Chinchilla Community Forums
Chinchillas => General Chat => Topic started by: Messi on March 05, 2015, 06:32:06 PM
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Well it's been a long recovery but Messi has been leavin her cage for the last two weeks now and setting up camp in her favourite hideaway over her cage.. She's a lot more active and using we dust bath again..
She still isn't eating hay :( I had hoped that she would she her teeth had been filled down but it just never happened .. I did buy new dandelion & marigold hay and I mix up some of the "petal" food with it in the hope that she might "accidentally" eat some hay while rooting for the petals but it's hard to tell if she does..
As I mentioned I have been keeping a large supply of petal food... Which contains , dandelion , rose petals, lavender, corn flowers, hibiscus, marrow flowers , just about every flower a chinchilla is allowed to eat.. She does still get a treat of only one raisin a day but I think I'm still only doing this out of paranoia as I'm trying to reassure myself she's still eating..
My only concern now is her chin is still discoloured. As she's a Wilson Chin it's very obvious and I'm worried it's fresh drool and not just the staining left behind from the initial drool.. Her chin is never wet to the touch and the stainin hasn't increased in size at all I'm at a loss as to how to clean it .. She likes me petting her but as soon as she realised I'm trying to clean up her chin she gets very narky with me..
How long does this discolouration stay concidering she a Snow White girl??! It's obvious she can't clean her chin herself will it just disappear as the fur sheds naturally over a long period of time?
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Not sure what to say about the hay other than I do think something is not right but it may be as good as you're going to get at this point. As far as discoloration if it's staining from the meds or the critical care I think it's most likely that the fur is stained and as new fur grows in and the old falls out it will clear up. If it is severely matted you may need to take further action otherwise it should be just fine. Older chinchillas have a much longer hair growth cycle so it may some months. If there is no detectable drooling or moisture I seriously doubt you are seeing anything remarkable.
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Thank you for your reply :)
Yes I'm at a loss to when it comes to her dislike of hay... ::shrug::
It's always and forever been this way .. And we've had her for 8 years! I do think that it could be a
Development Behavioral issues as where she came from was a horrible situation .. We basically rescued her from the god awful pet shop and then reported them to the proper authorities ... She as far as we know was 2 years + and had never been exposed to hay so we assume. This is why no matter how hard we tried she never took to it.. I would be so overjoyed if she did but being that she's over 10 now I think your right .. It is what it is....
Thankfully there is no matting of the chin hair so that should make regrowth a lot easier.. But I will be on constant watch for any change in the staining that's there now. I got such a bad fright with her before.. One side effect to her being more active and running about is that it's impossible to catch her any more... She has her little hiding places that he loves and I'm happy she's comfortable again .. So now we just hope that from here on out she improves .. She's a tough little nut and I think she has many more years left in her yet!
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Have you tried ings hay?
I have a picky chin when it comes to timothy hay but she loves ings hay...it is chin safe
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Some chinchillas just don't like hay. I have several hundred chinchillas and alternate between loose and cubed hay. Some goble up the loose some just don't touch it, some eat the cubes leaving no evidence there was ever any hay there some barely touch thiers. It may have nothing to do with the petstore you got her from. Some people like salad some people won't touch anything green.