T
Thearina
Guest
I have a young black velvet male with a broken rear leg and I'm looking for some advice on what would be the best way to help him heal properly. I would like to give background on what I know about him and what the vet has said. It is going to be REALLY long. Sorry in advance
In the middle of July I was in petstore looking at some chinchillas. The lady that owns the store has been breeding chinchillas for over 30 years and had opened the store about 2 years ago and sells them in her store instead of having people come to her house. She only had singles available but would have some babies that could be paired in a weeks so I decide I would come back then. While I was there I was looking a baby male black velvet that was about 2- 2 1/2 months old and I noticed he was limping. On closer inspection I seen that his rear left leg had some type of open wound so I told the owner lady. She took him out and looked and said that he had bumblefoot. She then got a tube of stuff and put it on his foot and put him a superpet cage (was in wire bottom cage) with bedding a put a 'not for sale' sign on his cage. She was very rough with his leg putting the stuff on it. At the time I thought she was being a good breeder by taking care of his foot and not selling him. A few weeks later in last week of July I came back to look at the babies she had available and ended up getting 3 females that had been housed together. I also ended up getting a retired breeder female ebony who is suppose to be 8-10 yro(she could remember her age or name) for free since I got the others. While I was there I checked the the young b.v. male and she said his foot was doing better and that she was giving Amoxicillin for infection, which at the time I didn't know wasn't safe.
On 9-11-09 I was needing some more mazuri pellets and at the time she was the only one I knew who sold them. While I was there noticed that she still had the young b.v. male and that he was up for sale for $75. I noticed he was still limping and that she had him housed in a cage with a wire bottom which was all rusty. I asked her if I could get him out and she told to go ahead. As soon as I pick him up I was suprised because his ribs and hips felt like there was no muscle on them. I also looked at he foot which had a bloody scab on it and at the time I still thought he had bumblefoot. So I put him back in the cage and went to talk to the owner lady. I told her about his foot. She went to the back and got. She looked at his foot and said the wound came back because of the rusty wire cage and that cage was the only one she had available there. She got a tube stuff out of a desk and held him upside down and put it on his foot. At the time I thought she was very rough while doing it. She then looked at me and told me that if I would doctor his foot and take care of him, she would just give him to me. I told yes I would take him see how I had cage space available and I thought it was bumblefoot. When I got him house I weighed him and he weighed 385g. I also weighed his food bowl to keep track of how much he was eating. It was a few days later and I had been putting triple antibiotic on his foot and I had him out checking his foot I decided I wanted to get a really good look at his foot so I kinda balance him on one of my hands and held the base of his tail with the other, I did it this way so the light would shine better on his foot and I could see it better. He was used to me and okay with me handling and knew I wasn't going to be rough so he was very good with me holding him this way. When I did this I got a really good look at his foot then and realized that he didn't have bumblefoot but in fact his foot was broken at the ankle and what I thought was the bottom of his foot was actually the top. His foot was twisted upside down. And what I thought was bumblefoot on the bottom of his foot was actually the end of the bone of the leg where it meets the foot, ankle area, and I realized that it was swollen from infection. I didn't notice all of this before in the store because the light isn't the best and the first few days of having him he would get upset very easily and I didn't want to upset him plus his foot is black on bottom and top and if your not looking really close it's hard to notice. I called a local vet I go to who also see's chinchillas. They were able to get me the next day on 9-17-09 which was 6 days after I had him.
So 9-17-09 I got to the vet to have him leg looked at. I told the vet what was wrong with him leg and then got him out and balanced him on one hand and held him at the base of his tail with the other. The vet shined a flashlight on his leg and said yes its broken and infected. She also said that she had others come in with broken legs and one with the same exact broke the black velvet male whom I named Dimitri. She said with the other one with the same injury they were able to do surgery and fixed it and he kept him leg. He was able to jump and get around and live for a few years after that because the previous signed him over to her. She that we could maybe save his leg if not then the other option is to amputate. But she said she wanted to wait on surgery and give him antibiotic to run the infection out first since it was safer plus Dimitri acts as if his leeg didn't bother him at all. I told her I couldn't believe he didn't die from shock or try to chew of his leg off and she said she couldn't believe either. I asked her if it was safe to give him metacam for pain and she told me to go ahead and give him .05 every other day because she didn't want it to effect his kidneys with giving it everyday. She also gave my SMZ-TMP PED to give him twice a for the infection. I told her about the breeder lady giving him amoxicillin and she said that Dimitri's lucky that it didn't kill him. I told her I knew you weren't suppose to give it to rabbits but wasn't sure about chinchillas. I told her that he hadn't been eating very well and that I've been watching his weight and feeding about 5 ml of critical care about 2-3 times a day just how much he would want to eat since he's underweight. She told me that was alright and keep doing for a few more days and then slowly reduce it to see if he'll start eating on his own more. She also told me call her in about 2 weeks to let her know if the swelling is down if it is than we would wait another 2 weeks after that for more swelling to come down and then do the surgery plus she wanted him to put more weight on but if the leg swells more for me to call and we would have to do emergency surgery. The swelling start to immediately go down after a few days. A week later I had to take another chinchilla (8-10 yro ex-breeder) in for molar trim and told the vet that Dimitri's foot was getting less swollen and he had put on about 3-4g, she that was good and that we would probably wait another 2-3 weeks for more swelling to come down. On 10-9-09 I had to stop by her vet clinic to put up some meds and told her that Dimitri's foot was still a little swollen, less than half the size it was a few weeks ago. So she said that in about 3 weeks it should be normal sized again then we could look at it really good again and then do surgery. Its been 3 weeks since then and Dimitri's leg isn't swollen anymore but where its broken at the ankle still is a little bit. Since his leg isn't swollen anymore I was able to get a really good look at it saturday night 10-31-09. I shined a flash light and seen that his leg is also broken in the middle of his leg up about 2 inches from the broken ankle. I plan on calling the vet when they open later today and talk to the vet and see when she can go ahead and amputate his leg. I was really hoping to safe his leg if we could but since the swelling has went down and I can look at it good and see it's broken in 2 different spots that amputation is the only option. As of today Dimitri weighs 399g but on some days up to 405g but not anymore than that. I can still easily feel his ribs and hips but he feels like he has put a little bit of muscle.
