Losing my chinchilla

[Susan9608]

I think I'm losing my chinchilla. My vet opens back up from lunch is 1 hour and 2 minutes, so I'll be going as soon as he opens, but in the mean time, I'm not sure what to do for her.

If anyone knows anything about chinchillas and their problems, I'd appreciate some input.

Jelly bean seemed fine yesterday - no weight changes, eating fine, drinking normally, normal stool. Her 3 cage companions are all fine. This morning, Jelly Bean is totally lethargic, not moving, and falling over. Usually she runs when you try to hold her, but she let me pick her up without a problem. I offered a raisin, and she only nibbled it. No discharge noted around the eyes, ears, or mouth. No discharge noted around the rectum or vagina. Abdomen not noticeably distended.

They only get filtered water, so I don't think it's a Giardia problem. But I'm at a loss for what else it could be. I'm worried that it's too late to help her.

 

[Percy's Mom]

I wish I knew something about chinchillas, but all I can offer you is my support. Please keep us updated about what you find with Jelly Bean. Fingers and paws crossed for good news and Jelly was just having an off morning.

 

[piggly wiggly]

Could she have fallen or bumped her head? I don't know much about chinchilla's, when I had mine I was very uneducated about them, this was years ago.

My prayers are with you and Jelly bean. Hang in there Jelly bean, get well soon.

 

[Biscuit]

It sounds like she fell, or had a stroke. The falling over especially sounds neurological. Giardia wouldn't cause any of that, you'd have smelly, wet, muscoid poo. Especially since it came on so suddenly. I've read quite a few cases on forums of chins having strokes, and it sounded a lot like that as well.

Definitely let us know how it turns out at the vet.

 

[sophistacavy]

I don't know about the falling over, but this sounds somewhat similar to my guinea pig that had pneumonia. She never had any discharge of any kind anywhere on her body. It just took over suddenly.
It sounds like you should get her to the vet ASAP. Do you have an emergency clinic near you? Don't call, just drive her there and walk in, they'll help you right away like a human ER. I have one near me called R.E.A.C.H. Emergency Animal Hospital.

Can you tell if her breathing is normal? Does it look like she's retching at all, or coughing? See if her breathing sounds crackly.

I don't mean to make you feel worse, but when we had the autopsy done on my cavy, they discovered extreme pneumonia built up in her lungs. I wouldn't wait for your vet, if I were you. Take her to whoever is open that does exotics.

Good luck! My thoughts are with you and Jelly Bean.

 

[VoodooJoint]

I'm sorry your babe is ill. Could she have eaten something she shouldn't have?

I certainly hope the vet is able to sort everything out for you and Jelly Bean is feeling better.

 

[mommyoffive]

Has there been any noticible temperature chages, it is warmer in your house, colder whatnot.

Other then that its sounds like she could have had a stroke by her symptoms, is she having coordination problems with walking, or can she walk at all?

Godo luck with her

 

[Cavy Carnage]

I am not sure if it may be the same but my chinchilla once had the same sort of symptoms. He is old (we think) and one day while feeding them he didn't come running. He sat and when he did try to move even just a step he would just fall over, not even losing balance, just like unable to actually move, he also didn't seem to care if I picked him up which was very unusual. We took him to the vet the same day and he could find nothing wrong with him (though he said something was def wrong). He didn't want to stress him out by tests etc and I really believed he was dieing on me so he gave him an anti inflammatory and a course of antibiotics, told to keep him warm and within a few days he was back to his usual self. I am hoping the same happens with Jellybean.

 

[Susan9608]

Sorry for the long delay - my vacation finally ended and I had to go back to work.

I went to the vet and of course, my vet was gone for the day. The other one in the office doesn't do exotics and she's a real witch anyways, so I don't let her see my animals. I had to drive all over dallas looking for another clinic that treats exotics, who would see us right then.

Jelly Bean is going to be fine, fortunately.

It turns out she had diarrhea, which is very strange to me since there wasn't any in the cage and there wasn't any on her. The vet did a very thorough exam of her, didn't see anything amiss and decided to try to get a stool culture (the thermometer had come out clean), so he used this special instrument to try to obtain one and out came a bunch of watery, mucousy stool.

He said it's unlikely to be Giardia, since we use clean water and none of the others are sick; most likely, something stressed her out and she got a little overrun of gut flora.

So she's now on anti-biotics and doing better. She's had some normal stool, but still doesn't want to eat much. I talked to the vet again today, and he wants her to get some hand fed pedialyte for the calories/electrolytes. So we'll be doing that as soon as I get home. Should be lots of fun. And of course, she's by herself for a few days.

It's been an interesting experience for me, since it's the first chinchilla I've had who has been ill. I went to several chinchilla forums, while waiting for my vet to open, and of course I came here. And the advice was almost uniformly the same - something neuro or that she had GI stasis/bloat. And both of those diagnosis were wrong.

I think that really shows how important it is to take your animal to the vet when the animal is ill, instead of just relying on online advice. Not that people don't sometimes give absolutely wonderful fabulous advice (and everyone did tell me, take the chin to the vet), but still - it just proves you have to have a good vet on hand.

 

[Biscuit]

That is very odd. I asked my vet about he and he agreed.

Could you post these results on the other forum you posted on? They are pretty educated and would benefit from this.

 

[Susan9608]

Biscuit - yeah, I can post it on the other forums. Were you saying your vet agreed with everyone else about the neuro/gi stasis or with my vet about the diarrhea? I didn't understand?

I'm not criticizing anyone assessment ... please don't misunderstand. What I'm saying is that no one can truly diagnosis anything online. It took that instrument - it looked like a torture device - to ellicit the diarrhea from Jelly
Bean. That's something only a vet would have had. Otherwise, I could have tried all the "home" things for GI stasis at home and ended up with a dead chinchilla ....

 

[Biscuit]

Oh, no, I didn't take it that way. The symptoms do not point to what the conclusion was is all.

You'll notice on the other forum that section has a giant "NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR VET CARE" tag in red on it, heh.

So in short, I know what you mean!

 

[Ly&Pigs]

I'm glad that Jelly Bean is ok!!!

 

[Sammy and Peanut]

Yay for Jelly Bean! How is she today? Still on meds?

 

[ali's_pigs123]

I am so glad to hear JellyBean is doing alright!

Hooray JellyBean!