Urgent Chinchilla advice!!!! Please!!

Re: Urgent Chinchilla advice!!!! Please!!

Vicky RVN — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 20:34:17 GMT

Sorry to hear about little Mavis x

Re: Urgent Chinchilla advice!!!! Please!!

Anonymous — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:40:34 GMT

Oh no :( really sorry to hear that.

Re: Urgent Chinchilla advice!!!! Please!!

Maisy — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:50:51 GMT

So sorry to hear about Mavis

Re: Urgent Chinchilla advice!!!! Please!!

Susannah Carrigan SVN — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:48:21 GMT

Im very sorry for your loss, but as you said at least she isnt suffering!

Re: Urgent Chinchilla advice!!!! Please!!

shell30984 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:46:12 GMT

Hi to everyone who replied

But unfortunatley we had to put mavis to sleep today.

she developed skin necrosis and still wasnt eating after a week...really dont no what was wrong with her, but at least she isn't suffering any more

R.I.P Mavis

Re: Urgent Chinchilla advice!!!! Please!!

Susannah Carrigan SVN — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:15:31 GMT

Hey, i dont know anything about chinchillas but i hope she gets better soon!!!

Re: Urgent Chinchilla advice!!!! Please!!

shell30984 — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:04:13 GMT

Thanks,

She is with a male but he was castrated a year ago. she has had a litter back in july, she had 2 kits, but one was born dead. i had her for 2 years before just to make sure there wasn't any teeth problems before i bred with her. her remaining kit is very healthy and is in a cage on his own for now. but i separated them when he was 12weeks.

Ive got some carrot and potatoe baby food as that was the closest they had. everything else was really fancy stuff.

She did show all the signs of teeth problems, matted fur under the chin etc. so maybe our vet has missed some thing. i do have the xrays on my computer if you want to have a look. But the vet is just waiting for a return call from the specialist.

I live near Buxton, derbyshire.

thanks for your help xxx

Re: Urgent Chinchilla advice!!!! Please!!

albatross — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:51:00 GMT

things you could also buy:

mini shreddies (low sugar)
cranberry juice - helps if any water infection
abidec vitamin drops - in the childrens vitamins section of boots

warmth is good - my nearly 20 year old is on a heater box day and night at the moment as it's so cold - as long as they have space to get away from the heat when they want to
But make sure plenty of water available

some chins take a while to recover from a GA so with the pain relief she should be ok.
mark on xray could be tooth root elongation or abscess - I am not brilliant on reading xrays but can detect root elongation by feel if it's advanced.

If chins slowly go off food, start to get wet fur under the eyes or dribble then it's usually tooth problems. This is accompanied by weight loss especially with a hunched looking back.
If the inappetance is sudden then I'd suspect either GI infection or bloat/torsion.

is she an only chin or could she be pregnant?

Good luck, and keep us posted. Not sure where you live but if you need recommendations for chin experts just let me know - I've owned/bred/shown chins for 20 years and have a great network of chin owners throughout the country I can call on to give you assistance, as well as recommended chin competent vets throughout the country.

Re: Urgent Chinchilla advice!!!! Please!!

shell30984 — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:07:00 GMT

Hi Albatross,

Thanks for all that advice! our vet is ringing the specialist today - but already had one look at the xrays and she couldn't see anything. When she was under the Ga the vet couldn't see anything wrong with her teeth! on the xray there was a small white circular thing above one of her roots - so i was thinking poss root abcess, but the vet was unsure??

She is on 2drops of metacam daily and 0.2mls of Baytril.

i will try the baby food today - shes been on recovery for almost a week, so im sure she will be glad to have some variation :)

I am unable to take her back to the vets as im quite snowed in at the min, but have quite a few supplies here to keep her going.

i am keeping her on a low heat pad (a snugglesafe)- do you think thats a good idea?? mainly overnight when the heating is off.

she doesn't seem to be body pressing, she has small faeces and very few - but i expected that if she wasn't eating.

thanks for that - im off to wade through the snow to get some baby food. :)

Re: Urgent Chinchilla advice!!!! Please!!

albatross — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:47:02 GMT

withold sand baths in case it is a pyo - we've heard of a few chins in the last year with pyo's

metacam and baytril are appetite suppressants and so the recovery and avipro are essential. You can also use things like pineapple juice, fruit or carrot flavoured baby food to tempt.
Depending on what they did during the dental, the mouth could be sore and there could be a change of bite. This may take a week to settle down - did they find any root problems or just spurs?

The biggest problem is keeping the gut going so make sure there's plenty of soft hay (readigrass, timothy or oxbow hay), even soften the pellet or just keep using Recovery.

Xrays need to be read by specialists if it was a dental one - David Crossley or Steve Smith or John Chitty are the best for dental problems.
With the rest of the body the most common problems are bloat or gastric torsion and become medical emergencies - symptoms of these are body pressing and no faeces.

Ask your vet to talk to an expert, that way they will probably be able to get some advice for you. Some vets won't talk direct to a client whose patient they haven't seen - they can't easily diagnose from descriptions and might miss something, but often vets consult one another.

You could consider taking her back to your own vet and see if they come up with anything else they might have missed, or might have been caused by the GA.

If she's lethargic check the dose of metacam.
Usually chins have metacam dog and one to three drops a day - 0.05-0.15ml. There is a vet who prescribes a far higher dose and those chins tend to be rather sluggish and inappetant until the dose is reduced.

PS: grumpy is good - a chin who doesn't fight when being syringe fed is either absolutely starving and paying too much attention to food to complain, or is desperately ill and very difficult to feed. Try to vary the food, and give little and often if possible - ie 2-4 hourly like a baby chin.

Re: Urgent Chinchilla advice!!!! Please!!

shell30984 — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:23:50 GMT

Shes been on the meds since Wednesday - so you would think she would pick up by now?? Shes not overly lethargic etc, she looks ill though...but she still enjoys her sand bath's :)

I have had one specialist opinion from a friend of a friend and she cant see anything on xrays and doesnt no what to do.

i will try on ring the specialist - but reckon they will need to see her etc..

Re: Urgent Chinchilla advice!!!! Please!!

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:03:45 GMT

Could you call the specialist for some advice/ideas over the phone?

I have chins, but haven't ever encountered problems like this I'm afraid! So sorry, not a lot of help :( How long has she been on the meds?

Good luck with her,hope she starts to feel better soon!