My poor chin started chewing her chest about 2 months ago. We took her to a vet immediately and they just gave us a topical anitbiotic and wrapped it. She is 14 yrs. old and vet said she may not make it through a surgery. He did research and couldn't come up with a reason why she was doing this. Time went by and it healed up nicely but there was a hard spot that I believed was just scar tissue. Within a day after the bandage was off she had torn herself open again. That cycle continued for weeks and now she has tore a new place on her right armpit! I don't know what to do now! She just chews her self and barks all the time. Anyone with advice? Please help!
Self mutilation
- Thread starter jonesyjr
- Start date
Help Support Chinchilla & Hedgehog Pet Forum:
qtpie61282
Well-known member
I have a beautiful sapphire male I bought from Ryersons to put into breeding but every time I put him next to a females cage he would chew the end of his tail practically off. It took a little over a year before he would stop.
I brought him to the vet, they put a hand made e-collar on his so he couldn't reach it. I had to put lotion on it. There was always blood splattered everywhere, the walls, the cages adjacent to his, and all over the inside of the cage itself.
Finally after moving his cage to different places, we got him to stop. We moved the chins to a completely different room, because we needed their room for the new baby
. My sapphire male is now in a FN cage (one half) and he hasn't chewed his tail since we moved them.
The point of my story, maybe there was something you did in the room or in the house that changed just enough to stress her out?
Sometimes they take a while to adjust to new surroundings or changes, and maybe she is just too old to adjust easily.
That is the only thing I can think of. That there was a change to her normal routine, and it just stressed her out enough to make her self mutilate.
Is she in a smaller cage, or a different cage than before? New food? New surroundings? New feeding schedule?
I brought him to the vet, they put a hand made e-collar on his so he couldn't reach it. I had to put lotion on it. There was always blood splattered everywhere, the walls, the cages adjacent to his, and all over the inside of the cage itself.
Finally after moving his cage to different places, we got him to stop. We moved the chins to a completely different room, because we needed their room for the new baby
. My sapphire male is now in a FN cage (one half) and he hasn't chewed his tail since we moved them.The point of my story, maybe there was something you did in the room or in the house that changed just enough to stress her out?
Sometimes they take a while to adjust to new surroundings or changes, and maybe she is just too old to adjust easily.
That is the only thing I can think of. That there was a change to her normal routine, and it just stressed her out enough to make her self mutilate.
Is she in a smaller cage, or a different cage than before? New food? New surroundings? New feeding schedule?
Yes, she started doing it after we moved into the new house. She is in the bottom half of the cage only as she had a collar on as well. But she managed to get her hand up inside it and now thats when she chewed under her right arm. She cant even use the arm I have her entire area bandaged.
She is so old, we know that, that we are considering potentially that we need to put her down. She is injuring herself excessively and we cant get her to stop. Its been almost 4 months.
She is so old, we know that, that we are considering potentially that we need to put her down. She is injuring herself excessively and we cant get her to stop. Its been almost 4 months.
EMSChins
Hendryx Chinchillas
I would talk to Tagna on here about an herbal supplement that may help calm her possible anxiety first before considering having her PTS to see if that helps as she may be anxious about the recent move. She is Fuzzies Kingdom, one of the vendors with a banner ad running across the top of this site and she is very knowledgeable about herbal supplements for small animals.
Woodrow724
Chin-obsessed
I used Tanya's Anxiety herbal mix for Jasper when we brought him home because he was a fur chewer, which I know isn't the same but it worked wonders for him. I still give it to him once a week and we've been chew free.
qtpie61282
Well-known member
Im sure its definitely stressed induced then. It make take a while before she settles down but I would do what has been recommended and look into the herbal supplements. Poor girl is just stressed from the move :-(
