Chinchilla Community Forums

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Breeding 101 / Post partum bleeding

« on: November 16, 2008, 10:25:55 PM »

Hi everyone!!! Gosh it has been such a long time since I've been on, hoping some of your remember me.

Have a question I know some of you will be able to answer. One of our pregnant rescue mommas we took in last month gave birth to 2 beautiful little girls during the night last night in the wee morning hours while we were asleep! One was tan 50g & the other std.59g. Everyone is doing well. Momma seems fine, she is eating & drinking, moving about etc...just tired. (who would'nt be)
Momma is still having some nice red, bloody, mucousy vaginal discharge. That area is pretty swollen as well.
We never saw any placentas so I am assuming she ate them, hopefully they were both expelled and she has no retained products!
Now I myself have given birth twice, so I do know some bloody discharge post partum is very normal, so is swelling!
But in the 2 past chinchilla births we have had here I cannot remember any bloody discharge coming from either momma for this long post birth.

Is this normal for bleeding to last this long? Should I take her to the vet or am I rushing things?

Hi Jamie & Jo Ann, Charlie is doing great Jamie, everyone loves him! All the other chins are doing well also! I did alot better with this birth than with Mias Jo Ann!!! Mia & her sons are doing well. The boys are already 2 1/2 yrs old now! Hope you all are doing well. j

2

General Chat / Remember that commercial.........

« on: November 07, 2007, 10:12:30 PM »

Does anyone remember that TV commercial that one of us posted a while back that had a million chins running around a small apartment?

I tried searching the forum but could not find it! Anyone who may know where it went?

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Health / HELP, Upper Respiratory Infection

« on: September 29, 2007, 05:58:09 PM »

It has been a long time since I have posted. A ruptured disc in my back has kept me from sitting at the computer.
But I need some advice now please, on a topic we are not totally familiar with. We have NEVER had a URI here in any of our chins.

We took in a very small male rescue (500g) with an upper respiratory illness. He is an adult chin. He is sneezing & coughing and will not eat anything, not even a raisin! That signifies trouble! Yesterday we started him on a Sulfa antibiotic safe for chins. He has been checked and his lungs sound clear. His nose is just a little crusty, not much.
Today we began giving him Critical Care and will continue several times a day so he eats something. He is still pooping! A good sign. In addition to his water bottle we have added another bottle with cranberry juice/water 50/50 and a bottle of gatorade (our vet is big on this). Hopefully this will encourage drinking on his own.
We will also syringe feed him liquids several times a day. No dust baths for awhile now either.
He was supposed to go to his forever adoptive home but I will not let him go until he is 100%.

Any advice or input would be so appreciated if you all have been through this before! Thanks much.

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Breeding 101 / Is she really PREGNANT?

« on: August 06, 2007, 01:36:04 PM »

I am concerned. We took in an entire family about 2 months ago. Momma, daddy and 2 four month old kits. I assumed momma was pregnant again based on what her owners told us.
Momma had gained alot of weight here and went from 623g to 714g. In the past 9 days she has lost 29 grams.
We did hear the kits heartbeat(s) within the past week.

What could be happening? When our Mia was pregnant she gained weight every day of her pregnancy, and never lost ANY!!!

5

Health / Amputated toe not healing! "Help"

« on: August 03, 2007, 12:24:22 PM »

I just received this question below in an email from a girl named Jenn. I did send a reply.
Any suggestions from you all that I can send to help her?

Quote

My little guy, Artie, hurt his foot about 2 months ago. He had to get
one toe amputated but it's just refusing to heal. Partially because
he won't stop nibbling at the bandages, I'm sure. If you can offer me
any advice as to how to speed up his healing and get him back to his
playful self, we'd be forever grateful!! My vets are stumped. and
short of hospitalizing him and doing round the clock observations,
they're at a loss as to how to proceed.

Thank you so much!
Jenn

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Breeding 101 / Color possibilities of kits?

