Chin with a broken pelvis

From the video i saw she looks perfect
Id say let her dust herself but im not an expert at all im going entirely based on that she looks like a normal healthy chinny

Please ignore this post i didnt mean to hit it

psycho_ash said:

Any other opinions on if Tia can dust herself yet?

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Like Claire said...it's tempting to give her a go, but if you want to be super super safe and completely ensure she doesn't re-injure herself, I'd leave the dusting to you until the next X-ray. Either that or maybe put a small amount of dust on a completely flat surface and see if she can get a bit of a roll from that.

She looks wonderful, Ash! I'm so happy she found you and has been able to heal and will be able to be a super happy, normal chinnie! You are such a good Daddy to her! :hearts: I'm adopting you, FYI.:neener:

I'm an *****. I'm an *****. I'm a #$#&@$^ *****.

In my defense, I've noticed that the greasier Tia gets, the less she eats. She still hasn't regained the 50g+ she lost from the food switch, and I really don't want her to lose any more weight.

Before anyone responded to my last post, I went and got the dust bath out. I just got some really nice Blue Cloud to replace the Kaytee dust Tia came with, so I dumped the Kaytee and put in Blue Cloud.

Then I let Tia hop in.

I don't know if it's because she liked the dust more or because she has felt super good lately, but she really tore into that dust. She's never been that passionate before, ever.

She hopped out and immediately I noticed that she wouldn't use her left leg. I immediately caught her and put her back in her cage.

I'm so stupid, I feel like an *****. I won't know until tomorrow how she's feeling - my best gauge of how she's feeling is how much she eats. She was still trying to running around, hopping about.

I'm just so mad at myself and so upset.

Oh wow....I feel so bad about my post now. After the amount of time I really thought she would be ok. I wasn't absolutely sure about my opinion though which is why I mentioned waiting on others.

Don't freak out just yet. Even a healed bone can be sore afterward. When I broke my ankle it was sore for at least a month/2 months after the cast was removed. It still gets sore even now when it rains and it's been years since the break. She may have just went a little too wild with that first bath and over did it, which is why she is sore. You have to wait until tomorrow anyway, so check on her in the morning to see how she is doing. I would also give her a dose of metacam to help cut down on inflammation if she she did strain it (not sure if you were still giving her metacam).

I'm sorry, hopefully it's just a little tissue soreness. I posted because I just thought of something for next time she dusts. I have used a regular sized metal coffee can for a dust house in a pinch and because of it's smaller size she won't be able to roll and flip as wildly. Use sandpaper to remove any sharp places where the lid was removed

How is she doing now?

She's all right, she ate about 2/3 of her food last night, chewed up a piece of cholla and a lava bite. I woke her up (she wasn't pleased) and set her on the bed to get her to hop - she did all right. She favors her leg a tiny tiny bit, but not much, not like she used to or was doing last night. She immediately decided to burrow into some blankets, so I'm guessing that she's okay, just sore.

Crysta, I still give her metacam daily, although I reduced it to one .05cc dose. I'll give her two .05ccs per day for now and not give her any play time for a few days.

I'm just upset because she has never dusted so hard before! She has dusted maybe five times by herself in all the times I've had her (twice was before I knew she had a broken pelvis) and she never just went at it like she did last night. She went at it like a normal chin, like all the videos I've seen.

I think she'll be okay, I hope.

*Edited because I left out words, I think faster than I type.

I am glad she seems ok today but I think you're going to have to keep her bath free for a while longer yet. I reckon another 4 weeks or so until you try again.
It's probably worth very, very slowly building up her exercise until she has regained some of the fitness she will have lost from being confined (imagine going from being a couch potato to running the marathon or a sportsman from having a broken leg & being in a cast with a broken leg to playing football again). Once she has built up some muscle mass then she may be able to have a bath.

I would just keep rubbing the dust into her Ash. Work it down deep into her fur and on to her skin. Make sure to get around her head too, down in her tummy, anywhere she will let you reach. It isn't as good as doing it herself, but it will feel loads better than nothing.

