Chinchilla Community Forums
Chinchillas => Health => Topic started by: lovethem on February 13, 2015, 05:12:52 PM
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Hi everyone,
I'm new here and I came to ask some questions because in my country it is difficult to find a specialized vet or even people having good knowledge of chinchillas behaviour.
My question is : does the chinchilla eat less during winter ? or is it always due to illness ?
I have a female chin 21 months old that began to eat less, lose some weight 2 weeks ago.
After a few days the weight dropped from approximately 670g to 625g
Given that our chin made smaller drops than usual, we gave her a little piece of Canadian apple and a little "rodent digest" during 3 days (on top of usual food :pellets and hay + some Bay rosehip and dandelion)
After that she started eating more and now the weight is 634g
But the problem is that 2 days ago , she started again to eat less than usual, particularly today :'(
What is strange is that when she goes outside the cage, she behave as usual and plays with us.
If someone has some knowledge about chins and had a similar case in the past, perhaps this could help me.
Thanks !
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How often have you been weighing her? Have you established a normal weight?
Losing 6% in two weeks is disturbing.
Are you having unusually low temperatures? What temperature is your pet being kept at? Have you checked your water bottle to make sure it is flowing properly?
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That is a large amount if weight lost. Are you weighing at the same time during the day? Is she leaving crumbs in her food bowl? Have there been any changes in her food or in the house hold? Some chins do fluctuate but that is larger than average
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In the past we weight her once every 1 or 2 weeks, because each time she was a little bigger so we did not worry much about weight.
Since she eats less we weight her at least once every 2 days, we do this in the evening when she goes out of the cage.
The problem is that when we try to weight her she always moves , so it is difficult to obtain valid numbers.
I am only sure of the weight of last 2 days because she didn't move during 4 or 5 seconds.
Temperature Inside the room was always between 17°C-22°C in the last 2 weeks
I think there is a real issue but I don't know what it could be.
We have looked at his incisor teeth and everything seems OK (color and length).
The main problems are very small drops and very little hay/pellets eating (she eats the dandelion, but I can't feed her only with this since this would not be adapted).
Concerning food change, Yes in the past we have tried several different hay packs for rodents (supposed to be adapted for chinchillas ...) because she has always sorted hay and eat only what she likes the most.
One week ago to try to restore appetite, we changed the hay and buyed on internet oxbow timothy hay : it worked ... only for 3 or 4 days ...
Now we are back to initial state :'(
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It sounds like you're doing everything right to me. You shouldn't be seeing a decrease in weight like that. I recommend finding a veterinarian that sees rabbits and having a fecal culture done. Parasitic infections are somewhat common and may account for your problem. Although chinchillas diets are not like that of rabbits and require dry foods only the diagnosis of treatment and parasites is similar. If you can't see an exotic veterinarian this is your next best thing. If this weight loss continues much longer you will be in trouble. Also ask your vet about syringe feeding with a recovery diet such as Oxbow critical care to supplement your pet's diet until you can a better diagnosis.
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Thanks for your advice.
We already have some critical care we bought just in case, but if weight continues to decrease indeed we will go the vet even if he is not a specialist ... we will try everything we can to save our chin.
Is it possible for a vet to take some radiography/echography shots on a little animal like this ... that is always moving ? I mean is there a way to avoid anesthesia that could be fatal ?
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Unfortunately radiography or dental exams require general anesthesia because they don't stay still. If anesthesia is done properly the risk is low (not negligible but low) with isofluorane but much higher on a pet in poor health.
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Hi everyone, I came back just to give some feedback about our chin.
After weight going down to 604g she started to recover, and now weight remains between 625/645g.
We have done fecal culture, nothing suspect and asked a vet possible causes of such weight loss.
One reason could be hormonal disorder but this cannot be cured (or at least no treatment is available for chins).
I hope she will have a long life anyway :)
I give this feedback for other chin owners that observe such big weight loss , sometimes there is some hope !
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Thanks for sharing that. That is interesting.