Dirty Chinchilla

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.

Devynthecatwithsocks

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 30, 2019
Messages
161
Location
Southern California
I give Roo a dust bath 1 a week (somtimes twice if she gets into her bath house) and she always seems fluffier everytime. However I notices that their is pee caked to the bottom of her fur which kinda bothers me and I just want to clean that out. Is their any way to clean her bottom up?
 
First of all you need to figure out why there is pee soaking her bottom fur. The two most common reasons are a dirty cage or illness. My guess based on your other post would be dirty cage, since you don't have anything to absorb the pee. As I said before one piece of fleece isn't going to be enough to soak up pee for a week, even multiple layers often need to be changed a few times a week. Have you started washing the fleece daily now? If not basically she is just sitting in her own pee.

If that continues it will cause her to get a urinary tract infection and urine burns, and require vet care to treat and round the clock care (as in meds and possible hand feeding every few hours for days or weeks). Since chins are exotics, vet treatment can often quickly run into the hundreds to thousands of dollars, so obviously it's better for your chin and wallet to not get to that point.

Once you get that sorted you can add about a tablespoon of corn starch to the dust bath, over time the pee staining will go away (gets a bit lighter with each bath). Unless you live in a very dry place you can probably do a couple baths a week. You can also use organic unscented baby wipes to try to clean some of the pee off, and then give her a dust bath.
 
Since she was a rescue we took her to the vet for a check up and they said everything was fine except some dental work that will have to be fixed in the future. I will change the fleece more often and do that dust bath thing.
 
I just gave her a dust bath and that seemed to improve a bit. The pee isn't as bad as I thought last night when I looked today. I actually hardely ever see pee spots on the fleece and when i do its never moist in the area.
 
Even regular dust baths will eventually clean the fur. It just won't remove staining. It won't prevent them getting dirty again though. Sitting in it for only a few minutes can get their fur dirty and wet enough to stick together. The small amount of pee relative to some animals may dry up quickly but it can be enough time to make dirty bellies if there is nothing absorbing it right away.

Fleece is sometimes manufactured to start out slightly water resistant. It will go away with washing and especially adding some vinegar to the wash. Vinegar helps remove smells too. It's a common issue when people first set up guinea pig cages with fleece since they pee ponds worth compared to a chin. Some brands or sources of fleece the pee will just sit there on top for several minutes when the fleece is new.
 
Back
Top