Not Eating/Drinking Well

[bayoupig5]

I sure hope this is the right place to post this thread. I am new to this site and this is my first post.

I have a three year old female chinchilla, never been bred. She has always been active and has always been a picky eater.

I went away recently for a week, and my husband who is usually her main caregiver stayed home with her. I noticed though, after I got back that the poops in her cage were pretty sparse, and when I asked my husband about it he said he didn't notice and had not cleaned her cage. I realized then that she had not been eating much as her raisin treats were piling up and her dish was full. Her water bottle looked pretty untouched as well.

I decided to watch her over the next couple of days, marked the water bottle and watched her food intake. Over two days she did not touch any water and ate about 4 tiny pieces of mixed chinchilla diet. I do not know exactly what she ate. I tried offering raisin, papaya, and she refused them both. The only thing she ate beside the four small pieces of food were spoon sized shredded wheat with bran. Her activity level is still way up there and there is no decline in her behavior. Poops were small, dry and hard.

We took her to the exotic vet, who checked her over. Teeth were perfect, ears, nose, eyes were clear. No sign of bloating or obstruction, no signs of constipation. Everything ok. He did think that maybe she developed mild ileus due to depression (as I had gone away). He recommended feeding Oxbow Critical Care.

Well we tried feeding this to her by force, but it proved to be very difficult and quite stressful for our chin. More food got on her face and chin than in her mouth, and my husband does not want to force feed anymore. I have tried alternative methods, such as filling the Oxbow remedy into the shredded wheat, but Chinta is smart and eats much less of these Oxbow filled wheats (we were told we could feed Chinta two to four of the wheats a day, by the vet as right now is not eating anything else). I have also tried spoon feeding the Oxbow. Mixing Oxbow with organic baby food butternut squash, to no avail. I will try making the puffed pellets next, and also try rolled oats, in hopes that she will like that.

Drinking had declined as well, and Chinta did not drink anything for three days. Which seems to ride in conjunction with no eating. Anyway I decided to mix a 50% solution of non concentrated, unsweetened apple juice and water, as I heard it was good for boosting appetite. Chinta loves it and finally drank from a syringe. She would not touch her water bottle, but now after two days will go to it after a lot of coaxing. Water bottle is filled with the apple solution, and she is now drinking it by herself.

Additionally she seem to be eating some small amount of loose Kay Tee Timothy Hay, and I am currently only offering pellets, instead of the mixed chinchilla diet.

Just want to know if anyone else has gone through this. Any hints and advice would greatly be appreciated.

How long can she drink the juice solution? How long can she go on eating this way? What else can I do to help her along?

Chinta is still very alert and active and does not act the least bit sick. It's just this sudden drop of appetite that is worrisome. I should note that with the water/juice solution being consumed, poops are still minimal, but have greatly improved in appearance and consistency.

 

[aznmexaggie]

What is the mixed chinchilla diet she gets? A chinchilla's staple diet should be a plain pellet (such as Oxbow, Mazuri, or a show rabbit pellet like PANR, Nutrena or Manna Pro Sho) without treats mixed in and plenty of grass hay. Treats should be given sparingly... at the most, one treat daily. I would stop giving her so many treats as they can cause so many digestive issues and may be the instigator to her current condition.

Feed the Critical Care... it is very important to get her to eat it as she can go into GI stasis if she is not consuming anything. If it is stressful for her, try shorter, more frequent feeding sessions. Ensure she is getting enough water as well. You can water down the Critical Care a bit more or even offer her water via a dropper. If you put a drop of water or CC on her lips, she will likely lick it off.

Personally, I would stop giving the juice solution as well - it's mostly a short-term method used to encourage lactating chinchillas to drink more and help their milk come in/produce more milk. However, I don't even use juice solutions with my females as I don't feel they need all those unnecessary sugars. All those simple sugars may be giving her the quickly-accessible energy she needs and causing signals to be sent to her brain that she is satiated (thus, decreasing her appetite even more) but she needs to eat solid nutritious fibrous food to keep her gut working. While giving her the juice solution, have you also given her access to another bottle with water only?

 

[Rickman]

I agree with Sumiko - you must get her eating and drinking, but if her gut is going through something strange, I'd add some LifeLine to help straighten her out!
It's helped a lot of members here through many digestive ailments, and she sounds like a prime candidate! E-Mail chocolatechinchillas.com and Dawnna will get it out A.S.A.P.!

 

[Claire D]

Ditto the above post by Sumiko really - your chin needs a high fibre diet with no treats until her guts settle again.
A healthy chinchilla will not starve itself - there is something going on and it could be as simple as a GI upset or it could be something more serious like early tooth problems etc.

I'd suggest cutting out all treats (except 1/2 a mini non-frosted shredded wheat) and making sure she eats the critical care. She needs extra fluids so making it up thinner than recommended a couple of times a day is a good idea too.
Take the fruit juice out of the water and giver her plain water - sugar is not what she needs in her gut right now. A slow gut transit plus sugar is a recipe for fermentation and gas, leading to bloat.
Definitely cut out the raisins - they are too high in sugar. Take all of the treats out of her cage and scatter around healthy foods to tempt her appetite - a bit of mini shredded wheat, a little alfalfa, some hay, a few pellets. This can stimulate the foraging instinct and you may find she starts eating.

She does, however, need further investigation if she is not eating properly - did the vet Xray her? That is the only way to see if there are root problems or abscesses etc. below the gum line.

 

[Laurie]

I know you are very concerned with Chinta's well being, but she needs to be eating more than she is, and I know you're concerned about this. Force feeding can be stressful but it is always done out of necessity. What you need to do is wrap her tight in a towel a burrito. Wrap her she can't kick her legs and arms so that only her head is visbile and feed her the critical care with a large syringe.
She needs a fiber rich diet which is pellets and hay and absolutely no treats of any kind with sugar. No raisins or papaya. Going forward she should only have a diet of quality pellets and hay and for treats, plain shredded wheat, a pinch of old fashioned (not quick cooking) oats and dried rose hips, or a plain cheerio.
Sugar rich diets and treats can cause bloat symptoms in your chin which can be deadly.
Please rething the force feeding critical care as she needs to eat this to regain her health.

 

[Tagna]

I wouldn't be giving the shredded wheat either right now IMO. I know if one of my girls has it, it makes her poop small and she won't poop as much. So for her she doesn't get shredded wheat at all.

Like what has been said the best things are a high quality pellet, hay and water. There are a couple of sellers in British Columbia that carry good quality items: alderbrook and chinchilla park place.

 

[Nancy S]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I hope little Chinta is eating by this time. I had a chin that had a bad hair ring and stopped eating drinking; poos were really small and sparce and this is what i did and it worked great. I gave critical care (and he hated it and would not eat it --i tried baby food etc.)--and added couple drops of unsweetened apple juice and he would eat it off a popsicle sick. I added extra acidophilus and gave a couple drops gas drops for 3 days. I gave (with syringe) diluted chamomile tea (1c.water to 1 tea bag --steep 2 min.). That really worked great to get him drinking the regular water. (note: the only bottle in cage was reg. water). I also alternated the chamomile drops of water with reg. I also gave a brand new Oxbow Timothy hay tunnel and he "Loved" it and dove right in.
Is the temp in the room good? Well, hope she gets back to normal real soon and i also; as said above; agree---get the food in , however you have to. I also have lifeline (from Dawna) and she is quick to get it out and i would have that regardless. Couple times a week i sprinkle a little on my boys food. Good luck!