Arlington TX SPCA bust - General Discussions

[tunes]

Dr Rich doesn't think the fungus grown came from the chin. He said he will be happy to talk to anyone concerned who received an Arlington chin. This offer is not extended to twits on the forum in general.

Even having read this comment, which seriously irritates me since its the twits on this forum who took the chins in, I'll still go ahead and post my thoughts on the matter, then you all can discard it as only being knowledgeable on a ranch or breeder level and not on a pet level, because after all, they are incredibly different <rolls eyes>.

I'll try and make sense with this. As Randy said, and since he is a rancher who has more knowledge than probably 90% of the vets out there treating chins (again, NOT treating cats and dogs, but chinchillas), whether fungus lasts 2 years or 7 years doesn't matter. If you have one animal with fungus, you have fungus, period. Unless you can completely sterilize your home and your animals, unless you remove every piece of furniture and have it cleaned, all the carpets torn up, all the cracks and crevices cleaned out, once fungus is introduced into your chins, you have fungus. Now, as I've pointed out several times regarding these particular chins, and something I've said for years over the cries of "only people with disgusting cages get fungus!", it is primarily an immune system issue, which is incredibly aggravated by stress.

You already have chins who have been shipped from over seas. Then they were confiscated from a bad environment and put into, what I've been told by someone who has been there, an equally bad environment, then picked up and trucked all over **** and back, and now settling into their new homes, new foods, new humans, new everything. Of course the obvious solution to this is to stress them out, once again, by taking them to a vet and having them looked at for a problem that generally happens due to stress/immune system issues.

Why don't you guys give them a little time to settle in before you start yanking them off for scrapings and vet visits and whatever else is being suggested. Use the Tinactin or the sulfur in the dust. Let them get settled into their food transition, their new homes. From what I understand, most of them are just young guys. This entire thing, from start to finish, was bound to have a detrimental affect on their general health. Give them time to BREATHE before you start dragging them to the vet. If it was a pneumonia issue or something like that fine. But fungus?

 

[NOLA Chins]

You would breathe tinactin?

Those with chins, they are yours. Treat them as you will, hopefully on the conservative side. A vet visit for any of these pets is not a waste of time. If I didn 't think you would do right, you would not have got a chin from me.

I am way behind in my own rescue work as well as cleaning up. I am sure this forum will work as usual- the good, the bad, and the deluded. With care, those with questions can get the info they need.

Being the driver doesn't make me an expert on chin care. I gave my opinion which is still to practice the appropriate level of care, not alarm. But nor am I a fool or unduly impressed by the same old same old.

 

[Stackie]

If Dr. Rich doesn't think the fungus is from the chin, that's one thing. But there are pictures of chins- not one, but several- showing definite signs of fungus. You can't argue that. You even said yourself that one has fungus, so therefore, all have been exposed.

I would prefer that things be kept in the open, and I find it sad the the people on this forum, offering valid and accurate advice, some that contributed money and supplies to help these chins, are "twits". Let's be mature here, keep things in the open, and not play the name calling game behind people's backs..people that are only here to help. Shame on you.

I still maintain the fact that a vet visit will not help much and only increase their stress. If they aren't showing signs of fungus, it will do no good. If they are showing signs of fungus, it will be weeks if they do the culture right before they can tell you if it is fungus. Tinactin/sulfur, and blu-kote are safe and effective methods.

Never heard of a chin dying from Tinactin inhalation. It's not like you're throwing them into a bucket full of it in a small enclosed room and forcing them to breath it 24/7.

Oh, I'm not a rancher, nor a breeder. I'm a pet owner. I don't have hundreds of chins. But I still maintain the mindset that these chins do not need to be drug to the vet over fungus. I have spent thousands on vet care when it was needed- it's not like I just try every thing possible to keep from bringing my chins to the vet. I do take them when it's needed. Like my original post stated, all that should be needed is proper quarantine and preventatives.

 

[RDZCRanch]

You would breathe tinactin?

You would breathe fine dust that chins bathe in regularly? This is your argument for why people should not be using tinactin? Poor indeed...

I hope everyone with chins will take the advice given by the knowledgeable members of this forum who have owned and cared for more chins for a longer period of time. We have all taken in more rescue cases than we care to remember and dealt with more chin related health issues than you can imagine. We are giving good advice that is in the best interest of your new chinchillas. Please refrain from stressing them further and I wish you all luck!

 

[NOLA Chins]

This has got out of hand and I don't really care. Forum rules are a joke.

Stackie, once again, how about full disclosure? Shame on me? Why didn't you get a chin? I didn't turn you down.

****in' dirty laundry.

Play on children, play on.

