:(

[Kula]

I'm sorry if I don't make sense at times. I'm still trying to deal with losing my baby girl on Thursday, and losing my grandpa only three weeks ago. I'm an emotional mess at this point.

At 10:30 pm Monday night, I noticed Jigglypuff had abnormally small poop. Normally hers are really big and there's a constant flow. This time, they were irregularly coming out and very small. She didn't want to play, and she didn't want to take a dust bath. The night before (Sunday), I noticed their food was past the halfway point, which meant I'd need to fill it on Monday. It had barely moved by Monday, which surprised me, but this is somewhat normal because Pikachu (my other chinchilla and her best friend) isn't a huge piggy and I assumed she didn't eat her usual share. Anyway, after I saw Jiggly's poop (which was small and unusually dry), I began orally forcing a bit of water into her, along with simethicone to relieve the gas (she seemed a bit larger than normal), and I know this is a symptom of GI stasis. I stayed up all night massaging her belly and using a small heat compress. She seemed to enjoy this. Her energy appeared to be declining by the hour (she just sat next to me when I wasn't massaging her, not wanting to move) and she wasn't pooping much anymore. Unfortunately, the 24/7 emergency vets in my area don't see exotics. So I waited until 7 am to call her vet and they said I could come in at 9:30 am as a walk-in, but I'd probably have to wait 30 minutes to see her vet. I went in there and the doctor agreed she definitely was experiencing GI stasis, but agreed it was only a symptom of something else that was wrong with her. She was hopping around and exploring his table, acting a little more normal, especially compared to earlier, but her little body was so swollen (he also assumed gas), and she was grinding her teeth every time I'd talk to her. He prescribed oral Reglan, Baytril, Metacam (I had to tell him I wanted this one because he wasn't going to give her a pain medication at first), and he gave me a bag of Critical Care. I told him I'd rather have the injectable version of Reglan, but he insisted I caught the GI stasis very early and the oral medication should be enough, but if it wasn't, I could come back for the injectable version. So I went home and gave her the medications. She unhappily took her medication, but readily ate probably 14 ml of the Critical Care and drank some Pedialyte (all through oral syringes, though she ate more Critical Care off my finger). She was doing way better after this. She wanted to sit on my shoulder and run around! I thought I was extremely lucky and she'd get better. I continued with the massages and heat on her GI tract. I gave her the same treatment 12 hours later, while giving her tummy massages, heat, and critical care every couple hours. Toward the end of the night (I guess after midnight), she started refusing the medication and Critical Care. I kept trying to force her to take it. I wasn't going to give up! I continued massaging her belly and using my little rice heat pad. I went to bed at 7 am and woke up at 10 am. She was much worse and extremely weak. When I picked her up, this white/semitransparent (pretty much looks just like oral Metacam), nearly odorless fluid poured out of her vagina. It just wouldn't stop. Her whole underside was covered in it, and there was a spot on her bed where it soaked through from where she sat while I slept for 3 hours. I held my hand under her while more poured out as I carried her to the bathroom. I put her on top of a bunch of paper towels and held her above them, letting it pour out. It seemed like like it was never going to stop. I think it took an hour to fully empty out of her. After this, she was no longer swollen. What I thought was gas was actually this fluid. At this point it became very difficult to get medicine into her. She was weak and not willing to swallow. I had to stick the syringe into her mouth to force her to do the swallow reflex, after I had already injected the medicine into her mouth. And it just got worse. I tried feeding her Critical Care through the syringe, but she let it sit in her mouth. She didn't try to spit it out or swallow - it just sat there. This went on all night, with her getting progressively worse. She began to get cold and shiver, so I kept her on my chest with her head on my shoulder, with a towel on top of her, and a heating pad set to low on top of the towel. This kept her from shivering. She got so weak that she couldn't open her eyes anymore, then breathing became very difficult. She tried her very hardest to stay alive, but she died at 2:45 am Thursday morning. Pikachu and I are devastated.

I started Pikachu on the antibiotics as a precaution, since she was Jigglypuff's cage mate. I also noticed her poop was smaller than normal, and she stopped eating and drinking after Jigglypuff died, so I've been giving her Reglan. I obviously can't tell if she's sick, but I do think she's depressed. She just sits in the same spot in her cage and won't move. I take her out several times a day so she can get medicine, Critical Care (I have to force it into her), water (again, I have to force her to drink with an oral syringe), and then play time. She seems to enjoy the play time, and it's the best time for me to monitor her poop. I don't want to lose her too. She won't do anything in her cage, not even accept treats or chew on her favorite apple sticks. Does this sound like depression? What can I do for her that I'm not already doing? Her cage is in my bedroom, so I'm around her almost all the time, since I have to study for finals. I leave the tv on when I'm not going to be in my room, so she has some sort of entertainment.

