A diet review for an aging degu works well as a working appointment, where you bring the facts and the vet makes the calls. Degu teeth grow continuously, front and back, and they stay worn only when the diet makes the animal chew fibrous food for long stretches. Age complicates that picture: an older degu may eat more slowly, favor softer items, or quietly leave the fibrous parts it once worked through. Your job before the visit is to document what is really happening; the vet's job is to examine the teeth and decide what changes, if any, are needed.
Bring a Written Week of Actual Intake
Memory flatters every diet. For seven days before the appointment, write down what your degu actually eats rather than what the cage is offered. Note the hay type and roughly how much hay disappears each day, since hay is the engine of tooth wear and a falling hay intake is a finding in itself. Record the staple food and whether the measured portion is finished, picked through, or left. List the vegetables given and which ones are eaten versus shredded and abandoned. Include every treat, including anything handed over by family members between meals, because treats are where sugar hides in an otherwise careful menu.
Add the behavior that surrounds eating. Note food dropped or held and then abandoned, slower chewing, wet fur under the chin, or a degu who approaches the bowl eagerly and then walks away. Those observations, paired with a simple weight record taken on the same scales, give the vet a picture no single examination can provide, because back teeth in particular are assessed partly through how the animal has been managing its food at home.
The Low-Sugar Pattern to Talk Through
The dietary pattern worth discussing is the established degu pattern, and it is low in sugar by design. Unlimited hay, available at all times, forms the base and does the bulk of the dental work. A measured portion of a suitable staple food sits alongside it, measured precisely because an overfilled bowl lets a degu pick favorites and skip fiber. Suitable vegetables add variety and chewing time within the pattern your vet approves for this animal.
Against that base, fruit and sugary treats stay off the menu. Degus handle sugar poorly compared with many small mammals, and that sensitivity to sugar is the reason this part of the discussion matters rather than a matter of fussiness. Many commercial treats, yogurt drops, honey sticks, and sweetened mixes belong in the same conversation: bring the packets or their names, and let the vet judge them against your degu's age, weight, and teeth. Framing the whole pattern for the vet, hay, staple, vegetables, and the sugary items you are questioning, turns a general chat into decisions you can act on.
Teeth Checked by the Vet, Changes Kept Gradual
Ask the vet to check the teeth as part of the review, the front incisors you can see and the back cheek teeth you cannot assess properly at home. The vet can judge alignment, overgrowth, sharp points, and whether eating difficulty matches anything visible, and can tell you which signs between visits should trigger an earlier return: drooling, dropping food, weight loss, or hay left untouched.
Leave with agreed next steps and keep any agreed change gradual. A degu's digestion and habits both resist sudden swaps, so new items are introduced in small steps and portions shift slowly, with weight and hay intake watched while they do. If the vet advises no change beyond monitoring, that is a result worth having too, because it rests on an examination rather than on hope. Bring the packet you maintain inside KinsLe, since Pet Passport lets the vet compare hay intake and tooth findings across visits without hunting through loose notes.