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Health / Heart Murmur in Chinchilla
« on: March 12, 2014, 12:09:33 PM »
My Louie is about 4 to 5 years old. I adopted him & his cagemate January 31, 2014. She was very ill and we had to have her put to sleep 2 days later. We are 1st time chinchilla owners.
Since then, Louie has been sneezing, coughing, rubbing his nose & has a level 3 heart murmur. He was also under weight. He was put on Baytril, baby gas drops, Benebac and Critical Care. Now the Vet had us stop the Baytril and start heart meds. Today was his 2nd dose. The new med is basically a water pill. The vet believes this sneezing & coughing is from the murmur when fluid is backing up around the heart and may be putting pressure on the organs or fluid in the lungs. The Vet & his wife were Chinchilla breeders and currently own 5 chinchillas, so I'm keeping faith that he is correct. I've only had him over a month and I am in love with him!
He has gained weight, eats his Oxbow Chinchilla food, timothy hay & Critical Care, drinks water, chews on his toys & loves a dust bath. BUT he tires easily, does not use his wheel (never has) and is continuing to make heaving breathing sounds, sneezing, etc. My young teenage girls say "he sounds like Chewbacca from Star Wars" and squeaks as if in pain. He does not like us holding him, but when he is out for playtime, he will run all over us. The sneezing / squeaking does not appear to be physically induced. He will do it when he's sleeping in his hutch in the a.m. or p.m. He will sneeze occasionally when he is sniffing around the room. He will only play for about 10 minutes then hops back into his cage to lay down.
My worries: His cagemate was making similar sounds, but also not eating. Is he suffering after loosing his cagemate? We have 2 guinea pigs in the same area of the house as him. Is our house to warm? It's runs between 69 to 72 degrees in his cage (I have a thermometer inside). He came with the heart murmur but the sneezing, etc., came later. Do chinchillas have allergies?
I am so afraid of loosing him.
Since then, Louie has been sneezing, coughing, rubbing his nose & has a level 3 heart murmur. He was also under weight. He was put on Baytril, baby gas drops, Benebac and Critical Care. Now the Vet had us stop the Baytril and start heart meds. Today was his 2nd dose. The new med is basically a water pill. The vet believes this sneezing & coughing is from the murmur when fluid is backing up around the heart and may be putting pressure on the organs or fluid in the lungs. The Vet & his wife were Chinchilla breeders and currently own 5 chinchillas, so I'm keeping faith that he is correct. I've only had him over a month and I am in love with him!
He has gained weight, eats his Oxbow Chinchilla food, timothy hay & Critical Care, drinks water, chews on his toys & loves a dust bath. BUT he tires easily, does not use his wheel (never has) and is continuing to make heaving breathing sounds, sneezing, etc. My young teenage girls say "he sounds like Chewbacca from Star Wars" and squeaks as if in pain. He does not like us holding him, but when he is out for playtime, he will run all over us. The sneezing / squeaking does not appear to be physically induced. He will do it when he's sleeping in his hutch in the a.m. or p.m. He will sneeze occasionally when he is sniffing around the room. He will only play for about 10 minutes then hops back into his cage to lay down.
My worries: His cagemate was making similar sounds, but also not eating. Is he suffering after loosing his cagemate? We have 2 guinea pigs in the same area of the house as him. Is our house to warm? It's runs between 69 to 72 degrees in his cage (I have a thermometer inside). He came with the heart murmur but the sneezing, etc., came later. Do chinchillas have allergies?
I am so afraid of loosing him.