Baby chinchilla is having seizures

[vikaca]

We bought a female chinchilla of 6 weeks old one month before. After 3 days she got her first fit. We were playing with her on the bed, then she started acting weird... looked like a cat when she is in attacking mode (crawls slowly with her belly touching the ground). It was weird behaviour for me since I have never seen this before (I owned 2 chinchillas). She crawled to my arms and the fit started... It looked like her muscles got tensed. Her body was keep tensing abnormally. At that moment I thought she is dying (since my one parrot died looking exactly like this). After that she got partial paralyzed. I hoped only that she wouldn't die, she could have stayed paralyzed, I would have taken care of her either way. But after maybe 5 minutes, she was perfectly fine again. By the way, couple of minutes before the fit, she had found half of a peanut (I have put it aside, because I wasn't sure it was a good one).
The next day again she had a fit, but she looked like she was drunk. I am not sure if she had partial paralyze, since I haven't tried to move her.
There are no exotic vets anywhere close where I live, so I called one and told him about these seizures, he told me it can be a diabeties. So after that I stopped giving her any treats and I put couple of lemon drops to her water.
For a couple of days it seemed like she was okay, but then again she had two seizures in the next days. They were shorter and not so strong. But everytime she had seizured after eating something or in the middle of eating..
Now for 3 weeks I haven't noticed any abnormal behaviour. What could it have been?

 

[Vyxxin]

First question and it's an important one to give out information about, in our first statement you said you purchased a 6 WEEK old chinchilla a month prior (so at just 2-3 WEEKS old)...is this correct or did you mean months?

 

[Amethyst]

From the sounds of it it very likely could have been seizures. Your post is a little unclear, is the chin 6 weeks now? or was 6 weeks when you got her? Either way though, that is way too young to be away from it's mother, people normally wean chins at about 8 weeks, and keep them for an extra week or two to make sure they are eating and everything normally before adopting them out to a new home.

Another thing is chins under 6 months really shouldn't have out of cage playtime anyway, they can over do it too easily and have seizures or die from low blood sugar. If you must do playtime, at most 5-10 minutes per day until she is older. Also chins under 6 months shouldn't be given any treats, they need good food to fill up on (pellets and hay), not treats, to help them grow as well as treats can throw off the balance in there systems more as kits then as adults. You also shouldn't put anything in a chin's water, it will promote mold growth unless you change it out and clean the bottle a few times a day and also things added to the water can cause the chin to drink less or not at all. If the chin needs medicine or supplements they should be given separately not in the water supply, anything with vitamin C in it (like lemon) especially is going to do no good in the water bottle since vitamin C starts breaking down as soon as light hits it. Chins (even adult ones) should not be given fruits or vegetables (too high in sugar), or nuts (too high in fat). So really the lemon drops probably caused more problems by adding more sugar to the diet. Chinchillas can't digest sugars very well, and most chinchilla food contains sugar, so even a little bit extra in a treat is already adding up in the diet.

 

[vikaca]

We bought her when she was 1.5 months old. Now she is 3 months old. The last 3 weeks she didn't have any seizures (thankfully). Since the beginning, she is playing maaaany hours out of cage, but most of the time she spends sleeping in the bed under the sheet (our bed, with us). She really loves it... So I don't think she gets too tired or something.. And I always check her ears not to be warm.

 

[Stackie]

She was way too young to be away and weaned from her mom when you bought her. She should have still been nursing and receiving nutrition from her mom. I'm betting that had something to do with it...


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[vikaca]

Hmm.. maybe you are right.. well now she seems fine, we bought everything the best for her.. Thank you for your help

 

[Vyxxin]

It's not always about getting too warm. When they are THAT young....and THAT small...they can suffer a dramatic drop in blood sugar for practically nothing let alone from serious playtimes.

You need to contact whoever you got her from and tell them they're an idiot. Babies need their mommies for at least 8 weeks. THEN you need to limit out of cage time until she is 6months old.

You came here looking for answers, without having her evaluated by a veterinarian and I mean a GOOD one...that's the best advice that can be given. Drops in blood sugar caused by a low body weight, young animal is dangerous and CAN cause seizures. So can over exertion in the same animal.

 

[vikaca]

But in freedom all animals are running freely, nobody puts any limits on their playtime. I really hate to keep an animal in a small cage.. They are not supposed to be caged... Especially when she hates cage.. I told before that she doesn't run for a long time.. Most of the time she simply sleeps in my bed..

 

[Narcissus]

Facts are facts. It has been proven time and time again, out of cage play time for chins under 6 months old can cause hypoglycemia. Which in turn causes seizures. in the wild chins are den dwellers coming out at dawn and dusk for food. They are not running around using up their energy.
also, your pets are not wild animals, they have been domesticated. They are nothing like the chins in the wild.
The best advice you are going to get is to not allow out of cage play time before 6 months old. And even then, only 10-15 minutes till they are a year old.

 

[Newt]

Not to mention, chins will chew and eat literally ANYTHING. How long before she gets a blockage from eating something she shouldn't? Or poisoned? Or electrocuted from biting a wire?

Chins NEED cages, for their own safety. They should only be let out in a properly chin-proofed room, and even then they need supervision.

If you hate keeping her in a small cage, then buy a bigger one. I'm honestly not trying to be rude, but it really is as simple as that.