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1

North East USA / Rehoming Male Chinchilla

« on: July 14, 2010, 12:16:30 PM »

I have a male chinchilla named Stewie whom is approximately 5 years of age. He was given to me about 2 years ago. Since then, Stewie went through a period of time where I had to force feed him for over 1 month! He has been healthy since then, but for some reason will no longer eat Timothy hay. He was eating alfalfa hay once he started eating on his own, and has taken to that. I also got him to drink apple flavored pedialyte, and he mostly perfers that over water, but my vet said as long as he was drinking she didn't care what he was drinking. So, he has become somewhat of a high maintenenced chin, by which I mean his eating habits are a little unusual, but he is spoiled.
I am trying to rehome him to someone who has more time to offer to him. He gets the best care now, but I am unable to find the time to devote to him. I would love for him to find a home where his owner would take him out of his cage and play with him. I thought this was a good site to post on because everyone gave me such valuable information when Stewie was sick. I do live in Ohio, so the new owner would have to arrange transportation.

2

Q & A / Diet recommendations

« on: September 19, 2009, 04:23:35 PM »

  I was wondering what types of fruits or veggies you offer your chins, as well as what type of diet and hay you offer. I am using nutriphase gold pellets that contain a variety of other munchies and timothy hay. I offer grapes, dried cranberries, dried bananas, dried strawberries, yogurt drops (strawberry flavor) and dried apple. Is this okay?

3

Health / Chin won't eat... any suggestions?

« on: September 17, 2009, 05:06:01 PM »

A week ago I took my Male 3 year old chin (Stewie) to the vet for not acting right. He was laying on the bottom of his 5 story cage on his side. When I went over to him, he would perk right up and come to me to get his yogurt drop. I still thought this could be a sign of illness. The vet diagnosed Stewie with an upper respiratory illness with harsh lung sounds and a start of an eye infection in his left eye. She put Stewie on Baytril and gentamicin sulfate ophthalmic solution.

Two days after starting the baytril I noticed that Stewie wasn't eating much and not drinking much either. Then, when he didn't take his yogurt drop from me I knew something was wrong. I contacted the Vet and she stated that baytril doesn't normally have the side effect of poor appetite, but to stop the baytril and bring him in. Upon exam she stated that Stewie's lungs sounded better so he didn't need the baytril either. She said that sometimes antibiotics can make chin's intestines stop, so after an x-ray (where all we say was a large gas bubble) she started him on reglan to see if we could get his intestines moving.

Stewie hasn't eaten or drank anything in almost a week now! The vet ordered in OxBow Critical Care recovery food so that I could force feed Stewie. That isn't going soo well. The recovery food is mixed with water and it is still very thick. The powder/hay formula gets stuck in the syringe even when I water it down to almost a 1/10 powder/water solution. Stewie is struggling during the feedings and he spits most of the supplement out onto his fur. He ends up with more on his fur than in his mouth. He is refusing to eat or drink anything. The vet said that he looked so stressed after the feeding (his fur was frazzled and he was breathing heavy and his eyes weren't bright) that she thought maybe we were wasting our time. She gave a torb (for pain) injection and told me to continue the reglan, eye meds, and force feeding if I could.

Stewie is only 3 years old and the vet said that sometimes once they stop eating it's difficult to turn them around. I don't want him to suffer, but I don't want him to die either! Please help! Any advice for force feeding would be appreciated. Thanks.