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16

General Chat / Litter Box Training Chins

« on: November 09, 2009, 01:41:50 PM »

So my older chinchilla, Dewey (5 yrs), is obviously very clever - and tends to urinate in the same area most of the time. So I decided to stick a litter box (it's a rabbit litter box, filled with soft-sorbent) into his cage and see if he takes to it.

(Note: the litter box IS made of plastic, but Dewey is not a chewer! He is picky about which chew toys he will use, and otherwise chews nothing. I wouldn't recommend a plastic litter box to "just any" chinchilla).

Anyway... without any coaxing of "teaching" he just started using the box on his own! It's like he KNEW right away, and without fail he hops in there everytime he needs to pee! What a good boy!!! I am so impressed with him!!

Anyone else have box trained chins? Did it take awhile to learn, or is it normal for them to figure it out on their own so quick? What sorts of boxes and litters do you use?

17

Health / constipated & won't eat!

« on: November 04, 2009, 01:18:11 PM »

Hi, I am new here. I joined because I need some help/advice from chinchilla experts.
I have 2 chins, both male rescues. Dewey is a 5 yr old standard gray, and Schroeder is a 2 yr old white mosaic.

2 weeks ago Schroeder got diarrhea...it was everywhere in his cage! I have no idea what caused it! He has not been given any excessive treats, nor has anything changed around him to cause stress. I had to bathe him in water to clean him up, he was such a mess! Well the diarrhea stopped after just that one day (a Tuesday)... he seemed tired and not hungry after that, but I figured he'd be okay after some rest and a few dust baths.  Well he wasn't eating much, and then the following Friday, there was blood all over his cage, he'd began bleeding from his behind! I called his vet who told me to give him keopectate to calm his stomach, as well as "cat lax"/petroleum jelly to get his bowels moving. I did this. The keopectate certainly stopped the diarrhea (only gave him 1 dose). But the jelly wasn't doing anything.
Schroeder hasn't eaten or pooped in 2 weeks now.
He refuses even raisins, which he used to love on the rare occasion. He sort of nibbles at hay & drinks from his water bottle maybe a single lick a day. I have been force-feeding him. At first I was just force-feeding watered down/mashed pellets. (We use Mazuri). Then I read that orphaned kits should be fed KMR (milk suppliment for kittens) with gerber rice cereal mixed in. So now I force feed a mixture of water/kmr/mashed pellets/rice cereal. He willingly drinks about 3 syringe-fuls (2 ml syringe) a day. But that's it, and he still won't eat anything solid offered to him.
I offered him some yogurt last night and he refused it.
I read I can give pineapple or papaya juice to a chinchilla to help with constipation... figured I could do that through the syringe.... is that okay?
I saw some rabbit lax at the pet shop and considered that as well, but didn't want to buy it/try it until I knew it was safe. Schroeder has been sleepy/lazy...but he DOES get active for a few minutes here and there. On Sunday night I thought he was going to die over night because he was looking so awful...but then early in the AM hours he was running in his wheel! I have been giving him his free run, but he doesn't RUN as much, he just sniffs around and squeaks at me. He also grinds his teeth a lot lately (I've read this can be a sign of pain?)
Help!