« on: July 18, 2007, 06:35:15 PM »

We took in several chins a few weeks ago. One of the females is pregnant. She is a beautiful Wilson White. Her mate is a 1,000 gram boy that looks to be either a tan or beige. His eyes are a hazel brown, very nice! So my thought is he is a tan. What are the color possibilities for her kits? If the male is a tan and if the male is a beige? I couldn't figure out what to punch in for the Silver Falls Calculator!
Maybe some of you can help! From the calculator or from personal experience.

7

General Breeder Chat / Nipple Size of Momma No Longer Nursing

« on: July 10, 2007, 10:09:20 PM »

I need some help on this one ya'll.
I just took in a momma chin who had 2 kits in March. They are 4 months old now. Momma still has the typical long nursing nipples. Does it take a while for the momma's nipples to go back to pre pregnancy size after nursing/weaning is complete? Do they ever return to normal size or do some females keep their nursing sized nipples? Forgive my ignorance but I have only had 1 litter here and momma's nipples went back to their pre-pregnancy size but I forget how long it took.

I guess we are trying to figure out if our girl may be pregnant again which is a very good possibility. If she had a breed back she could be due soon! The previous owners had her in the same cage with 5 other chins when we picked her up, 2 were adult males.
OR, could she still be in a "post-partum nipple stage" right now?

8

Q & A / Young Female Pregnant?

« on: July 10, 2007, 11:49:55 AM »

Hi All,

I have missed everyone! Things have been beyond nuts here with the great dane puppy we got a few months ago.

He was very sick when we got him and he has required alot of medical care & surgery costing us roughly $5,000-$6,000 now. It has been tough.

My daughter has had Mono for one month now and is still fighting it. Not to mention I have been through my own brief illness, but I am OK now!
But I am going to try and be back on now at least some.

Anywho, my question............
What is the approx. age a female chin can conceive? I took in 4 chinchillas recently and the owners housed them all in the same cage. Mom & dad and 2 kits (1 male & 1 female) that are 4 months old. They were born in March sometime.
I put the guys in their own cage the day I got them!
Just wanted to know if anyone has ever seen a 4 month old female get pregnant. I know there is a good chance momma could be pregnant also.

9

General Chat / Cute video

« on: April 08, 2007, 07:25:56 PM »

This is a cute video! My ferret rescue friend sent it to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT_AtGlvTmc

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Other Pets / Ferret Rescue Power Point (It is sad)

« on: February 16, 2007, 04:59:24 PM »

Just got this from a good friend who does ferret rescue and wanted to share. I know there are a few of you who have ferrets. http://www.miamiferret.org/shelters.htm MAKE SURE YOUR SOUND IS ON.

Warning: This is a well put together slide show and really gets the point across. Tears ran down my cheeks the entire way through. I am sure they will yours as well. Thank goodness there are people out there who do rescue and help these little guys.

The staff at one of the shelters I do stuff with, they found a 5 week old baby rabbit (a beautiful domestic pet) out in the cold rain a few days ago! Can you even imagine just tossing your pet out, who could do anything like that?

They say she'll be OK. She is in foster care now and needs to gain weight and get lots of love.

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Other Pets / Our Jack Russells!

« on: February 07, 2007, 06:10:36 PM »

These are our 2 Jack Russells "Lily & Jasmine", they are sisters from the same litter.
They are 8 years old now. We got them as babies when they were just weaned from momma.

I just had to finally show off a picture of them since I just posted so many pictures of our new puppy Mitzi!

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Other Pets / Our New Puppy/Large Breed Dog

« on: February 07, 2007, 05:35:01 PM »

Jo Ann & Chinpo, and anyone else out there with a large/giant breed doggie(s),

I have a few large/giant breed dog questions for you all.

What brand of dry dog food do you give your dog(s) and how much per day? Any other supplements?
How much do your dogs weigh and what are their ages?
Has anyone ever dealt with a dog (any size) that had separation anxiety from you and the family?

