Chinchilla Community Forums
Chinchillas => Health => Topic started by: Asikovsek on June 11, 2007, 08:52:40 PM
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I was doing my weekly chin cage changes and I noticed my one of my male standards was being very moody, and barking everytime I came near the cage. He does this sometimes and ill give him a raisin and he will chill out and be happy. Well that didnt work at all today. I scooped him out and found a patch of hair missing on his neck and his skin was very red and there was a small area that looked sort of black and blue like a bruise. I put some A & D on it to sooth the irritation. I called my vet but she was no longer in the office for the day. I dont think this was a fight because him and his son share the cage and they are very close to eachother, and have never faught. IDK maybe you guys can help. I attached some pictures of the area. I do not think it is ringworm or anything like that. The only thing I could think of is that the big branch like piece of wood may have fallen on him. (he likes to chew and shake it) it might have came loose and fell on him because it was at the bottom of the cage this morning. this had to have just happed within the past 2 days because I just weighed all my chins the other night and did not notice this. HELP!!
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It's a bit hard to tell from those pictures, is the cut deep? He may need stiches if it's a deep cut. It doesn't look infected, which is good. I'd put some antibiotic ointment on it and just keep an eye on it for signs of infection.
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no its not a cut or wound. his skin is just severly red and bruised
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If something did fall on him I would bring him to your vet and possibly get some neck xrays to make sure nothing broke and caused the bruise that bad.
I could just be a bruise from something falling on him. But for it to flare up that quickly, specially since you checked his bod out a few days ago. Means something serious is happening and I wouldnt take it lightly. As I know you arent.
Call your vet tomorrow, and try and get him in as soon as you can. Mention the possibility of radiographs just to ease your mind. You can never be to careful with these small guys. Im sure their necks are fragile.
Keep us posted.
Does the skin look irritated and inflammed too or just like a bruise. Bc he could have gotten bit by something like a bug or spider, and this could cause an inflammation/ allergic reaction around the bite. Look for small punctures around it.
Just a thought. Im trying to think of anything I can.
And your right, it doesnt look anything like ringworm.
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Oh, if he doesnt react to when you touch it, it might not be broken. but could still be a bite. Check it out, make sure he is breathing ok and doesnt have any seizure symptoms.
If it turns out to be a bite, im sure you doctor can give him a shot of an anti-inflammatory and anti-histimine to calm the reaction.
Let us know.
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What age is the son? Do you have any females in the room? If you do I wouldn't overlook a possible fight. Well bonded males can turn on each other all of the sudden if there is a female in heat anywhere in the room. I had it happen here and it was almost fatal. You might want to lok over the son just in case.
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Ok here's the UPDATE!! ;)...bernie is fine he went to the vet today and it is just a bad bruise. my vet thinks that it was the wood branch that fell on him, and not a fight...thank goodness. She said its not a fight because there are no open wounds, and that the heavy branch seem to have pinned him. He freaked out causing the hair loss and she thinks he kept messing with the area and thats what made it so inflammed....poor little guy had to get a shot to reduce the inflammation, and he has a little lamp shade!!...lol...till it heals up so he deosnt fuss with it anymore...little guy looks like a martian...lol....but atleast he is ok and will be ok. I took the branch out of the cage...Bernie is mad cuz he loves that branch but Im not risking that happening again he could have been killed!....But the good news is he will be just fine, and the redness is going away pretty quickly now that he has got a shot...thanks for all the concern...
~Amber~
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So glad to hear he is ok. :)
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Im glad he is doing ok. I had a feeling they would give him a shot of an anti-inflammatory for it.
Oh no, not an e-collar??? Poor guy. Animals hate those things. I see them try and sneak their way out of them every day at work.
But all in all, its going to be fine!! :-) rofl
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Aww that's sort of good news, I'm still sorry he got hurt.
Amazing what they get into.
I had one rub all the fur from his back squeezing between the shelf and door of his cage.
I had to move that shelf out if it all together.
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::silly:: Glad to hear your little one is OK now. I haven't been on for a few days. I would have mentioned the same thing Jamie did ... I had a father and son together for almost a year, then, due to a female going into season, they turned on each other ... we almost lost the son and the father barely had a scratch.
If you can secure the branch (with finder washers and screws) so that it can not be moved and keep it near the bottom of the cage, you might want to put it back in if he really likes it. :)
::wave:: Jo Ann
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I am also glad to hear your chin is ok. It's always good to get them checked out and find that it is something minor. I have one question, and I might be out of line, but what does a chinchilla look like with one of the lamp shade devices on there heads. I can't imagine it myself. I am just being curious, sorry if it seems wrong.
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I would imagine pretty ridiculous! But, seriously, I actually heard a story from my vet the other day about a chin that had been made to wear one of those and he ended up hurting himself with the collar, because he kept trying to bend over to clean himself and ending up scratching his penis with the edge of the collar, and ended up with a prolapsed penis. So it actually became much more serious than the original injury because his penis was damaged in the process. So...I think I would be careful about letting one of my chins wear those e-collars...Maybe give him some supervised time without it...What do you guys think?
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::silly::
I am also glad to hear your chin is ok. It's always good to get them checked out and find that it is something minor. I have one question, and I might be out of line, but what does a chinchilla look like with one of the lamp shade devices on there heads. I can't imagine it myself. I am just being curious, sorry if it seems wrong.
Looks like a chinchilla that went in via the small end of a funnel ... then got stuck. ::)
Some will tolerate the collars, some will not ... depends on the chinchilla and if the collar was properly sized and fitted.
::wave:: Jo Ann