Foaming at mouth - please help me

[littlepiper]

Hi there anyone,

I woke up this morning (around 12:30, it is now 1:30) to find my baby chinchilla (8 weeks, female, mosaic) foaming at the mouth and the nose. Hher underbelly is already soaking wet. She smells funny and is making very weird teeth scratching noises in her mouth. Also, she looks like she is having a hard time swallowing, because he ears go back and she make jerky movements.

She was completely fine last night. I read this might be from over heating so i'm trying to cool her down.

Please answer if you have any information.

Piper

 

[RDZCRanch]

Take her to a veterinarian RIGHT NOW. It could be a number of things but she needs treatment immediately. It does not sound like overheating to me at all. Drooling/foaming usually happens from digestive problems. She could have constipation or GI stasis or many many different things, all can be fatal if not treated.

 

[Riven]

Sounds like a tooth problem.

I've never heard of chins foaming due to overheating.

 

[starleomach]

Does not sound like over heating she needs a vet now. What has she been eating? drinking? had access to chew on?

 

[HamNCheese]

I hope you have been able to take her to an emergency vet (or reg. vet, if there are ones nearby that are open sundays) and that if you haven't, you are looking for one! She needs vet care, no questions about it, and fast.

 

[AZChins]

You need to go to the vet. Foaming at the mouth is not good, and it can't be treated at home. If she's pregnant, she could lose the kits and her own life if you don't get her in right away.

 

[Riven]

I hope she's not pregnant... she's only 8 weeks old!

 

[AZChins]

Oh...geez!! What on earth is wrong then? She probably wouldn't be pregnant then... I really do hope that she went to the vet...

 

[Riven]

I'm wondering if she has a stick or piece of hay stuck in her mouth maybe... the only other thing I can think of is malo, but I've never heard of it in an 8 week old chin.

 

[Spoof]

Sounds like she inhaled some milk - the "foaming" is the milk bubbles coming back up out of her windpipe. I've had it happen here when hand feeding.

 

[littlepiper]

Found the problem

Hi everyone,

I just took her to the vet and we diagnosed she has a respiratory infection. She actually wasn't foaming at the mouth but the mucus coming from her nose was so great that it looked like it was.

She has been put on antibiotics, and I now have to force feed her special formula.

If anyone is still looking at this, now that my baby is home, does anyone have any suggestions to make her more comfortable? She still can't breathe well and is heaving, so we're just hoping she makes it through this.

(Luckily she is a lap-chinchilla so I've been holding her as much as I can to keep her comfy)

Thanks for the input
-Piper

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

I know that with a sick puppy or kitten, I have used the baby sized suction bulbs to remove some of the mucus for them to help them breathe better since they can't blow their noses.

I would ask the experienced breeders on here, "Would that be a possibility for a baby chin that small???"...

 

[AZChins]

That's good. I hope she heals up quickly. Keep her on her meds and keep her eating. That's pretty much all you can do. Unless it is really dry where you are, in that case as the mucus dries up and she still has a stuffy nose you may want to put a humidifier by her cage.

Absolutely, you can use a suction bulb to help remove any mucus from the nose. I've done it before here.