself) I hope you two have lots of painfree time together yet

Delighted to hear, with medication, he is enjoying life to the full again already, go Charlie

I'm so sorry to hear about Charlie's root problems. I'm no help with the X-rays either I'm afraid, but I do know what you are going through as we are in the same boat here

Hopefully with the correct levels of pain relief Charlie will be fine for a long time yet!

sorry to hear charlie has problems. Hopefully he will be pain free for a while yet.

I think that you are correct there appears to be elongation in the upper and lower jaw. Although Iit appears to be worse in the lower jaw as it is much closer to rupturing. The top jaw looka bad but I dont believe it to be any where near the eye socket so that shouldnt be a worry. Toffee had root problems but didnt let us know you can see on our xrays that the roots have elongated and impacted against the other bones in the skull hence the big white areas. She was a happyhealthy chin right up till that day so you can see that there can be lots of time for you and your little fella.

Hes a little cutie by the way

Oh Hannah, Charlie is such a lovely boy!! I am so sorry you've discovered he has tooth problems. . .but I am so glad that he is responding well to treatment and that the vet thinks you'll have time together yet!

I don't have any experience with xrays, but - hopefully someone will come along who can help? I know others have posted xrays - I remember Nikita's especially - don't know if they will help, to me they look quite different, and it's hard to compare. (But on a side note - I do appreciate all who have posted xrays on this site, it is a useful reference I think!)

Good luck to Charlie! I hope he continues to be bright eyed for quite a while yet.

p.s. Sarah, Toffee's was the other xray I was remembering I think - and how dramatic the difference is btw. Toffee and Pod - a chin w/out root elongation. Thank you so much for sharing those.

I am so sorry to hear that hun, I know how upsetting it is. Been there, done that- got the T-shirt.

I just did a quick google search, and I found this comparison of normal chin X-rays compared to a chin with root elongation. I hope it's ok if I post it M as it seems to be a link to another forum? It's here: Nomal X-ray Compared to Elongated Root X-Ray


Just remember, each case is different. Take my Nikita for instance. With the state her roots are in she should be in terrible pain and should have had to be put to sleep a while ago. But she isn't, and as you know she is doing really well for the moment and is a very happy chinnie! It was only the spur and ulcer in her mouth that was making her unable to eat and in pain.

I hope little Charlie has a happy and longer than expected time with you.

No problem on here Karli