Off colour Chinchilla...

Re: Off colour Chinchilla...

Nicola Russell — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 11:05:06 GMT

I hope your Chin is ok. I lost mine on Monday, they have such huge personalities.

Re: Off colour Chinchilla...

Rebecca.Rawlinson — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:46:23 GMT

Hey thanks for your advice,

The issue is I'm back at university at the moment (final year SVN) & don't know vets around here enough to trust any of their judgment (bad experiences with most local practice - very rough handling of my boys). I don't really know what to make of Pan at the moment, I've bought him a fleece in case he's cold & made sure the heating is on (not too much to prevent over heating). I've started hand feeding him recovery today which he takes without any issue at all - worrying in itself. I feel as though I have to take him to the vets tomorrow, fingers crossed he's alright through the night. I've done the naughty owner thing of course of googling everything (issues also being I have access to textbooks with horrible chin diseases in them) but clinical signs don't seem to match anything completely, but there again I suppose they wouldn't exactly.

As you said GA's worry me, especially as I wouldn't be the nurse monitoring him. On a slightly lighter note, whilst hand-feeding he passed faeces, so that's something at least...

Keep your fingers crossed for me, hopefully I can find an exotics vet tomorrow!

Re: Off colour Chinchilla...

Celine — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:52:36 GMT

Hmm.

If you really dont have any exotics vets around and you and your vet are willing to take a risk and you have sevoflurane (yeah yeah I know...) then you could always give him a quick whiff of gas in a chamber and have a proper look in his mouth and take a blood sample from a tail vein? (Right up high near the base and lateral, a tourniquet helps). I would not gas anything down with Iso as it's very irritant to mucous membranes and a bit nasty. With sevo I'd gas at 8% until they fall over and then grab out, put on a mask and immediately turn down to 4 or 5% BUT I'M NOT ADVISING ANYONE ON ANAESTHETIC DOSES before anyone goes on a rant, obviously you would be monitoring and adjusting accordingly based on the signs shown!!!

Get 0.5ml blood in heparin and a good lab (Pinmoore Animal Laboratory great for exotics) and you'll be surprised what they can do!!

First up you MUST get him weighed though. And if he has had fits in the past then obviously I'm not suggesting you GA without caution, but a GA is the quickest, least stressful way of having a proper look at him. Good luck!

Re: Off colour Chinchilla...

Paulette — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 11:34:07 GMT

hello sorry i don't know much about chinchillas but sounds like he def needs to see a vet as small furries take long time to show they are ill don't they. are there any exotics vets in nearby area you could take him to? which area are you in? re heating methods could you try putting the cage on top of a bed of hot water bottles?! hope he is ok

Re: Off colour Chinchilla...

Rebecca.Rawlinson — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 22:29:14 GMT

My mistake! - 400-450