New Chin with Possible Stasis - advice

Hello, I just picked up a new male at ECBC Nationals this past weekend (3others from same breeder are doing fine). He is 5 months old and I am pretty sure his GI system has shut down. He is not taking food or water, just moves hay around. The breeder did not bring his regular food with him so he went at least 24 hours without food and possibly 48. I had to switch all of them cold turkey to Shoots feed and hay. He sits in cage all hunched up with face pressed up against side or front of cage. He is not interested in surroundings or dust bath. When I do see that he is moving it is sort of a waddle. When he is picked up which i try to do as little as possible, he has a very soft whimper. His belly is firm and his droppings are few and far between, very smal, round and firm.

I have never had one of my chins get sick or act like this but my nursing alarm bells are telling me that he has stasis. I have an appointment with a vet today. In the meantime, I have been able to get a couple of insulin syringe ( 0.5 ml) of water into him. I have also given him several dropper fulls of simethicone and yogurt with active cultures. Belly massages and trying to get him to move around which he resists, warm compresses to belly.

My question is since I have never had to take one of my chins to the vet before, I want to make sure I get the right treatment if this is indeed what he has.

From what I have read and what I know about human digestive issues, is this what I should look for the vet to start him on:
Reglan
Propulsid (Cisapride)
Metacam some type of probiotic
fluids

Please let me know if there is anything that I missed. Thanks for any help.

Which vet are you going to? The two vets I've been to in our area will only give Cisipride, they don't believe in Reglan. Sub-q fluids and Metacam (pain meds) are good too, but again depending on the vet you go to you'll have to fight for them.

You need to hand feed him if he's not eating. If you don't have the supplies I live in Oxford and I can give you some stuff to get you started, just PM me. When they don't eat bad bacteria will form gas in their gut. In addition to gut motility drugs simethicone (baby gas drops) can help, .6ml every 4-6 hours. The vets around here don't believe in that either, but it works. Probiotic will help restore the good bacteria to the gut. You can pick up Acidophilus pills at walmart just break open a capsule and mix with your hand feeding formula.

EDIT: no more yogurt, there are safer ways to get him probiotics

I also just encountered a couple of weeks ago the vet I usually use and have got reglan from declined to RX it for bloat, just propulsid. There have been some issues with it but since I was so stressed out I did not get the skinny on the problem.

Nix the yogurt, its going to cause more harm than good. Simethicone, exercise and massages for now until he gets to the vet. The vet may give subQ fluid and banamine right at the appointment, then RX the propulsid, subQ fluids and metecam. Feed small meals all day long and all night-I feed 5ml or so, depends on what the chin will take, meals every 2-3 hours or so, follow with a 1ml of water after every meal, a massage for as long as the chin will take it, a run around the room a few times, a warm compress massage on the tummy and then back to the cage, then repeat in another 2-3 hours. There are variations on the protocol but the gist is the same.

Brittany - I am taking him to Dahlhaussen - I know you said that you didn't care for him but I have heard both good and bad about him - also, I can't find any other exotic on staff today - I would have to wait until tomorrow. Dahlhaussen is also out today but willing to meet me at the clinic which I took as a good sign that he cares enough???

Brittany & Tickles, thank you both for advice. Right now I have him upstairs in my study with me in a small carrier with hay and water - neither of which he is touching. The carrier is sitting half on a heating pad set on low to help keep him from going into shock - I pulled that out of my nursing hat also! He is sound asleep on his side but for some reason since I know he is in pain - it is not at all cute like it normally would be!

You have to do what's best for you. Have you heard good things about his chinchilla care? I have very strong opinions about that vet and so does another one of our forum members. All I will say is just be prepared he charged me $40 for Cisipride and $30 for meloxicam (metacam). Most vets will only charge $10-15 for those drugs.

EDIT: Also, check the expiration dates on your medication BEFORE you leave the clinic, and make sure your bill reflects the medicines they give you.

I'd recommened Jeff Werwa Dvm - Cincinnati Animal Medical Ctr 513-761-8387. Tell him its a chinchilla emergency and he'll come running.

EMSChins said:

Brittany - I am taking him to Dahlhaussen - I know you said that you didn't care for him but I have heard both good and bad about him - also, I can't find any other exotic on staff today - I would have to wait until tomorrow. Dahlhaussen is also out today but willing to meet me at the clinic which I took as a good sign that he cares enough???

Brittany & Tickles, thank you both for advice. Right now I have him upstairs in my study with me in a small carrier with hay and water - neither of which he is touching. The carrier is sitting half on a heating pad set on low to help keep him from going into shock - I pulled that out of my nursing hat also! He is sound asleep on his side but for some reason since I know he is in pain - it is not at all cute like it normally would be!

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Thanks - I had not heard of him. I just called and he is in and can see him at 3:20...staff will call me back if there is a cancellation.

Glad you're getting in with Dr. Jeff. He has a gruff New Yorker attitude that might rub you the wrong way until you get used to him, but he really does have your animal's best interest at heart. He is the most chin-competent vet I've found in this area.

Just back from the vet. X ray shows stasis and something suspicious in stomach, SQ fluids and CC given at vets with more for me to give at home. Was able to get chin to expel about 10 small hardened pellets at vets but hadn't produced anything at home in past 6 hours! Vet wanted to hold off on meds to see how he was after a night of additional CC and SQ fluids, I was surprised no Prooulsid or Metacam given but he assured me to call him at anytime tonight or tomorrow if chins condition deteriorates. Vet wonders if he possibly ingested some type of bedding material??? Told him that I only saw him in a show cage and that there was no bedding and unaware of what type of bedding rancher I got him from used (unfortunately he has not answered any of my e-mails). Hopefully he will turn the corner overnight. keep your fingers crossed.

