At a complete loss

[Brittney]

As I have stated before in a previous thread, my boys aren't doing so well with the whole PANR switch. Well, 2 of my boys have cleared up and the diarrhea has surpassed and they are putting on weight, 1 is having intact poos that are slightly squishy but not gaining or losing weight, and one is having "mudd butt" and has dropped a considerable amount of weight.

I have tried everything.
-I pulled food for 4 days and gave nothing but hay (this is what cleared up 2 of my boys)
-I have given shreddies with activated charcoal
-I have given a mixture of the charcoal, lifeline, CC and Simethicone
-I've run fecals (negative)
-I've been to the vet and left with Simethicone and a probiotic.
-I've upped hay supply
-I've given straight up Lifeline and also sprinkled it on their food.
-I've tried peppermint on their food and in the CC, Lifeline, Simethicone, Charcoal concoction.

I'm at a complete loss.

My little guy with "mudd butt" has gone from 725 grams to 590 grams. He is eating his hay like crazy and he never does. His water consumption has gone up drastically, but he is still extremely active and acting his usual self otherwise. And by "Mudd but" I don't mean liquid diarrhea. His poos come out wet and intact but as soon as he steps on it, it smashes into a muddy texture on the shelf, and they are also sticking to the wall behind his cage. Or if he is sitting in one place, he will poop multiple times, and just the pressure of him sitting leaves a "muddy" blob.

I have another vet appointment for Friday afternoon (Only time they had available) for a recheck. Is there anything else I should suggest or that I can do at the vet or prior to going to the vet?

I'm pretty confident on this vet's knowledge of chinchillas. He seemed to know what he was talking about.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

The only thing I can think of is treat for giardia (sp??) even if you don't find it in the fecal. Several years ago I had a diarrhea problem in my herd (just several chins - not the whole herd). They were tested, the vet couldn't find anyrhing. So she had me treat for giardia anyway. After several weeks of treatment the problem went away.

 

[AZChins]

Do you think that maybe the new bag of food you had was mishandled or something along those lines? Sometimes certain chins will have a problem with something just irritating their little intestines and it takes a bit to work out.

The thing that really bothers me is the weight loss. That's a lot of weight for a chin to lose so quickly. Don't give any more of the charcoal to that chinchilla...he needs to be absorbing as much as he can from his food. With chins that have lost THAT much weight it isn't always a good idea to give them the charcoal. They need as much nutrition as they can get. I guess you can give even more probiotic...sometimes that's the best thing to do.

I'll let you know if I think of anything else...

 

[Brittney]

Where would he have picked up Giardia from? I thought it could have been, but his diarrhea has really no foul smell, it just smells like, well, poop.

I use RO water and it has never failed on me that I know of. And this all started the day after I switched everyones food. Everyone got hit hard with it, but Charlie doesn't seem to be bouncing back as quickly as my other guys are. It's just worrying me.


Susan- Yes, I have quit giving the charcoal a few days ago. I read something about it absorbs most of the nutrients when I was scanning for answers on the forum and I figured the same as you.

And I am starting to think something could be wrong with the bag itself. It was relatively fresh (Milled in Feb) It was outside in a storage shed where they keep the horse and rabbit feed so it was pretty warm, but I don't think that could have caused it to go rancid. One thing that does jump out at me was when I took it out of the trunk I noticed a small hole at the bottom when I picked it up. I don't know if the guy who loaded it in my car did it or if it already had the hole prior to me buying it.

 

[AZChins]

I think they would have caught the Giardia in all the fecals, but who knows. Maybe it ended up in the waterbottle somehow after you rinsed it out? I have no idea! A couple of people out in the east Valley have had chins end up with Giardia from the tap water out there. I know you keep your bottles clean...and giving RO water...it's got to be something other than the water.

You could definitely as for some Albon suspension at the vet. I use that for unexplained strange diarrhea and it helps. It helps to soothe the intestinal tract a bit. One of my vets swears that it helps more than just being antibiotic. So, I keep a bottle here just in case.

 

[Brittney]

I'll ask for that. I'm just completely confused. 2 boys are fine and 2 aren't. It's frustrating.

 

[Rickman]

I switched without any problem, what-so-ever, and just wondering if maybe you got the bottom of the batch, or some of what wasn't mixed well!
Are all the pellets the same color, or vary at all?
I'd try another bag, with as different mill date, and see if that works!
If it does, submit the receipt with your Vet bills to customer service, to see what they say - they'll do something!

 

[Brittney]

I switched without any problem, what-so-ever, and just wondering if maybe you got the bottom of the batch, or some of what wasn't mixed well!
Are all the pellets the same color, or vary at all?
I'd try another bag, with as different mill date, and see if that works!
If it does, submit the receipt with your Vet bills to customer service, to see what they say - they'll do something!

All the food looks to be uniform. It smells good and I keep it in a giant air tight tote. I'll go get another bag when I drop Charlie off at the vet since it's across the street. I'm just afraid I'll spend another 20 bucks for another crappy bag.

 

[jags]

How quick did you make the change?

 

[Brittney]

I started with just a pinch in each, really not a lot at all in pretty decent sized bowls. Soft poos began the following morning after the switch.

 

[ticklechin]

Try some Pet Pecillin, the kaolin and pectin work together to sooth the digestive tract and bind the poo.