Chin has diarrhea.

[AshesR]

I wrote out notes because I think I might take him to the vet but I'm not sure if I should wait or not.

He started having diarrhea on 3/19 in the morning or maybe 3/18 overnight. I gave him a piece of burnt toast and cleaned his cage like I do every morning. In the afternoon I got home from work and gave him some more burnt toast rolled in activated charcoal because that was the only way to get him to eat the charcoal.

He had less diarrhea in his cage and some more normal poops.

Now 3/20 morning he still has diarrhea but it still seems to be less than it was before and I gave him more burnt toast with activated charcoal this morning.

I mixed 50/50 water and 100% apple juice for him this morning but he's sleeping now so I don't think he's had any yet.

He hasn't had any pellets or any treats (other than the burnt toast) since I noticed the diarrhea. I've only been giving him hay.

Before that he'd had a raisin every day for a week because he had a few seizures on the 11th and I thought it might be a blood sugar issue, which it appears to have been because he hasn't had any seizures since I started giving him the raisin.
I took him to the vet first thing on the 12th but they told me they had no idea what caused the seizures so I just monitored him myself after that.

I actually didn't give him a raisin on the 18th because he ate all of his pellets on the 17th and I didn't want him to get diarrhea. :/

So on the 17th and 18th he had no raisins, but he was eating all of his pellets which was a new thing since before that he only ate his hay.

I think the pellets gave him diarrhea and today he just has the water/apple juice mixture and hay.

And like I said he appears to be doing better but I'm not sure if I should still take him to a vet or if I should wait til after work today to see if he's better.

I don't know what to do


Edit: Also he always comes to greet me with his nose through the bars when I get near his cage and I put my nose down to his,
this morning I noticed he smelled really bad which is the first time he's ever smelled like anything.
I think he just has poop in his fur but I don't know how to clean it out or if I should clean it out.
I gave him a dust bath last night 3/19 but I don't think the dust bath will really help him if he has the diarrhea matted in his fur? Should I just leave it alone and let him get it out?

 

[Chinmama]

I think the small bite size unsweetened shredded wheat works better than burnt toast, and it's easy to sprinkle the activated charcoal on it.

If your vet will let you, you may not even have to take him in, just take a stool sample for them to check out. That way it's less stressful for him.

 

[AshesR]

Thanks for the advice!!! I didn't know they could do that.

I cleaned his cage around 6:00 this morning and now at 8:35 it appears that there are only normal poops in there since then so I think I'll hold off on taking him to the vet, I hope that's the right decision.

Do you think I should leave the apple juice/water mixture in his bottle or switch it back to regular water?

Do you know if I should do anything about his fur or just let him clean it in his dust bath?

 

[Chinmama]

I would switch back to all water in the water bottle.

If he's really messy you can clean his fur up some with a unscented baby wipe or with a lightly dampened washcloth. Otherwise, a dust bath or two should be good.

 

[EMSChins]

Apple juice is a no no, especially with diarrhea. Loose Timothy hay, a probiotic and a stool analysis since it smells. Could possibly be giardiasis or coccidia.