Chinchilla off food, seems swollen underneath

Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum

Help Support Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Amphy64

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 11, 2011
Messages
224
Henry seems to have gone off his food and not drinking, he's accepted being handfed mushed pellets, about 10ml, and taken a couple gojis, but not with the usual enthusiasm. Some very small poos this morning. There's been some teeth grinding though he tends to do that after gojis but it was more than I'd have thought so not sure if there's pain. He doesn't seem so bad in himself otherwise, he's moved round the cage and jumped across perches, but didn't struggle as much as usual when I picked him up. I'd thought he seemed off these last weeks, but assumed it was related to seizure -there have been no obvious ones, but quiet periods and he's not seemed as with it, even when lively-, but he'd been eating Ok -I poss. gave him more treats than should've over Christmas- and played with a few toys. I thought he might look swollen underneath then, around the genitals and anus, but attributed it to the temperature raises due to seizure. We have a vet appointment this afternoon.

It's odd that my rabbit is showing similar symptoms. I'd taken her to the vet last week as she wasn't eating as enthusiastically, seemed quiet, and swollen underneath, they cleared her scent glands, she seemed to pick up for a few days but then seemed to go a little offish again. She's previously been on a course of antibiotics for a cough that she showed about a week after I rescued her, but the vet eventually concluded it was allergies, possibly to her own fur as she's an angora, and it seemed to have mostly settled. I was intending to take her to the vet again but I can't take both at once and she's not as bad as Henry. She's kept in a different room and I do try to be careful about the possibility of transmitting infection to the chins - which if anything may have happened other way round I guess, chin to rabbit, it didn't occur to me to be cautious that way round. She can possibly go to my mum's for a while if you think necessary.

The two chinchilla girls -different cage, same room as Henry- seem fine, lively and destructive. Same food, same water, but he gets a bit more dried fruit because he absolutely won't take his tablets without it.

I'm not sure if this is a new issue or a continuation of previous ones. I suggested to my vet at the time that I wondered if Henry's seizures were linked to infection, given he seemed to pick up after a long course of antibiotics for poss. urinary infection. I'd said he looked swollen underneath at the time. He's not urinating frequently now as far as I've seen, but then he's not drinking. He's still on phenobarbitol, half a tablet a day. Unfortunately I'm not sure he ate it all last night, he dropped part, not being as interested in food, and I couldn't find it so didn't dare give him more in case I overdosed him.

If it's not related to the epilepsy, could it be a digestive issue?

Would really appreciate advice, I'm so worried about him. If I need to continue to handfeed how much should it be? Any specific antibiotic if needed?
 
Last edited:
Sounds like he could be bloated to me, he should be looked at by a vet quickly since bloat can turn to stasis in a couple of days.
 
Thanks, vet has seen him now. It's not really what I was thinking it might be, apparently he has a cut in his mouth, I'm just hoping it doesn't go deeper and isn't an ulcer. He was eating fine up till Sunday night, I don't know if he might have cut himself on a toy. He's had an anti-inflammatory injection and been prescribed baytril. I doubt he'll eat much while on that in any case, I've handfed him and he took that well. It took a few attempts but got him to take his usual phenobarbitol eventually, I might have to crush it or something if he won't eat it.
 
Back
Top