Elder care....

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Snowflake311

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 8, 2017
Messages
76
Location
Tahoe, CA
So I kept the old ladies from my rescue. I have 5 females all living happy together. 3 are older one is very old and missing a foot. the other 2 one is young and healthy the others is old and FAT! Mima is the oldest female missing a foot and her bff is Fluffy who gets around really well at too cute together. Mima I think has arthritis so when she trys to take a dust bath she can not turn. So I have started to give her hand bathes.

How do you care for elderly Chinchillas? does anyone have any Old chins that are over 13 years old? How are your old ones holding up?

Besides my 5 females I have 2 males in another cage. when you have 50 chins to pick from you are going to fall for a few. It would have been more but I let some great ones go off to awesome homes.

These ladies are all part of a breeding herd that never had the run of a room or a large cage. Now they have a double critter nation to play in; but they like to all stay together in the bottom cage. Some go into the top part but not for long.

I will post photos of my little old ladies. well all but rose are old.
 
Mima the grandma and yes I bet she is a great great grand ma to many.

mima by Sarah Ireland, on Flickr

Pig needs to see a vet she has a small eye it does not look infected but is small and she is very over weight and not sign of being pregnant like nipples.
Pig by Sarah Ireland, on Flickr

This is the young crazy ones. I do not know how young but she is not as old at the others. Rose and Fluffy are my fav. I love pig too. Oh never mind I can not pick a fav.
Rose by Sarah Ireland, on Flickr

This little girl has lots of spunk for being older I do not know how old but over 10 years would be my guess.
Scruffy by Sarah Ireland, on Flickr

Scruffy and Rose just chin-chillin in the top part of the cage. I love these little fluff balls.
2gilrchinchillin by Sarah Ireland, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
Sorry I went back and looked at my typing. I need to proof read . Wish i could edit I hope everyone understands what I was trying to say.
 
chins dont get overweight on a healthy diet. If they have been on a healthy diet then there is a reason for the increased size. Such as pregnancy, or something like genetics. Iv had chins in the 400g and 500g range. Some other chins can be in the 1000g-1200g range. So there is a wide range. - If they have been on an unhealthy diet such as those foods with 'treats' (nuts, seeds, fruits, veggies) in them, then they need to be taken off of it asap.

Not being able to roll around in a sand bath could be a few things. Usually medical in nature. My Dandy has spinal issues that also effect is back right leg. So he cant hop around much at all, or lay on his side, or roll over in a sand bath. I try to hand bath him when i can, but he is not exactly a fan of it. He mostly just rubs his belly and face in the sand. There have been a couple times where he ended up on his side, but couldnt get back up. I had to help him.
As for arthritis in chins, i honestly dont have any experience in that area.
 
chins dont get overweight on a healthy diet. If they have been on a healthy diet then there is a reason for the increased size. Such as pregnancy, or something like genetics. Iv had chins in the 400g and 500g range. Some other chins can be in the 1000g-1200g range. So there is a wide range. - If they have been on an unhealthy diet such as those foods with 'treats' (nuts, seeds, fruits, veggies) in them, then they need to be taken off of it asap.

Not being able to roll around in a sand bath could be a few things. Usually medical in nature. My Dandy has spinal issues that also effect is back right leg. So he cant hop around much at all, or lay on his side, or roll over in a sand bath. I try to hand bath him when i can, but he is not exactly a fan of it. He mostly just rubs his belly and face in the sand. There have been a couple times where he ended up on his side, but couldnt get back up. I had to help him.
As for arthritis in chins, i honestly dont have any experience in that area.

Thank you for getting back to me. My elderly female that can not take a full dust bath is missing a back foot that might be part of it. She has been getting around hopping on a low shelve I made for her. Still not fully rolling in the bath.

As for the fat one I thought she was pregnant when I first saw her but now I think she is just a big girl she also has a small eye microphthalmia. She hops around just fine. She was on an alfalfa based pellet ( Purina Mills Advanced Nutritoin Rabbit Show Formula ) with no hay for a year before I got her. Now she gets all she can eat timothy hay everyday. I will weigh her tomorrow. I think she is 1lb.
 
I had a chin that developed arthritis in her early teens. Our vet had her take a daily glucosamine/chondroiton supplement (Dasuquin) which seemed to help. She could also have metacam on the rough days.
 
I had a chin that developed arthritis in her early teens. Our vet had her take a daily glucosamine/chondroiton supplement (Dasuquin) which seemed to help. She could also have metacam on the rough days.

interesting. This old girl is doing ok she did do a slow roll in the dust now. She is feeling a little better I think. She is missing a foot so that makes it even harder for her. I have another older female that is doing ok but looks to get a little stiff at times.

I would like to get some glucosamine for my old girls. Good idea.
 
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