 

[Stackie]

Let's see, you want everyone to know? It doesn't make me look bad, it makes you look bad. I didn't get a chin because you accused me of not feeling remorse and guilt over my chins I have lost and that "made you feel nervous letting me foster those chins". ANYONE that knows me knows how much I love my chins and how much I have cried over my chins that I have lost. NOTHING gives you the right to tell me that I have no remorse or guilt over my chins I have lost..you don't even KNOW me. Just saying something like that just shows what kind of person you really are. Sorry to break it to you but you are not the God of chins, and the way you accused me of not having any "remorse" over my chins and not asking myself every day "why" was down right WRONG.

After you had the absolute nerve to say that, I said I didn't want to deal with you any longer, but then decided that I would still work with you if there were chins that needed homes and sent you my vet references. Never heard back from you.

Hmm?

But here you are once again turning everything into an argument while we are just trying to help the chins.

 

[RDZCRanch]

How about instead of throwing a tantrum, cussing and calling everyone children you address the valid issues that have been brought up. Stop telling people there is no problem and that quarantine isn't necessary. Follow the advice of knowledgeable people who have been around chins and caring for and rescuing them much longer than you have.

Full disclosure would mean you would have to bring into the open how you ignored advice on a lot of your adoptees and chose who got chins based off your personal opinion. I may not have been actively posting in your threads until now but I have followed everything from the first day.

 

[Claire D]

This has got out of hand and I don't really care. Forum rules are a joke.

Stackie, once again, how about full disclosure? Shame on me? Why didn't you get a chin? I didn't turn you down.

****in' dirty laundry.

Play on children, play on.

You know what is really sad about this is that because of this kind of dismissive and insulting attitude which you display on a regular basis on this forum the chins may well not get the proper care they deserve. You do yourself, your "rescue" & these animals no favours.

Whether you like it or not Rick, from a purely pragmatic infection control & prevention point of view every single one of these chinchillas should be treated as though they had been in contact with a fungal infection which may potentially be spread between the animals.
Considering that the chinchillas were all housed together & that they have been handled between cages & carriers the likelihood of contamination by contact is high - again, that's not scaremongering but basic infection control since we can probably guarantee that you did not wash your hands between chinchillas............


I would urge anyone who has taken on a chinchilla to quarantine them for a minimum of 28 days & observe careful hand washing procedures between animals.
Any signs of illness and/or fungal infection should be dealt with appropriately - fungal treatments can be bought over the counter & have been used successfully by ranchers, pet owners, & other proper rescues for many years.

 

[tunes]

Forum rules have nothing to do with you making disparaging remarks to people Rick, whether it's via pm or this thread. If you don't like how the forum is administered, leave.

Neither I, nor anyone else on this forum, would have known that Stacie's remarks to you had anything to do with whether she did or did not get a chin from you. You opened that can of worms, now deal with her response.

People can deal with the fungus however they choose, but they shouldn't be forced to take the chins to the vet with phone calls, yelling, or whatever else. The chins are in their hands now. Trust the people you approved to adopt them with their care and step out of it.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

WOW - how did this happen?? Going from being a 'helper to these chins' to a 'twit' My rescue chins will be treated with a combination of sulfur and reg. dust and will not be going to a vet because of the possibility of ring worm. If the chins show signs I will treat it unless for some reason it will not clear up. Then I will take the chin(s) to the vets. Ring worm is really no big deal. It is a fact of life when dealing with animals, especially when breeding. Sooner or later it will 'crop up' when you are breeding. It DOES not kill, unless someone does not treat it and the scratching causes an infection. Stop treating ring worm (a fungus) like it is the end of the world. When I was breeding show Persian cats. we show breeders use to joke and call it 'fungus among us' at shows. We never worried about it (just treated it) unless a cat that was at the show showed signs of it. Then the cat HAD to be remove from the show hall.

 

[Riven]

I didn't read the last million pages of information here, so if I'm missing something, crucify me, I know you will.

Fungus does not "pop up" over night, it has to grow, it has an incubation period, etc. So if chins have it now, they had it before they left. The set up they were in was open wire cages, and they were all sharing a horse tank for "play time" which in reality they could've lived fine without, in the end it probably only spread hte fungus worse.

I offered to take in rescues, how come I didn't get any? Oh I know why... lets review the insulting PM's I got from Rick where he told me I act without honor because I didn't see any harm in the way the chins were transported...

I find it outright ironic these chins ended up with fungus, kind of like how no one really disclosed how chins died from the poor or improper ( is there a difference ) of the "rescue" workers, and no one seems to know what condition the chins that were supposedly already in the facility were in, I'm here for one reason, for the animals, other than that, I find it strange a company taking such poor care of it's "inventory" ( that would be the animals ) can stay in business with no previous complaints for over two decades with not one complaint until some idiot from PETA starts working there.

 

[AZChins]

They could have gotten fungus from anywhere. It could have been in the air, it could have come from other animals or someone not washing their hands going from species to species. Who knows. Definitely sharing a common play area without anyone being treated could get it to spread.