I'm going to guess that you are going to need to keep her some sort of restriction for a long time, if not the rest of her life. That pelvic fracture area, because it was such a severe break and didn't heal well, is going to be something she's going ot have to deal with from here on out. As Claire said, it will help a lot when she builds up muscle in the area again, but just like a human with such a severe break, I would hazzard a guess there is going to be a lot of arthritis involved in that break. Everything slow and easy until she builds up again.

You're doing a tremendous job Ash. One little setback, now she'll go forward again.

Thanks for the input guys, you all know that I could never thank you enough.

Peggy, I understand and accept that Tia will have be restricted for pretty much the rest of her life, but do you think she'll ever be able to be in her big cage again? It has no ledges, just two large shelves connected by ramps. I could easily rig up barriers for the ramps so that she can't jump/fall off of them. I just don't know how I feel about having to keep her in the guinea pig cage forever...

Oh sure, not to worry, in time she'll get back to a better place again and be able to go back into a bigger cage. It may just be a one level cage for a long time, but she'll get there. It's just going to take time.

A human with a badly fractured pelvis would be on bed rest, possibly in traction, then physical therapy, weight restrictions, etc. You can't do that with chins because they are just so freaking active and you can't tell them "No, don't hop around like that, it's bad for you." Even people aren't bright enough at times to do what's good for them.

The bone has already healed, misaligned or not. Now the muscle and surrounding tissue need time to heal up as well. Think of it this way, a sprain is much worse with healing than a clean break. A clean (or not so clean) break starts to set almost immediately. A sprain can take months and months and months to feel better and back to a normal level. She had a break, and a sprain. She had to have stretched, strained, sprained all the muscles surrounding that bone. Give her time, she's a long lived little girl. Remember everything in moderation, as slow and easy as you can make her go, and she'll get there Ash.

Ash, a guinea pig cage is NOT a bad thing, if that's what she needs.

Thousands of chinchillas live their entire lives in ranch cages that are not that much larger. She's lucky to have a loving chin dad like you to give her what's best for her.

I think that this is a case of size DOESN'T matter. She has wonderful living conditions, good food and care, more than enough love from you -- what more could any chinchilla ask???

Here's hoping that she will continue to thrive under your care. :thumbsup:

Thanks for the input, it really helps to get outside opinions and views on this situation. Maybe someday she'll be able to be in her big cage again, but for now I guess the guinea pig cage isn't so bad.

I think she's gotten used to it, too. She seems content with it, although she does race around in tight circles when she sees me (and when she's awake). Although she does sleep a lot - she's awake maybe four hours every day, from 4am-8am and then from 8pm-12am. She sleeps on her pillow and it's cute. I just wish she wouldn't pee on her pillows... ah well.

One way to look at the situation is this:
Without your care & intervention, Tia would probably not be alive. The fact that she has shown such remarkable healing is a testement to your care for her & the (frustrating for both of you) confinement in the smaller cage.
I'd use that as a baseline & anything Tia gets above & beyond that is a bonus - so every bit of extra time she gets to potter about gently as exercise = a bonus. Every time she gets excited to see you & you develop a deeper bond = a bonus. Every time she gets dust rubbed into her fur = a bonus ................. that way you're not looking at what Tia has "lost" compared to other chins but you're looking at the amazing life she has gained because of you.

I think Tia is a very, very lucky chinchilla - some chins live in dreadful conditions or in teeny cages with no real human contact - Tia has landed right on her little feet with you.

Slowly, slowly is the way to go, as Peggy has suggested.

Claire, your perspective seems a wise one, and the right way to look at this situation.

Claire D said:

One way to look at the situation is this:
Without your care & intervention, Tia would probably not be alive. The fact that she has shown such remarkable healing is a testement to your care for her & the (frustrating for both of you) confinement in the smaller cage.
I'd use that as a baseline & anything Tia gets above & beyond that is a bonus - so every bit of extra time she gets to potter about gently as exercise = a bonus. Every time she gets excited to see you & you develop a deeper bond = a bonus. Every time she gets dust rubbed into her fur = a bonus ................. that way you're not looking at what Tia has "lost" compared to other chins but you're looking at the amazing life she has gained because of you.

