RDZCRanch
RavenousDeadlyZombieChins
Well...today goes up there on the worst days of my life list. I always do at least two checks in the chinchilla room. Once when I wake up in the morning to make sure there are no escapees and to check for babies. Then I check before I go to bed to feed, water and do those two checks again.
This morning I was up at 6am...went into the chin room and everything was normal and as it should be. So I went about my morning things, got my coffee and everything. After lunch I decided to go get shavings as I'm running low and need to get cage cleaning done. Since I would be leaving the house I felt the need to check on the chin room and make sure everyone was ok...I'd also heard some strong wind picking up outside and wanted to make sure nothing was getting blown around in there.
The first thing I saw was that one of my pregnant females had a furry lump in her cage. My mind immediately went to the "oh no" repetition as I reached in and pulled out Z7. A full developed 74g standard female that mom had dried off and tried to revive. She was dead and cold. There was nothing I could do even though I sat there massaging her for about 5 minutes cussing myself out for not checking on the chins before lunch. I got to accepting that once again my first time mom lost a kit and started making the preparations for disposal.
I got halfway done with that and suddenly felt extremely upset. I decided to visit the three babies remaining from my quad that was born about a week ago. I opened the cage and immediately noticed fresh blood on the shavings. I panicked and grabbed all three babies out...checked all three and they were pristine perfect little babies..so I checked them a second and third time. I finally looked at Mini, the mom, and saw her do a weird lunging thing where she shoved her hips down into the shavings and I started to cry. Even typing about it right now is making me cry. I pulled Mini out and there was tissue hanging out from her reproductive areas. I immediately thought Uterine prolapse which can sometimes be fixed and calmed slightly. Then I looked closer and I was wrong. Mini had a severe rectal prolapse. The tissue was already purple and dead and I could tell she had chewed the end of it seeking relief from the pain. I immediately called the vet that's two minutes from me and took her in to be euthanized. Mini was only 2 1/2 years old and she had three 1 week old kits now without a mother. I don't know what caused the prolapse...I'm assuming it is from carrying a litter of four babies since this happened so soon after she had the kits.
I really wish all I ever had to post in this section was happy stories about cute kits as new breeders seem to think it is. I absolutely cannot stop crying right now. Mini was an evil little wench that bit me but she had a name and she was dearly loved as are all the chinchillas here. Breeding is not easy and it is not something that should be taken lightly. Her three babies were named today with her passing. The girl is Minerva, the bigger boy is Tim and the little boy is Tiny. Please keep your fingers crossed for these three as I'm attempting to foster them on the female that had the dead kit today.
RIP Mini...
This morning I was up at 6am...went into the chin room and everything was normal and as it should be. So I went about my morning things, got my coffee and everything. After lunch I decided to go get shavings as I'm running low and need to get cage cleaning done. Since I would be leaving the house I felt the need to check on the chin room and make sure everyone was ok...I'd also heard some strong wind picking up outside and wanted to make sure nothing was getting blown around in there.
The first thing I saw was that one of my pregnant females had a furry lump in her cage. My mind immediately went to the "oh no" repetition as I reached in and pulled out Z7. A full developed 74g standard female that mom had dried off and tried to revive. She was dead and cold. There was nothing I could do even though I sat there massaging her for about 5 minutes cussing myself out for not checking on the chins before lunch. I got to accepting that once again my first time mom lost a kit and started making the preparations for disposal.
I got halfway done with that and suddenly felt extremely upset. I decided to visit the three babies remaining from my quad that was born about a week ago. I opened the cage and immediately noticed fresh blood on the shavings. I panicked and grabbed all three babies out...checked all three and they were pristine perfect little babies..so I checked them a second and third time. I finally looked at Mini, the mom, and saw her do a weird lunging thing where she shoved her hips down into the shavings and I started to cry. Even typing about it right now is making me cry. I pulled Mini out and there was tissue hanging out from her reproductive areas. I immediately thought Uterine prolapse which can sometimes be fixed and calmed slightly. Then I looked closer and I was wrong. Mini had a severe rectal prolapse. The tissue was already purple and dead and I could tell she had chewed the end of it seeking relief from the pain. I immediately called the vet that's two minutes from me and took her in to be euthanized. Mini was only 2 1/2 years old and she had three 1 week old kits now without a mother. I don't know what caused the prolapse...I'm assuming it is from carrying a litter of four babies since this happened so soon after she had the kits.
I really wish all I ever had to post in this section was happy stories about cute kits as new breeders seem to think it is. I absolutely cannot stop crying right now. Mini was an evil little wench that bit me but she had a name and she was dearly loved as are all the chinchillas here. Breeding is not easy and it is not something that should be taken lightly. Her three babies were named today with her passing. The girl is Minerva, the bigger boy is Tim and the little boy is Tiny. Please keep your fingers crossed for these three as I'm attempting to foster them on the female that had the dead kit today.
RIP Mini...
I am so sorry about Mini! Gosh I know you are thinking "if only..." but dont beat yourself up. At least you got her out of her misery quickly and she's playing over the rainbow bridge with the little baby you lost. I am so hoping your foster mom works out
