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1

Health / Fur Biting

« on: August 03, 2016, 10:19:51 PM »

We have a senior chinchilla, she's about 15 years old. She always tended to have a spot at the tip of her tail but other than that she's never had any issues with her fur or signs of fur biting.  Two days ago I noticed fur biting near her backside. It's on both sides but more prominent on one side. She's acting normal. In fact she's currently out of her cage and bouncing off the walls right now!

Since she's older I'm not sure if this is a sign of stress related to some health issue. I know Chins are excellent at hiding their health issues until it  can be too late.  We've had a heat wave the last two weeks and even with our AC unit running full blast it's definitely been warm. This happens at some point every summer though and we've never seen fur biting before. We've also been traveling for work a lot and so she hasn't gotten to run around outside her cage as much as normal these past few months as our pet sitters never know how to get her back in the cage.  She does have a 5 story cage and a wheel but I'm wondering if she's just bored?

Based on other people's experience is this likely from heat / boredom etc. or do I need to take her in to a vet? We used to have a good exotics vet a long time ago but that was years ago and I haven't been able to find a good replacement since. I worry if this is stress related that a trip to a new vet would just make things worse but at the same time I know it can take 3 months for the fur to grow back normal and don't want to wait that long if there might be an issue. I'd love to hear any thoughts or suggestions.

Thanks so much!

2

Breeding 101 / Until what age can a chinchilla reproduce or be neutered?

« on: July 20, 2011, 09:07:33 PM »

I had a male and female chinchilla, very sadly the male just passed away. For the first time the female is alone and I am worried about her. Prior to this unexpected death we were asked by a friend to adopt her 7 year old un-neutered male. She has developed a severe allergy and until she can find him a new home the poor guy is living in the basement of her house and is completely isolated except for daily feeding and cage cleaning. Needless to say, she is anxious to get him into a new home and give him a better life again. 

I was hesitant to take the un-neutered male because my female has already given birth twice. We thought we had two males and ended up neutering the dad when we figured out which one was the dad! I do not want to be a breeder but now that my little girl is all alone I am leaning towards adopting my friends chin. He would give mine company and his own quality of life would be so much better.

He is 7 years old so I assume that is too old to have him safely neutered? She is over 10 years old. Can chins reproduce throughout their entire lifespan? If I eventually put them in the same cage is it likely that they will mate?

Thanks so much for your help.

3

Health / Need Help asap ! Kidney failure?

« on: July 19, 2011, 09:26:16 AM »

One of our chins, Raisin (9 year old male), had been lethargic and isolating himself for the past three days, hiding in his house or bath, or standing in a back corner of the cage facing the wall. It seemed like strange behavior but it's been so hot lately I thought it was just the heat. We set the air conditioner to it's lowest setting and cranked it  non-stop, thinking it might help (we normally have it on timer for them). When I got home last night Raisin was still hiding in a back corner. I gave him a little nudge and he literally fell over! He looked a lot thinner than normal and was practically limp when we picked him up. Our vet was closed for the night so we rushed him to the place they referred us to for emergencies. They said he was dehydrated and immediately put him on some fluids and did some bloodwork. I got a call this morning saying based on the bloodwork they think it's a kidney problem but they are not sure if it's chronic kidney failure.  He'd been there receiving fluids for about 5 hours at that point and was still in the same condition as when we brought him in. He also isn't eating, which is a horrible sign because this little guy has always loved food. He's been known to drag a food dish across the cage so he can hoard it all for himself.

They don't normally deal with chinchillas and recommended I transfer him back to our regular vet. Our regular vet is on maternity leave (bad timing!) and the nearest place is too far to transfer him to in his current state. I am trying to see if their specialist can at least look at the bloodwork and make recommendations over the phone.

So, assuming it is kidney failure, here are my questions:
 - Is there any treatment that would let him come back from this?
 - Is there anything I can recommend the vet try as treatment?
 - Does this sound like Kidney failure, or could it be anything else?
 - Is he in pain?  Is putting him to sleep the humane thing to do? ;-(

He looked fine last week so this is pretty sudden. I had changed their food from one that had a lot of treats in it to one that had less. I'd mixed the new food with the old food to make the switch. This was about 6 months ago. My other chin immediately became more energetic than ever so I thought this switch was a good thing. There has been a decrease in amount of food eaten since I switched the food but I thought it was because they could no longer just pick out the treats.  Now I am wondering if he was actually eating a little less over time, although the drastic weight loss was sudden.

The  vets who helped were super nice and I really appreciate their help, but knowing that they have very  limited experience with chins is not very reassuring. Any info you can provide me with so I can make the right decisions here would be very helpful.

Thank you so much for any assistance you can provide.

4

Health / Fur Biting?

« on: August 09, 2009, 08:25:09 PM »

I have two chins, a male and a female.

My female chinchilla is about 8 years old and has never shown signs of fur biting until now.
I am wondering if my male chinchilla (7 years old) might be  biting her or causing her  stress? They seem to get along very well and always sleep cuddled up together. I've never seen either of them chew their own fur or the others ones fur. The male is definitely the dominant one though..He likes his food and will do anything to make sure he gets to any food or treats first. ;-)

In April my youngest chinchilla unexpectedly passed away. She had always had a patch of fur that looked rough but otherwise seemed to be healthy.
I've recently noticed that my female has roughed up fur in the exact place that the other chin did (rear sides). I'm wondering if my male chin caused this the first time and is now doing the same thing with my female? If so what can I do to prevent this?! 

We do have 2 cats that are curious about the chins, but I assume they aren't causing the stress since we've had them for a long time.
Our apartment gets very warm but we try to keep the air conditioner on timer to help cool it down when we're not there.
I can't think of anything else it would be. They are eating and drinking as much as ever. Does this require a vet visit?  I just took them to the vet about 3 months ago and they both received a clean bill of health.

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!