We just adopted a special needs doggie that has separation anxiety. She has been given up by 2 families now. She needed to go to a home where someone was there rather than a working family. That someone is me! We are going to work with her and she is going to the vet tomorrow for a full work up to get this ball rolling.
She is an 11 month old pup still. One of her parents was a Harlequin Great Dane and the other was a Dalmation. Looks as though she has blue dane coloring in her too. Very sweet dog, gentle, loyal and not an agressive bone in her body. She was already spayed, updated on all of her shots and microchipped and went through obedience training. She is also one of those dogs that was selected to work with children that are disabled (I can't remember the name of the program).
Now we just need to work with her anxiety issue! Poor baby.

Any suggestions?
Thank you.

Here she is! "Mitzi"

13

Health / Medical Mysteries

« on: January 28, 2007, 09:46:40 PM »

YOU be the doctor. This is a real case that we are currently dealing with. We have seen 2 vets and have a pretty firm diagnoses now.
Now, lets see how good you all are!

Our 3 year old, beige, female chinchilla "Magoo" had a problem back in September. She had some vaginal discharge, clear to white in color, no blood. Her vaginal opening was opened up and that general area especially around the rear end was a little swollen.
We took her to the vet and had her examined. After swabbing her and finding a bit of bacteria in her vaginal area (which seems to me would be normal?) and doing x-rays he put her on antibiotics to clear up what could be a possible mild vaginal or uterine infection. The x-rays looked perfectly normal and so did her uterus.
Several weeks go by, she has been off antibiotics. Things look a little better definitely not any worse.
I am told this may just be normal for her and to just keep an eye on it. I did very closely for 4 months.

Now recently and very suddenly it looks like the area around her female region & rear end is getting bigger, a little pinker and bulging out. There is still a remote bit of discharge. She is still opened up a tiny bit.
When I pick her up I can feel a big soft mass of tissue about 3-4 cm. bulging from her rear end area.
My husband & I take her to the vet right away. The vet examines her thoroughly from head to toe, teeth and all. We agree for him to shave that lower area to do an ultrasound. He does.
Before we share what the ultrasound shows,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Let's here what you all think. YOU BE THE DOCTOR!!!

14

Q & A / PEACH chew sticks for chins?????

« on: January 15, 2007, 03:08:49 PM »

Some wood chews are OK for chinchillas and some are not! I have always been under the impression that the wood from any fruit tree where the fruit has a pit is NOT SAFE FOR CHINCHILLAS!!!!!!!!!!
I would think that peach wood is one of those "NO NO" woods. A peach has a pit.

A friend sent this link to me today and was very upset by it, he has 6 chinchillas and is an employee of PetSmart. When the store began selling these peach wood sticks for chinchillas, (and the package says OK for chins on it) he had a fit!
It also says they are OK for ferrets. From what I am told by a friend and ferret rescuer (owns 25 ferrets) these are in no way shape or form safe for ferrets. They cannot chew these sticks because it wears down their teeth and they need their teeth! They are not like chins.

Gosh what to do? I'd hate to see chins getting sick from peach sticks. How sad.

You may need to copy & paste below link to your browser, if it doesn't work these sticks are on petsmart.com

http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441816772&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302035928&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023695&bmUID=1168892376528#detail

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News / Adorable Chinchilla pins!!!

« on: January 08, 2007, 07:35:11 PM »

Hi Everyone,

I recently recieved this beautiful set of 5 chinchilla pins as a gift from my friend Lani in California!

I was so excited when she told me she'd be selling them that I had to share the following information and photos with you! I talked to Lani and got all of the following details.
One pin = $5 plus $2 s/h
Two pins= $8 plus $2 s/h
Three pins = $12 plus $2 s/h
Four pins= $16 plus $2 s/h
Five pins= $20 We pay postage
Six pins= $24 We pay postage

Colors are: standard gray, golden beige, violet, black, black velvet and pink white

Lani does not have them for sale on her website, she has asked that you PLEASE E-MAIL HER DIRECTLY at
calchins@aol.com
For those of you who don't know her she is Lani Ritchey of California Chins and wrote the book
"The Joy of Chinchillas" which is (as a matter of fact) sold on her site www.cachins.org

When ordering pins or books please mention that you heard about them through me ("Joyce")