Possible seizure, not wanting treats

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HowAboutNo07

New member
Joined
Jan 2, 2019
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3
On Monday night my chinchilla who will be 8 in February was cuddled at the bottom of her cage like she normally does, and then calmly started to roll over on her back/side, and slowly stretched her legs out. She wasn't trembling or stiff, but she never lays on her back or side. When she did this, she was not responding to me putting my hands near her nose or talking to her. After about 30 seconds she sat up and hopped around. She has been normal ever since, except she does not want her usual treats (normally begs for them), and only eats critical care when I put it on my finger or bring it to her on a spoon. She's been sleepy but not lethargic as she still comes out to hop around the cage but then goes back to sleep. The only treat she voluntarily takes is dried cranberry.

She had a mild seizure about a year ago but it was not the same in nature as this one, since this time it seemed more like she was just out of it for a few seconds. Does this seem like another seizure and is it a major concern that she does not want treats? I was giving her a couple days to recover in case it was a seizure, because last time it made her tired and unlike herself for a couple days.
 
Why is she being fed critical care? If she is sick she should not be given treats, especially unhealthy ones like berries. Berries are way too high in sugar and too much sugar can (among other issues) cause seizures due to a sugar spike then drop.

How long has she been on critical care instead of regular food? What do/did you normally feed her? Like what kind of food and hay?
 
She's being given critical care because she isn't eating her hay and pellets. The cranberry was given to her after her suspected seizure because the last time it happened, the vet suggested it was due to low blood sugar. She eats oxbow pellets and timothy hay. I'm not feeding her treats, my concern is that she isn't looking for them like usual or showing any interest in them as I said before.
 
Ok, but why is she not eating her pellets and hay? I'm trying to figure out what else is going on here. Does she have teeth issues? Has she been on the critical care for long? If so that alone can cause tooth issues since she isn't wearing down her teeth (chewing wood only wears down the front teeth). If they aren't worn down once they run out of room in the mouth the roots extend into the skull and down into the jaw bone.

I understand offering her a cranberry now, that makes more sense, I though you meant you gave them to her as a regular treat.

It does sound like it could have been a seizure, chins are known for having absent seizures which sound like you described. However another thing that sounds similar is when chins get gas they will stretch out trying to release the pressure. If you are syringe feeding the critical care normally it can happen that they swallow some air. If it is gas then that would explain why she doesn't want treats, if you ever had a gas bubble stuck in your stomach or intestine you'll know that it hurts and you aren't interested in eating until you burp it up of fart it out. You can try some unflavored infant gas drops if gas is the problem that should help, one dropper worth.

Otherwise I would give the vet a call, describe what is going on, and see what they say.
 
She's only been on the critical care since yesterday once she had stopped eating. I've been giving it to her on a spoon but she gets tired of it after about a spoonful every 4 hours. I had her on my lap for about 3 hours today to try to massage her stomach without bothering her and I'm giving her the gas drops now. Since then, she's been hopping around more than yesterday and earlier today which is making me feel better.

I called the vet earlier to make an appointment because she hasn't been pooping as well now, so I'm taking her first thing in the morning because they suggested that is okay compared to an emergency visit since I'm about 2 hours away. Right now I'm going to get her to play/run around for a bit to see if that gets things moving for her.
 
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