Chin attacked, what do I do now?

[Thirstywhale]

Hi,
We have 2 chins that are 18months old. They are not related but have happily been living together since they were 4 months old. Last week we noticed Chewy was been a bit aggressive towards Nibbles but by morning they were all snuggled up together again and apart from a bit of fur around the cage they seemed fine. Then yesterday morning we discovered lots of fur around the cage and Nibbles cowering in the corner with a number of bite marks.
We took him out of the cage immediately, rushed out & bought another cage.
Chewy is fine but looks very grumpy (if a chin can look grumpy!)
Nibbles was not himself sitting very still, but eating and drinking. He has perked up today but I just found him twitching all over. I picked him up and held him close until he stopped.

My questions are:
Should I take him to the vet? (I haven't done so yet as the exotic vet is 1& 1/2 hours away and not open in the weekend)
Can he have dust baths? would this help or hinder his recovery?
Why did this happen?
Can they ever be reintroduced?
I would really appreciate any advise as we are terribly worried about him.
Thanks

 

[Jazicat]

I would recommend a vet so that the wounds can be looked at and a pain killer prescribed. Those bites have to hurt and it could affect appetite. I hope he feels better soon.

 

[Shadow]

I would take him to the vet. I believe bite wounds can easily get infected because mouths contain lots of bacteria. Ask the vet about the dust bath but personally it seems logical to me to wait until the wounds have started to close up before he gets a sand bath. When my chinchilla had a surgical wound, even though it was stitched up, the vet advised no sandbath for a week. We gave her a hand sand bath, where we rubbed the sand into her fur ourselves. If you can keep the sand away from the bite marks that might be an option for you. Hope your chinchilla recovers fast!

 

[Dreamlite]

Keep them apart forever. Next time he might kill him. A vet is always a good idea. Its always soo hard to tell how bad wounds are and antibiotics may be needed. Its a shame but this is the risk of having more than 1 chin living together.

 

[Thirstywhale]

I took them to the vet today and had them checked. They have put Nibbles on antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and something to help his gut.
He is looking a lot better already. Thanks for your advice.
The vet said if they were both neutered we could reintroduce them!??!
She was very keen to book them in but I don't think I like the risks involved with that?
What do you guys think.

 

[javachin]

The vet said if they were both neutered we could reintroduce them!??!
She was very keen to book them in but I don't think I like the risks involved with that?
What do you guys think.

They cannot ever be re-introduced, neutered or not. Once you have a fight like that, it will just end up the same way. They will be happier apart.

 

[chinsNdobermans]

Yes I agree - don't attempt to reintroduce them. There's no reason to put them through a neuter and then try to do so; bad fights mean they should be separated permanently.

 

[Kansas City Chinchillas]

I agree with the above advice. There is no need to neuter them it will not help aggresive behavior. Vets are often the source of misinformation about chins. They should be separated forever.

 

[Lynn & The Chins]

Well, this is where I chime in on the fact that neutered males CAN be rebonded successfully.

It sounds like it may be time to separate them, as most people feel that if blood is drawn, they can never be together again. I disagree and I'm happy to tell you my experience.

Be very careful...it starts out as "playful chasing and humping for dominance". I was unaware of the dangers of puberty, and the next night after work, I found Baby VERRY badly beaten and cowering in a corner. He was pretty much bald on the top of his head and back. I immediately took him to Alameda East to see Dr. Fitzgerald. I was pissed that Mr. Whiskers had done this to his previously snuggly cage mate. I wanted to have just Mr. Whiskers neutered. Dr. Fitzgerald said that it would probably be better to neuter them both at the same time to reduce the testosterone so that they could recover and possibly comfort each other, and possibly rebond. I agreed.

When I told my sister about the fighting, she had the best advice -- she said, "I think that you should just neuter them both and get them little pink aprons"!!! I loved the idea, and now I refer to my neutered males as "Pink Apron Boys"!!!

I was secretly happy that Whiskers had a harder time recovering than Baby. Baby was up and running on the wheel the next day, so I had to immobilize it so he wouldn't hurt himself. Whiskers, on the other hand, did little more than lay in the cuddle cup and look miserable. I had to take him in for some subcu fluids several times.

