drinking a lot

[babychin]

Hi, so I've noticed my chin Baby has been drinking more water than usual, almost twice as much. I've been researching the site and saw a lot of things about possible diabetes but she doesn't seem to show the other symptoms I read about and she's still active and running on her wheel etc. A few other things I thought could cause this change could maybe be the weather changing or when I brought home a new chinchilla about two weeks ago (in a separate cage). I've began to measure her weight to check if she's loosing any in case it could be diabetes. Any advice would be great thank you!

 

[ticklechin]

Diabetes in chinchillas symptoms are excessive thirst, excessive urination and excessive weight gain or loss, excessive eating. Is the chin a fur chewer?

 

[babychin]

she does chew her fur every now and then, but I'm not sure if that is just her normal grooming habits or something else

 

[ticklechin]

Diabetes can mimic hyperthyroidism in chinchillas and there is a link between hyperthyroidism and fur chewing in chinchillas. Not saying either is your chins case but if the matter progresses there are other possibilities.

 

[babychin]

okay thank you for your help, I'll continue to watch her closely. Would you suggest I go ahead and take her to the vet for testing?

 

[ticklechin]

Testing for diabetes is a real pain in chinchillas, they stress out at the vets and it throws off the sugar test. That and several visits need to happen to firmly diagnose so unless she has other symptoms that are new I would leaver her be, in my opinion.

 

[babychin]

okay will do, thank you!

 

[Dreamlite]

weather, humidity and a bunch of other things can affect drinking. I wouldnt jump to diabetes unless she shows other symptoms