Sorry for the extremely long post but I wanted to give his background up til today. As of right now Dimitri has started eating better not as much as my girls who are about a month younger but better than when I first got him. He eats his hay really well which he didn't at first. I basically cut his cage in half when I realized his leg was broken so he wouldn't be jumping alot. I haven't had to feed him critical care for about 4-5 weeks but do have some that I ordered from lambertvetsupply.com. Basically what I looking for is any advice from people who have had their chinchillas leg amputated. I also have a few questions I would like to ask:
1) When a chinchilla has surgery for a leg amputation do they usually lose very much weight if so usually how much?
2) Do you usually have to give them supplements besides critical care and what antibiotics if any are given after surgery? He currently is taking SMZ-TMP PED. I've not been giving probiotics since the vet said the antibiotic is easiler on his stomach it wasn't needed. Do you think I should now or even after surgery?
3) Does the chinchilla usually have to wear a collar? If not how would I prevent him from ripping out stitches?
Again I'm going to call my vet today when they open and speak to her and ask the same questions I'm asking above but I wanted to ask on here to see what others have done. The vet I use I trust very much to do the surgery and also did a molar trim for my 8-10 yro Lila who is a retired breeder from the same breeder as Dimitri and the breeder did NOT take good care of her at all. Lila was skinny and very bonny when I got and I had her teeth done on 9-24-09 and she has put on over 100g since than and still gaining even though she is a smaller bodied chinchilla. I will update on what the vet says. Thank in advance!
In the middle of July I was in petstore looking at some chinchillas. The lady that owns the store has been breeding chinchillas for over 30 years and had opened the store about 2 years ago and sells them in her store instead of having people come to her house. She only had singles available but would have some babies that could be paired in a weeks so I decide I would come back then. While I was there I was looking a baby male black velvet that was about 2- 2 1/2 months old and I noticed he was limping. On closer inspection I seen that his rear left leg had some type of open wound so I told the owner lady. She took him out and looked and said that he had bumblefoot. She then got a tube of stuff and put it on his foot and put him a superpet cage (was in wire bottom cage) with bedding a put a 'not for sale' sign on his cage. She was very rough with his leg putting the stuff on it. At the time I thought she was being a good breeder by taking care of his foot and not selling him. A few weeks later in last week of July I came back to look at the babies she had available and ended up getting 3 females that had been housed together. I also ended up getting a retired breeder female ebony who is suppose to be 8-10 yro(she could remember her age or name) for free since I got the others. While I was there I checked the the young b.v. male and she said his foot was doing better and that she was giving Amoxicillin for infection, which at the time I didn't know wasn't safe.
On 9-11-09 I was needing some more mazuri pellets and at the time she was the only one I knew who sold them. While I was there noticed that she still had the young b.v. male and that he was up for sale for $75. I noticed he was still limping and that she had him housed in a cage with a wire bottom which was all rusty. I asked her if I could get him out and she told to go ahead. As soon as I pick him up I was suprised because his ribs and hips felt like there was no muscle on them. I also looked at he foot which had a bloody scab on it and at the time I still thought he had bumblefoot. So I put him back in the cage and went to talk to the owner lady. I told her about his foot. She went to the back and got. She looked at his foot and said the wound came back because of the rusty wire cage and that cage was the only one she had available there. She got a tube stuff out of a desk and held him upside down and put it on his foot. At the time I thought she was very rough while doing it. She then looked at me and told me that if I would doctor his foot and take care of him, she would just give him to me. I told yes I would take him see how I had cage space available and I thought it was bumblefoot. When I got him house I weighed him and he weighed 385g. I also weighed his food bowl to keep track of how much he was eating. It was a few days later and I had been putting triple antibiotic on his foot and I had him out checking his foot I decided I wanted to get a really good look at his foot so I kinda balance him on one of my hands and held the base of his tail with the other, I did it this way so the light would shine better on his foot and I could see it better. He was used to me and okay with me handling and knew I wasn't going to be rough so he was very good with me holding him this way. When I did this I got a really good look at his foot then and realized that he didn't have bumblefoot but in fact his foot was broken at the ankle and what I thought was the bottom of his foot was actually the top. His foot was twisted upside down. And what I thought was bumblefoot on the bottom of his foot was actually the end of the bone of the leg where it meets the foot, ankle area, and I realized that it was swollen from infection. I didn't notice all of this before in the store because the light isn't the best and the first few days of having him he would get upset very easily and I didn't want to upset him plus his foot is black on bottom and top and if your not looking really close it's hard to notice. I called a local vet I go to who also see's chinchillas. They were able to get me the next day on 9-17-09 which was 6 days after I had him.