I am surprised he didnt dispense meds...maybe since he passed poo at the vets he felt he wasn't in total stasis?? I am concerned about this "suspicious" thing in the tummy...I wonder if it's blocking digestion?? Did he say if he thought he would be able to pass it?

In the meantime, keep the tummy rubs up and give the chin some playtime in a bathroom or somewhere safe to encourage pooing. I sound like a broken record but I really like benebac as a probiotic - it's a gel in a syringe and the chins really like it. Your vet probably sells some or you can order it online. Much easier than powder versions.

He mentioned Benebac as well but wanted to hold off until I report back to him tomorrow - or sooner if his condition deteriorates.

EMS- I've found several of the vets out here don't want to give pain meds. I've been able to get them by being politely insistent. Do you have enough supplies to get you through? I have lifeline and acidophilus that can be mixed with CC. Let me know if you need some.

EDIT: when I went through my ordeal with Lily I chose to take advice from both vets, and knowledgeable forum members to make the best decision for her. While vets know animal medicine, the forum as a whole sees more cases of malo, bloat, stasis, etc... then any one vet I've ever found (especially in this area). Again just want to stress that was my choice, and what I felt was the best thing to do for my situation.

If there is a mass in the stomach or cecum you do not use motility drugs. Since the vet feels it bedding or it could just be stalled food, and its not a solid object like plastic then the chin should have subQ fluids for a couple of days to hydrate the mass-if the mass is hard it will block the exit to the stomach or cecum and cause a blockage-then surgery is required. One the mass is well hydrated and soft then the motility drugs are used.

Good to know Dawn.

The vet and I agreed to hold out on the pain meds for now since they can have an affect on motility (as in slow it down even further).

Holding off on the motility drugs makes sense as he suggested, since coming home, I reviewed my pharmacology from nursing school (long time ago) and agree with Dawn, we need to determine if the mass is something that will need to be surgically removed or if it is just a small amount of food just sitting in the gut. Hopefully getting CC and SQ fluids in him will help that process along. He has had a rough couple of days, flying to St Joseph,MO from California, sitting at the show for a day (or two) without food - per the breeder...having his food switched cold turkey and then driving from St Jo to Cincinnati (10 1/2 hour drive).

I feel comfortable that this vet will do as I ask if his symptoms continue to go south.

For now, I just had him out for some activity and he doesn't even act like the same chin that I took to the vet. He was inquisitive, hopping around instead of waddling and took interest in the noise and activity around him. He even had a little sass in him when I went to remove him from the cage. I will be feeding him some more CC shortly and will check for more droppings. The vet did show me a technique to help express droppings.

Brittany, thanks for the offer of supplies, I have several syringes with needles to give him fluids, I have plently of CC and am expecting an order of Lifeline and Dyne tomorrow morning. I really appreciate your offer.

Its a tricky thing dealing with stasis and pain, one one hand the chin can go into shock from the pain, on the other hand the pain meds that are usually used-buprenex or banamine can cause the gut to slow motility more so, when I dealt with stasis I chose once to use buprenex, the other time I chose not to, it scared me to much. I chose to just use metecam, its not great but it was better than no pain med at all.


To the OP, do not let the fact that the chin is bright and active and running around fool you, its a symptom of stasis and it fools many owners.

i hope your chins makes a quick recovery. i've never dealt with actual stasis, though when my little one had to be put on antibiotics, poop got smaller and less frequent. he was put on regland. i handfed and dipped the syringe in simethicone to make it easier to take.

you mentioned benebac. IMO i think its beneficial for any owner to have- its just probiotic which couldnt hurt. keep massaging that tummy. hopefully stackie chimes in. one of her chins had an impaction in his tummy. have you looked around the cage to see if yours ingested anything too big/foreign?

Yes, I realize that the activity can be misleading - I am just grateful that at least he has enough energy now to even "fake" feeling better. He is taking his CC like a champ.

There was nothing in his cage that he could have eaten that he shouldn't have once I took possession of him. He was in a metal carrier with pine shavings and hay for the 10 1/2 hr drive home and prior to that the breeder had him in a show cage with nothing but a water bottle. Here at home, he has been in a grower cage with food pellets, loose and cubed hay, a wooden chew block and a water bottle - nothing else. If it is not just food sitting in his belly not moving, it would have had to come from something he was exposed to prior to my picking him up at Nationals.

Breeder has not responded to my e-mails so I do not know what type of bedding he used. He came from a very large and reputable breeder so I am assuming pine was used. Not sure but I only have my assumptions to go on at this point since I can't get a response.

J- Just found your thread! Brittany, I love how you described Dr. Jeff. I like to warn people of his bed side manner but never knew how to word it well. Now I know : )

he he he...my son in college calls it "ADHLAS", in stead of ADHD

stands for...wait a minute...wait a...

Attention Deficit "Hey Look, A Squirrel"

Just an update for those who are reading: all that has really changed is the babies activity level. I have given him 2 SQ injections of lactated ringers today and he has taken CC by syringe very well as well as simethicone. Poop is minimal. Still waiting on call back from vets office, hoping he suggests follow up x ray then pain meds and motility drugs if stomach looks good. I will let you know once I hear from him.

I have attached a picture of him sacked out on top of a warm compress on my daughters lap this afternoon. ard to tell from the picture as he has had a rough couple of days but he really is a beautiful chin.