They did seem to get some comfort and companionship from each other. I always thought that they must have been talking to each other saying, "Man, you can't imagine what I just went through", and then comparing stories!!! They did rebond and lived happily together for some time before Baby died suddenly and unexpectedly from unrelated causes.

Prior to Baby dying, I attended my first chinchilla show. I spotted a kit escaping from his cage and let the owner know. She said, "Oh, that's **** Head -- he gets out all the time"!!!

He was so adorable that I asked if I could hold him. She allowed me to, and he immediately fell asleep in the crook of my arm!!! He spent the entire afternoon snuggling on my lap and in my arms. I named him My Little Snuggler. EVERYONE at the show was certain that I was going to take him home, but I told them that as much as I loved him, I had just had to neuter my 2 boys because of fighting and had successfully rebonded them, so, NO, no more chins, two was plenty!!! It broke my heart to leave him behind, but I did.

Several weeks later when Baby died suddenly and unexpectedly and Whiskers and I were both sooo depressed, I thought that maybe another kit would cheer up both of us.

I called the breeder and told her who I was. She said, "I remember you, you fell in love with **** Head". I then told her about Baby's sudden death and asked if My Little Snuggler was still available. She said, "Yeah, he's been waiting for you to call"!!! I was ecstatic and immediately Paypaled her to claim him!!!

When The Snuggler reached puberty, he, as a pedigreed, possible show chinchilla, was much larger than Mr. Whiskers, who i had gotten from a mom and pop petstore while on vacation in Wyoming. They seemed happy together. One night, I came home to a cowering Mr. Whiskers who had been beaten by his brother, The Snuggler. Well, it was off to Dr. Fitzgerald to be fitted for HIS Little Pink Apron!!! He recovered uneventfully and I was able to get them rebonded, too!!! I always imagine them, too, comparing stories about what had happened to them!!!

I know that I was VERRY lucky, and I am always happy to jump in and talk about fighting, separating, and neutering males. People mistakenly think that it is a difficult or dangerous surgery, but in the hands of an experienced Exotic vet who performs the surgery often, it's no big deal. Now, it's even done by laser, not a knife, and it's much less risky than it used to be.

I'll be honest, you MUST remain ever vigilant, because chinchillas can turn on each other in an instant and they WILL fight to the death, so you must always have an emergency cage on hand in case you need to separate them in the middle of the night.

I wish you all the best with your boys, and I'm happy to help you in any way that I can. Sorry for writing the great American Novel, but I like to let people know what can happen

 

[Jazicat]

I have three boys that I have never been able to successfully introduce. We happily keep them in three cages because we don't want the dangers of surgery. Our last chinchilla purchased was beat up by a cage mate and has scars on his head and ears which makes us more conservative in our choice. It takes more time to clean cages and have out time but the boys are happy and healthy. I think this is a case where it's a matter of opinion because I know Lynn is a great mom to her boys.

 

[Dreamlite]

Neutered or not I wouldn't risk it. I have seen 3 different times with neutered chins where they have killed a cagemate with no warning. I'm glad it worked for you lynn but in my experience I have never seen it work. Chins can get along for a few days and decide they don't like sharing a cage or may be fine for years. Males are the hardest to pair up and keep together. I would think that if neutering would help it would be like any other animal, before puberty (which would be quite young for a chin to handle sx).

 

[Thirstywhale]

Thank you for all your advice. Lynn, I loved your detailed story, thanks so much for taking the time to tell it.
Nibbles is recovering well I am happy to say.
As the operation is quite costly I will be leaving their bits & pieces intact and see how it goes with them living apart.
The reason we got 2 in the first place was so they would keep each other company. Oh well.
I assume it would be foolish to let them have any interaction?

 

[Jazicat]

The only interacting my boys do is huffing and puffing at each other through the bars. Even with the bars over two feet apart Edgar and Oscar do dominance dances. Jackie just prefers to pretend he's an only chinchilla. Oscar seems to actually enjoy protecting his cage and will attack the cats if a tail is too close so we had to make adjustments. So for us the answer is no but they are still very happy.