So 9-17-09 I got to the vet to have him leg looked at. I told the vet what was wrong with him leg and then got him out and balanced him on one hand and held him at the base of his tail with the other. The vet shined a flashlight on his leg and said yes its broken and infected. She also said that she had others come in with broken legs and one with the same exact broke the black velvet male whom I named Dimitri. She said with the other one with the same injury they were able to do surgery and fixed it and he kept him leg. He was able to jump and get around and live for a few years after that because the previous signed him over to her. She that we could maybe save his leg if not then the other option is to amputate. But she said she wanted to wait on surgery and give him antibiotic to run the infection out first since it was safer plus Dimitri acts as if his leeg didn't bother him at all. I told her I couldn't believe he didn't die from shock or try to chew of his leg off and she said she couldn't believe either. I asked her if it was safe to give him metacam for pain and she told me to go ahead and give him .05 every other day because she didn't want it to effect his kidneys with giving it everyday. She also gave my SMZ-TMP PED to give him twice a for the infection. I told her about the breeder lady giving him amoxicillin and she said that Dimitri's lucky that it didn't kill him. I told her I knew you weren't suppose to give it to rabbits but wasn't sure about chinchillas. I told her that he hadn't been eating very well and that I've been watching his weight and feeding about 5 ml of critical care about 2-3 times a day just how much he would want to eat since he's underweight. She told me that was alright and keep doing for a few more days and then slowly reduce it to see if he'll start eating on his own more. She also told me call her in about 2 weeks to let her know if the swelling is down if it is than we would wait another 2 weeks after that for more swelling to come down and then do the surgery plus she wanted him to put more weight on but if the leg swells more for me to call and we would have to do emergency surgery. The swelling start to immediately go down after a few days. A week later I had to take another chinchilla (8-10 yro ex-breeder) in for molar trim and told the vet that Dimitri's foot was getting less swollen and he had put on about 3-4g, she that was good and that we would probably wait another 2-3 weeks for more swelling to come down. On 10-9-09 I had to stop by her vet clinic to put up some meds and told her that Dimitri's foot was still a little swollen, less than half the size it was a few weeks ago. So she said that in about 3 weeks it should be normal sized again then we could look at it really good again and then do surgery. Its been 3 weeks since then and Dimitri's leg isn't swollen anymore but where its broken at the ankle still is a little bit. Since his leg isn't swollen anymore I was able to get a really good look at it saturday night 10-31-09. I shined a flash light and seen that his leg is also broken in the middle of his leg up about 2 inches from the broken ankle. I plan on calling the vet when they open later today and talk to the vet and see when she can go ahead and amputate his leg. I was really hoping to safe his leg if we could but since the swelling has went down and I can look at it good and see it's broken in 2 different spots that amputation is the only option. As of today Dimitri weighs 399g but on some days up to 405g but not anymore than that. I can still easily feel his ribs and hips but he feels like he has put a little bit of muscle.
Sorry for the extremely long post but I wanted to give his background up til today. As of right now Dimitri has started eating better not as much as my girls who are about a month younger but better than when I first got him. He eats his hay really well which he didn't at first. I basically cut his cage in half when I realized his leg was broken so he wouldn't be jumping alot. I haven't had to feed him critical care for about 4-5 weeks but do have some that I ordered from lambertvetsupply.com. Basically what I looking for is any advice from people who have had their chinchillas leg amputated. I also have a few questions I would like to ask:
1) When a chinchilla has surgery for a leg amputation do they usually lose very much weight if so usually how much?
2) Do you usually have to give them supplements besides critical care and what antibiotics if any are given after surgery? He currently is taking SMZ-TMP PED. I've not been giving probiotics since the vet said the antibiotic is easiler on his stomach it wasn't needed. Do you think I should now or even after surgery?
3) Does the chinchilla usually have to wear a collar? If not how would I prevent him from ripping out stitches?
Again I'm going to call my vet today when they open and speak to her and ask the same questions I'm asking above but I wanted to ask on here to see what others have done. The vet I use I trust very much to do the surgery and also did a molar trim for my 8-10 yro Lila who is a retired breeder from the same breeder as Dimitri and the breeder did NOT take good care of her at all. Lila was skinny and very bonny when I got and I had her teeth done on 9-24-09 and she has put on over 100g since than and still gaining even though she is a smaller bodied chinchilla. I will update on what the vet says. Thank in advance!