Little background on both of them (all that I know) - I got them as "rescues", though they were bred and born at the girl's apartment. Jigglypuff was a year old when I got her and Pikachu was a year and three months. They told me none of their chinchillas ever had health problems. I swear, I'll never trust people like this again.

After doing a lot of reading, it seems Jigglypuff had pyometra - I'm assuming the closed version because I held her almost every other day and never saw any sort of fluid coming out of her (and I look over both of my chinchillas every time I'd take them out). So, based on what I previously described, would you say it was pyometra? If it was a regular bacterial infection of her vaginal canal, that large quantity of fluid would have been seeping out. I don't know what else it could have been. She was fine (normal poop and behavior) on Sunday.

I really need to focus on Pikachu. She's obviously lonely and misses Jigglypuff. I feel so horrible, seeing her all alone without her cuddle buddy. After she (hopefully) gets back to normal, would I be able to get her a new friend? She's getting close to three years old, but she was always the submissive one. If I did get her a new friend, I already know I'd have to keep them quarantined in another room until I knew it was definitely healthy. Any thoughts on this too?

Sorry for writing so much

 

[Claire D]

I am very sorry for your loss.

What you describe does, indeed, sound like pyometra. Chins with pyo often don't show any other signs of illness until they collapse - going off their food & small, hard droppings are some of the general signs that a chin is ill so they don't give you much to go on, especially if the pyo is closed. Open pyometra with copious discharge is easier to 'catch' in a sense but that can be just as tricky to treat - closed pyometra is nasty because of it's very nature of being hidden.
It is very hard to treat a full blown pyo & when a chin is very sick with it, the chances of recovery are slim. The surgery (spay) is very invasive & if the chin is toxic (the infection is in the blood stream) then putting them under anaesthetic is a huge risk in itself - some chins do not survive the anaesthetic, let alone the surgery or the difficult recovery period.
IMHO it is hard for a healthy chin to recover from a spay, let alone a very sick one.


Some chins can have a low-lying infection in the uterus for some considerable time before they become sick enough to need treatment - it is one of those things which we seem to know little about but I believe pyo happens more often than people think & some chins simply die without the cause being found. It is not always associated with breeding or older females either.

Treating her for GI problems was the most logical thing to have done - unless you suspected a pyo then you wouldn't necessarily go looking for it & gently pressing the belly might not show an enlarged uterus either. One possible way to have known would have been to have done an ultrasound scan but even they are not always easy to interpret, especially if the probe is not sensitive enough for little furries.

Under the circumstances you did everything you could for Jigglypuff & I really am sorry for your loss.

 

[JodiO]

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss of Jigglypuff. I'm a new member & chin owner so I can't offer any medical knowlege or input but it sounds like Jigglypuff was very lucky to have you as an owner. You did all you could and she was lucky to have you!!

 

[Mummypig]

So sorry for your loss, it sounds like you were a wonderful owner to poor Jigglypuff and did everything you could have done xx

 

[tunes]

I agree with Claire. I am so sorry for your loss. The "lucky" chins with pyo are the ones who have open pyometra, where you can see discharge, smell something really bad. Closed pyometra is darn near impossible to catch until it's too late. Chins can be great pets, but the most frustrating thing about them is one of the most natural - the need to hide illnesses until it's frequently too late.

I am very sorry for your loss. Know that you did everything you could for her and that you were very attentive to catch the signs that you did.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

Wow, I am so sorry for little Jigglypuff. I have to commend you for everything you did though, I couldn't find any reason to believe you could have done any more for her. I know it feels like that - I have had kits die in my arms too and it tore me to pieces. You always think I could have done more, but the truth is they are just so darn good at hiding when they are sick that it's hard to treat a number of conditions. Don't beat yourself up over it - Jiggly is hopping around and playing where she is now. And pyro isn't something the original owners would have known about since it sets up in a relatively short period of time (within a week or so I think, correct me if I am wrong) - I think they were probably telling the truth about their health.

I would have Pikachu examined by a vet knowing what you know now - giving her antibiotics just as a precaution is ok but their systems are very sensitive so if you don't need to give them I wouldnt. They will also likely depress her appetite, so keep up the force feeding. Also, I would definately get ahold of some probiotics (I like Benebac) and give those at least 2 hours after the antibiotics. My vet believes very strongly in them and their contribution to recovery as antibiotics kill off beneficial bacterial that help regulate the gut (and thus poo production) as well as any nasty bacteria. You will need to give them at least a week after the antibiotics (vet says 30 days is best). Talk to your vet - he probably has benebac on hand and can tell you how much/how often. I would also do a good deep clean on their cage to make sure there isn't lingering bacteria that caused the infection. The playtime is good - that will help keep the gut moving.

