Poor Lil' Bugger!

My little chinchilla cannoli:

My little bugger had dental surgery about 2 1/2 weeks ago. Since then he just hasn't been interested in food. Not exactly sure what unit of measurement my vet uses, but he weighed about 5 before the surgery. This past Friday he weighed in at 4.4. (I think she said she used grams, but for some reason I'm confused as what exactly is going on.) If chinchillas lose too much weight they can develop fatty liver disease. Yikes! So I've been syringe feeding him strawberry apple sauce 2 - 3 times a day. Suffice it to say, he is NOT a fan. He's been fighting me by struggling, scratching, whimpering, cowering, and overall just being a HUGE drama queen. What can I say? He's emo!

Not sure if you can see, but these are my battle wounds from him:

Hence, the whole cannoli ruse. He's bundled up so tightly that he's restrained from any type of struggling, which unfortunately, makes him more vocal. He's also been behaving like a rebellious teenager. He knows that he's not supposed to chew on the walls - he's doing it, especially after I tell him not to do it, he's going places where he's not supposed to go ... When I go to grab him or physically stop him from misbehaving, he starts to snip and make protest sounds. I even had a stare-down with him to re-establish who was in charge.

Clearly I torture my pet. He has a rough life.

I miss the days when he used to chirp happily and wag his tail.