Lettuce for Chinchillas?

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Elizabeth L.

New member
Joined
Jan 5, 2018
Messages
2
Hi! I am from Colorado. I have a 14 year old chinchilla who I got about 3 years ago from a rescue organization. I am really worried about her right now because she has pneumonia. We have her on antibiotics once a day, pain meds once a day, and critical care feeding four times a day. Our vet has also recommended the spring mix organic lettuce because her back teeth are too sharp and causing pain. At the moment she is too sick for her teeth to be filed down. The main thing I am wondering is if I should give her the lettuce. Everything that I have read says no to greens and I was surprised when the vet told me to give her the lettuce. My chinchilla has another appointment at the vet tonight. They talked about hospitalizing her but said it would be too much stress for her.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
 
Lettuce will not do anything for her teeth, but it will most likely give her diarrhea. She needs hay to keep her back teeth healthy.

How's her breathing? Have you tried a steamy bathroom to help decongest her a bit? You don't want to keep her in there long so she overheats, but I've done it in short bursts.
 
Thanks for the advice. I won't give any lettuce to my chin. Her breathing is very rapid so I will try the steamy bathroom. Two days ago we tried the critical care with the syringe but it stressed her out so I was giving the critical care to her on my finger. It was working well but this morning when we tried to give it to her she refused to take it and we had to feed her through the syringe and I was afraid that she had aspirated.

Not sure what to do from here. We have an appointment with the vet at 5:30. Thanks again.
 
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