I would give yourself time to grieve for Jiggly and then when you are ready I think it would be perfectly fine to get a friend for Pikachu. Just remember that two chins may never get along so you would need to be prepared for that with two cages.

 

[Claire D]

And pyro isn't something the original owners would have known about since it sets up in a relatively short period of time (within a week or so I think, correct me if I am wrong) - I think they were probably telling the truth about their health.

Not always - as I said above, I think it is one of the problems chins get which we don't know much about - it's not always older females who have been bred or are in breeding which develop pyometra - young, non-bred (virgin) females can also develop it, seemingly out of the blue.
In my experience pyometra can take a while to fully develop (i.e. what is happening at an internal, cellular level then showing as a chin with signs of illness). What we usually see is a perfectly happy, healthy chin one day & a collapsed, discharging chin the next - outwardly there can be little or no warning of what is happening underneath. For us watching, it can seem like a very rapid process - sometimes it is but not always.
Chins can have vaginitis or slight discharge for a while before the bacteria becomes enough of a problem, the uterus fills with fluid, & you have a full blown pyometra.
As Peggy says, chins are so frustrating because they don't show that they are I'll until they are so sick that they can't possibly hide it any longer.

 

[momenteller]

So sorry for your loss. RIP Jigglypuff.

 

[chinnychinchinchilla]

im so sorry for your loss. she was lucky to have you. R.I.P. Jigglypuff

 

[Pikaia]

I am very sorry for your loss. Jigglypuff was lucky to have such a caring owner, like you. I had a cat who had pyometra. So, all those symptoms were very familiar to me. We were able to do an emergency spay on her.

RIP Jigglypuff..

 

[starleomach]

I am sorry for your loss. In this situation you really did use what you knew to treat her the best you could..

 

[Kula]

Thanks guys

VolunteerChin22, is this the Benebac you're referring to? Or is it something that can only be found at the vet's office? I hope I can find it here - I've never seen it before. I'm going to call the vet in the morning and see what I should do. I don't want to continue Pikachu on antibiotics if she doesn't need them, but I wanted to have them in her system just in case.

She bit the tip of my only large syringe in half while I was feeding her a couple hours ago, so I have to try to find a place that sells those syringes today. I wasn't able to find them anywhere when I was looking for Jigglypuff - some guy at a pharmacy had it in the back and gave it to me. But now I'm worried she's going to bite another tip and swallow the plastic. I wish I could find metal syringes.

I'm going to disinfect the cage with alcohol like we do in the lab, then wipe it down with water after it's been disinfected so she doesn't ingest the alcohol. I'm going to put the cardboard shipping tubes in the oven for a long time, throw out all their chew toys, and soak the water bottle and food dish in a bleach solution and rinse them really well. I threw out the fleece tube covers because Jigglypuff spent most of her time in those tubes. I'm not really sure how to disinfect the shelves, though. If I spray them with alcohol, they'll absorb it. I always sprayed them with vinegar to remove dirty footprints and pee stains - maybe that will work? Is there anything else I should do? Should I change anything?

If Jigglypuff had pyometra, I guess she was a very rare case. She was youngish and non-bred. At least that's what the girl who sold her to me said. From what she told me, Jigglypuff only lived with her mother and Pikachu. She never had any kind of discharge. If she did, I would have been alarmed and called my vet. I wish she had some sort of symptoms. She was happy and hopping around the cage and doing her tricks so I'd give her treats on Sunday

I don't know how I'm going to find a nice friend for Pikachu. It seems all the breeders in Texas are either crap (just breeding to make some extra money and not to improve the species) or out of business. If you guys know of a good breeder around the San Antonio/Austin area, please let me know. Even the Dallas area, since I'll be going up there around December 18th for my brother's graduation. Thanks again :/

 

[Dusty Foot Prints]

So sorry for your loss. :flowers4:

 

[Kula]

I talked to my vet today, and he said it should be okay to take Pikachu off the Baytril for a couple days to see if she starts eating again, in case it's suppressing her appetite. He said animals like her usually mourn for about a week, so it may be awhile until she's feeling better. I just hope she doesn't have some sort of infection due to being exposed to the fluid that came out of Jigglypuff.

Pikachu is still biting the tips of the syringes. It's impossible to feed her without her attacking the syringe. She won't eat food on her own, but she'll sort of eat food that I push at her mouth with my finger. I'm just afraid she's going to bite my finger like she attacks the syringes :|

She doesn't move around much in her cage. She mostly sits in one spot and just stares at nothing. I keep the tv on because she used to like to watch it. She hasn't touched the food in the dish, and the water level in her bottle doesn't look like it's gone down at all. I was able to feed her three pieces of hay until she turned it down. I gave her a pellet and she chewed on it for a bit, then dropped it. She still has no interest in treats. She has peed a few times in the bathroom, and she's pooping, but they are still small and not nearly as many as normal. She does play and run around/explore when I take her out to the bathroom, but she'll only do it when I'm present.