The incubation period on when the spores set into the skin until fur starts falling out can be a day or even a few weeks. It happens pretty quickly. The humidity and cleanliness of the cage can definitely be a huge factor. When chins are under stress they are even more susceptible to it happening. So, if there are some chins from the rescue popping up with it, it's probably due to the stress of the whole mess. They've been moved a few times and have gone to new homes where everything is new. That can get it going in no time and make it spread like nobody's business.

The good news is that it is highly treatable and it goes away pretty quickly with proper treatment. As long as there aren't fungal spores all over everything and things are kept clean, it won't come back....well, it won't come back until the fungus comes wafting in with the air from the outside, or off of some hay or Lord knows where else!

Fungus is my favorite chin problem. It's easy to treat, it goes away without leaving any lasting effects and it doesn't cause me to worry about the chins dying from it.

 

[AZChins]

I wanted to add. The Tinactin is alright, just in small doses. Normally it won't take more than a week or two to completely kill off the fungus, so there isn't much exposure to it...certainly not anything that will cause cumulative damage to the chins in any way. It's okay. The cream is fine, as well. It probably works just as well.

I don't take chins to the vet that have fungus, but I have dealt with it a few times and treat it myself.

 

[RDZCRanch]

Nicole, I agree with you...nothing wrong in your post!:thumbsup:

Susan...fungus has an incubation period...it can't pop up overnight. Chances are if you had chins pop up with fungus within days of each other they got infected at about the same time weeks beforehand. Also, regardless of how the chinchillas got the fungus the fact is that a few have shown signs of fungus which means the rest of the animals may very well be infected. The new owners should take precautionary steps to keep their pets from becoming infected.

 

[Essentia]

When it comes to the tinactin dust, how often should they be dusted? I am doing it once a day as a preventative and just wanted to make sure if this was sufficient. Also, how often should the dust be changed? I usually use my dust a few times before tossing, but that's for chins without possible fungus, so I just wanted to make sure.

 

[Riven]

At one time ranchers ( and many still do ) would use tinactin after shows just in case. If a chin in the mess came up with it, my personal opinion would be try to prevent instead of cure, head it off before it's bad if it's there, and if not, no foul, no harm.


And no, I don't want to breath in tinactin, but I don't want to breath in chin dust either and as Tabitha said earlier they do it all the time. If breathing it in would prevent me from going through something bad... I'd do it. I have yet to see or hear of a chin related death or other illness related to using tinactin as well.

 

[AZChins]

It can pop up overnight when there is stress. Fungus is something that can take effect very quickly. The spores may have been on the chins, but that doesn't mean that they got to the skin yet. All that needs to happen is that a little moisture holds the fur down to the skin and the fungus has a good chance of taking hold. (I do know what I am talking about...I've been rescuing chins with fungus for 11 years now...)

The spores can remain in the fur for weeks. You are right, all the chins could be infected. Not all of them will get fungus...sometimes some chins just don't get it even though they are around other chins with it.

At this point it is a good idea for anyone with a chin from this rescue to get some tinactin and treat preventatively for a week or two giving dust baths with 1/4 tsp of tinactin in 1/4 or 1/2 of dust every other day at least.

With chins that have fungus...every day is a good idea. For bad fungus, cream is a good idea - apply it twice a day for best results AND dust with medicated dust. That will keep the fungus from occurring on other parts of the body.

 

[RDZCRanch]

It can pop up overnight when there is stress. Fungus is something that can take effect very quickly. The spores may have been on the chins, but that doesn't mean that they got to the skin yet. All that needs to happen is that a little moisture holds the fur down to the skin and the fungus has a good chance of taking hold. (I do know what I am talking about...I've been rescuing chins with fungus for 11 years now...)

The spores can remain in the fur for weeks. You are right, all the chins could be infected. Not all of them will get fungus...sometimes some chins just don't get it even though they are around other chins with it.

At this point it is a good idea for anyone with a chin from this rescue to get some tinactin and treat preventatively for a week or two giving dust baths with 1/4 tsp of tinactin in 1/4 or 1/2 of dust every other day at least.

With chins that have fungus...every day is a good idea. For bad fungus, cream is a good idea - apply it twice a day for best results AND dust with medicated dust. That will keep the fungus from occurring on other parts of the body.

Good post! Sometimes I mistake your meaning and yes I know you know what you're doing Susan...thank you for clarifying though!

 

[AZChins]

It's all alright...no one has to get upset. The chins will be fine, everything will work out how it is supposed to work out. Fungus is not the end of the world. Can we all be friends again?

 

[Essentia]

When it comes to the tinactin dust, how often should they be dusted? I am doing it once a day as a preventative and just wanted to make sure if this was sufficient. Also, how often should the dust be changed? I usually use my dust a few times before tossing, but that's for chins without possible fungus, so I just wanted to make sure.

Can someone please answer my questions please? illowfight: