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New Births / Re: mam just gave birth help
« on: May 02, 2013, 03:09:15 PM »thanks for post I done a lot of research before I went ahead with his neutering got a very experienced vet who does chinchillas regularly also spoke to a few breeders who has neutered lots of their males and in there opinion is a lot safer these days touch woodChinchillas do not respond to surgery well at all.
There are so many different complications that can happen.
The only way I would put one of mine through surgery would be IF that little one's life were at stake and there were no other possible options that would save it's life. Over the pas 20+ years, I have heard more chinchilla owners say they would never do it again ... usually because a 'complication' from the surgery or an after affect from it caused the little one to die.
Each of us has to decide for ourselves what chances we are willing to take with the life of these precious creatures. It is never an easy decision. One thing you might want to question your vet about is: "How many of these surgeries have you done? " and "What was the final outcome?" I would even ask if you could talk to some of the other chin owners that he had done surgery on their chinchillas. It's always best to be safe rather than sorry. A vet with a good surgical record on chinchillas should not refuse your request. If he does ... I would ask myself ... What does he have to hide?
Hope this helps.
Jo Ann
PS Keep us posted!
I posted this before I realized you already had him neutered. I am not a vet, but I have had 20 + years with chinchillas. I can only give you my personal opinion as to what I would do ... according to the experiences I have had with chinchillas over the years. (I have had over 200 chinchillas at the same time over many years.) I always found it a good thing to use the Critical Care and/or acidophilus after a surgery or during an illness or injury. Do keep in mind the critical care and/or acidophilus needs to be kept refrigerated once it has been opened. And it needs to be given halfway between any doses of antibiotic or pain medication. Surgery and the pain medication and antibiotics work against a chin to have a normal digestive progress. The normal digestive system is a must for a chinchilla. Antibiotics will kill all bacteria ... the bad and the good ... the antibiotic does not know the difference in them. The 'good' bacteria is often called 'flora' and is necessary to properly digest the food. The good bacteria or 'flora' needs to be replinished on a regular basis, but can not be given at the same time or close to the same time as an antibiotic or the will cancel each other out and it will be as if they have been geting nothing. If the food is not being properly digested you will usually find smaller, dryer poops and they will continue to decrease in number. Because of this, the system becomes stopped-up and the chin feels 'full' and not hungry and will quit eating. Once this happens, it can cause some major problems. The chin can literally die of hunger because he thinks he fills 'full', when in reality, he is stopped up or constipated. Judge by the ammount of food he is eating on a daily basis, not just the poop at the bottom of the cage. Something to think about. You say the male is in the bottom half of the cage ... If you have your male in the bottom half of the cage and the female and her kit in the top half of the cage, unless you have a solid pan between the two levels, to catch the mom and kit's poop and pee ... much of the poop/feces you are seeing in the bottom is probably from the mom and the kit. Also, keeping his area clean is a must ... if there is no solid divider between the two levels ... the pee/urin from the mom and kit are contanimating the lower level.
I would give him Alfalfa hay at this time, he needs the extra nurishment it will provide him.
he is in the bottom half of the cage for now with a nice clean comfortable fleece with wooden toys food and hay n water the cage is separated by a wood shelf so poo and wee can not land on him or go anywhere in his cage, I will do everything I can by the book and hopefully he well feel better in a couple of days but I will keep an eye on how much he's eating and get some critical care if need be.I do think ive thought this through he was miserable as sin on his own and the baby is a girl so I couldn't of even got him a male for company so in my opinion it was the best option for him.
Kay
I will keep you posted
Thank you for your help you have been brilliant 