I really hope there isn't anything wrong with her.

 

[Essentia]

Go to a couple of pharmacies. I usually hit up 3 or 4 CVS/Walgreens. Just go to the actual pharmacy counter and ask for 2 or 3 10ml syringes. They usually don't even ask why, but if they do, tell them the truth. You will usually get an "Awwww" out of the pharmacy tech and get a few more. They have 3ml, 5ml and 10ml syringes for children's liquid medication.

 

[Kula]

After taking Pikachu off Baytril (still have her on Reglan), I've noticed an improvement in her appetite and I can hear her hopping around in her cage today. She ran around the bathroom all yesterday, though she didn't start eating on her own (only hay though) until some time after 2 am. She hates Critical Care, even with a bit of molasses in it, so I mixed her food with water and mashed it up, then tried to feed it to her with the syringe, which she promptly attacked. So I took a chance and rolled it into little balls and held one in front of her mouth... And she ate it! So I spent all day/night disinfecting the cage while playing servant to Pikachu, feeding her rolled up mush balls of food and giving her water through a syringe. She pooped all night, but it was still smaller than normal and I think she'd normally produce more. It's hard to tell because during playtime, Jigglypuff was the biggest crap factory ever and Pikachu pooped less, but I don't know how much less. I think she's getting pretty close to normal though.

After waking, I saw her food level never went down in her bowl (still hasn't), and I don't think she ate much hay (if any). She seems to only want to eat when I hold the hay for her. She did pee, so I assume she's drinking water, or that was from the water I made her drink last night. But she is acting more like herself in her cage, which could be a good sign. I just wish she'd start eating her normal dry food again. Also, she won't chew on her sticks and pine cone in her cage, but she'll chew the **** out of the doors in the bathroom. I can only guess she's still mourning the loss of her best friend, but I'm going to call her vet tomorrow and see what he says.

 

[VolunteerChin22]

Not always - as I said above, I think it is one of the problems chins get which we don't know much about - it's not always older females who have been bred or are in breeding which develop pyometra - young, non-bred (virgin) females can also develop it, seemingly out of the blue.
In my experience pyometra can take a while to fully develop (i.e. what is happening at an internal, cellular level then showing as a chin with signs of illness). What we usually see is a perfectly happy, healthy chin one day & a collapsed, discharging chin the next - outwardly there can be little or no warning of what is happening underneath. For us watching, it can seem like a very rapid process - sometimes it is but not always.
Chins can have vaginitis or slight discharge for a while before the bacteria becomes enough of a problem, the uterus fills with fluid, & you have a full blown pyometra.
As Peggy says, chins are so frustrating because they don't show that they are I'll until they are so sick that they can't possibly hide it any longer.

thanks Claire - I wasn't sure of the timeline. Nasty stuff. My main thought was I didn't think the previous owners misled her about their health.

Yes, that is the same stuff although i use the gel type formula and they usually eat it right out of the syringe (must taste good). You might try giving the food to her off of a spoon.

 

[Kula]

Thanks. Pikachu is back to normal again

I'll keep an eye out for the Bene-bac, and if I can't find it at any stores, I'll just buy Lifeline since a lot of people seem to recommend it and I can find it through members on this forum.

It's not that I think the previous owners misled me about her health (I sure hope her mother didn't have pyometra and they kept breeding her). It's that they bred chinchillas whose pedigrees they did not know. They didn't know the health or background of most of their chinchillas because they were a "rescue" ...that started breeding their rescued chins. I'll never buy a chinchilla from people like that again.

 

[Essentia]

My two cents, any "rescue" that breeds their rescue chins isn't a rescue, or a hobby breeder. They are a backyard breeder who doesn't care abut the health and welfare of their chinchillas, or the people they sell their offspring too.

 

[Kula]

Yep, and they waited until the chinchillas were old enough to lose their cute appeal, then posted them on Craigslist. They said they were a rescue, but needed to downsize because they had acquired too many chinchillas. Funny thing is they had other "prettier" chinchillas they very recently acquired from some "breeder" who went out of business, but didn't want to adopt those out. I can only guess they were planning on breeding those, too. I saw the tiny rusty wire cages they were living in and just felt horrible for them. I knew I could give them a better lifestyle than what they were receiving. I just wasn't expecting Jigglypuff's life to be so short. They had Jigglypuff's mother up for adoption too (because she was mean and didn't like other chinchillas or humans), so I doubt they still have her. I'm tempted to email the girl and tell her what happened, and advise her against breeding more chinchillas. I'd like to go strangle her, but unfortunately that's illegal.