I think Tia is a very, very lucky chinchilla - some chins live in dreadful conditions or in teeny cages with no real human contact - Tia has landed right on her little feet with you.

Slowly, slowly is the way to go, as Peggy has suggested.

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I never thought about it like that... that's really a good, different way to think. I've been so negative about this, feeling bad for Tia and hoping that one day she can be a "normal" chin. Well, maybe she *is* just a normal chin with some special needs, and I've been looking about it all wrong?

So Tia is on a "I'm not eating" slope again. Yesterday she ate 2/3 of her pellets, last night she ate 1/2. This is a pattern that happens every time she's in more pain than usual, to the point where she will barely eat 1/3 of her pellets. She escaped last night and I spent 20 minutes working on getting her out from under the bed, so she's hurting from that also.

She's hovering around the high 530s, and she was 600g when I got her. I don't want her to lose any more weight. She looks plump in pictures, but it's all fur. When I hold her, it's all bone.

I tried force feeding her twenty minutes ago (it works better when she's half asleep), but I'm just so afraid of burrito-ing her because I don't want to hurt her more. Plus I'm terrible at it, it took me like eight tries until I finally got it and managed to get 5ccs into her before she really had enough.

Ok, I think it's time to reign right back with Tia. There is no doubt that she has done remarkably well BUT she had a horrific break & you need to take that into account.
If she has stopped eating again it is more than likely because she is sore - in the last 48 hours she has gone loopy in a dustbath & has jumped off your bed & had a 20 minute run. It's not surprising she is in discomfort - she's done a month's worth of exercise in 48 hours.
I know you didn't mean for her to get out last night but if you don't confine her & allow her to recover then she's going to continue to (possibly) damage herself - undoing all of that hard work you've put in so far.

Tia will never be a "normal" chin. She needs to be confined into that cage for the rest of her days - no ifs, ands or buts. That's it: period.
In a month's time you can try a couple of low (4" or lower) shelves & maybe a low hanging tube (again 4" or less) & lots of toys for her.
Some chins never get free range exercise their whole lives & live in 18" cubes - some may disagree but those chins do not suffer. They are prefectly ok & most will bounce about like nutters quite happily.

This is what I would do (bearing in mind how far sha has come & that you don't want her to go backwards):
No exercise out of the cage for at least a month.
No free range dust baths for at least a month - you have to dust her yourself.
Burrito her & syringe feed if you have to - I know it is hard but you need to get food into her if she is not eating.
Plan kitting out her cage with low shelves & a fleece covered tube (or something) for when she's back to where she was before the bath/escape - again, I'd suggest at least a month.

Frustrating though it is, you'll do more damage by allowing her to do too much too soon than you will by keeping her confined.
As I said in my post above - Tia is alive & anything beyond that is a bonus. Slowly, slowly, slowly is the mantra - back to confinement for at least a month.

This might sound sarcastic and I swear it isn't. Also, this is really long and mostly just me venting and it's probably quite boring and/or angering.

I greatly appreciate the sternly-worded response, Claire. You may not have meant it to be stern, but I took it as such because I am very embarrassed with myself right now because of my selfishness and careless actions (I had no business setting her on the bed unconfined last night).

It's really hard, but I need to get it in my head that everything that you (and others) have said is right. I've been thinking about Tia's confinement and I realized a while back that there is one heck of a small chance that she will ever be able to be in the 'big cage' again. I didn't want to accept it, hence why I pandered on here for other opinions. I knew I shouldn't have let her dust herself, but I did anyway because I feel like I've been cheated.

When I got Tia, I expected a happy, fun chin like in all the videos I've seen. I was hoping for play time and wall surfing and all the awesome things that I read about, watched, everything. I do love her, and I do want her to get better, but I wanted it for the wrong reasons. I've finally realized that it's not what *I* want in this situation, it never has been, and it never will be. It's about what Tia needs, and what Tia needs is for me to not be a selfish jerkface trying to push her towards being healed and "normal" just so that I can play with her.

I understand this now, and I wish I had understood it when I first found out that she was injured.

Thanks again, Claire, and I mean that.