Amphy64
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2011
- Messages
- 224
Posted this a while back:
https://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/threads/reluctant-to-eat-x-ray.39649/
Since then he continued having ups and downs, but was I thought improving. He ate a little more solid food, his favourite things, chewed up an apple twig, then, that same week, suddenly stopped eating. Back and forth to exotic vets and:
-further X-rays and mouth examination Ok. Some mild root overgrowth not unusual in chinchilla his age, 10, apparently shouldn't be causing issues
-the X-ray seemed to show something around lungs, crackling heard, suspected pneumonia. Aspiration pneumonia apparently not usual in adult chins due to palette shape, but though I've tried to syringe-feed carefully, it's been very hard and not convinced it wasn't that tbh. Antibiotic, karidox, no more crackling heard at most recent visit, though breathing apparently still looks a bit 'huffy'.
Current meds:
Karidox
Phenobarbitol twice daily now
Loxicom
Gabapentin - in case of nerve pain
Emeprid
Ranitidine
Diuretic
Hand-feeding Emeraid herbivore. Cannot get him to take Critical Care, he fusses with it more and sometimes seems like he's choking. He's picked up things and put them in his mouth, but can't seem, or doesn't really want, to eat them. I find this odd as he's taken some of the Emeraid eagerly enough. Gave full 40ml as directed yesterday and stomach felt a bit puffy today -have massaged it- and he wasn't as consistently interested, 10ml 4 times daily is seeming a bit much really. His reaction to a new kind of hay was to grab it a bit wildy, put it in his mouth, then put it down.
He has a recurring penile prolapse.
He's quiet, but has still shown interest in things. I've been concerned he's veered a bit between too-hyper -but he is on more phenobaritol and we haven't seen obvious seizures- and quiet. He has been up and down.
Exotics vet suggested another blood test once he's stable with the hand-feeding, but seems unsure how to proceed. I believe she has a lot of expertise, but I am somewhat unhappy that last time our refilled prescription had the Ranitidine as tablets instead of liquid as before, without us being told. Even once I've crushed them and mixed with the Emeprid as suggested it seems harder - I don't know if it's his mouth or maybe just the taste, as he was gagging on it. Or maybe eating is making it harder to breathe? While he is a very difficult chin, I'm also not that impressed with the nurses' description of how he was doing when he was in for a few days when struggling hand-feeding - I appreciate they may not have wanted to tell a worried owner if they were also having trouble, but that's when they put him on the Emeraid from Critical Care and to 40ml down from the 60ml I'd been told to give, which was impossible. He still came back with all his front covered in Emeraid, and it's looking like it might be a bit irritated in spots now, not sure what's needed there.
I'm at a loss myself, it doesn't seem to quite add up - if it was his mouth the considerable improvement that same week he stopped eating doesn't seem to make sense. I wondered about soft tissue damage, even if the mushed pellet mixture I was putting in his cage for him the week he stopped eating could've been mistakenly too hot...I don't know, can't stop going over possibilities. I keep asking myself if I'm doing the right thing -I didn't feel like I was when he was on the Critical Care because it seemed more like torturing him than feeding him- but then I don't understand what's wrong at all, and the ups and downs are hard to know how to respond to. Advice appreciated.
https://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/threads/reluctant-to-eat-x-ray.39649/
Since then he continued having ups and downs, but was I thought improving. He ate a little more solid food, his favourite things, chewed up an apple twig, then, that same week, suddenly stopped eating. Back and forth to exotic vets and:
-further X-rays and mouth examination Ok. Some mild root overgrowth not unusual in chinchilla his age, 10, apparently shouldn't be causing issues
-the X-ray seemed to show something around lungs, crackling heard, suspected pneumonia. Aspiration pneumonia apparently not usual in adult chins due to palette shape, but though I've tried to syringe-feed carefully, it's been very hard and not convinced it wasn't that tbh. Antibiotic, karidox, no more crackling heard at most recent visit, though breathing apparently still looks a bit 'huffy'.
Current meds:
Karidox
Phenobarbitol twice daily now
Loxicom
Gabapentin - in case of nerve pain
Emeprid
Ranitidine
Diuretic
Hand-feeding Emeraid herbivore. Cannot get him to take Critical Care, he fusses with it more and sometimes seems like he's choking. He's picked up things and put them in his mouth, but can't seem, or doesn't really want, to eat them. I find this odd as he's taken some of the Emeraid eagerly enough. Gave full 40ml as directed yesterday and stomach felt a bit puffy today -have massaged it- and he wasn't as consistently interested, 10ml 4 times daily is seeming a bit much really. His reaction to a new kind of hay was to grab it a bit wildy, put it in his mouth, then put it down.
He has a recurring penile prolapse.
He's quiet, but has still shown interest in things. I've been concerned he's veered a bit between too-hyper -but he is on more phenobaritol and we haven't seen obvious seizures- and quiet. He has been up and down.
Exotics vet suggested another blood test once he's stable with the hand-feeding, but seems unsure how to proceed. I believe she has a lot of expertise, but I am somewhat unhappy that last time our refilled prescription had the Ranitidine as tablets instead of liquid as before, without us being told. Even once I've crushed them and mixed with the Emeprid as suggested it seems harder - I don't know if it's his mouth or maybe just the taste, as he was gagging on it. Or maybe eating is making it harder to breathe? While he is a very difficult chin, I'm also not that impressed with the nurses' description of how he was doing when he was in for a few days when struggling hand-feeding - I appreciate they may not have wanted to tell a worried owner if they were also having trouble, but that's when they put him on the Emeraid from Critical Care and to 40ml down from the 60ml I'd been told to give, which was impossible. He still came back with all his front covered in Emeraid, and it's looking like it might be a bit irritated in spots now, not sure what's needed there.
I'm at a loss myself, it doesn't seem to quite add up - if it was his mouth the considerable improvement that same week he stopped eating doesn't seem to make sense. I wondered about soft tissue damage, even if the mushed pellet mixture I was putting in his cage for him the week he stopped eating could've been mistakenly too hot...I don't know, can't stop going over possibilities. I keep asking myself if I'm doing the right thing -I didn't feel like I was when he was on the Critical Care because it seemed more like torturing him than feeding him- but then I don't understand what's wrong at all, and the ups and downs are hard to know how to respond to. Advice appreciated.
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